After more than a century of intensive changes in the state’s agricultural watersheds, repeated record floods motivated Iowa to innovate in its flood recovery and disaster mitigation efforts following the 2008 floods. The state created the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) and authorized the creation of Watershed Management Authorities. With enhanced funding from the federal government for disaster recovery, the groups collaborated in four watersheds as part of the Iowa Watersheds Project.

Weber, L., Muste, M., Bradley, A., Amado, A., Demir, I., Drake, C., Krajewski, W., Loeser, T., Politano, M., Shea, B., Thomas, N., ‘The Iowa Watersheds Project: Iowa’s prototype for engaging communities and professionals in watershed hazard mitigation’, International Journal of River Basin Management, 16:3, 315-328, 2018.