An official website of the POLICY 3: Climate Resilience
This policy states:
Adapt and enhance the Regional Parks and Trails System to promote resilience to climate change, including the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate Resilience policy performance measure(s): To be developed.
Climate change and its impacts are a critical concern, and the Met Council recognizes the crucial role that the Regional Parks and Trails System plays in mitigation and regional adaptation. Regional parks and trails provide a central opportunity to educate visitors about the impacts of climate change in the region, and what each implementing agency is doing to mitigate and adapt to those impacts. The Met Council will support this work through innovative solutions leading to achieving desired outcomes, including how best to mitigate and adapt to those impacts:
- Building public awareness of the climate work being done in the Regional Parks and Trails System and encouraging communities to become intentionally involved.
- Fostering an equitable regional parks and trails system, including landscapes within the system that can withstand the impacts of climate change.
- Developing innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while incorporating ways to connect recreation and adapt to the changing climate.
Actions
The Met Council supports regional park implementing agencies’ efforts to advance climate work through partnership and collaboration.
One of the Met Council’s primary roles is to convene the regional park implementing agencies to coordinate efforts at a regional scale. The Met Council will work in partnership with the regional park agencies to identify common goals and collaboration opportunities that would benefit from a coordinated, regional effort. By supporting and coordinating climate work at a regional scale, agencies may share learnings and resources with one another, and the Regional Parks and Trails System may be better positioned to seek additional funding resources. Other areas that the Met Council will explore include:
· Long-range planning: Continue to work with implementing agencies as the Met Council explores the addition of climate resiliency dimensions to the long-range plan requirements listed in the Regional Parks and Trails Planning Handbook.
· Operations: Convene frontline parks staff (for example, operations, maintenance, naturalists) from the implementing agencies to share best management practices, lessons learned, and coordinate climate work across agency boundaries. Other efforts may include developing regional initiatives to improve operations and exploring workforce development opportunities for naturalists.
The Met Council partners with regional park implementing agencies to research the Regional Parks and Trails System’s impacts on climate change.
Prioritize research that accurately quantifies the Regional Parks and Trails System’s impact on mitigating and adapting to climate change. This research will help regional park implementing agencies identify aspects of the system that are working well and areas for improvement. Conduct research to capture a wide range of data, including:
- Greenhouse gas emissions inventory from facilities and operations.
- An inventory that calculates the level of carbon sequestration from completed restoration and potential sequestration of future restoration work.
- Measurable metrics that show the positive impact regional parks and trails have on climate mitigation and adaptation (flood control, cooling, etc.).
- The exploration of additional opportunities for tracking water quality in regional parks and trails.
- Monitor the effects on emissions of actions taken by implementing agencies such as land restoration and efficiency improvements made in buildings and facilities.
The Met Council will partner with regional park implementing agencies to develop strategies to share stories that increase public awareness of the importance of the Regional Parks and Trails System’s role in climate mitigation and adaptation.
One of the Met Council’s primary roles is to convene the regional park implementing agencies to coordinate efforts at a regional scale. The Met Council will work with implementing agencies to discuss communication strategies to build awareness of the Regional Parks and Trails System’s role in climate change. In addition to highlighting the adaptation and mitigation capabilities of the system, provide accurate information that explains the long-term benefits of certain actions, including:
- Water quality and quantity: Work with Environmental Services and implementing agencies to educate the public about the impact of algal blooms and water pollution.
- Habitat restoration: Provide education on native habitat restoration, its benefits, and how controlled burns contribute to the ecosystem.
- Adaptation: Educate on the many ways parks can be used to adapt to climate change through efforts such as flood control and planting drought-resistant and/or shade-providing vegetation.
- Programming: Increase community awareness by coordinating climate-oriented programming, such as data collection, restoration work, and education.
The Met Council will incorporate equity into the climate change conversation by gathering perspectives from historically underserved communities and shaping it into future actions.
The Met Council will incorporate more diverse voices into climate work, identifying areas of improvement for the Regional Parks and Trails System. By focusing more heavily on the impact climate change places on overburdened communities, we can start to minimize harm, support reparative action, and build community autonomy.
This policy plan prioritizes a wide range of actions to encourage feedback from more diverse audiences, including:
- Defining what “areas not well served” means for the location and acquisition priority of “geographic distribution.”
- Informing programming and marketing efforts to invite new visitors into regional parks and trails.
- Enhancing awareness of green gentrification and how it occurs when new or improved regional park or trail units attract increased investments and development. Sometimes these investments increase the cost of nearby housing resulting in an increased cost of living on existing residents, requiring them to relocate.14 Find strategies to reduce and mitigate the impacts that new or improved parks and trails have on communities. Refer to the Met Council’s 2050 Housing Policy Plan for more information.
14 Anguelovski et al., 2019; Curran and Hamilton, 2012; McClintock, 2018a
