Case Studies | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit

Communities, businesses, and individuals are taking action to document their vulnerabilities and build resilience to climate-related impacts. Click dots on the map to preview case studies, or browse stories below the map. Use the drop-down menus above to find stories of interest. To expand your results, click the Clear Filters link.

Small community on the edge of a coastal wetland landscape.

Boosting Community Storm Resilience in Alaska

Many remote coastal communities in Alaska currently have no formal storm history data, flood risk analysis, or way to predict and assess flooding impacts to their communities. These communities are at risk of flooding due to climate change and other coastal hazards such as storms.

Boosting Ecosystem Resilience in the Southwest's Sky Islands

Conservation organizations teamed up to document the climate vulnerability of mountain springs that support unique ecosystems. Now, the Alliance they formed facilitates restoration work to enhance habitats and improve resiliency.

Zoomed in view of someone preparing a report. Someone is reaching across the papers with a pen.

Boulder County Climate Change Preparedness Plan

Bracing for Heat

Heat waves bring some level of discomfort to nearly everyone. When excessive heat catches vulnerable populations off guard, though, discomfort can advance to illness and even death. Learn about strategies taken in Minnesota that help protect people in both rural and urban settings.

Cover Crop Diversity Working Toward Improving Soil Health in North Dakota

Browser-Based Tools Show Current and Historical Crop Cover and Health

To manage their businesses successfully, farmers and food production companies need to know what crops are in the ground and how well they are growing. A pair of easy-to-use online mapping tools provides this information for growing seasons in the past and present.

Building Resilience in the Face of Ocean Acidification

The Alutiiq Pride Shellfish Hatchery in Seward, Alaska, is collaborating with federal and academic partners to measure the impacts of ocean acidification on shellfish—and develop possible adaptation strategies.

Sunrise on the beach at Corolla, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

Building Resilience in the OBX

In North Carolina's Outer Banks, the coastal Town of Nags Head is vulnerable to flooding from heavy rain events, hurricanes, tropical storms, nor’easters, and storm surge. To add insult to injury, vulnerability is increasing with sea level rise. Town managers and residents recognized the need to build the town's resilience and moved forward to prioritize and plan.

Planning drawing for College Avenue in Fort Colllins, CO

Building Smart in the Floodplain

The city of Fort Collins, Colorado, found a win-win solution to problems it faced with 100 acres of abandoned property. The city now enjoys new green space, improved floodwater management, and a boosted economy.

Buncombe County, NC Comprehensive Plan 2043

Burning Issues, Cool Solutions: San Francisco’s Heat and Air Quality Resilience Plan

The 2017 Labor Day Heat Wave helped San Francisco's Health Department recognize that they lacked a proactive plan to deal with extreme heat and wildfire smoke. Ten community-based organizations worked with public, private, and academic partners to co-develop a plan to increase the City's resilience to future events.

California State Coastal Conservancy: Gravel Beach and Berm for Shorebird Habitat Creation, Erosion Control and Flood Protection

An adaptive management plan was used in a pilot project to design a 300-foot, nature-based feature. The approach included designing and implementing a robust monitoring protocol to assess site feasibility and eventually scale the project from a 300-foot feature to a one-mile feature.

Skyline of Las Cruces, NM and the Organ Mountains

Catalyzing Investment and Building Capacity in Las Cruces

Planning with extreme weather thresholds catalyzes a $400,000 green infrastructure investment in a historically underserved neighborhood in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Charleston, South Carolina - All Hazards Vulnerability & Risk Assessment

Charlotte, NC Flood Risk Assessment and Reduction Community Guidebook

A helicopter drops water on the Waldo Canyon fire in June, 2012

Charting Colorado’s Vulnerability to Climate Change

Responding to growing awareness of climate change impacts, the State of Colorado commissioned two of its universities to complete an initial study of the state's vulnerabilities.

City of Alexandria, Virginia Energy & Climate Change Action Plan

City of Baltimore Disaster Preparedness and Planning Project

City of Fayetteville’s Watershed Master Plan

In order to better assess the severity of city-wide floods and create flood mitigation solutions, Fayetteville, North Carolina’s city officials embarked on a $13 million Watershed Master Plan program in 2019.

City of Portland's Climate Emergency Workplan

City of Richmond, VA Climate Equity Action Plan

City of San Antonio, TX: A Path for Climate Action & Adaptation

City of Santa Cruz, CA Climate Action Plan

City of Seattle, WA: Preparing for a Changing Climate

Clark County, Nevada, Community Sustainability & Climate Action Plan

Cleveland Climate Action Plan

Cleveland Metroparks — Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Study (CHEERS)

Cleveland Metroparks needed to consider how to engage surrounding neighborhoods and residents in restoring Lake Erie’s eastern shorefront. They worked closely with community-based organizations and stakeholders to conduct virtual and in-person outreach activities and develop multilingual engagement materials for all ages.