MISSOULA – , housed within the 91次元’s W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation, will lead an innovative project to strengthen drought resilience in Montana and surrounding states.
The grant was awarded through the National Science Foundation’s Regional Resilience Innovation Incubators, known as the R2I2 program, to direct the Northern Great Plains Regional Incubator for Drought Resilience. This innovative project will strengthen drought resilience across Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska.
“This award is a testament to the power of regional collaboration,” said Kelsey Jencso, the grant’s principal investigator and director of the Montana Climate Office. “This effort not only will improve how we monitor and respond to drought but also will ensure that tribal and rural communities are central to shaping resilient futures.”
In addition to Jencso, investigators on the grant include UM and climate office faculty Zachary Hoylman and Kyle Bocinsky.
NGP-RIDR responds to the growing threat of climate-related disasters – droughts, wildfires and floods – which jeopardize agriculture, recreation and rural economies in the region. The project will formulate a comprehensive plan for the use of satellite data, ground sensors and artificial intelligence to monitor and forecast water availability and drought conditions. It brings together tribal nations, government agencies, farmers, researchers and businesses to build a collaborative system for assessing and managing drought risk.
The NSF’s R2I2 program supports early-stage efforts to build regional innovation ecosystems that address pressing societal challenges. NGP-RIDR was selected for its potential to become a national model for drought resilience, integrating advanced water monitoring infrastructure – like the Upper Missouri River Basin plains snowpack and soil moisture monitoring network – with cutting-edge machine-learning models to improve drought assessment and preparedness.
The project also emphasizes education and workforce development through partnerships with Tribal Colleges and agricultural communities, ensuring their participation in drought planning and response.
Key partners include the NOAA National Integrated Drought Information System, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Omaha District, the USGS Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center, the First American Land Grant Consortium of tribal colleges and universities, the Great Plains Tribal Water Alliance, Imagine H2O, AgWest Farm Credit, Synoptic Data, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and the mesonet weather station network operators and state climate offices in five participating states.
By improving disaster aid delivery, supporting sustainable agriculture and fostering new business opportunities, NGP-RIDR aims to protect the livelihoods, heritage and environment of the Northern Great Plains.
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Contact: Kelsey Jencso, state climatologist, UM professor of watershed hydrology, state.climatologist@umontana.edu.