I also attended the ASFPM annual conference in Louisville Kentucky. This was my first conference and as Lori mentioned if you haven’t attended one in the past, I would highly encourage you to attend next year’s conference in San Antonio. As a new attendee, the conference was a great education on the structure of ASFPM and how things are actually getting done in the trenches. It was exciting to learn how easy it is to get involved in the different committees. There were over three hundred papers submitted with only about a third of them presented. As evident by this, the presentations were high quality, interesting and timely. Approximately 1,000 people attended the conference, so there were ample opportunities to network with people from different communities. With my involvement in the Omaha CSO program, I was especially interested in speaking with some of the leaders of the Louisville CSO program.
Of course conferences aren’t all about presentations. ASFPM offered several tours and outside events. I took advantage of the tours to visit Marengo Cave, canoe down the Blue River and tour Churchill Downs. It was interesting to hear how high floodwaters were in the recent past at Churchill Downs. The horses would have been swimming across the finish line if they would have raced that day. The final night of the official conference was spent in Louisville’s new downtown area called “Fourth Street Live”. If you have a chance to visit, make sure to check it out.
The theme of next year’s conference is “Mission Mitigation” in San Antonio, Texas from May 20-25. If you haven’t been to the Riverwalk, it is something you won’t forget. This year Virginia had the most participants with 116. I don’t know if we can beat that, but let’s make sure Nebraska is well represented next year.
Submitted by
Mike McIntosh
About Our Association
- Nebraska Floodplain and Stormwater Managers Association
- The Nebraska Floodplain and Stormwater Managers Association (NeFSMA) is an active organization of over 100 members representing over 50 organizations. NeFSMA pursues multiple purposes including: 1.)promote public awareness of floodplain and stormwater management; 2.) promote the professional status of floodplain and stormwater management and secure all benefits resulting there from; 3.) promote cooperation and information exchange between individuals and entities concerned with floodplain and stormwater management; 4.) keep individuals concerned with floodplain and stormwater management well informed through educational and professional seminars and to provide a method for dissemination of information, both general and technical; 5.) inform and educate concerned individuals of pending floodplain or stormwater legislation, funding and other related management matters. Please browse our website to learn more about NeFSMA at www.nefsma.net. If you are interested in joining, either contact one of the board members or complete the membership form.
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