I know here at NACo you are currently reviewing your policies on the protection of wetlands and the effect of climate change on our environment. Protecting our natural environment while fostering responsible, smart growth is critical to creating sustainable, disaster resistant communities throughout America. I applaud your leadership for their continue commitment to these critical issues and urge you to maintain your support for protecting our wetlands and floodplains. Decisions about where we choose to live are the best predictor of how deeply disasters will impact our lives. Many of their employees are faced with uncertain futures and are forced to relocate taking with them a piece of their community.
Transportation systems are critical to disaster preparedness.
We depend on them to evacuate before disasters arrive and to deliver help and speed the recovery after they strike. These issues are our common perspective. We share a purpose because natural disasters, like sprawl, are the ultimate threat to a community's quality of life and growth. And that brings me to the possibility. By weaving disaster resistance into the fabric of smart growth, community planning and economic development, we can manage sprawl and lessen the impact that disasters have on the economic and social fabric of our communities, businesses and citizens.