In a Challenging Year, Much to Be Grateful For

As 2025 comes to an end, I wanted to focus my final column of the year on one of the traditional themes of this holiday season — gratitude.

Let’s not sugar coat it — 2025 was a challenging year. While we did not have a direct hit from a hurricane on the mainland, we saw significant flooding all over the country, and yet not a single request from a governor for a hazard mitigation disaster declaration has been granted since March. (By contrast, President Trump routinely approved Hazard Mitigation disaster declaration requests from governors during his first administration). Our pre-disaster hazard mitigation programs, administered by agencies such as FEMA, EPA and HUD, are either stuck or have been canceled.

We’ve seen friends and colleagues leave many of our key federal agencies in droves. Regardless of your political persuasion, what I have experienced in 30 years of working with FEMA and other agencies is that, overwhelmingly, the folks working at those agencies believe in the mission of the agency, have responded to the call to public service, and are outstanding human beings. I am grateful for having worked with them and for their dedication to public service. And for those still working in our federal agencies — your work and dedication are deeply appreciated.

State and local floodplain managers are on the front lines of managing flood risk, explaining the need for development permits, doing substantial damage determinations, conducting training, doing public outreach, and answering mutual aid calls. Many times, these actions are done against a backdrop of challenges from political leaders or a public that seemingly doesn’t care about risk. I am deeply grateful for your service and for the opportunity to meet so many of you at the dozen or so ASFPM Chapter meetings I attended this year.

Private sector partners are continuously innovating to help communities, states, and even the federal government overcome technical challenges and capacity limitations so as to meet their flood risk reduction goals. I am amazed that today we have technical marvels like glass “flood walls,” low-cost flood sensor systems, and consultants who have every type of expertise imaginable. I am grateful for their time, talent and expertise.

And then we have our partner organizations.  When I say it takes a village, I mean it takes all of us, working together to make meaningful impacts on flood risk reduction. ASFPM routinely works with over a dozen other organizations and has forged many additional partnerships throughout 2025.  I am grateful to work alongside so many organizations toward a common goal.

Finally, I am grateful for the community of ASFPM members. I’d like to think that membership in ASFPM has some unique tangible meaning to each of you, and as the CEO of this wonderful organization, I am deeply, deeply grateful for your investment in our association. I like to tell new Congressional staffers when we talk about NFIP reform, for example, that ASFPM has been here nearly since the beginning — providing input on nearly every NFIP reform bill since the 1970s. And while our ideas for reform have changed over time to reflect what we have learned, we will continue to advocate for good and meaningful public policy focused on the mission of flood loss reduction and protecting our natural floodplain functions.

In closing, I want to say that it is easy to despair, to be angry seeing everything that has happened this year, and to enter 2026 with a lot of anxiety.  I am choosing, instead, to be grateful and see opportunity. I know this to be true — given the time, talent, and dedication of all of you, we cannot help but be successful! While it is true that today we are facing unprecedented uncertainty from the federal government, it is also true that most floodplain management is “done” at the state and local level. I believe that is where we can make some great improvements, whether it be adopting stronger codes, or developing home-grown hazard mitigation, flood mapping and flood warning programs. I promise that ASFPM is committed to helping you improve your programs and achieving your flood loss reduction goals.

Happy Holidays!