Emergency Management

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) is responsible for the prevention and control of emerging and emergency diseases. ISDA coordinates with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to address Zoonotic diseases (diseases that are transmissible between animals and humans), and with the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security on animal health emergency management.

The Idaho Veterinary Emergency Response Team (IVERT) is a group of private veterinary practitioners and veterinary technicians who wish to be trained in animal health emergency management issues. They are being trained to help state and federal animal health officials respond to any foreign animal or emergency disease in Idaho. If you would like to be part of the Emergency Response Team, please complete an application* and return it to ISDA.

For Incident Command System (ICS) or National Incident Management System (NIMS) training, please request and register for courses through Idaho State University's Institute of Emergency Management. They can be reached online or by phone at (208) 373-1764.

An AGRO Terrorism Awareness CD for PC (appropriate for a general audience) is available. To obtain a copy of this, please contact Idaho State University's Institute for Emergency Management at (208) 685-6797.

ISDA is also working closely with the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security to prepare for and mitigate potential animal health emergency diseases. The Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security maintains the Idaho Emergency Operations Plan to describe the collaborative process that will take place in case of an emergency animal disease.