The Open Channel
CASFM Newsletter
December 2024
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Message from the Chair
Message from the Chair
As we close out 2024 and move towards 2025, it's a good time as Chair to see what we did and where we are going (without too many words to bore anyone). The 2024 Annual Conference was amazing with record numbers of attendees somewhere around 500. I hope you had a chance to attend. I personally enjoyed the workshops presented to help further knowledge. The happy hours were good too (thank you sponsors!). This was our 35th Annual Conference. For some strange reason, the first Annual Conference paper agenda has been passed from Chair to Chair. The two day conference in 1990 may have only had 60 attendees, but the themes are the same — networking, presentations, and exchange of ideas. In 2025, we will return to Steamboat Springs for the 10th time with these same themes, matching our mission and vision.
Below you will find summaries of the conference, the regional representatives, and multiple committees on what they did in 2024 and what they plan to do in 2025. These will include presentations, training, field trips, and of course some happy hours. I encourage you to take advantage of these opportunities to connect with your fellow professionals and further our industry. Your regional representatives, committee members and officers continue to try to adapt to our increased size and the constant changes that occurs in the stormwater and floodplain management arena. And of course find time to meet with friends.
Here's to a happy holidays and a prosperous (and calm) 2025!
—Danny Elsner
Conference Photo Recap
Conference Photo Recap
Thanks for attending a great conference in Beaver Creek—enjoy some photos from our membership! Hope to see you next year in Steamboat Springs.
Keynote Speaker Michael Wigge speaks on bartering his way across the world and to Jay Leno's desk
Outstanding Construction Project Winners for Kenn(e)ys Run Greenway
Fearless Conference Committee leader Jason Messamer (courtesy AI)
Urban Drool, the "official" beverage of CASFM '24 (courtesy Stream Landscape + Architecture)
Regional Updates
Regional Updates
Northeast
Northeast
The May General Membership meeting is tentatively scheduled to be in the City of Loveland.
Look out for a networking event to occur in May-June.
Check out the photos below from the early June event with a talk from Will Wilhelm!
Southeast
Southeast
Before the conference we went to WhirlyBall in August...see how much fun a social event can be?
Look out for a networking event at a local brewery in Colorado Springs in late Jan-Feb and a Fieldtrip + Happy Hour in late May/ June.
We are planning a local 1D/2D HEC-RAS training in Q1 - more details coming soon...
If you are interested in presenting a project, leading a project field trip, or leading a discussion on a topic challenging Southeast Colorado, please contact jordan.becker@matrixdesigngroup.com.
We also are planning on partnering with the ASCE SoCO Branch for another golf tournament (Aug-Sept.) to raise money for our yearly scholarships.
Northwest
Northwest
A lunch and learn, showcasing the documentary Water in the Desert: The Grand Valley and its Rivers, which tells the story of the evolving relationship between the Grand Valley and the Gunnison and Colorado Rivers, is being planned for the month of February.
Look out for the annual Western Slope in spring!
Southwest
Southwest
There has been interest expressed in training specific to 2D BLE and how to work with BLE data, rain on grid, and unsteady 2D models. The feedback indicates that attendance at previous CASFM 2D training wasn’t addressing these needs. Recommended that there could be two topic courses: intro level (2-3 day) and rain on grid (1-2 day) specialty.
Metro
Metro
Metro social held after SEMSWA field trip to Dove Creek 10/17/2024. The "monster outlet structure" pictured here located south of Broncos Parkway was at the most downstream end of the tour serving a regional detention facility for the upstream commercial and industrial development.
Municipal Stormwater Partnership (MSWaP) is a potential committee to bring municipalities across Colorado into a knowledge sharing platform that assists capital and development review staff who oversee public and private stormwater infrastructure. It's mission is to answer the question of "what do other municipalities do?" Any thoughts of format or structure can contact Melanie Walter at mwalter@arvada.org
Look for another Metro social in April 2025 at the Merrick office building in the Denver Tech Center. Christi Wisleder has offered to present how to launch an employee driven mentoring program to build connections, relationships, networks and to become more inspired in your current workplace.
Committee News
Committee News
Next committee meeting will be mid January 2025. Invites will come out after the New Year.
A Managing Floodplain Development Through the NFIP (EO273) class will be coordinated through FEMA and CWCB. The class will likely be in the Spring of 2025. A location has not been set yet. More to come.
Hoping to schedule a field trip to see the Resilient St. Vrain project in Longmont during spring runoff to see the new channel in action.
We will continue to report and comment on proposed changes to the CRS program.
We will continue to report and comment on any proposed changes to Federal Floodplain Management programs.
Last meeting held on October 21, Brian will be sending out proposed dates soon for the next meeting in January. Minutes from the previous meeting are available at this link.
We organized a tour of Dove Creek on October 17th alongside SEMSWA. Thanks to Melanie and the Metro Region for hosting the happy hour right afterwards!
We have an event on January 24th: Full-day Crash Course in Scientific Programming & Data Analytics for Civil Engineering at MHFD. Registration opening early December. Check Events page for more info.
Coordinating with region reps to try and hold trainings outside Metro Region in 2025.
We are always looking for ideas for trainings, lunch and learns, and tours. Please reach out if you have a topic that interests you, a cool project you would like to show off, or if you have provided training for another organization!
We had another great Silent Auction at the conference, thank you to all who bid on our items and helped build funding for our scholarships!
Speaking of scholarships, our newly selected 2024-25 recipients were notified in early December. We received 4 applications for the Ben Urbonas Graduate and Family Scholarships, and 7 applications to the Undergraduate Scholarship.
August 19: We had a picnic lunch at Ralston Central Park with discussion on SCM retrofits.
October 17: Colorado Springs Panorama Park field trip and happy hour at Peaks N Pines was a great success.
Meeting in early December with presentation and discussion on community values and benefits of water quality facilities, summarize the year, and start discussion of 2025 activities.
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the 2024 YMG Picnic at the Conference. It was a tremendous success with many new faces to YMG. We were happy to have some guest appearances from Danny Elsner, Jeremy Deischer, and Daniel Loewen to the picnic to show YMG how to do it.
Breaking ice at the Picnic at the Conference
Picnic at the Conference
Thank you to everyone who showed up to the bowling night you all made it such a fun event and we look forward to something similar in the future. Congratulations to Zach Purfurst to being the best bowler of the night with a score of 125!
Our next event will be a Ugly Sweater & Trivia event on Wednesday, December 11th at Public Offering Brewing Company at 1736 S Broadway, Denver, CO 80210. The Ugly Sweater Contest (or best holiday sweater) will be held at 6 pm followed by trivia at 6:30 pm. If you plan to join for trivia, please arrive at Public Offering before 6:30 to ensure we have enough players to accommodate the venue. Please RSVP to the poll sent by email or on the website. If you have any questions please reach out to casfmymg@gmail.com
Be sure to follow us on Instagram @CASFM_YMG for out latest news and events!
Book Club
Book Club
The CASFM book club recently began an enlightening journey with our chosen read, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. Our first meeting, held earlier this November, delved deep into the overlooked ways in which gender bias affects data and impacts women's everyday experiences, like working, using public transportation, and/or bearing a disproportionate care burden at home. Our conversation was both eye-opening and validating, illustrating the crucial need for awareness and action in addressing these invisible disparities.
One common theme in our discussion was the universal desire among members to foster gender equity within our field. As we move forward, we invite all CASFM members to reflect on how our designs can serve all genders equitably. By asking ourselves critical questions, we can collectively contribute to a more just and inclusive built environment. Join us as we continue to explore, learn, and advocate for gender equity in all our projects.
Toastmasters
Toastmasters
CASFM Toastmasters meets monthly at the MHFD offices to improve our public speaking and communication skill sets. We are looking forward to hosting a happy hour on December 11th and Speech-a-thon in April 2025. If you would like to join our events are listed on the Events page.
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