Overview
Montague is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, in the north western part of the state. They have a population of 8,444 people and an area of 30.2 square miles. Climate hazards present in Montague include inland flooding, severe winter storms, drought, and extreme temperatures.
Montague's Core Team
The MVP 2.0 Core team is a group of municipal staff and Community Liaisons who work together to identify local climate resilience priorities and implement a project that supports those priorities.
Montague's Community Liaisons include representation from:
- LifePath
- Peer Ambassador Program
- Montague Catholic Social Ministries & Gill-Montague School District
- Brick House
Montague's Core Team includes municipal representation from:
- Town Planner
- Library Director
- Gill-Montague Council on Aging Director
- Health Director
Community Resilience Priorities
Community resilience priorities are practical actions created during the MVP 2.0 Planning Grant process. They were shaped through community input, thoughtful discussion about changing local needs, and feedback from Environmental Justice groups and other community members.
Montague, in partnership with their Core Team, identified the following priorities through the MVP 2.0 process.
| Priorities | Potential Actions | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Priority 1: Housing | 
| Potential Actions: More housing options for low-income residents. Support for older and low-income homeowners with repairs, weatherization, and energy efficiency. Improve housing conditions and costs for renters. | |
| Priority 2: Better access to healthy food, including fruits and vegetables. | 
| Potential Actions: To be determined. | |
| Priority 3: Improved water/wastewater infrastructure to be able to withstand stronger storms. | 
| Potential Actions: To be determined. | |
| Priority 4: Improved transportation infrastructure (e.g., bridges, culverts, flooding or erosion issues) to withstand stronger storms. | 
| Potential Actions: To be determined. | |
| Priority 5: Support for outdoor workers facing difficult weather-related working conditions. | 
| Potential Actions: To be determined. | |
| Priority 6: Support for more programs for youth that support skill building and socializing. | 
| Potential Actions: To be determined. | |
| Priority 7: More bus access in the form of routes, stops, expanded schedules, and accessibility. | 
| Potential Actions: To be determined. | |
| Priority 8: A larger space and more services provided by the Senior Center. | 
| Potential Actions: To be determined. | |
Montague's MVP 2.0 Seed Project: Winter Window Inserts
Montague received funding to implement a Seed Project that addresses one or more of their climate resilience priorities. They will be hosting a “community build” to create insulated window inserts for homeowners and renters for winter and summer weather that can last 10-20 years. The goal of this project is to grow the number of energy efficient homes.
Montague's Action Grant Projects
The MVP Action Grant provides funding to communities that want to take important steps to prepare for climate change, such as dealing with extreme weather, flooding, rising sea levels, and extreme heat.
Montague City Road Flooding Protection Project: Design and Permitting (FY18)
The Town of Montague employed nature-based storm damage protection and other bioengineering methods to adapt to seasonal flooding that routinely closes one of Montague’s main thoroughfares.
Incorporating Climate Resiliency into the Montague Comprehensive Plan (FY23)
The project incorporated climate resiliency and robust public engagement into the Montague Comprehensive Plan. This was accomplished by analyzing all available climate data and applying climate resiliency recommendations to each of the individual chapters covered in a Comprehensive Plan. Read this projects MVP Case Study.
The Hill Neighborhood Green Infrastructure Master Planning (FY26)
"The Hill" neighborhood of Turners Falls houses a significant portion of the Town's residents and is increasingly threatened by erosion and road washouts due to changes in precipitation patterns brought on by climate change, and flooding and sedimentation impacts also reach beyond the neighborhood, threatening roads and properties below the hill, as well as the Connecticut River itself. Montague City Road, which is a major throughfare in Turners Falls, had to be closed 12 times in one year in recent history, and the Town also suffered a disastrous washout a few years ago which affected traffic and properties in the Hill neighborhood. As climate impacts continue to bring volatile, large storm events, the Town wants to take a proactive approach to preventing future flooding and erosion impacts by addressing dangerous stormwater runoff before it is funneled into the Town's underground drainage network and out onto the deep, sandy slopes that surround the neighborhood and are increasingly subject to erosion from high volume discharges. This project would take a first look at neighborhood-wide improvements, focusing on capturing and infiltrating stormwater near its source using dispersed green infrastructure in the Town's right-of-ways, and also begin the process of gathering data on particular problem outfalls - using a two-pronged approach to 1) shore up areas where the threat of slope failure during a large storm event is high, while 2) also tackling the root cause of the problem.