BEYOND LANDSLIDE SUSCEPTIBILITY AND RISK MODELING IN KENTUCKY: TACKLING STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND PERCEPTION OF LONG-TERM RISK

The Kentucky Geological Survey conducts several FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program projects related to developing landslide inventories and modeling landslide susceptibility and risk. Much of the success of these projects depends on gauging stakeholder needs while supporting informed mitigation measures that improve the assessment of landslide hazards, land use and development, transportation management, climate resilience, communication, and safety.

The challenge in addressing stakeholder needs lies in the sensitivity and complexity of physical and statistic-based landslide susceptibility models, as well as in the biases related to landslide inventories. These factors significantly influence our ability to interpret spatial results and communicate the science, affecting the establishment of effective mitigation measures. The challenge can be confronted by reinforcing many components of landslide susceptibility and risk with expert knowledge, including ground-based observations, risk perception and management, and an understanding of the stakeholder use.

As part of our hazard mitigation projects, we are establishing goals related to stakeholder engagement that include identifying key stakeholders who benefit from landslide hazard assessment, developing protocols for risk communication, and coordinating with stakeholders during landslide events and response planning. These projects will lead to sustained actions resulting in the identification of landslides hazards, reduced losses, and the elimination of long-term risk to life and property in landslide prone communities.