The DNR's program is the only state AmeriCorps program in the nation that has a cooperative agreement with FEMA, the Governor, the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Services, and the Corporation for National and Community Service to provide disaster response and assistance. In recent years, members have been deployed in response to flooding in Des Moines, Cedar Falls and at Lake Rathbun; to the tornado in Parkersburg and other disasters, such as the Lake Delhi damn break.

"Our AmeriCorps members are specifically trained to help with disaster situations," says Dawn Stohs, KOLAC program director. "And unfortunately, they have been called upon to use these skills several times in the last few years."

In 2011, members have been assisting in western Iowa at the Siouxland Volunteer Center and in Council Bluffs with Missouri river flooding.