UPDATE, April 1, 2021: The Mitigation Plan was completed and approved by FEMA. Final, approved version is available here: 2021 Boise State Hazard Mitigation Plan (FINAL)
Boise State University has completed its draft Hazard Mitigation Plan.
From now until January 8, 2021, the Boise State University campus community is invited to review and submit feedback on our first ever, campus Hazard Mitigation Plan. Public feedback is the final step before submission of our plan to the Idaho Office of Emergency Management and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
We are hoping our students, faculty, staff and community partners will provide input to our planning team on (Scroll down to review the plan and to comment):
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- Whether we accurately identified the hazards/threats relevant to campus
- Our proposed strategies for reducing the impact of future incidents that may occur on or around the campus
Following more than a year of research, coordination and planning, the hazard mitigation plan was created to identify cost-effective and sustainable mitigation actions that aim to reduce or eliminate the long-term risk to human life and property from natural hazards and human-caused/technological threats. Our Mitigation Steering Committee was comprised of representatives from every department and division on campus, including several Boise State faculty subject matter experts. We also collaborated with a wide range of community partners that included the National Weather Service, US Army Corps of Engineers, Central District Health, Ada County Emergency Management, City of Boise Emergency Management, and the Idaho Office of Emergency Management.
Robert Littrell, Assistant Director of Emergency Management for the university said having a completed and approved plan is a prerequisite for applying for FEMA mitigation grant projects.
“From the planning efforts, we identified more than 30 potential projects that have been prioritized based on the Hazard Vulnerability/Risk Assessment we accomplished” Littrell said. “Once the plan is approved, we can apply for a 75% match in funds for our projects from the FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) mitigation grant program. These projects will improve/build upon our existing critical infrastructure, such as adding emergency generators, moving redundant server systems into safer locations on campus, and building our own Green CoGen Power Plant to mitigate the disastrous impact of natural hazards/threats to our campus continuity of operations.”
Over the course of the planning and collaboration, we organized the planning team, reviewed hazards/threats to the Treasure Valley, completed a Hazards Vulnerability Assessment, modeled a variety of hazards, and conducted a Risk Assessment. All of this information was used to create our Mitigation Strategy, which will guide the university in future projects/decisions by providing Mitigation Action Items designed to make our campus a safer place. Plan benefits include identifying our specific vulnerabilities to develop strategies to better protect our campus community and properties. We will also be able to better educate our students, faculty and staff on how we can be more prepared and resilient for potential disasters.
We also partnered with the Boise State University Hazard and Climate Resilience Institute (HCRI) to survey over 2,000 campus community members (students, faculty and staff) to collect their inputs on potential campus hazards. This feedback has been incorporated into the plan. The HCRI site has a Local Resources & Hazards page highlighting the natural hazards that can impact the Boise State campus.
Review the Plan Here: Boise State University Hazard Mitigation Plan
The public review period will end on January 8, 2021.