ASFPM Founder Larry Larson Retires After 60 Years of Service to Floodplain Management

Larson transitions to Director Emeritus, a voluntary position

“It’s not often we get to celebrate the retirement of someone who founded what the heck we do,” said Chad Berginnis, ASFPM Executive Director, speaking before a group of well-wishers at a recent Madison event.  

In fact, before the NFIP (created in 1968) and before FEMA (established by President Carter in 1979), there was a small group of floodplain managers in the Midwest working on issues around flood mapping and flood risk mitigation. Among them, Larry Larson. Last month, ASFPM staff members past and present came together to celebrate the retirement of the ASFPM founder and the man whose name has been synonymous with ASFPM since the association began in 1977. 

“I was thinking the other day that it was 60 years ago this month that I started my first job as a water resources engineer working on a large, multi-year project with the California Department of Water Resources,” said Larson.  (60 years is not a typo)

Once that project was completed, Larson returned to his native Wisconsin and started overseeing floodplain management for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, where he stayed for 30 years. While at the DNR, Larson would often meet with other floodplain professionals from across the Midwest to discuss mapping and floodplain management issues and, in some cases, their displeasure with how the federal government was handling things. Wisconsin’s flood risk management program predated the NFIP, which was under the Department of Housing and Urban Development at the time.

The late Patricia Bloomgren, who was with the Minnesota DNR, was among those who would get together, and Larson recalled the time she put an announcement in the American Planning Association’s newsletter that the Midwest states were meeting with NFIP officials to discuss concerns about the NFIP maps. Instead of the six Region 5 states showing up, there were people from 19 states in attendance, including Alaska, California, and New York. That’s when the fledgling association knew it wasn’t just a Midwest problem and it needed to take a national perspective in working to influence policy and set standards. Today the association and its 38 state chapters represent approximately 20,000 flood risk management professionals from across the United States, and ASFPM is the leading voice for sound floodplain management practices and policies.

“To see the progress by ASFPM over the years is amazing,” said George Riedel, who served as deputy director at ASFPM from 2005-2011 and came up from Missouri to attend the retirement party. “Some of the accomplishments in mapping, mitigation, insurance reform — it took lots and lots of small steps and there were times when people wanted to quit — but we’re in a much better place than we were in the early 70s and that’s all due to ASFPM and what Larry started.”

“It goes without saying that there’s never been anybody who’s as dedicated to his craft and to our profession as Larry. And if you know Larry, you know he’ll never really step away.”

chad berginnis, asfpm executive director

A Lifetime of Service

Earlier this year, the Meritorious Lifetime Achievement in Floodplain Management Award was renamed the Larry Larson Meritorious Lifetime Achievement in Floodplain Management Award. Here are just a few of the reasons why.

Larson served as the national chair of ASFPM from 1979-82 and volunteered as the executive director from 1982 until it became a paid staff position in February 1997. He then served as the association’s executive director until 2012, when he became the director emeritus and senior policy adviser.

These policy issues range from national flood and water policy to policy involving all agencies whose programs impact flood-risk management in the nation. Besides FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers, this includes policies and programs promulgated by agencies such as USDA, NOAA, EPA, DOT, DOI and Commerce, as well as the White House and Congress.

“One of the remarkable things about Larry is not only deep expertise of floodplain management issues, but his memory,” said Meg Galloway, ASFPM senior policy adviser, who also worked with Larson for many years at the DNR. “He can recall things like no one else I know. It’s one of the reasons why members and partners continue to call on him for advice.”

Larson is also the co-developer of ASFPM’s No Adverse Impact approach to community development and authored numerous white papers and articles. In addition, he frequently provides expert testimony to Congress and speaks to scores of policymakers, floodplain managers, and related groups, both nationally and abroad. In 2010, he was appointed to a three-year term on FEMA’s National Advisory Council. The NAC advises FEMA on all aspects of disaster preparedness, protection, response, recovery, and mitigation.

“It goes without saying that there’s never been anybody who’s as dedicated to his craft and to our profession as Larry,” said Berginnis. “And if you know Larry, you know he’ll never really step away. He’s transitioned to a volunteer as Director Emeritus, and we all get to continue working alongside him. His office, email, and phone will remain, and he’ll continue to come in as much as he wants, for as long as he is able.”

Please join us in wishing Larry a happy retirement — whatever form it may take.