Adaptation
Enhancing community resilience
to a changing climate.
Climate change is not a distant concern; its impacts are already being felt today. Natural hazards like extreme heat, wildfires, flooding, and drought are being worsened by climate change, exacerbating existing challenges and introducing new ones like sea-level rise for local communities.
Successful climate adaptation requires a holistic approach to building resilient communities that address environmental, social, and economic health. We use a dynamic and inclusive planning process to fully understand climate-related risks and impacts and develop locally appropriate, community-driven adaptation strategies that promote equity and resilience.
- Vulnerability assessments
- Hazard risk and risk reduction assessments
- Wildfire resilience plans
- Adaptation strategy development
- Climate adaptation and resilience plans
- General plan safety elements and SB 379 compliance
- Plan alignment support
- Implementation support
- Community and stakeholder engagement
- Monitoring and reporting tools
Erik de Kok AICP
Director of Interdisciplinary Planning
- City of Bakersfield
- City of Elk Grove
- City of Encinitas
- City of Lake Elsinore
- City of Milpitas
- City of Rancho Cucamonga
- City of San Luis Obispo
- County of Alameda
- County of Monterey
- County of Napa
- County of San Diego
- County of Tuolumne
- Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation
ClearPath 2.0, a next-generation climate planning platform developed by ICLEI USA and ClimateView, is transforming how local governments visualize, track, and implement climate goals. The City of Elk Grove recently pioneered the platform’s implementation, demonstrating how this innovative tool addresses persistent challenges in climate action planning—from enhancing transparency to enabling precise impact quantification.
Two new state laws—Senate Bill (SB) 1425 and Assembly Bill (AB) 1889—require counties and cities to update their general plans to address equitable access to open space, rewilding, wildlife and habitat connectivity, and climate resilience. SB 1425 requires every city and county to review and update its general plan open space element by January 1, 2026, to include plans and an action program that address equitable access, correlated with the environmental justice element; climate resilience and other co-benefits of open space, correlated with the safety element; and rewilding opportunities correlated with the land use element. AB 1889, the “Room to Roam Act,” requires cities and counties to consider the effect of development on wildlife movement and habitat connectivity in the adoption or next revision of their general plan conservation element beginning on January 1, 2028. These new laws can guide the development of more inclusive, resilient, and ecologically connected landscapes across California.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) issued a Restoration Management Permit(RMP) to California State Parks in December 2023 for the Mount Diablo State Park Vegetation Treatment Project. The RMP is the first approved for a CalVTP vegetation treatment project. It is part of CDFW’s Cutting the Green Tape program to accelerate the pace and scale of restoration throughout the state. CSP’s CalVTP project qualified for the first RMP because it would create ecological benefits for the covered species, Alameda whipsnake.
