Benjamin Franklin once said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and it’s very much true. If a 100-year flood hits Flagstaff, we are facing up to $1.5 billion in property damage. This is why the current city council wisely set the goal for meaningful action on climate change, and staff have been working hard on a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan. It will be up to the next council to implement the plan, and I will work diligently to ensure that it does. We must protect Flagstaff from the consequences of climate change.

Dennis Lavin

We should continue to collaborate with our County, State and Federal partners to clean our forests of materials that could contribute to forest fires.

The voter approved Flagstaff Watershed Protection Project (FWPP) is underway. I hope to get an update shortly on its progress. As a corollary to FWPP, one of the City’s “Environmental & Natural Resources “ goals call for our Fire Department to operate a Wildlife Fire Management program. I support this effort.

Finally, we should continue to protect our precious water resources. As leaders, we need to be proactive with programs that could secure our water supply for future generations.

Alex Martinez