Boosting Resilience. Exploring a Research Collaborative's Role in Natural Hazard Adaptation

Collaborative approaches are used to address complex natural hazards like wildfire, drought, and flooding. Despite their prevalence, little is known about the long-term outcomes of collaborative groups and there is a need to understand how collaborative groups build adaptive capacity and resilience to natural hazards. This study sought to fill such gaps in understanding using a qualitative case study of a past participatory research project in central Montana, the Judith River Watershed Nitrogen Project. We facilitated a ripple effects mapping (REM) workshop with eleven participants of the original Judith River Watershed Nitrogen Project to understand (a) the outcomes that emerged from participating in the project, (b) how the project’s structure contributed to outcomes, and (b) how participation in the project supported adaptive capacity and community resilience in the watershed. We found that by participating in the Judith River Watershed Nitrogen Project, individuals built awareness and trust and implemented alternative farm management practices. We also found that the project’s structure, goals, and research team helped support these outcomes. Overall, findings indicate that collaborative research projects like the Judith River Watershed Nitrogen Project support outcomes that may contribute to a group’s adaptive capacity to respond to future natural resource challenges and hazards. Though more work is needed to fully explore the linkages between the project’s outcomes and community resilience, Federal Emergency Management Region 8 emergency managers can implement the collaborative processes demonstrated in the Judith Nitrogen Project to build greater awareness and trust in their natural hazard work, as well as look to draw on the networks formed through such participatory research projects when operating in rural contexts.