ASFPM Foundation Hosts Larry Larson Speakers Series: Creating Flood Resilient Communities

Organized by the ASFPM Foundation, the intent of the Larry Larson Speakers Series is to create opportunities for interaction among the nation’s thought leaders on flood risk reduction policy – a topic of both policy and practice that defined Larry Larson’s career and one which was notably shaped and influenced by Larson’s life-long dedication to the field of flood-risk-reduction and work on the issues to avoiding flood losses.

April 6, 2023 found the Larry Larson Speakers Series down in the heart of Georgia at Day 2 of the Georgia Association of Floodplain Management (GAFM) Conference, located this year at the beautiful Lake Lanier Islands Resort, just outside of Atlanta. The event title was “A Conversation about Resilience – From Policy to Execution” and the panel included four national experts on resilience, moderated by ASFPM Foundation Board of Trustees member Bruce Bender. 

The panelists were:

• Doug Marcy, addressing the Federal perspective to resilience, is a Coastal Hazards Specialist at NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management in Charleston SC, where Doug is working on enhancing flooding forecast products and GIS capability, storm surge assessments and coastal hazards assessment.  He has been with the Federal government for 22 years working on translating science and providing geospatial data depicting current and future flood risk to the floodplain management community.

• Jack Krolikowski is currently the Flood Planning Director for the American Flood Coalition, where he works to advance solutions to flooding and sea-level rise at all levels of government through federal and state policy work as well as program- and project-scale engagement.  Jack is no stranger to state involvement having previously served as the Deputy Manager of the Hazard Mitigation Office at GEMA and he has also worked in the Georgia National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) office as an Environmental Engineer.  Jack spoke on the State perspective to resilience.

• Shana Udvardy, a Senior Climate Resilience Policy Analyst, with the Climate and Energy Program, at the Union of Concerned Scientists, covered both the Science and NGO perspective to resilience.  Shana conducts research and policy analysis to help inform and build support to increase resilience to climate change impacts.  She advocates for actions at the Federal and State levels to advance just and equitable adaptation measures to help safeguard communities from climate change-related risks and impact

• And our final panelist, via the technological wonders of the internet, was Jim Schwab (Jim’s flight from O’Hare got cancelled the day before the event due to bad weather in Chicago). Jim is an urban planner, consultant, author, teacher, speaker, and blogger, who happens to have grown into a niche specialty on natural hazards and disaster recovery.  Jim retired from the American Planning Association in 2017, where he was the manager of the Hazards Planning Center and where he served as editor and co-editor of Zoning Practice. Jim spoke on the Planning perspective to resilience.

The LLSS moderator,Bruce Bender, facilitated a lively discussion with questions like:

“What do you think should be the Federal / State / Science and NGO / Planning role to help build flood resilience?”

“How can we plan for future flood risk, given so many uncertainties with climate change and other external factors?  Do we need to wait on more certain information?”

There was also a lengthy discussion on “new science” regarding Climate Change information and how it is being translated into actionable information for policy and decision making

Perhaps my personal favorite question of the event was when the speakers were asked…… “What are you hopeful for?  in 5 years?  in 10 years?

Doug Marcy: “Agencies working together…. more technical assistance to communities (NC is a great blueprint for flood resilience!)…. roll out of funding for resilience”

Jack Krolikowski: “More thoughtful investment in flood resilience data and regulations…. WaterFirst project”

Shana Udvardy: “Infrastructure Bills investment…. data coming to fruition….$ for clean energy….Mitigation and Adaptation…. linkage with American Society of Adaptation Professionals”

Jim Schwab: “Focus on solar and wind energy…. rebuilding green”

Takeaways from this hour-and-a-half spirited discussion were plentiful, but one thread was common all throughout the event – everyone has “Resilience on their Mind”.

Many thanks go out to the ASFPM Foundation for bringing this event to Georgia, and the GAFM conference attendees, with special thanks to Tim Hillier and Jerry Sparks, Events Committee Co-Chairs for the Foundation. A special thanks to our Moderator, as well, Bruce Bender(Bender Consulting Services Inc) who has spent the better part of a life-time providing outreach and risk communications services to Federal, State and local governments such as FEMA’s NFIP marketing campaign (FloodSmart) and FEMA’s nationwide mapping effort, known as RiskMAP.  He also works with coastal and inland counties and communities in helping them develop and implement successful public outreach and stakeholder engagement strategies.

The Larry Larson Speakers Series (LLSS) is but one of many examples of how ongoing Chapter donations and ASFPM individual contributions to the ASFPM Foundation combine together to allow for meaningful work in flood risk reduction and floodplain stewardship that is significant for all floodplain practitioners across the United States.

A recording of the LLSS event is forthcoming and will be posted on the GAFM website when it is available.