A new resilience plan for Butte, Montana, is built on bipartisan community support.
By Kylie Mohr
Community meetings focused on the felt impacts of climate change, such as wildfire smoke, in and around Butte. Photo by Water & Environmental Technologies.
Climate change is no stranger to Butte, Montana. In the summer, wildfire smoke can shroud the city, where 11 percent of people have asthma. In the winter, a paltry snowpack can reduce the flow of important rivers. The city, which once supplied nearly half of the nation?s copper from an open-pit mine that is now one of the largest Superfund sites in the United States, understands the risks of environmental inaction. ?We know what happens if you don?t plan ahead,? says Megan Terry, ASLA, a senior landscape architect at Water & Environmental Technologies and a Butte resident. The consolidated city-county government of Butte-Silver Bow is preparing for a hotter, drier future with a plan to reduce its emissions and increase its resilience. ?Climate change is real, and it?s affecting us,? says J. P. Gallagher, the chief executive of the city-county government.
Butte?s new Sustainability, Health, and Resilience Plan, which the city-county government was expected to adopt in June, is unique, Terry says. The plan?s steering committee, which included Water & Environmental Technologies, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, Montana Technological University, and others, decided they needed to pursue fast-approachin...