Optional Pre-Conference Tour: Monday, September 8, 2025

Join us on the Pre-Conference Tour on September 8th from 2-8 p.m. The bus tour will include stops at a stormwater wetland in Ankeny, Des Moines River oxbows, a field day featuring a wetland, bioreactors, and saturated buffers, and a networking event following the tour at Big Creek State Park where you can enjoy food, drinks, and water activities.

You can register for this event when you register for the conference. No additional fees.

2:00	Depart promptly from the FFA Enrichment Center
2:15-2:45	Creekview Stormwater Wetland Presenters: Hanna Inman, Great Outdoors Foundation John Swanson – Water Resources Supervisor, Polk County
3:00-3:30	DSM River – Oxbow Restoration Project Presenter: Justin Edwards, Natural Resource Specialist – USACE
4:00-5:30	Nick Helland Farm
6:00-7:30	Big Creek Shelter #1 Networking Food and Drink Water Activities (small watercraft available: canoe, kayak, paddleboard, etc.)
8:00	Return to the FFA Enrichment Center

Tuesday, September 9, 2025

Sessions marked with an asterisk “*” have been approved for Certified Crop Advisor CEU’s.

7:00-9:00	Exhibit Set-Up
8:00-9:00	Registration
General Session Rooms (Rooms 106 & 107)
9:00-9:15	Welcome: Bobbi Bentz, Mayor of Ankeny
9:15-10:00	KEYNOTE: Pat Boddy, Water: All the Rage
10:00-10:45	Award Ceremony: IAWA
10:45-11:30	KEYNOTE: Water Depends on Us: Building Organizational Productivity, Collaboration & Engagement From the Inside/Out* Scott Lesnick
11:30-12:30	LUNCH (provided)
Breakout Sessions: Stormwater/Urban Water (Rooms 108 & 109)
12:45-1:15	Two Dimensional Base Level Engineering (2D BLE) in Iowa – Update Chris Kahle- DNR
1:20-1:50	Cedar Rapids Flood Control System: 12th Avenue Pump Station and Riverside Park Improvements Teresa Stadelmann -HR Green Rob Davis – City of Cedar Rapids
1:55-2:25	Stormwater Master Plans: GIS Tools for Desktop Analysis Kate Barnes -HR Green
Breakout Sessions: Water & Ag (Rooms 112 & 113)
12:45-1:15	Economic Analysis of Drainage Water Recycling Systems: Costs, Benefits, and Next Steps* Spencer Pech -ISG
1:20-1:50	Improving Saturated Buffer Design, Siting, and Management: Insights and Perspectives from New Monitoring Data* Lee Tesdell – Tesdell Century Farm Gabriel Johnson – ISU
1:55-2:25	The Subfield Profitability Tool: Optimizing Co-Benefits by Integrating with the Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework* Haleigh Summers -Sand County Foundation
Breakout Sessions: Water and Health (Rooms 114 & 115)
12:45-1:15	Water Depends on Us: Building Organizational Productivity, Collaboration & Engagement From the Inside/Out Scott Lesnick – Keynote
1:20-1:50	Aquifer Vulnerability Mapping: A New Risk-Based Approach for Black Hawk County, Iowa Keith Schilling – U of I
1:55-2:25	Public Water Quality and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from the World’s Largest Nitrate Removal Facility Jason Semprin -DMU
General Sessions (Rooms 106 & 107)
1:20-1:50	Digital Poster Display Rotation
1:55-2:25	Lightning Round 1: General/Student
2:25-3:20	BREAK
2:25-3:20	Student Poster Contest: Lightning Round 1
Breakout Sessions: Stormwater/Urban Water (Rooms 108 & 109)
3:20-3:50	Morningside Neighborhood Flood Infrastructure Project – a case study on the role of smart infrastructure and resilient design for urban stormwater management Sarah Stratton- Barr Engineering Marcy Bean – Barr Engineering
3:55-4:25	Cedar Rapids Stormwater Master Plan: A Living Stormwater Model Stephanie Then Hooge – HDR Ashley Knudson – HDR
Breakout Sessions: Water & Ag (Rooms 112 & 113)
3:20-3:50	Assessing the effects of a large cattle feedlot on the water quality of Bloody Run Creek, a cold-water trout stream in northeast Iowa* Kendra Markland -USGS
3:55-4:25	Adapting to Extremes: A Scalable Framework for Climate-Resilient Conservation in Iowa* Bhuwan Shah -ISU
4:30-5:00	EH: Effectiveness of a Roadside Two-Stage Ditch for Nutrient Reduction in an Agricultural* Watershed Joe Honings – U of I
General Session: Wicked Problem Panel (Rooms 106 & 107)
3:20-5:00	Data Centers and Iowa’s Water Future: Navigating Growth, Innovation, and Sustainability Confirmed Panelists: Keith Schilling, Anne Kimber, Chad Fields, Christina Murphy, Hannah Inman, Dave Wallace
5:30-7:30	Happy Hour: Sponsored by JEO Consulting Group, Jethro’s BBQ

Wednesday, September 10, 2025

Sessions marked with an asterisk “*” have been approved for Certified Crop Advisor CEU’s.

General Sessions (Rooms 106 & 107)
8:00 – 8:30	General Session: National Weather Service Flood Inundation Mapping Services Jeff Zogg
Breakout Sessions: Stormwater/Urban Water (Rooms 108 & 109)
8:35-9:05	Design Upstream, Think Downstream: Why Watershed Context Matters Andrea McEachran – Sherwood Eng.
9:10-9:40	The Benefits of Comprehensive H&H Models for Local Governments Bret Zimmerman – Houston Eng
9:45-10:15	Tips for an Urban Drainage Study Mark Phipps – HR Green
10:15- 10:50	Break
10:50 – 11:20	When Models Collide in a New Dimension: Navigating 1D vs. 2D Floodplain Decisions on Big Papillion Creek John Callen – JEO Consulting
Breakout Sessions: Water & Ag (Rooms 112 & 113)
8:35-9:05	Comparing Microbial Communities in Woodchip and Corncob Bioreactors to Enhance Performance* Taylor Vroman – ISU
9:10-9:40	EH: Evaluating Wildlife Responses to Water Quality Conservation Practices in Working Landscapes in Iowa* Michael Rohde – ISU
9:45-10:15	EH: Fish in the Nish?* Claire Hruby – Drake University
10:15- 10:50	Break
10:50 – 11:20	Trends in nitrogen and phosphorus transport in the Cedar River in relation to nutrient reduction goals* Stephen Kalkhoff – USGS
Breakout Sessions: Water and Health (Rooms 114 & 115)
8:35-9:05	Understanding Iowa’s High Cancer Rates & Environmental Risk Factors: A Research and Community Engagement Initiative Colleen Fowle -IEC
9:10-9:40	Is the Mississippi River a source for PFAS contamination in alluvial aquifers? David Cwiertny – U of I
9:45-10:15	Farmground to Drinking Glass: Blocking Nutrient Pathways to Protect Iowa’s Groundwater* Juan Arellanes – JEO Consulting Nathan Blankman – JEO Consulting
10:15- 10:50	Break
10:50 – 11:20	Determining the environmental health of the Yellow River entering Effigy Mounds National Monument: Taking the pulse of a culturally important ecosystem Shannon Meppelink – USGS
General Session Activity
8:35-10:15	Our Water, Our Future: A Look at the Central Iowa Water Quality Report (Original Presentation Recording)
General Sessions (Rooms 106 & 107)
11:20 – 12:30	Keynote & Lunch: Michael Dahlstrom- Science Communication (11:45 – 12:30)
12:30-1:10	Student Poster Contest: Lightning Round 2
Breakout Sessions: Stormwater/Urban Water (Rooms 108 & 109)
1:15-1:45	Building a Stormwater Program That Lasts: Local Strategies from Fort Dodge and Lessons from the Field Kevin Kruse – JEO Consulting
1:50-2:20	Bridging the Gaps: Levee Risk, Unknowns, and Lessons Learned in Advancing Resilient Infrastructure Dan Fricke – JEO Consulting
2:25-2:55	Utilizing Satellite Remote Sensing and High-Performance Computing to Create a Comprehensive Water Quality Database… Leif Olmanson – UMN
3:00-3:30	Evaluation of historical bacteria records and current sources of fecal waste in the Little Sioux River* Claire Hruby- Drake University Alex Colby- Drake University
3:35-4:05	Flooding and resilience at the intersection of rural and urban communities* Julie Blackburn – ISG
Water & Science Communication (Rooms 112 & 113)
1:15-1:45	Smart Brevity for Better Water Communication* Rebekah Jones – IAWA
1:50-2:20	Lessons Learned in Water Quality Communication* Heather Wilson – IWLA
2:25-2:55	Immersing Students in Community Water Quality Kristen Bieret – Carroll County Conservation
3:00-3:30	Forecasting Water Quality Responses to Temporal Changes in BMP Implementation Using SWAT+* Shoaib Ahmed – ISU
3:35-4:05	Using Iowa’s Reservoirs to Facilitate Nutrient Removal* Elliot Anderson – U of I
Breakout Sessions: Water Quantity (Rooms 114 & 115)
1:15-1:45	Currents of Change – 4,400 Hours, 16 Researchers, and Action Steps for Change: A Water Quality Report and Call to Action in the Des Moines and Raccoon River Watersheds Elliot Anderson – U of I
1:50-2:20	Threats to Groundwater: Protecting Iowa’s Precious Resource* Wally Taylor – Sierra Club
2:25-2:55	Opportunities for Natural Infrastructure to Mitigate Flood Risk in the Mississippi River Basin Watershed Kelly Suttles – EDF
3:00-3:30	New Water Supply Reservoir for Clarke County: A Marathon with a Sprinter’s Urgency Ashley Knudson – HDR Bryce Haines – HDR
3:35-4:05	Groundwater Planning and Resource Assessment Greg Brennan – Iowa Geological Survey
General Session Activity
1:15-4:05	Documentary: Water is Love – Ripples of Regeneration