To date, the Rising Waters project has evaluated 80 specific ideas for improving the Hudson Valley region’s adaptive capacity. Considering all of our work—both regarding the likely future impacts of climate change and what should be done to improve preparedness—the steering committee of the Rising Waters project recommends the following:

1. Improve community planning, communication and preparedness for extreme weather and local climate change threats. Potential actions to be taken by the coalitions may include:
   • Identify ways to incorporate climate change information into hazard mitigation plans
   • Provide public access to cool buildings during heat waves
   • Conduct community outreach campaigns on the local threats posed by climate change, and what can be done in response to maintain interest and momentum
      
2. Prepare communities for the future impacts of climate change by incorporating expected changes, such as more frequent flooding and heat waves, into all land-use decision-making processes. Potential actions to be taken by the coalitions may include: 
   • Encourage counties and large municipalities to integrate climate change considerations over a 20-year time span into their land-use planning efforts
   • Consider increasing the setback requirements for buildings near riverbanks in Hudson River communities to at least 75 feet
      
3. Guide future development out of flood-prone areas to reduce and minimize future losses. Potential actions to be taken by the coalitions may include:
   • Create financial incentives to avoid development in flood-prone areas
   • Require “No Adverse Impact” standards to ensure that activities do not change the floodwater storage capacity of wetlands and floodplains and do not increase the flow velocity of streams, especially during floods
   • Establish a state funding mechanism to help communities enforce floodplain zoning and flood-related land-use and building codes
      
4. Improve the resilience of shorelines, natural systems and critical infrastructure throughout the Hudson Valley to the impacts of extreme weather. Potential actions to be taken by the coalitions may include: 
   • Require all state agencies to conduct flood audits of critical infrastructure such as hospitals, important road crossings and wastewater treatment plants
   • Identify and promote sustainable methods for shoreline erosion control that will secure key infrastructure while enabling vital natural communities to exist and migrate landward as sea level rises
   • Identify and remove incentives for non-sustainable shoreline management methods, and create incentives for sustainable practices in shoreline management and erosion control
   • Share best practices for fish friendly habitat options when shoreline construction/reconstruction is necessary
      
5. Apply cost-effective green technologies and use natural systems to reduce the vulnerability of people and properties to flooding and heat waves. Potential actions to be taken by the coalitions may include: 
   • Work with policy makers to reduce the minimum size of wetlands regulated by the state
   • Increase development setbacks from streamsides to 300 feet to protect people from flooding and to reduce property damage
   • Provide training for each community’s Local-Law-for-Flood-Damage-Prevention Administrator on best management practices for minimizing flooding
   • Use LIDAR technology and conduct flood studies to improve on existing FEMA maps
   • Identify the places most at risk of flooding by modernizing floodplain maps to reflect not only historical but likely future flood patterns
   • Undertake urban area greening programs, such as rain gardens and tree planting, to make communities more resilient against heat waves and to decrease stormwater runoff
      
6. Establish climate change adaptation funding to help communities reduce loss of life and property damage both in advance of extreme weather and in disaster response. Potential actions to be taken by the coalitions may include:
   • Gain support for passage of Green Jobs Bond Act, slated for November 2009 ballot, by adding at least 10 new organizations to the existing coalition
   • Create a state climate change adaptation fund to support the actions outlined above
   • Examine existing funding schemes to prioritize climate change adaptation activities
      
7. Conserve healthy forest, wetland and river ecosystems, as well as agricultural resources, because they are vital to successful adaptation to climate change. Potential actions to be taken by the coalitions may include:
   • Monitor, and where possible, manage these ecosystems to sustain ecosystem functions
   • Begin an intensive program to restore streams to natural state and revegetate banks, ideally using the groups of plants most likely to occur at each location
   • Develop long-term acquisition and easement plans to conserve floodplains 

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © ArtJoy4Ever/Creative Commons (Hudson River); Photo © Bianca de Blok/Creative Commons (Boy by river).