Mitigaiton Planning and Hazard Mitigation Assistance

Mitigaiton Planning and Hazard Mitigation Assistance would like to announce the availability of two mitigation planning resources.Additional information and resources are provided on the FEMA Mitigation Planning website athttp://www.fema.gov/plan/mitplanning/index.shtm

 Independent Study Course Mitigation Planning for Local and Tribal Communities

In December 2011, an updated independent study course was released to support local and tribal mitigation planning.   IS-318, Mitigation Planning for Local and Tribal Communities, is a course offered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The goals of this course are to:

• Assist participants in undertaking the hazard mitigation plan development process. This plan will meet the needs of your community and fulfill the requirements for local plans, as described in 44 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) §201.6, or for Tribal plans, as described in 44 CFR §201.7.
• Help federal and state plan reviewers interpret the regulations to inform the review of local or Tribal hazard mitigation plans.

 Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide

The Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide (released October 1, 2011) is available now, and it contains several significant changes from the current local mitigation planning guidance:

• Stronger emphasis on the Mitigation Strategy and Implementation;
• Simplified to describe only the regulatory requirements;
• New Guiding Principles and Intent statements support regulatory requirements; and
• New Plan Review Tool to replace the existing Crosswalk in a simplified format and communicate implementation of the plan as well as improvements to the plan.

The revised Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide is available for any State to use as of October 1, 2011.  Implementation will be phased over the course of a year and the Local Mitigation Plan Review Guide will become effective on October 1, 2012 to allow stakeholders at the State and local level to prepare for the change. Many communities are presently in the process of developing local mitigation plans, and all communities currently reference the Local Multi-Hazard Mitigation Planning Guidance (June, 2008) and the corresponding Plan Review Crosswalk.  In FY12, new guidance will also be released for local plan developers. During this time, it is important to remember that the mitigation planning regulations have not changed; the plan requirements remain the same.

The Plan Review Training for Local Mitigation Plans, a 90 minute webinar and separate slide presentation, is now available from the FEMA Library.