Lead by Chris Diller from the Wisconsin Department of Military Affairs, a new Wisconsin Land Information Association task force on emergency management is in the early stages of development. Having met twice in February, work is currently focused on refining a mission statement and goals. As currently written, the mission of the task force is to “identify the need and scope of a statewide emergency management geospatial strategy, and make recommendations on the steps needed to implement such a strategy.”
Originally called the Homeland Security Task Force, which in some circles implies only “man-made” disasters, the group opted to change their name to “Emergency Management” in order to highlight the important role geospatial technology plays in managing natural disasters as well.
Members currently include: Alan Lulloff (Vice-chair, Association of State Floodplain Managers), Tony Bellovary (Bay-Lake RPC), Jeff DuMez (Brown County), Andrew Jennings (East Central RPC), Thom Jones (Earth Satellite Corp.), Mike Koutnik (ESRI), Jim Lacy (State Cartographers Office), Dave Levine (Winnebago County), Jason Nyberg (Ayres Associates) , Kenneth Parsons (DNR), and Richard Vraga (USGS).
The next task force teleconference is scheduled for April 13 at 1:00. For more information, contact Chris Diller at (608) 242-3349.