WWA’s Karen Bailey, Katie Clifford, and Seth Arens are working to better understand how sense of place might be leveraged to assist in adaptation efforts in rural communities across the Intermountain West. This project is looking at how drought and climate change impacts to reservoirs in the Upper Colorado River Basin influence sense of place, and how shifts in sense of place may impact adaptive capacity in locations experiencing visible change. It represents a deepening focus on compound hazards and will include case studies in rural areas that may have more limited adaptive capacity. Bailey secured Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval on this work and supported students Emma García, Shadia Nagati, Warren Cook, Jordan Lee, Levi Van Pelt, Jordan Matson, and Rebecca Briesmoore to assist with data collection and analysis with a focus on three reservoir regions: Lake Powell in UT and AZ, Blue Mesa in CO, and Flaming Gorge Reservoir in WY. Initial findings highlight the role of various emotions (guilt, love, fear) in influencing perspectives on drought and drought adaptation. Results also point to challenges and opportunities around conflict management within and beyond communities. These research activities will contribute to one honors thesis and one dissertation.

In Phase II (2023-2026), if there is community support and interest, we plan to host a workshop to further explore how changes to sense of place impact adaptive capacity in the case study communities. The content and structure of workshops will be codesigned with community partners to address emergent needs related to sense of place. Workshop topics may include scenario planning to consider how sense of place might inform management at different scales moving forward, considering how dissimilar definitions of place might be navigated, or partnering mental health experts with service providers. In addition, we plan to expand this work to communities in other states to support learning and network development across the region.