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CHIP Priority Area – Physical Health, Environmental Health, and Climate Health

Where you live is one of the most important factors that affects individual health. Addressing the built environment, especially as impacts from climate change increase, is essential to addressing physical and environmental health.

In this priority area, three goals were selected.

Goal 1 – Improve Food Access: Improve access to nutritional food in Missoula County. Reduce food insecurity across Missoula County by addressing the causes of food and nutrition insecurity in the community.

Goal 2 – Increase Community Resiliency for Heat and Wildfire Smoke Events: Strengthen community resiliency and enable the community to take resilient actions related to heat and wildfire smoke events through education and outreach, direct services, and equitable access to resources to address the physical and mental health impacts from those events.

Goal 3 – Enhance Built Environment: Improve physical activity and human connection with improved infrastructure which promotes active travel and access to green spaces throughout Missoula County. Prioritize development and infrastructure that supports resilience and the vitality of populations and communities.

Learn more about each goal below

Table with a salad bar with a wide variety of vegetables.

Goal 1 – Improve Food Access

smoke billowing into the sky from the Big Knife Fire

Goal 2 – Increase Community Resiliency for Heat and Wildfire Smoke Events

A plot of land with a row of holes dug into the ground for a septic tank installation.

Goal 3 – Enhance Built Environment

Goal 1 – Improve Food Access:

Improve access to nutritional food in Missoula County. Reduce food insecurity across Missoula County by addressing the causes of food and nutrition insecurity in the community.

Leadership

The Food Policy Advisory Board oversees Goal 1.

Objectives and Strategies

Objective 1:

Reduce food insecurity across Missoula County by addressing the causes of food and nutrition insecurity in the community and ensure culturally appropriate nutrition is available for residents

Strategies:

Community partners selected the following strategies to achieve this:

  • Increase awareness of food support programs and how to access them.
  • Evaluate and enhance local food support systems.
  • Engage communities to assess food access needs and barriers.

Goal 2 – Increase Community Resiliency for Heat and Wildfire Smoke Events:

Strengthen community resiliency and enable the community to take resilient actions related to heat and wildfire smoke events through education and outreach, direct services, and equitable access to resources to address the physical and mental health impacts from those events.

Leadership

Climate Smart Missoula’s Wildfire Smoke, Heat, and Health Working Group oversees Goal 2.

Objectives and Strategies

Objective 1:

Maintain and improve existing tools and educational resources for new and existing residents for navigating heat and smoke events in Missoula County.

Strategies for Objective 1:

Community partners selected the following strategies to achieve this:

  • Connect residents to Missoula County Extension’s Home Upgrade Hub.
  • Utilize MontanaWildfireSmoke.org as an educational resource for residents.
  • Identify priority populations and develop tailored outreach strategies.
  • Expand the outreach efforts of Missoula Public Health’s Air Quality program.
  • Partner with DPHHS to create and implement the Clean Air Center program.

Objective 2:

Provide community partners with tools and toolkits to enable them to implement actions which promote health and resilient actions.

Strategies for Objective 2:

Community partners selected the following strategies to achieve this:

  • Update heat and smoke goals within the Climate Ready Missoula Plan.
  • Implement Climate Ready Missoula’s Extreme Heat Toolkit.
  • Develop strategy to collect and analyze local data on heat events.

Goal 3 – Enhance Built Environment

Improve physical activity and human connection with improved infrastructure which promotes active travel and access to green spaces throughout Missoula County. Prioritize development and infrastructure that supports resilience and the vitality of populations and communities.

Leadership

Missoula City Parks and Recreation oversees Goal 3.

Objectives and Strategies

Objective 1:

Be forward thinking in the development of infrastructure and the impact it has on human health.

Strategies for Objective 1:

Community partners selected the following strategies to achieve this:

  • Include public health, safety, and accessibility considerations into the Parks, Recreation, Open Space, and Trails (PROST) plan development.
  • Convene members from other city and county planning to align efforts.
  • Reduce nitrate concentrations in Seeley Lake groundwater though septic regulation and advocating for a public sewer system.

Objective 2:

Plan for, and address, the impacts of climate change on the health of Missoula County Residents.

Strategies for Objective 2:

Community partners selected the following strategies to achieve this:

  • Increase education on the use of sustainable transportation in Missoula.
  • Develop a climate health dashboard.
  • Continue urban forestry efforts in Missoula city and county.