Newaygo County Hazard Management Plan

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Newaygo County Emergency Services & Hazard Management Plan

The Newaygo County Hazard Management Plan is a multi-jurisdictional hazard mitigation plan that communities use to reduce the potential impacts of natural disasters, focusing on long-term solutions to prevent or minimize future damage and loss.  This plan has been in place since 2007 and is required to be updated every 5 years under criteria contained in 44CFR Part 201, as authorized by the Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000.  The current plan was adopted by the Newaygo County Board of Commissioners via Resolution 05-006-21 on May 26, 2021 and is set to expire in June 2026.

“The draft 2026-2031 Newaygo County Hazard Management Plan is currently under review with the Michigan State Police Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division Hazard Mitigation Section and FEMA. The full version of the draft document can be viewed here (2026 DRAFT Newaygo County Hazard Management Plan) posted December 17, 2025.

Benefits of a Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan:

Purpose and benefits include:

  • Reduce disaster impacts: Mitigation plans aim to minimize the effects of natural hazards like floods, wildfires, earthquakes, and severe storms. 
  • Break the cycle in damage: By implementing mitigation measures, communities can avoid the costly and disruptive cycle of disaster damage, reconstruction, and repeated damage. 
  • Increase the community’s resilience: Mitigation planning helps communities become more resilient by identifying vulnerabilities and developing strategies to address them.
  • Maintain eligibility for FEMA funding pre and post disaster: FEMA requires hazard mitigation plans for certain types of non-emergency disaster assistance.

Components of a Hazard Mitigation Plan:

There are several key components of the Newaygo County Hazard Management Plan that Newaygo County Emergency Services will need your engagement with throughout the planning process. Your involvement is important to ensure the plan reflects your community needs and priorities. Key components of the plan include:

  • Community Profile: Highlights information that is relevant to hazard mitigation, such as the community’s present land use and development patterns, geography and climate, transportation network, demographic information, key industries, major organizations active in the community, the locations and nature of important community facilities, emergency warning system coverage, and other information that is relevant to the community’s safety and smooth functioning.
  • Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment: Identifies potential hazards and assessing the risks they pose to the community. The plan reflects historical occurrences, potential risks, impacts to the community, and changes in frequency of occurrences.
  • Mitigation Strategy and Development: Identifies long term strategies to reduce risks identified in the hazard analysis.
  • Action Items and Tracking Progress of Mitigation Activities: Identifies potential mitigation projects, priorities, funding courses, and progress of existing mitigation activities.

How to Provide Input

Throughout the course of the next year, the Newaygo County Local Emergency Planning Team will be reviewing various components of the County’s Hazard Management Plan. For specific meeting dates, please click here: 2026 LEPT Meeting Dates.  Community engagement in this process is important to ensure that the plan reflects your communities needs and priorities. You can participate in this process by:

Thank you for your time and contribution to this update of the Newaygo County Hazard Management Plan!