FEMA RECOGNIZES TAOS COUNTY FOR PROTECTING PUBLIC SAFETY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
FEMA indicated that Taos County was nominated for the honor by other agencies who were asked for recommendations, including federal partners that work with the County, such as the US Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the FEMA Region 6 Office overseeing New Mexico, the NM Department of Homeland Security and other disaster relief, mitigation, natural resource management and first responder agencies.
FEBRUARY 24, 2014
TAOS COUNTY, NM – Taos County was contacted today by representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and informed that the County has been selected as one of a handful of federal, state, county and municipal governments nationwide to be recognized for its work over the past decade in hazard planning, mitigation and the subsequent proactive implementation of measures to protect public health, safety and natural resources.
FEMA is charged by Congress under a series of Presidential Directives with national emergency preparedness at all levels of government and with the development and implementation of national programs, networks, plans, standards and training for preventing and responding to terrorism, manmade and natural disasters.
In order to effectively meet this mission, FEMA was directed by a Presidential Executive Order and the US Department of Homeland Security to identify model programs and initiatives and to assemble a “Best Practices” manual and website of the country’s most successful efforts that can be used to direct government, the private sector and the public on how to best protect the people of the United States and our national resources.
Contacted on February 18th, by Benjamin Korson, Emergency Management Specialist, regarding the “Best Practices Portfolio” project, Mr. Korson wrote,
“FEMA, is requesting the permission of Taos County, NM to use your community as an example, or “Best Practice”, for a portfolio being developed by FEMA to encourage local communities to integrate Hazard Mitigation into other local planning mechanisms. These Best Practices will ultimately be uploaded to FEMA’s Mitigation Best Practices Portfolio where they can be accessed by others interested in plan integration. This effort follows on the heels of the recent release of FEMA’s Integrating Hazard Mitigation Into Local Planning report, which provides guidance to assist local officials to better understand integration.
Taos County, NM has been selected as one of the plan integration Best Practices that FEMA would like to include in their online portfolio.”
Originally cited by FEMA for the County’s 2004 Comprehensive Plan that addressed land use, watershed planning and preservation, wildfire planning and prevention, the protection of water recharge areas, floodplains, riparian rights and coordinated planning and management by mutual domestic water associations and acequia, FEMA requested information on progress made since the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan and subsequently included a large collection of work by the County to implement the plan to further improve public health, safety and the management and protection of natural resources. The elements noted by FEMA include the following:
• Taos County Growth Management Plan
• Taos County Regional Water Plan
• Taos County Water Advisory Board
• County Subdivision Regulations
• Taos County Flood Prevention Ordinance
• County E-911 Rural Addressing Ordinance
• Taos County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP)
• Peñasco Wildfire Protection Plan
• Taos County Firewise Communities program
• Taos County federal, state and local government inter-agency “core planning group” for wildfire, coordinated emergency management, and public lands planning and management
• Proposed revisions and updates to the County Land Use Regulations
• The Taos County E-911 Combined Dispatch and Inter-governmental Incident Command Center, currently under construction at the County Complex
FEMA indicated that Taos County was nominated for the honor by other agencies who were asked for recommendations, including federal partners that work with the County, such as the US Forest Service (USFS), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the FEMA Region 6 Office overseeing New Mexico, the NM Department of Homeland Security and other disaster relief, mitigation, natural resource management and first responder agencies.
When informed of the county being recognized by the federal government, County Commission Chairman Gabe Romero stated, “I think this should reassure our citizens that their elected leaders at the County are getting it right and that we have the safety and health of our citizens, our lands and our water as our first priority in every decision we make. It speaks to the relationship we, as County Commissioners, and our staff have in working with the other communities, state and federal agencies”.
Taos County Manager Stephen Archuleta added, “I am very proud of our staff. To me, this validates the high level of competence and consistent volume of hard work over the past decade of our dedicated and talented staff and the numerous citizen advisory groups whom we rely on for input into these long-term policies, as well as daily decisions about the lives, health and safety of our citizens.”
For further information on this news item, contact:
Rick Bellis
Deputy County Manager
Director of Planning Community and Economic Development
County Housing Director
Phone: (575) 737-6304
E-mail: richard.bellis@taoscounty.org