The University of Maine, thanks to funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, will work with regional institutions to study the resilience of RV parks in the Northeast to climate change.
The NOAA Climate Adaptation Partnerships program, formerly the Regional Integrated Science and Assessments program, awarded more than $79,000 to Sean Birkel, a Maine State climatologist and assistant professor with a joint appointment at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and UMaine Climate Change Institute, for a study of climate change resilience in RV park communities with collaborators in New Hampshire and Vermont.
Mobile home park communities are commonly found in rural and suburban areas in the northern states of New England, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. RVs in parks are an affordable housing option in times of regional housing shortages.
However, these communities are particularly vulnerable to climate-related extreme events. Most parks were developed before land use regulations were in place and are in inexpensive but often inappropriate and hazardous locations exposed to climate change risks. In Vermont, for example, 6% of RV parks had land in flood channels, with more than 20 percent of parks located at least partially in FEMA-mapped flood plains, according to previous University of Vermont research. During Tropical Storm Irene, mobile homes accounted for 15 percent of homes damaged during the storm in Vermont, even though mobile homes made up just 7 percent of the state’s housing stock.
“Mobile or prefab homes are vulnerable to damage from severe weather such as high winds and excessive rainfall, particularly to unanchored structures,” says Birkel.
Along with colleagues at the universities of New Hampshire and Vermont, Birkel will use the NOAA grant to develop a deeper understanding of how RV parks in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are being affected by climate change. They will create a database of RV park communities in the three states — Vermont is the only one of the three that currently maintains an RV park registry — and convene meetings with RV park community representatives to determine the impact of climate change in various ecoregions across the Northeast. The meetings will also build relationships that support climate resilience efforts with trailer park frontline communities.
“RV communities are an important part of Vermont’s affordable housing landscape, but as Tropical Storm Irene demonstrated, they are at greater risk from climate change,” said Kelly Hamshaw, co-principal investigator and associate professor in the University’s Department of Community Development and Applied Economics of Vermont. “This collaboration in northern New England will allow us to better understand the disproportionate risks of climate change, build cross-industry partnerships, and take a broader look at the challenges and opportunities to support the resilience of these unique communities across the region.”
“The management structures and practices for RV parks vary from one community to the next, and in many parks residents may own their home but not the land,” says Mary Stampone, co-principal investigator and associate professor of geography at the University of New Hampshire . “These factors present another set of challenges unique to RV park communities that also need to be considered when assessing the risks posed by climate change.”
Researchers will also identify key external agencies and connect local and non-local stakeholders, such as government agencies and non-profit organizations, that can reduce communities’ vulnerability to climate change. They will then hold a final multi-state virtual meeting of all key stakeholders to discuss common ground across states and develop an action roadmap for future collaboration and information sharing.
“By reaching out to vulnerable communities, we can learn their needs for climate adaptation and resilience and help connect people to the resources they need. Ultimately, this project contributes to the important work of Maine’s Climate Action Plan,” says Birkel.
