Regional Resilience Assessment (RRA)

Overview

The Land of Sky Regional Resilience Assessment (RRA) follows the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit’s Steps to Resilience process, and is also informed by the FEMA and EPA’s Regional Resilience Toolkit. Phase 1 of the RRA focused on identifying key threats and important assets in the region through stakeholder engagement. These were then analyzed in terms of exposure – who/what is in harm’s way. Phase 2 focused on analyzing the vulnerability and risk (V/R) of commercial assets to flooding and moving the assessment data into AccelAdapt, a decision support tool developed by Fernleaf. Phase 3 expanded the V/R assessment to residential property and flooding, wildfire, and landslides.

This work is supported by FernLeaf, NEMAC, NOAA, USEDA, FEMA, and the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation.

Assessment Update

To support Hurricane Helene recovery efforts, the Land of Sky Regional Council worked with Fernleaf to develop an updated regional resilience assessment. This update integrates post-Helene data, including the most recent property parcel information, and an evaluation of all properties for key hazards. These hazards include regulatory floodplains (FEMA), supplemental flood thresholds from the latest North Carolina Emergency Management (NCEM) Flood Advisory Dataset, landslide and potential debris flow pathways (NC Geological Survey Dataset) , and wildfire risk.

An updated version of the report’s executive summary is in progress.

Timeline

AccelAdapt

Fernleaf developed AccelAdapt as a decision support tool that integrates assessment results, localized information, and hazard data into one platform. It provides local governments within the region with an interactive version of the assessment to support ongoing resilience planning efforts.

You can access AccelAdapt here. If accessing for the first time, you will be prompted to “Request Access”. You will receive an email notification once you have been approved.

Interested in learning more? The Fernleaf team is available to walk you through AccelAdapt or answer any questions you may have as you explore the tool. Please contact support@acceladapt.com for more information.

Case Studies From Across the Region

Advisory Board

The purpose of the Regional Resilience Advisory Board is to:

support broad stakeholder and community engagement
identify planning, policy and regulatory opportunities for recovery & resilience building efforts
identify resources for implementation
prioritize additional vulnerability and risk assessments
share adaptation and capacity building strategies.

Board Members

Name	Affiliation
Erica Anderson	Land of Sky Regional Council
Mary Roderick	Land of Sky Regional Council
Preston Jacobsen	Haywood Waterways
Janna Bianculli	Henderson County Planning
Jeff Adams	Transylvania County Planning
Kiera Bulan	City of Asheville Sustainability
Ross Young	Madison County Administration
Ryan Cole	Skyland Fire & Rescue
Ned Gardiner	NOAA
Jim Fox	Fernleaf
Matt Hutchins	Fernleaf
Alex McKnight	Buncombe County Emergency Management
Heidi Reiber	Asheville Chamber of Commerce
Kevin Shook	Transylvania County Emergency Management
Darby Terrell	Transylvania County Planning
Tristan Wrinkler	French Broad River MPO

PLANNING

TRANSPORTATION