Public input sought for Beltrami County Hazard Mitigation Plan

BEMIDJI — Beltrami County residents and stakeholders are invited to submit input as its Office of Emergency Management works to update its Hazard Mitigation Plan.

The multijurisdictional plan covers Beltrami County and all cities, townships, school districts, watershed districts and other related agencies and organizations to assess natural hazards that pose risk to the county.

The plan looks at floods, tornadoes, windstorms, winter storms, wildfire and drought, and it identifies community vulnerabilities and ways to minimize damage from future events.

“Hazard mitigation planning is a central part of our emergency management program,” stated Christopher Muller, Beltrami County’s emergency management director, in a news release.

“Understanding the natural hazards that can cause serious impact to our communities and taking action to reduce or eliminate the impact of future disasters makes us more resilient. Hazard mitigation helps us to break the cycle of damage and repair caused by things like flooding, ice storms, and severe wind events that can damage property, stress economies, and threaten life safety in our county.”

Hazard mitigation activities include projects such as improving stormwater management systems, constructing tornado-safe rooms in mobile home parks and burying overhead power lines that fail during heavy snow, ice or wind storms.

Some mitigation activities may be eligible for future Federal Emergency Management Agency grant funding. The Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 requires counties to update their plans every five years to maintain eligibility for the grants.

Residents of cities and townships, local businesses and others are encouraged to submit feedback on the following questions for the plan:

• What are the natural hazards you feel pose the greatest risk to your community? 
• Are there specific populations or assets in your community that you feel are more vulnerable to future storm events? 
• What concerns do you have, and what sorts of actions do you feel would help to reduce damages of future hazard events in your community or the county as a whole?

Beltrami County is working with the University of Minnesota-Duluth and USpatial for the plan update. After the online survey, the public will have additional opportunities to provide input and review the updated plan.