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Colorado Natural Hazards Mitigation Council For the past two decades, Colorado has experienced rapid population and business growth. Pressures have increased to build structures in floodplains, on steep slopes, in wildfire areas, and other locations previously considered un- safe or too costly to develop. Recognizing these issues, Governor Roy Romer signed an executive order establishing the Colorado Natural Hazards Mitiga- tion Council (CNHMC) in March of 1989. The Council was created as an interdisciplinary forum for exchanging information and promoting ways to re- duce and manoge impacts from notural hazards. The Council is composed of almost three hundred volunteer committee mem- bers in the state of Colorado. The Council is organized into technical and haz- ord specific committees. The technical committees are Public Affairs and the Steering Committee. Hazard specific committees include Severe Weather, Dam Safety, Fire Management and Mitigation, Drought, Geologic Hazards, and Flood. A recently formed Policy Advisory Group will guide overall strategy. The primary duties of the Council are to: . Prioritize natural hazards in the State and review existing mitigation plans . Develop 0 mitigation management strategy involving various levels of government . Provide information and technical assistance to local govern- ments and individuals Through its volunteer committees, the Council has supported over one hundred mitigation projects since its inception. These include: . Pre and post-disaster mitigation workshops for home owners and businesses in Canon City, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Rifle and Lyons . Major flood mitigation activities in Lyons and the San Luis Valley . Publication of The Mitigation Siren newsletter . GIS familiarization workshops . A hazard awareness contest for children . Dam Safety and Emergency Planning brochures . Publication of a Citizens Emergency Preparedness Guide As an organization unique in this country, the Colorado Natural Hazards Miti- gation Council is afforded a great opportunity to identify and mitigate hazards prior to major disasters. State, Federol and local governments, as well as the private and academic sectors, are working together as a dynamic coalition to address these significant issues in a systematic and timely fashion.