U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: Building Strong, Serving the Nation and the Armed Forces 2015

U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

BUILDING STRONG SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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USACE photo

Clinton Lake in Lawrence, Kansas, is managed

by USACE’s Kansas INTERVIEW City District. Its dam is a flood control structure that protects 156 square miles of the Wakarusa Valley below. The lake offers myriad recreational activities, including camping, boating, hunting, fishing, biking, and horseback riding. USACE is the largest federal provider of water-based outdoor recreation in the nation. Its more than 400 lakes and river projects in 43 states provide a range of recreational opportunities. Visitors of all ages can enjoy traditional activities like hiking, boating, fishing, camping, and hunting, and for those slightly more adventurous, there is snorkeling, windsurfing, whitewater rafting, mountain biking, and geocaching. To find the recreation areas near you, please visit www.CorpsLakes.us.

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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USACE NEWS ON ARMY.MIL

CONTENTS

FOUR DECADES OF EXPERIENCE AS A GEOTECHNICAL CONTRACTOR

Interview with Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick .........................................8 Commanding General and Chief of Engineers

By Rhonda Carpenter

SUPPORT NATIONAL SECURITY

USACE in Afghanistan: The Mission Continues ............................... 16

By Scott R. Gourley

Taking One from the Playbook .......................................................... 19

By Scott R. Gourley

Employing Overseas Workers ............................................................21

By Scott R. Gourley

Cybersecure Facilities .........................................................................22 USACE is evolving its capabilities to meet a growing global threat.

By Scott R. Gourley

Building Quality Hospitals ................................................................26 USACE is facilitating better patient care.

By Gail Gourley

Pacific Ocean Division Humanitarian Assistance: A Key Slice of Regional Security.........................................................30

By Scott R. Gourley

USACE Ebola Response Spotlights FEST Capabilities ......................33

By Scott R. Gourley

USACE’S AGC Makes “Big Strides in Geospatial” ...........................34

By Scott R. Gourley

REDUCE DISASTER RISKS

Hurricane Katrina: A Look Back, A Look Forward ..........................38 10 years later, a new model for disaster preparedness

By Craig Collins

Engineering with Sand .......................................................................46 USACE renourishes the Eastern Seaboard following Hurricane Sandy.

By Charles Dervarics

Preserving Assateague’s Beauty and Integrity ....................................49

By Charles Dervarics

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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CONTENTS A “Sea Change of Transformation” ....................................................50 How USACE dam and levee safety programs changed in the post-Hurricane Katrina environment

By Charles Dervarics

TRANSFORM CIVIL WORKS

Climate Change .................................................................................54 With a new generation of modeling tools, USACE offers (several) glimpses of the future.

By Craig Collins

USACE’s Water Resources Civil Works Strategic Plan ......................58 A sustainable effort producing sustainable solutions

By Chuck Oldham

A Wreck Reborn: Recovering the Civil War Ironclad CSS Georgia from the Savannah River ..............................................62

By Jeremy S. Buddemeier, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District

The 2014 Water Resources and Reform Development Act .................66 A comprehensive law with comprehensive benefits to the nation

By Rhonda Carpenter

Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About USACE Hydropower ..........69 PREPARE FOR TOMORROW

Social Media Connects USACE with Stakeholders and the Public ....70

By Charles Dervarics

Sustainability ..................................................................................... 74 USACE, with the expertise of its Huntsville Center, leads the way to net zero.

By Craig Collins

STEM Education ................................................................................78 USACE and DODEA join forces to inspire a future generation of engineers and scientists.

By Craig Collins

USACE’S Wounded Warrior Program ...............................................82 Providing employment and networking opportunities for those who have sacrificed in many ways

By Gail Gourley

USACE Directory: Divisions, Districts, Centers, and Commands.....86 SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS BUILDING STRONG® Published by Faircount Media Group 701 N. West Shore Blvd.

Tampa, FL 33609 Tel: 813.639.1900 www.defensemedianetwork.com www.faircount.com

EDITORIAL Editor in Chief: Chuck Oldham Consulting Editor: Karen Buehler Managing Editor: Ana E. Lopez Project Editor: Rhonda Carpenter Contributing Writers: Jeremy S. Buddemeier, Rhonda Carpenter, Craig Collins, Charles Dervarics, Gail Gourley, Scott R. Gourley, Chuck Oldham DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Art Director: Robin K. McDowall Designer: Daniel Mrgan Project Designer: Kenia Perez-Ayala Ad Traffic Manager: Rebecca Laborde ADVERTISING Ad Sales Manager: Ken Meyer Account Executives: Steve Chidel, Art Dubuc, Charlie Poe, Geoffrey Weiss OPERATIONS AND ADMINISTRATION Chief Operating Officer: Lawrence Roberts VP, Business Development: Robin Jobson Business Development: Damion Harte Financial Controller: Robert John Thorne Chief Information Officer: John Madden Business Analytics Manager: Colin Davidson FAIRCOUNT MEDIA GROUP Publisher: Ross Jobson

COVER: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases flood water through the Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam, May 30, ​2015, a​ t a rate of 349,000 cubic feet per second to reduce the risk of flooding across the region following historic levels of rainfall. The Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam is located on the Arkansas River approximately 8 miles south of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, and was t​he ​site of the largest controlled release of water within the Tulsa District reservoir system during the spring and summer flood event. Photo by Edward N. Johnson, USACE-Tulsa, PA ©Copyright Faircount LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction of editorial content in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Faircount LLC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers do not assume responsibility for the advertisements, nor any representation made therein, nor the quality or deliverability of the products themselves. Reproduction of articles and photographs, in whole or in part, contained herein is prohibited without expressed written consent of the publisher, with the exception of reprinting for news media use. Printed in the United States of America. Permission to use various images and text in this publication was obtained from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or U.S. Department of Defense and its agencies, and in no way is used to imply an endorsement by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers nor any U.S. Department of Defense entity for any claims or representations therein. None of the advertising contained herein implies U.S. Army Corps of Engineers or U.S. Department of Defense endorsement of any private entity or enterprise. This is not a publication of the U.S. Department of Defense or U.S. government.

INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW WITH LT. GEN. THOMAS P. BOSTICK Commanding General and Chief of Engineers

By Rhonda Carpenter

Lt.

Bostick took some time out of his schedule to reflect on one of the four USACE Campaign Plan Goals – Prepare for Tomorrow – and give an update on some important initiatives related to workforce development and research and development.

RHONDA CARPENTER: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is being recognized as a top employer based on rankings in government and national surveys. To what do you attribute the accolades?

LT. GEN. THOMAS P. BOSTICK: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has a long history of providing our expertise and demonstrating the agency’s value around the world. Our professionals are working on compelling projects and technologies that are making a difference in people’s lives, such as providing water resources assistance to countries in need, researching carbon nanotube-based materials and identifying their uses for warfighters, and building and restoring habitats for endangered species. They enjoy the variety of tasks that allow them to serve the nation and serve for something greater than oneself.

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SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

We have also placed a significant emphasis on continuous professional development, mentoring, and leadership development programs, and worked on building a culture of strategic knowledge management to share best practices and spur innovation.

Providing opportunities to work on compelling projects and fostering the development of our team has created an environment in which our employees are successful and proud of their contributions to the nation and the world. This is part of the reason we have moved up from 161 to 149 on the “Best Places to Work in Federal Government” rankings in 2014 and ranked as 128 out of 503 on the 2015 Forbes “America’s Best Employers” list. The greatest area of strength in these surveys is that members of the Corps love their mission. The Corps still has work to do, however. We are actively seeking and responding to feedback from our employees and leadership on how we can be better as a team and reach the top 100 of the “Best Places to Work” list by 2016.

Official U.S. Army photo

Gen. Thomas P. Bostick is a 1978 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and holds Master of Science degrees in both Civil Engineering and Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. He is currently the U.S. Army’s 53rd chief of engineers and commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), responsible for most of the nation’s civil works infrastructure and military construction.

Prior to this assignment, Bostick served as the deputy chief of staff, G-1, responsible for total Army personnel and manpower; commanding general, U.S. Army Recruiting Command; and as the assistant division commander-maneuver; and then assistant division commander-support of the 1st Cavalry Division.

He deployed with the division in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom before commanding the Army Corps of Engineers Gulf Region Division, where he was responsible for more than $18 billion in reconstruction in Iraq. Bostick also served as an associate professor of mechanical engineering at West Point and was a White House Fellow, working as a special assistant to the secretary of Veterans Affairs.

INTERVIEW

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Jennifer Aldridge

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District colleagues hosted six STEM Essay Contest winners from Sembach and Wiesbaden, Germany, middle schools May 7 at the Amelia Earhart Center in Wiesbaden. The first-place winners from sixth, seventh, and eighth grades participated in a day of hands-on activities, presentations, a mock ribbon-cutting ceremony, and a construction project site visit. Joshua Sewell, Zachary Mouritsen, and Peggy Sue Mathis represented Wiesbaden Middle School and were joined by Taja Hicks, Jennifer White, and Le’Jhanique Brown from Sembach. In the essays, each winner successfully explained why he or she is interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields of study and career paths.

USACE continues to engage schoolchildren in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through mentoring, science fairs, and additional activities.

How successful have these efforts been over the past year?

We continue to make significant strides in our STEM outreach efforts. In support of the Army’s eCYBERMISSION program, a Web-based STEM competition for students in grades six through nine, approximately 200 USACE employees volunteered as judges, cyber-guides, and ambassadors in 2014 – up from 15 in 2012. We’ve also supported the Army VEX Robotics Competition with judges for nine regional competitions.

This fall, we’ll continue our partnership with the Department of Defense Education Activity [DODEA] to integrate our STEM program, STEM ED, into DODEA schools located where there is also a USACE presence. We launched the program in May 2013 and have received tremendous positive feedback from our volunteers: • 92 percent saw a measurable difference in students’ knowledge in the areas of the program • A ll volunteers experienced pride and a sense of community in joining with peers and co-workers to offer an innovative learning environment to DODEA students

• 92 percent plan to participate in the STEM ED program in the 2015-2016 school year We have also provided college students with research opportunities, internships, and mentors through our partnership agreements with about 90 engineer-producing colleges and universities, including North Carolina A&T, California Institute of Technology, George Mason, and Tuskegee University. A recent study conducted in coordination with the U.S. Army Civilian Human Resources Agency revealed that we are receiving job applications for our STEM openings from students and alumni at 15 of the nation’s 20 largest Historically Black Colleges and Universities as well as from students and alumni at each of the schools with which we have partnership agreements.

U.S. forces are relocating in the Republic of Korea, with construction underway at Camp Humphreys. What role does the Far East District play in these efforts?

The Far East District is at the forefront of the Corps’ largest ongoing military construction effort. Approximately 12,000 U.S. troops are moving to U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys from Yongsan Garrison and multiple locations north of Seoul. The

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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INTERVIEW

The new Weed Army Community Hospital at Fort Irwin, California. A 7.6-acre photovoltaic (PV) array and a solar thermal array will generate 2.4 megawatt-hours of power, and the solar thermal array will provide a majority of the hot water the hospital requires. The new hospital project consists of a 216,000-square-foot hospital facility that will provide Soldier and family patient care, emergency medicine, and a wide variety of clinical support. Additionally, the project includes a 9,000-square-foot renovation of the Dr. Mary E. Walker Center and construction of a helipad, ambulance shelter, and central utilities plant. The facility stands to become the first LEED® Platinum, net zero, carbon-neutral hospital that will generate all of its energy needs from solar power and renewable energy systems.

Photo by Brooks O. Hubbard IV

Corps is supporting the $10 billion effort with the construction of modern facilities in which U.S. forces will work, train, and live. In addition, new family housing units will enable more service members to bring their families to the Republic of Korea for accompanied tours.

This is a team effort. There are multiple U.S. and South Korean partners, local leaders, and contractors working together to accomplish this great mission. When completed, the Corps will have overseen construction of 655 new and renovated facilities, including the 2nd Infantry Division Headquarters, schools, barracks, medical facilities, and gyms. Essentially, a new city about the size of the District of Columbia is being built from the ground up. To date, we have achieved about 70 percent program execution.

The U.S. Army’s net zero approach includes five fundamental steps: reduction, repurpose, recycling and composting, energy recovery, and disposal. This puts the Army Corps of Engineers’ expertise front and center. Talk about USACE’s efforts to support the initiative.

Net zero requirements in energy, water, and waste do put the Army Corps of Engineers up front and center. As the manager of the Army’s Energy Program, we have placed an emphasis on energy. We are leveraging best practices in multiple areas,

including comprehensive planning; resourcing efficiency managers; exploring alternative financing and energy management control systems; and assessing the building envelope, which is the physical separator between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building. These best practices are part of our strategy to move to a holistic, multi-dimensional approach to energy solutions.

The Net Zero Initiative adopted in 2010 is one of the most important factors in enhancing installation resilience. Net zero is a holistic strategy to manage energy, water, and waste at Army installations by combining long-standing sustainable practices with emerging best practices. The intent of net zero is to enhance mission effectiveness and increase installation resiliency. By achieving net zero energy, water, and waste, our installations can more quickly recover from catastrophic events and minimize disruptions to mission operations.

In 2011, the Honorable Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, announced 17 net zero pilot installations. Fifteen installations are designed to be net zero for energy or water or waste. Two are designed to be net zero integrated energy-water-waste installations. In addition, there is one statewide Army National Guard Net Zero Energy Program.

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INTERVIEW The Army selected nine installations to pilot net zero energy by 2020 (i.e., Camp Parks Reserve Forces Training Area, Fort Detrick, Fort Hunter Liggett, Kwajalein Atoll, Sierra Army Depot, West Point, Oregon Army National Guard, Fort Bliss, and Fort Carson). These installations have made substantial progress and have great potential for energy efficiency. The Army’s goal is to have an additional 25 installations achieve net zero energy by 2030.

We’re also assisting Army, DOD [Department of Defense], and other federal agencies as they strive to achieve broader energy goals and mandates. This spring we signed a Federal Energy Management Program-USACE Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] for Performance Contracting. This MOU aims to better standardize efforts across the federal government and create a channel for federal agencies to execute energy savings performance contracts through the federal energy indefinite delivery/ indefinite quantity contracting mechanism.

Given this country’s growing reliance on renewable energy sources, can you talk about the forms of renewable energy to which USACE is contributing?

Renewable energy is a critical and integral part of the net zero equation and truly is the only way to achieve net zero. Achieving net zero and developing renewable energy propel the nation and installations toward energy independence, thus ensuring sustainability while increasing resiliency, security, and surety and allowing us to meet mission demands.

In 2014, our Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, worked with the Army Office of Energy Initiatives to award contracts to companies and small businesses in support of a $7 billion, large-scale renewable and alternative energy power production Multiple Award Task Order Contract.

Huntsville Center is also the Army’s execution partner for renewable energy projects below 10 megawatts. In May, a groundbreaking ceremony marked the beginning of a 5-megawatt solar array at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, which will become the largest solar array in the state and help reduce the post’s reliance on coal-powered energy.

On another front, as the nation’s leading owner and operator of hydroelectricity, we are responsible for about 24 percent of the nation’s hydropower supply. We currently have 353 units installed at 75 reservoirs and we are looking at a number of our smaller reservoirs to see if the possibility exists of generating power for our recreation areas. Our hydropower saves 40.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions per year. It is quite reliable and can provide electricity around the clock at predictable levels.

Given the many lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy, “resilience” is the new buzzword within the engineering and construction community. What does resilience mean to USACE and what are you doing to incorporate these principles into your planning and construction processes?

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We see resilience as the ability to prepare, absorb, recover, and adapt in the face of climate change, disasters, and other adverse events. With our diverse mission set, USACE has the capability to support military communities as well as cities and towns across the country through our engineering and design, construction, research and development, and operation and maintenance activities.

Resilience is not a new concept for the Corps, as it has been long incorporated into our projects, going back to the Mississippi River and Tributaries System, designed after the 1927 floods.

However, recent disasters in densely populated areas have increased the need to build more resilient communities.

In January, we published a report that addresses coastal storm and flood risk to vulnerable populations, property, ecosystems, and infrastructure in the North Atlantic region of the United States affected by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study was completed in collaboration with our partners, and provides a framework for decision-makers to assess risk and identify solutions to protect their communities.

We have also launched a national effort to develop consistent resilience strategies and practices across the agency, with a focus on supporting and improving community resilience.

This will help reduce risk to communities, save lives, preserve natural features and built infrastructure, and conserve resources.

Resilience is not just an engineering function – it affects civilian communities and military installations.

The recently published U.S. Army “Energy Security & Sustainability Strategy” introduced resilience as a key component of its energy and sustainability strategy for Army communities, noting that installations must be able to absorb any challenges the world presents them and recover with no loss of troop readiness. We recently stood up our Resilience Initiative across the Civil Works, Military Missions, Research & Development, and Work for Others programs. We’re in the process of developing a Resilience Strategy and Roadmap that will provide the framework for our efforts to mainstream resilience.

More and more, it seems, USACE is being called upon to share its know-how and provide humanitarian assistance with nations globally. To what do you attribute this growing international recognition of USACE capabilities? Is it sustainable?

The Corps is physically present in more than 30 countries and conducts activities in more than 110 countries annually. We have a unique set of expertise and capabilities that are of significant value to many nations. For example, in August, our professionals deployed to support recovery efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Soudelor in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. Our team worked to ensure that residents of Saipan received a muchneeded supply of drinking water.

We are called on for more than just disaster response, however.

Our expertise in water resources management is well-renowned and we’re engaged in Ghana, Brazil, Pakistan, and many other locations where USACE is making significant contributions to

INTERVIEW

Photo by 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power), Delta Company, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Delta Company of the 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power) deployed to Saipan in August 2015 and provided much-needed power line restoration support to the Federal Emergency Management Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authority missions in response to Typhoon Soudelor.

the international community on behalf of the nation. We are also involved in construction missions, including C-17 facilities in Ghaziabad, India, and a net zero energy facility at Nevatim Air Base in Israel.

We have consistently demonstrated success while working with our domestic and international partners to develop innovative solutions aimed at strengthening partner-nation capacity to address challenges that are critical to achieving stability, sustainability, and economic development. In Togo, West Africa, we have been designing and constructing schools, clinics, and waste transfer stations in partnership with U.S. Africa Command and Embassy Lomé.

For more than six months beginning in September 2014, USACE supported USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] in the humanitarian assistance effort to contain the spread of the Ebola virus. Our team provided their expertise to support the construction of life-support facilities, such as Ebola treatment units in Liberia and logistics facilities in Senegal.

One of our goals in undertaking humanitarian assistance missions is to build other nations’ capacity, which will lead to

sustainable and stable environments. As long as our assistance and expertise are needed globally, USACE’s work will continue.

Likewise in this country, more and more it seems USACE is expanding its work with interagency partners. Could you please talk about this effort?

With our partners, we continue to provide great service to our nation – delivering quality facilities and meeting mission needs.

We leverage the interagency breadth of expertise to deliver quality engineering and construction projects in support of the Army and the nation. Our unique authorities, partnerships, and capabilities enabled us to deliver $905 million in projects in support of nearly 70 domestic stakeholders in fiscal year 2014, including the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency], Customs and Border Protection, Department of Energy, and NASA. We have also completed significant work for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Defense Health Agency, and others to build world-class medical facilities such as the Fort Belvoir Hospital and the Fort Riley Hospital replacement. These buildings include state-of-the-art technology and physical space

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INTERVIEW that allows for more efficient interaction between hospital staff and patients.

In Sacramento, California, we have been working with the Bureau of Reclamation to construct a new spillway at Folsom Dam. The bureau was responsible for the main excavation of the spillway, which was completed in 2011. USACE is responsible for the remaining excavation, which is on schedule and on budget to finish by October 2017. By combining our efforts, we are saving the taxpayer money and reducing flood risk for Sacramento much faster than we could have by working separately.

It seems that at a time when other countries are increasing their investments in infrastructure projects, the U.S. investment in infrastructure is declining. What is USACE doing to ensure that its appropriations go as far as possible?

For fiscal year 2015, we received more than $5.4 billion in civil works appropriations. As good stewards of taxpayer money, we are significantly advancing and completing studies, construction projects, and maintenance requirements that are critical to the future of the nation’s water resources infrastructure.

President [Barack] Obama signed the Water Resources Reform and Development Act [WRRDA] of 2014 into law in June 2014.

The authorities provided in WRRDA will help USACE continue to provide value to the nation in developing and maintaining the nation’s waterways and harbors, reducing damages from storm

events, and restoring the environment. The act, which had overwhelming bipartisan support, provides numerous opportunities for the Corps to investigate and better understand potential for alternative financing including nonfederal project delivery and publicprivate partnerships. WRRDA, however, is an authorizing piece of legislation that does not include funding. Separate appropriations must be enacted to execute many of WRRDA’s provisions.

The Miami Harbor deepening project in Florida is an excellent example of the use of alternative financing and innovative financing options. Miami-Dade County advanced all of the funds for construction, including the federal share. These funds were provided in full recognition that there is no commitment on the part of the Army or federal government for reimbursement.

The port decided to advance completion of the project while relying on the technical expertise and construction management experience of the Corps.

What is the one challenge that wakes you up at night?

The U.S. is under-investing in its public works infrastructure, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers infrastructure report card. The nation requires $3.6 trillion by 2020 to achieve a good state of repair. Currently, the estimated investment is about $2 trillion, which leaves a shortfall of $1.6 trillion.

Failure to adequately invest in the infrastructure is proving costly; however, the federal government cannot fund this requirement

INTERVIEW

U.S. Army photo by Randy Gon

Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, U.S. Army chief of engineers and commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, explains the importance of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure through partnerships and innovation during a celebration for the competition of the control structure of the Folsom Dam Auxiliary Spillway Control Structure – Joint Federal Project Phase III. The project is part of a $900 million cooperative effort to improve the safety of Folsom Dam and reduce flood risk for the Sacramento, California, area.

alone. The nation will need a strategy to address the public works infrastructure so that it remains viable for future generations.

Aug. 29, 2015, marked 10 years since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The storm fundamentally changed the way the United States – and the Corps of Engineers – thinks about risk. Prior to Katrina, the hurricane protection system in place in New Orleans was really a system in name only. It had been in construction for about 40 years and was only 50 percent complete, constructed to different design standards, and operated and maintained by a number of local agencies. PostKatrina, the federal government spent $130 billion in response and recovery efforts, including $14.5 billion for a state-of-the-art risk reduction system. Today, New Orleans has the greatest level of storm damage risk reduction in its history, and it shows what can be accomplished when critical infrastructure efforts are fully funded and enabled.

During Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, risk reduction methods worked when they were available. Our performance evaluation study showed that despite unprecedented waves and water levels substantially greater than design conditions, several of our projects in the extreme exposure area provided significant levels of storm damage reduction by mitigating wave-induced structural damages for most of the area. On the other hand, areas without Corps projects, including the bay side of many

locations and ocean-front areas without dunes or beaches, were subject to significant damages.

Fully investing in the nation’s infrastructure is more costeffective in terms of safety and economic investment than the enormous investment that comes with disaster response.

Our nations’s leaders understand the importance of addressing the country’s infrastructure challenge and we are working together to determine the best way ahead.

The Water Resources Reform and Development Act [of] 2014 authorizes 34 construction projects across the country, including projects for navigation, ecosystem restoration, and flood risk management. The bill also reduces the existing USACE backlog by de-authorizing $18 billion of old, inactive projects or portions of projects authorized prior to Water Resources Development Act [of] 2007.

To date, we have completed a comprehensive, prioritized inventory of our infrastructure assets to assist in determining what projects will be maintained, rehabilitated, decommissioned, or deferred for alternative financing. We have also developed pilot studies to use a watershed-informed budgeting approach to fund infrastructure projects. This approach identifies how USACE and non-USACE infrastructure depend on each other in the same system and determines which projects provide the greatest value to the nation. Through these efforts and others, we hope to achieve high-quality and enduring infrastructure solutions for our nation.

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SUPPORT NATIONAL SECURITY

USACE IN AFGHANISTAN: THE MISSION CONTINUES

By Scott R. Gourley

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Aerial view of the new Ministry of the Interior (MOI) headquarters in Kabul.

MOI oversees the Afghan National Police force.

All photos by Mike A. Glasch, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic Afghanistan District

W

hile some had anticipated a “winding down” or “completion” of activities in Afghanistan during the 2014-2015 time frame, there is certainly no evidence of that in a recent U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) portfolio that included 34 projects under construction, 21 projects in pre-award status, and another 39 potential new projects.

“The strategic message that I like is: The mission continues,” offered Col. Paul E. Owen, commander of the Transatlantic Afghanistan District. “Our motto here used to be ‘Building Strong/ Finishing Strong.’ But now it’s ‘Charlie Mike’ [Continue Mission], because at this point, we see a long-term presence for USACE well beyond 2016 or 2018.”

Reflecting on the project tally noted above, Owen said that the 94 projects had a total value of “a little less than $1 billion,” adding, “and we see that has the potential to grow.”

Owen reflected on how the USACE mission in Afghanistan has evolved over the past few years from a portfolio focused extensively on military construction and Commander’s Emergency Response Program projects to broader efforts focused on Afghanistan’s future infrastructure.

“The big emerging programs are with the Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund – in the form of the Northeast Power and Southeast Power systems that are going to help provide electricity to a lot of the population centers in Afghanistan,” he explained. “That’s one of the big mission areas we have going forward as part of a larger effort that’s being done with USAID [U.S. Agency for International Development] and other parts of the United States government.”

Another ongoing project involves an expansion of the Northern Electrical Interconnect System to run “grid power” to a series of regional Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) facilities that USACE has previously built.

“In the past, they have always been powered by generators,” Owen said. “Those generators cost money to keep fueled up. They cost money to maintain. And it’s a lot cheaper if we can get them on the grid power.”

“Power is quite abundant in the north parts of Afghanistan where it comes into the country from sources with excess capacity to sell at a lower cost of generation,” echoed Gordon Simmons, chief of engineering and construction for the USACE Transatlantic Afghanistan District. “We have good transmission lines in the north, but no connection between those transmission lines and the ANA and ANP bases that are anywhere from 18 to 40 kilometers away from those power lines.”

Another area of recent growth involves 14 master plans supporting gender construction projects that USACE is conducting for the ANA and ANP. The projects include barracks, conference and training centers, gymnasiums, and even child development centers for use by the increasing number of women joining the ANA and ANP. “It’s all designed with cultural sensitivity to the separation that is necessary for the women, but allows them equal opportunities and equal types of living conditions and quality of life with the men in the ANA and ANP,” Simmons said.

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Simmons said that the gender projects began around March 2015 and are “very popular.”

“The effort is funded by several different countries,” he explained.

“There is a committee of well-educated women from various countries – to include President [Mohammad Ashraf] Ghani’s wife – who are very involved in developing this program. And we are actually in the process of developing 14 different master plans for some locations that will go before that committee to get their approval and to make sure that we construct what is needed to support this program.”

Owen characterized the new segregated facilities as “the first step in becoming a more integrated society when it comes to women’s rights here in Afghanistan.”

Another area of significant USACE accomplishments can be seen in the development and employment of local construction expertise.

To illustrate the point, Craig Pierce, deputy district engineer for programs and project management for the Transatlantic Afghanistan District, pointed to the fact that 16 out of the 27 projects currently in pre-award status are being awarded using the Section 886 “Afghan First Authority” authorized in the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act.

“Part of our overall mission here – not just USACE – is to train, advise, and assist” the Afghans, Pierce said. “What we’re trying to do is help build the capacity of Afghans to accomplish their own infrastructure work. So it is important for us to find projects that we can give to Afghan companies” Owen described the ongoing capacity building as a two-part process, beginning with an infrastructure that allows the government of Afghanistan to command and control their forces across the country and then building on that foundation with an Afghan workforce that is able to operate, maintain, and build future facilities.

“And I think we’ve done a tremendous job with our construction reps and our quality-assurance guys teaching the Afghans how to improve the quality of their construction,” he said.

The bulk of the quality-assurance expertise noted by Owen can be found in assets known as local national quality assurance (LNQA) teams.

“The teams are composed of very highly skilled Afghan engineers who have graduated from universities – some in the United States and some here in Afghanistan,” he said. “They are our eyes and ears for the projects. So they are a key part of making sure that the project is built the way that we had intended.”

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ABOVE: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic Afghanistan District plays a vital role in the future safety and security of Afghanistan by constructing bases for the Afghan National Army (ANA) like this base for the ANA’s 201st Corps in Gamberi. LEFT: Clark Carroll (left), Transatlantic Afghanistan District project engineer for the Marshal Fahim National Defense University (MFNDU) projects, talks with a local national quality assurance (LNQA) representative after a walk-through inspection of one of the buildings under construction at MFNDU. LNQAs play a vital role, working as USACE’s eyes and ears on the ground at project sites that are not always accessible to U.S. personnel.

Simmons pointed to the “obvious goodness” in the LNQA program, offering, “We’re teaching them exactly what we need to see and exactly what they need to look for to do the kind of quality assurance that we need on all these facilities. It’s a bit harder, because we already know those things and we could go out there and probably be more efficient looking at it. But in the end, we’re doing two things: We’re building a quality product and we are teaching these LNQAs at the same time.”

Afghanistan’s domestic construction capabilities have been further expanded through USACE partnerships with local groups like the Afghan Builders Association. The group not only helps local Afghans to develop and start their own businesses but is also helping to develop standardization requirements for local building materials, with those requirements eventually paving the way for standardization in construction material manufacturing, Looking toward the future, Owen identified “potential for us to get more involved in water resource management and other large infrastructure improvements projects.”

“We’re seeing a high level of confidence in USACE from the highest levels of the government of Afghanistan at this point,” he added.

“But the future also depends on international donor nations that are willing to invest in Afghanistan’s future. And security plays a big part of that, because those international donors will want to believe that there is a bright future for Afghanistan before they invest.”

Simmons provided representative vignettes of that bright future. Referring to the ANA use of the large garrison facilities previously constructed by USACE, he offered, “[Look] at what they’re doing this year, now that the U.S. and coalition partners have pulled back from the fighting role and are in more of an advising role. And the Afghan [National] Army is out there, actively engaged in counterinsurgency. They are in the fight.

They are taking their hits. But they are acting as an Army.”

Pierce concurred, adding, “The facilities we have built for the Afghan Army have definitely enabled their ability to take the fight to the enemy. They are doing it and you can see it happen.”

“The government and people of Afghanistan are taking big steps in the right direction,” Owen concluded. “And USACE’s role is that we are about the economic development of the country. So the things we are dealing with – things like electricity and potentially water – can have direct impacts into the ability for their economy to expand.

That’s a key part for Afghanistan to prosper and allow the United States to withdraw.”

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TAKING ONE FROM THE PLAYBOOK

BY SCOTT R. GOURLEY

USACE photo

It speaks volumes about the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) agility when it can “take one from a playbook” that had not yet been published. But that’s exactly what happened in fall 2014, when disparate USACE elements united to rapidly establish a new Operational Command Post (OCP) in support of Iraq’s Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR).

According to Lt. Col. Todd Heuser, the then-officer in charge of the Transatlantic Division’s (TAD) OCP, the “playbook,” which has yet to be published, emerged from a process that analyzed experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan to codify procedures for contingency construction in combat theaters.

“One of the first things that’s supposed to happen is to ‘flex forward’ an assessment cell to meet with the task force to understand the emerging requirements in theater, and then bring to the table the correct capabilities of USACE to efficiently support the operation,” he explained, adding that, in this case, the process was facilitated by strong USACE liaison officer (LNO) relationships at both U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and U.S. Army Central Command (ARCENT).

With the establishment of a U.S. Combined Joint Task Force in Kuwait to support OIR, USACE deployed its LNO forward in mid-July 2014. A series of “interim” LNO deployments created the foundation for the formal USACE assessment team, with Heuser deployed in AugustSeptember – initially as a civilian and then an activated reservist – to lead that team.

Early team members included Heuser; Thomas Jankiewicz, the Transatlantic Middle East District chief of plans and operations; 1st. Lt. Keith Hill, a USACE G-2 operations officer; and Jim Fields, a military planner from the Southwestern Division.

“We had a FEST [Forward Engineer Support Team] in Jordan at the time, with other requirements for some specialized USACE teams,” Heuser said. “Those requirements were filled shortly after we got there with

Members of the 542nd Engineer Detachment Forward Engineer Support Team-Advanced (FEST-A) augmented with a team of USACE dam experts inspected Iraq’s largest dam, Mosul Dam, with Iraqi engineers and representatives from the Ministry of Electricity and Water Resources to assess the dam’s structural integrity and its ability to manage the reservoir level, February 2015. The 542nd was stationed in Kuwait from January to June 2015 and was commanded by Maj. Jason Winkelmann.

some ad hoc teams and some specialists from ERDC [Engineer Research and Development Center].”

“In the November 2014 time frame, we got the authorization to send a second FEST over,” he added.

“The 249th [Engineer Battalion] showed up with a platoon and at that point, we became more than just an assessment team. Throughout the period, we called ourselves ‘the OCP’ but there weren’t that many resources forward until November.”

OCP missions included support to the FESTs and other deployed specialty teams, including a TAD real estate specialist tasked with handling the legalities of camp space at various locations in Iraq.

“OCP specialties crossed a lot of sectors within USACE,” Heuser concluded. “From ERDC’s technical expertise to the dam safety community of practice to on-site FEST capabilities to the USACE Reachback Operations Center to leverage all 32,700 people in the Corps.”

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EMPLOYING OVERSEAS WORKERS Whether deploying to a combat zone, a natural disaster, or to help halt a potential pandemic, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) civilian volunteers have a remarkable record of applying their talents overseas in support of national and allied interests. In fact, one-third of the total number of civilians deployed by the U.S. Army are USACE volunteers.

“We have had 11,000 deployments to Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, Freedom’s Sentinel, Inherent Resolve, United Assistance, and elsewhere,” said Sue Engelhardt, SES, director of human resources at USACE Headquarters. “Once you start working for the Corps, you realize that it is all about the mission and the fact that people want to be part of something that matters. That’s our culture.

It’s what we’re all about.”

Organizational culture aside, she identified some of the “best practices” implemented by USACE to help ensure the success of the civilian deployments.

For example, deployment coordinators work with the USACE divisions to identify volunteers for upcoming openings. The coordinators then work with the division commanders in educating, recruiting, and managing the appropriate volunteers.

“That’s one of the best practices,” Engelhardt said.

“And the fact that we are able to have someone doing that as a collateral duty or a full-time duty means that we think it’s pretty important.”

Another practice involves using a critical-fill matrix to highlight known job openings for key management positions and provide a predictable schedule as to when those openings need to be filled. That matrix information allows individuals and their home stations to coordinate a potential deployment considering mission requirements and the employee’s personal needs.

USACE’s Transatlantic Division (TAD) also uses its website, www.tad.usace.army.mil/Careers/ Deployments.aspx, to facilitate overseas deployment decisions.

“People can go on it and see what it really means to deploy,” Engelhardt explained. “A lot of information out there is word of mouth. But part of the deployment decision process needs to be learning what deployment is about and not just taking somebody’s word for it.”

USACE photo

BY SCOTT R. GOURLEY

ANA 201st Corps Regional Military Training Center. Project engineer Charles Wheeler (center, rear) and construction representative Willie Rucker (center, front) talk with the Afghan contractors at the project site, while Maj. Eric Cook (right) speaks with one of the site engineers.

Another TAD best practice is the USACE Contingency Recruitment Cell that further examines vacancies and matches them up with volunteers. They also support downrange supervisors with reference checks, interviews, and other administrative issues accompanying the selection process.

Finally, Engelhardt pointed to the importance of monthly calls between the USACE operations director and the divisions in “eliminating the mysteries” of overseas operations.

“People in the Corps of Engineers have a chance to go somewhere at the forefront of national interests and make a difference,” she concluded. “That benefits the individual who deploys. It also benefits USACE. And it benefits the nation.”

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CYBERSECURE FACILITIES USACE is evolving its capabilities to meet a growing global threat.

By Scott R. Gourley

C

ybersecurity is an emerging front in the battle to protect both military and civilian infrastructure projects. Not surprisingly, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is at the forefront in developing measures to secure the facilities that it designs and constructs from hackers and others who wish to cause harm.

“That cyber threat is real,” said Stacey K. Hirata, P.E., SES, chief of the Installation Support Division at USACE Headquarters. “I don’t think anyone would question that. And our vulnerability to this threat is through our IT [information technology] networks and the capabilities of our adversaries to do bad things in our facilities, to impact our mission, or to disrupt our work.

“Fortunately,” he quickly added, “we have tremendous experience, capability, and technical capacity to address the ever-evolving cyber threat.”

Hirata, who is one of the headquarters proponents for cybersecure facilities, explained that USACE is not only an owner/operator of its own facilities but also serves as a design and construction agent for the Department of Defense (DOD) and other federal agencies.

Robert Kazimer, SES, chief information officer (CIO) of USACE, says, “Ensuring the security of systems supporting facilities is a requirement for the accreditation and operation of those facilities. Each facility that USACE builds is a unique engineering solution and an opportunity to innovate.”

That broad involvement benefits from USACE cyber-protection capabilities in four key areas: expertise, diverse capabilities, evolution, and growth.

“We have pockets of expertise throughout USACE,” Hirata explained. “Within civil works, for example, we have a Critical Infrastructure Cyber Security Center of Expertise in Little Rock [Arkansas] and a Hydroelectric Design Center in Portland [Oregon] that both work on specific industrial controls and supervisory control and data acquisition systems to mitigate the risk of equipment, functions, and operations that touch the USACE IT network. Those types of efforts focus on USACE [as] owner/operator of the facilities as well as the IT network.”

He continued, “Within our military program mission set, the military operates on LandWarNet, which is controlled by NETCOM [U.S. Army Network Enterprise Technology Command] and the Army CIO G-6. And they have similar rules about what is required for military facilities that operate on their network.”

Reflecting just a small slice of the diverse capabilities that USACE brings to the cybersecurity arena, Hirata said that the design and development of these military facilities are supported by several

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additional program offices within the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, “that involve industrial controls and operating through a network.”

“The thing that comes to mind here [is the] Utility Monitoring and Control Systems Mandatory Center of Expertise,” he said. “These are systems that read devices, meters, and temperatures and then make decisions about when you cycle on or off something like air conditioning or another facility element.

“We also have an Electronic Security Systems [Mandatory] Center of Expertise out of Huntsville,” he added. “That center focuses on things like electronic security in an arms room, fire alarm systems, and those kinds of things that also involve industrial controls and operate on a network. And more recently the Army’s [energy and resource] metering program is being operated out of Huntsville as well. And that’s where we have the most experience and ‘battle scars’ that have led us further into helping the Army find solutions to the cyber threat.”

Another key strength that USACE brings to the cyber arena involves evolving capabilities to meet a growing threat.

“The cyber threat is evolving,” Hirata said. “Just as quickly as we identify and fix vulnerabilities, our adversaries are finding new ways of doing things. So we are evolving, too.

“The last USACE strength that I would highlight is that we are growing,” he continued. “This threat is not going to go away anytime soon. So we’re growing capacity and capability.”

Part of that capability growth has included the creation of an industrial control systems advisory committee to help synchronize efforts across USACE as well as creation of the Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Technical Center of Expertise (TCX) also in Huntsville.

Dan Shepard is “dual-hatted” as the chief of the new Huntsville center of expertise as well as the center’s Information Assurance and Information Technology Branch.

“What we do here at the TCX is not the traditional ‘brick and mortar’ approach that most people associate with the Corps of Engineers,” Shepard explained. “Instead, we approach our solutions by taking those brick and mortar aspects into consideration as we integrate and field systems into these facilities.”

He said that the TCX gets involved early in the government contracting process, examining each of the building systems – building automation, utility monitoring and control systems, electronic security systems, smart grids for energy, renewable energy platforms, and other systems – to ensure that they meet customer requirements and then ensuring that the contract language is adequate to

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SUPPORT NATIONAL SECURITY support the acquisition of products that have been vetted and approved from a cyber aspect.

“We’re looking at it from a holistic approach; not only from a contracts aspect but also in getting the systems assessed, authorized, and approved to operate on government networks,” he said. “That’s our primary role.”

Shepard said that the synergistic process involves the efforts of project delivery teams within the Huntsville Center as part of the integration of unique expertise from across “the USACE universal footprint.”

The assessment and approval process also highlights one of the representative technical challenges identified by Hirata.

“When you build a facility, it is what specific heating, ventilation, or industrial controls you are putting in that’s important,” Hirata said. “The source of manufacturing is very important; the supply chain can introduce vulnerabilities.”

Acknowledging that USACE construction activities have been guided by the Buy American Act over the last several years, he said that many aspects of cybersecurity design have served to expand the importance of that guidance.

“We stress the act more today because we also are concerned about the supply chain,” he said. “We are just more confident that products built in America will have fewer vulnerabilities. In fact, let me be very specific: It’s not unusual for material coming from certain locations overseas to have embedded chips. And we believe that is less likely to occur if that material is manufactured in America.”

From his perspective in Huntsville, Shepard characterizes the emphasis on cybersecurity as an “enhancement to an existing focus within USACE.” “We’ve always had traditional network infrastructure and communications infrastructure that have been integrated into facilities when we build them,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if they are locks, dams and levees, or an actual physical building. We have always had those standards. … But the cybersecurity aspect is an enhancement that dovetails to that.”

Shepard offered the analogy of a highway construction project in which “the base standards provide the physical specifics for building the road.” For Army building projects, those base standards are identified in the Army’s “Installation Information Infrastructure Architecture (I3A) Guide.”

“Those are the types of standards that guide placement of a communications infrastructure into a building,” he observed.

“Now think of the cyber aspect as the car that will travel on that infrastructure highway. I have to ‘secure’ that car with a rigid frame, suspension, tires, and airbag system. Likewise, we look at the ‘security’ of the infrastructure being integrated into a building.”

Shepard was quick to credit the “people and the talent” from across USACE as the critical enablers of successful building designs.

“The capabilities across the Corps are second to none,” he asserted. “Nowhere else will you find this vast array of expertise. We have traditional ‘brick and mortar’ expertise from civil structures.

We have mechanical and electrical expertise. We have geoscience experts. We have interior designers. We have architects. We have IT people. So we apply all of that expertise that we have across the

Daniel Shepard, chief of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Industrial Control Systems Cybersecurity Technical Center of Expertise (TCX) at the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville, reviews a customer’s Utility Monitoring and Control System wiring diagram. The TCX assists military customers in ensuring their systems and facilities have the required integrated security solutions needed to operate on government networks.

Corps enterprise to the mission requirements of so many diverse customers in civil works and across the Department of Defense.

We deal with so many role players that we see a vast footprint.

And that only enhances our internal skill sets to be able to support all those missions.”

Emphasizing ongoing USACE coordination with the broader construction community regarding evolving cybersecurity design criteria, Shepard offered, “Moving forward, when we turn a building over, we are making every attempt to give a turnkey solution to the customer. When you take occupancy of that building, you will have a cybersecure facility.

“There is a ton of expertise in the cybersecurity realm for traditional IT across the Army,” he summarized. “But now we want to be the mission leader in our niche area of industrial control systems. We want to be the voice in the engineering community that has an IT facility security background and a cybersecurity background for the entire DOD.” Hirata concluded his own comments by echoing a similar portfolio expansion perspective.

“If someone looked at our organization chart a year and a half ago, they would have seen some centers of expertise but they would not have known that USACE has experts looking at things like industrial control systems and their impact on cybersecurity of facilities. And that was one of the reasons that we stood up the new organization [TCX] in Huntsville: to put the cybersecurity ‘banner’ out there, so that people would know that we are a design and construction agent and, while not necessarily a network operator, we understand the connections as they relate to the cybersecurity threat.”

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BUILDING QUALITY HOSPITALS USACE is facilitating better patient care.

By Gail Gourley

It

may be difficult to conceptualize how a patient’s outcome could be affected by a hospital structure during its construction phase, when it’s a scene of hard hats, heavy machinery, and a skeletal arrangement of walls and wires. But to those in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) involved in designing and constructing world-class military medical facilities, that concept is very much an integral part of the process.

Currently, USACE brings its expertise to approximately 85 active medical military projects domestically, in various design and construction phases, and 12 projects overseas in Japan, Korea, and Germany.

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Photo by USACE Savannah District

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SUPPORT NATIONAL SECURITY An exterior view of the newly unveiled Martin Army Community Hospital located at Fort Benning, Georgia. Since opening in November 2014, the hospital’s 745,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility improves the area’s medical capacity to provide inpatient, outpatient, and ancillary services to a military community of more than 90,000 Soldiers, their family members, and retirees.

As a whole, the military construction (MILCON) program encompasses a wide spectrum of components, according to Richard A. Hancock, P.E., PMP, SES, chief of the Military Programs Integration Division. In addition to traditional large MILCON projects, USACE’s military programs include environmental, real estate, international and interagency support as well as sustainment, restoration, and modernization (SRM) efforts and installation maintenance support.

“If you look at our overall program, this year we’re doing about $19 billion of work,” Hancock said. “If you look at just the medical program to support our DOD [Department of Defense] proponents, it’s probably in the range of about $1 billion this year.”

That figure, encompassing Army, Air Force, Navy, and some foreign government work, includes construction of new facilities or additions and alterations to existing hospitals, SRM, and operations and maintenance support. Currently, 17 medical facilities are under construction in the United States: six new, large hospitals; five outpatient clinics or research labs; and six alteration or renovation projects.

For perspective, Hancock said, “In the early 2000s, our medical program was fairly small. We had five projects a year, growing from the early 2000s to about 2011 when we peaked. In 2011, we had about $2 billion worth of [medical] MILCON projects; that doesn’t include the sustainment and restoration – it was just new construction or big alterations.

“As the footprint of the military shrinks, the medical program also shrinks,” he continued. “We’re probably not going to see as many new hospital [projects]. We probably will see continuing renovations of hospitals and clinics.”

Coinciding with a heightened focus on cost reduction and efficiency, USACE utilizes building information modeling technology during the design process. “We are essentially doing 3-D modeling of our projects so that we can identify any conflicts of the complex systems – mechanical, electrical, medical gas, those kind of things,” Hancock said. “It also allows health care providers to take a look at the functionality of the layouts.” Conflicts not visible on a 2-D design may become apparent when displayed three dimensionally, which can prevent change orders and additional cost.

“There is a growing trend to get all of the stakeholders involved early in the process, right up in the planning stage,” Hancock said. Innovative approaches like early contractor involvement and integrated design-bid-build “get the designers talking to the constructors earlier than we traditionally have done, and we have the stakeholders and the people who are going

to be inheriting and operating the project involved in those discussions, too.”

While most of their current portfolio of major new construction is under the sequential design-bid-build project delivery system, Hancock said they’re starting to see a design-build approach in some of their major projects, where the contractor is involved in the design process.

The new hospital at Fort Benning, Georgia, completed May 2014, was the first USACE constructed using the design-build strategy, according to Medical National Program Manager Steven E. Robinson. “The unique thing is that it used an integrated technology,” he said. “With an integrated technology, all of [the participants] come on board at the beginning of construction … so the entire project through completion, to the point where you turn it over to the proponent, runs very smoothly and efficiently.”

He added, “It’s the first time that the Corps has used this concept with a designbuild project on a major hospital. And it was a glorious success because the project came in under its original budget.”

Facilities scheduled for completion in 2015 include the $802.3 million San Antonio Military Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, which is part new construction and part renovation of the existing Brooke Army Medical Center, and a $404 million replacement hospital at Fort Riley, Kansas.

The $683 million replacement research and laboratory facility at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, Maryland, is an incremental project; the first of six segments was completed in 2013, with the remaining annual increments scheduled for completion in 2017. Robinson said it’s distinctive because it’s a national biodefense facility that contains Biosafety Levels 2, 3, and 4, mandating unique and specific design and construction requirements.

While USACE has participated in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical projects in the past, Robinson describes it as mostly SRM-type work or small new construction projects. “There is recently a move to do more large-facility new construction for the VA,” he said.

Robinson said USACE constructs all its medical facilities utilizing the world-class design concept that includes a composite of

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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Elizabeth Lockyear, Albuquerque District, Public Affairs

Photo by Katie Newton

LEFT: Albuquerque District Commander Lt. Col. Patrick Dagon (second from left) joins Lt. Col. Kathleen Mackey, commander of the 49th Medical Support Squadron (third from left), and Col. Leslie Knight, commander of the 49th Medical Group (fifth from left), to break ground on the new medical clinic at Holloman Air Force Base, New Mexico, July 1, 2015. RIGHT: As part of the massive renovation at the state-of-the-art WrightPatterson Air Force Base Medical Center Complex, there are eight new operating rooms to provide better patient care.

factors, ranging from a physical structure and technology that enhance functionality and the ability of health care providers to treat patients efficiently and effectively, to an environment that promotes wellness and healing with things like natural light and landscaping.

“The Corps of Engineers is the largest and, I would say, most premier engineering design and construction organization in the world,” Robinson summarized. “We’ve been doing this now for 240 years, and as such we have it down to a science. But having said that, we are a learning organization, so as new technologies come on board, as advancements in industry happen, we’re learning all the time how to incorporate those advancements and utilize those technologies in our business.”

Another key component of the medical MILCON process is the Medical Facilities Mandatory Center of Expertise and Standardization (MX) at the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center in Alexandria, Virginia, with the mission to provide medical technical consistency across the spectrum of medical MILCON activity. Established in 1978 as directed by Congress, its use is mandatory for all USACE DOD medical facilities including hospitals, clinics, research laboratories, and veterinary facilities.

“There are things that are absolutely unique about building a hospital,” said MX Chief Anthony J. Travia III, P.E., CFM. He explained that the MX provides specific subject-matter expertise to the USACE districts as they engage in medical projects, rather than each district having to maintain medical expertise during potentially lengthy gaps when they may not be involved in medical construction.

Two groups comprise the MX staff. The project directors provide support and coordinate timing and reviews as liaison with the geographic districts. The technical engineering staff performs the actual design review regarding critical codes that specifically affect medical facilities, such as fire protection, life safety, emergency power generation, lighting, medical gases, communications, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), and space planning.

Travia emphasized the professionalism of the MX engineers, some of whom have participated in writing various codes. “When the MX presents expertise, it’s not just that our guys have been designing or

building or reviewing these things for two, three, four decades, but they have literally written the code,” he said.

Travia provided examples of design considerations relating to clinical outcomes – things like room layouts and aesthetics, equipment setup, and even whether the medical gas hoses should come out of the wall or through the ceiling. Other aspects involve how HVAC and filtration can help reduce hospital-acquired infections, or designing hallways wide enough not only for fire code requirements but to enable patients and families to move easily through a facility.

“As engineers, we absolutely see ourselves as enablers that support providers to deliver patient care. We think of this as a sacred trust,” said Travia. “We’re not creating a building – we’re delivering an environment that enables the providers to deliver world-class patient care to support GIs, their families, and, in many cases, veterans.”

Moving forward, Hancock said they’re increasingly looking at energy efficiency and how to build facilities that approach net zero, when a building’s energy consumption is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on site. Because achieving that state can be almost cost prohibitive, they’re exploring public-private partnerships for building “renewable energy sources that would complement the project and the installation,” affecting not just medical but all military construction.

Within the medical arena, USACE is participating in a publicprivate partnership with Fisher House Foundation to construct satellite centers at several military installations around the country of the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, a DOD institute to advance treatment, research, and education regarding traumatic brain injury and psychological health for service members and their families.

“As the medical industry and building techniques continue to advance, we’re going to keep up with those trends and keep up with the needs for ever-improving patient care,” said Hancock. “Our Soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and their families can rest assured that our medical facilities are going to be the most up-to-date, world-class facilities to provide services they need. Given the sacrifices that our military families make for our nation, they deserve nothing less than the best possible care.”

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PACIFIC OCEAN DIVISION HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE: A KEY SLICE OF REGIONAL SECURITY

By Scott R. Gourley

U.S.

Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) contributions to regional and global security cooperation efforts fall under two broad categories: partner-nation capacity-building and humanitarian assistance (HA).

Capacity-building examples include: disaster risk management; water and environmental security; technical engineering; security assistance, and both military-military and civilian-military exercises. On the other side of the equation, examples of USACE HA program efforts include construction of schools, shelters, medical facilities, bridges, and disaster management centers.

And the HA project tempo is high. As an example, in the case of the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) area of responsibility, USACE’s Pacific Ocean Division has supported more than 240 HA projects in seven different countries since 2007.

A recent spotlight on one of these representative efforts followed the 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25, 2015, killing more than 8,800 people and injuring more than 23,000.

USACE response to the disaster reflected what some might call a “prescient” focus on preparations for a large earthquake in that specific area.

“Our work in Nepal has been focusing in on disaster readiness and response,” offered Pat Fitzgerald, project manager for Nepal and Laos within the Asia Office at USACE’s Alaska District. “Accordingly, more of our projects there have been geared toward a major earthquake, which we just had – two of them.”

But increasing disaster readiness and response is just one of the many USACE HA projects underway around the Pacific and Asia.

As noted by Stan Wharry, chief of the Asia Office at the Alaska District, USACE currently has almost 80 HA-related projects either in design or construction phases across the region.

“We’re doing HA in support of the U.S. PACOM program in places like Bangladesh, Cambodia, a small project in Kiribati – some climate change type that we’re trying to support for PACOM – as well as some HA projects in Mongolia,” he offered. “And along with U.S. PACOM, we’re also supporting other agencies, like the U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID], where we

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are supporting a couple of programs in Bangladesh, like the multipurpose cyclone shelter and school program.”

Several of the representative HA activities involve Vietnam, where USACE has built a number of schools and clinics that double as cyclone disaster shelters.

“The latest set of buildings that we started constructing in 2012 were the Disaster Management Coordination Centers (DMCCs),” explained Mike MacMillan, project manager for Sri Lanka and Vietnam within the Asia Office. “The intent is to provide one DMCC per province. And those act as the hub for the Vietnam National Search and Rescue Committee, which will be operated to reach back to the headquarters in Hanoi with any issues, problems, or solutions for mitigating any type of disaster event. During non-disaster times, they will be used as training centers for the Vietnam Provincial People’s Committee and their flood management response teams.”

The DMCCs also include communications systems to link search and rescue operations in the field, an Automatic Identification System (AIS) to track ships, and a geographic information system capability to help track storms and monitor flood data.

“It’s coordinated through PACOM,” MacMillan said. “We work for them and serve PACOM needs. They direct the projects and we support them.”

“I think that we are able to provide a broader and more complex set of products and capabilities in the humanitarian assistance arena than in the past,” echoed Wharry. “In past years, PACOM might have been limited a bit by our capability to primarily provide a school here and a school there. With our increased capabilities and PACOM’s increased capabilities, we are able to add more sophistication and offer better value within these projects.”

In another example, MacMillan said that most of the current HA project focus in Sri Lanka is on schools and clinics, but added that the 2004 tsunami decimated a large part of the eastern island and that many internally displaced persons still require shelters from storms or clean drinking water.

“One project there focused on a water supply program where we piped in clean drinking water to approximately 400 homes in a town where the majority of the people lived below the poverty

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USACE Alaska District photo

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Oct. 10, 2014, for a new tuberculosis ward and hospital (above) in Preah Netr Preah, Cambodia. The construction of the facility was managed by the Alaska District in assistance to the U.S. Pacific Command’s Humanitarian Assistance program and the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The hospital will serve approximately 130,000 people in the outlying district area. The new ward will provide necessary separation from the existing hospital buildings to reduce the chance of incidental exposure.

level and lacked clean drinking water,” he related. “They would walk 4 to 5 miles per day to get it. But that one water program has impacted that whole village in terms of them now being able to focus on things like going to work, obtaining food, or children going to school, instead of spending their days just obtaining clean water.”

As noted above, recent years have also seen expanded USACE focus on earthquake preparations in Nepal.

“The initial round of projects focused on the main populace of the country, which is within the Kathmandu valley,” Fitzgerald explained, adding that other USACE projects included a soil stability/liquefaction study beneath the main runway at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport, rebuilding a fire station that was deemed seismically unsound, and establishing seven deep-water supply wells – with generators and large storage tanks – throughout the Kathmandu valley.

“Another disaster response project that we built was a blood donation center in Kathmandu, which survived the quake with no damage and performed beautifully immediately after, when they were ‘maxed out’ with blood donors,” he continued. “That was finished in March 2014. It was built on one of their teaching hospital compounds, where the emergency room and surgical ward treated a number of earthquake victims. And the blood center was able to provide about 660 units of blood initially, which is really good, because it reflects a culture that is not about donating blood until it is needed.”

Geographer Justin Pummell, with USACE’s Institute for Water Resources, was just one USACE member who witnessed the earthquake firsthand. “I was in Kathmandu previous to the first earthquake in April, conducting a geographic information system workshop,” he explained. “And I departed the day before that earthquake happened. I was in Thailand and received notification of the earthquake through my email. And when I saw the magnitude, I had a feeling that an international response would be necessary.”

Pummell said he was subsequently “diverted” to Okinawa to become part of the PACOM Joint Task Force-505 mission, which rapidly deployed to Nepal to support USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance by providing unique military capabilities to enhance the relief efforts.

“We started off with a small assessment and survey team – 23 of us,” he offered. “And after some assessments were conducted on the ground, we identified the unique capabilities that the military could provide, with the team growing to about 300 people in Nepal.”

He noted that some of the most important military capabilities involved airlift and logistics, ranging from the movement of relief supplies from distribution points to the use of materiel-handling equipment at Tribhuvan International Airport.

“I also think that another main lesson learned involves the ability to utilize relationships and build trust,” he said. “There have been a lot of different activities where we’ve been partnering with

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Nepal for the last several years. And those relationships became instrumental in terms of our success and ability to expedite aid efficiently and effectively.”

Citing “tremendous coordination” between rescue and relief organizations, Pummell said, “On the military side, there was a multinational military coordination center set up and led by the Nepalese. It brought together over 20 different military partners who were there and really helped to deconflict ‘who was doing what’ and leverage each other’s capabilities to maximize efforts.”

He credited much of that success to capacity-building exercise activities conducted over the last several years.

“There was also a lot of coordination on the civilian side, working with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – the lead agency under the ‘cluster’ system – and then with the World Food Program at the airport, where they had a humanitarian staging area set up,” he added.

Another lesson Pummell cited focused on leveraging public/ private partnerships.

“For example, DHL was at the airport and had an emergency response team there that helped to offload aircraft,” he said. “Working with them was a pleasure and I think it really helped support the overall response. They had forklifts. They had other equipment. They had experience. And working closely with them to set up schedules and just support the overall response was a win-win for everyone.”

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Along with Nepal, Fitzgerald’s regional focus also includes Laos, where a number of school and hospital projects have been undertaken “as an expression of gratitude to the government of Laos” for their continuing support of the recovery operations of U.S. Soldiers lost at war.

“The clear message is that we are supporting U.S. Pacific Command,” Wharry summarized. “They have a very important mission of growing stability and peace within the region. The Office of Defense Cooperation and security cooperation officers in the various countries have the fidelity of what projects they should implement to meet PACOM objectives. We are one of the implementing and executing agents that wants to provide whatever services they need.

“Humanitarian assistance needs are out there,” he added. “And they aren’t always ‘big’ infrastructure efforts. There are some times when small projects are also needed within that country. The water-supply effort in Sri Lanka was a $60,000 project with great [effect] to many families.

“Because we’re working in these areas, we understand the requirements,” he concluded. “And we really want to be there to provide support whenever people need similar types of work. And I think we’ve been able to do a really good job in that, being able to diversify, help evaluate needs, and being able to deliver to multiple customers.”

Courtesy photos

During the immediate aftermath of the Nepal earthquake in April 2015, an influx of donors allowed a blood donation center constructed by USACE in Kathmandu to reach its capacity of more than 550 units of blood and provide for several surrounding hospitals within the city.

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USACE EBOLA RESPONSE SPOTLIGHTS FEST CAPABILITIES

BY SCOTT R. GOURLEY

Working at the forefront of the international Ebolaresponse mission in 2014, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) operations served to highlight the strengths and unique capabilities of the organization’s forward engineer support teams (FESTs). Ranging in size from eight to 36 military and civilian personnel, the flexible teams are capable of rapidly deploying and supporting military contingencies or humanitarian assistance operations.

A clear example of this was the Forward Engineer Support Team-Advanced (FEST-A) that deployed to Liberia as part of Operation United Assistance (OUA) in October. The team’s six-month deployment was built around supporting the efforts and activities of Joint Forces Command, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), U.S. Africa Command, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

“We were a team of engineers and scientists that were brought into the Joint Task Force to provide engineering consulting and expertise for all realms of the operation,” explained Maj. Michelle Dittloff, the FEST-A commander for OUA in Liberia. “So, while we were not the lead organization for some of these things, we were always involved when unique technical questions arose.”

Flexibility in the FEST concept was demonstrated by the expansion of the FEST-A in Liberia from the standard eight-personnel structure to 13. Organic team members included the commander and noncommissioned officer in charge; three civil engineers; a mechanical engineer; an electrical engineer; and a topographic engineer.

Dittloff added that the anticipated requirements of the OUA deployment led to team augmentation by a prime power noncommissioned officer from the USACE 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power); a two-person contingency real estate team able to execute leases and land-use agreements; and a two-person environmental support team.

“Our mission was somewhat unique in that you don’t normally see a theater opening and closing in one deployment,” she noted. “So, as an example, having the environmental support team on the ground meant that they had the documentation of what it looked like when we got there. So, as we were closing up

Maj. Michelle Dittloff, left, Forward Engineer Support Team-Advanced commander for Operation United Assistance in Liberia, stands with two U.S. Public Health Service members Nov. 23, 2014, in the Monrovian Medical Unit’s doffing area.

the theater, they could make sure we had caused no environmental harm.

“I think the Corps of Engineers did a fantastic job in putting the team together and I can’t say enough about each of the individuals who volunteered to be on that team. We went in prepared for anything.”

In spite of the preparation, she characterized the first month as “reacting to what might go wrong,” before an eventual shift to “getting ahead of things and being able to anticipate issues.”

Dittloff said that USACE has been thoroughly collecting the lessons learned during OUA, beginning with early after-action reviews with FEST-A members while still in country.

“We’re tracking it,” she said. “Because while the larger Department of Defense may or may not do this type of mission again, it is really the type of mission that a FEST is created to perform.

“The value of the FEST is that we allow the larger maneuver elements – such as the brigade, division, or corps – to perform at their peak,” Dittloff concluded.

“We round out capabilities that may not be present within their organization, providing skill sets they don’t necessarily need on a day-to-day basis but can be critical for particular missions.”

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USACE’S AGC MAKES “BIG STRIDES IN GEOSPATIAL”

By Scott R. Gourley

In

a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) portfolio stretching from civil works to humanitarian assistance, the Army Geospatial Center (AGC) is somewhat unique in its status as both a direct warfighter support agency and as a geospatial intelligence wing of USACE. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, the AGC fills critical geospatial-production gaps and provides technical reachback, data collection, exploitation, and dissemination of geospatial information, which helps Soldiers dominate in an increasingly complex environment. Moreover, as the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology lead for the geospatial component of the Common Operating Environment (COE), the USACE AGC also provides a foundational capability to synchronize geospatial enterprise policies, programs, and technologies.

“We’re pretty unique in the Corps of Engineers in that we are more directly engaged with the combatant commands and the Army’s operating and generating forces than the more traditional USACE missions,” said Michael Harper, AGC director for Warfighter Support and Production.

“The basic mission for our Warfighter Support Directorate is to provide geospatial engineering support to the Army’s generating and operating forces, focused on filling critical geospatial production gaps,” he explained. “We also provide technical ‘reachback’ to GEOINT [Geospatial-Intelligence] Soldiers that are deployed throughout the force, and perform data collection, production, exploitation, and dissemination of geospatial information tailored to the Army’s unique mission requirements and mission command systems.”

Harper’s directorate includes five branches, focused on areas ranging from tactical sources to hydrologic and environmental analysis.

The Tactical Source Branch, for example, manages high-resolution, 3-D data-collection programs like BuckEye, as well as other higher-altitude sensors that collect high-resolution unclassified sharable imagery.

“That imagery has proven to be critical to Soldiers that are fighting in urban and complex terrain,” Harper said. “It drastically improves their situational awareness and their ability to use tactical decision aids and do detailed mission planning and intelligence preparation of the battlefield.”

Similarly, the directorate’s Terrain Analysis Branch provides geospatial data and production, including the preparation of things like urban feature datasets, urban tactical planners, and engineering route studies.

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“It’s really more of an operational-level Army product portfolio that helps commanders plan early-entry operations; things like a basic laydown of the lines of communication for a particular country, major roadways, bridges, or C-130-capable airfields,” Harper noted.

Another key product is the Common Map Background, which blends data from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) with “service-generated content” to create the geospatial foundation for the operating and tactical forces. AGC can tailor the same geospatial information to meet any unique mission command system requirements.

“I also have a Geospatial Data Branch,” Harper continued.

“Those are the folks that work with NGA and some of our own contract vehicles to acquire commercial imagery and other sources of information. They also work with the NRO [National Reconnaissance Office] to get national technical means [NTM] information and we have the ability to create declassified imagery-derived products that can then be shared with Army forces and across USACE.” Another slice of the warfighter support portfolio is the directorate’s Hydrologic and Environmental Analysis Branch.

“We are DOD’s primary agent for military water resource analysis and we maintain a worldwide water resources database over arid and semi-arid regions of the world,” Harper said. “We do that primarily to support Army well-drilling. The Army has what they call a Liquid Logistics Program, which the Army G-4 [Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics] is [a] proponent for. Under that program, the Corps of Engineers is tasked with sourcing water, so essentially we provide information on where the water is located. The program also includes medical and logistics expertise to ensure water quality and delivery.”

Other representative directorate capabilities include historical photo analysis that can facilitate the transition of Formerly Used Defense Sites, and a small military support team of Army geospatial engineers that provide subject-matter expert support, advise the civilian workforce on military requirements, and facilitate information dissemination.

“Our military support team and our Terrain Analysis Branch provided a great deal [of ] support to the AFRICOM-led [U.S. Africa Command-led] Ebola effort,” Harper said. “In that effort, we provided a lot of information on lines of communication and created custom map data to support that deployment, as well as determining suitable site locations for the Ebola treatment facility.”

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AGC photo

Soldiers participate in a Project Manager Distributed Common Ground System-Army (PM DCGS-A), Geospatial Intelligence (GEOINT) Divisionled user jury in the Army Geospatial Enterprise Node to evaluate the most efficient way to load, manage, and disseminate geospatial data. The Enterprise Node provides experimentation, integration, and engineering of research and development efforts to ensure interoperability within the Common Operating Environment.

“We work with a lot of the FESTs [Forward Engineer Support Teams] on the hydrologic analysis, which helps drive where welldrilling needs to occur,” he added. “For example, we’ve been doing a lot of that lately in support of Operation Inherent Resolve.”

Other recent support activities highlighted included the late 2014 redeployment of USACE high-resolution, 3-D data collection capabilities from Afghanistan to support combatant commands in U.S. Central Command, U.S. Pacific Command, and AFRICOM. As director of AGC’s Systems and Acquisition Support Directorate, Dan Visone oversees branch activities that provide GEOINT domain expertise to both Project Manager Distributed Common Ground System-Army (PM DCGS-A) and Product Director Tactical Exploitation on National Capabilies (PD TENCAP); build and field engineering systems (ENFIRE and GPS-S); and GIS-enabled customers’ business processes across DOD. Additionally, Visone is in charge of the geospatial component of the Army’s Common Operating Environment (COE). His directorate also serves as the Survey Engineering and Mapping Technical Center of Expertise for USACE. “Within the Corps of Engineers, this directorate is in charge of defining the geospatial framework and implementation of all the GEOINT capabilities from national down to tactical levels,” he said.

“And not many people realize that is a Corps of Engineers mission.”

Visone highlighted “big strides in geospatial over the last 12 months,” including several critical milestones related to the “threestar” Geospatial-Enterprise Governance Board (GGB) that is cochaired by the Army chief of engineers and Army G-2 (Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army for Intelligence).

“Over the last year, the GGB has covered topics that have been critical to move the Army forward with respect to geospatial interoperability,” he said.

One of the key related efforts was an initial assessment of Army programs against the geospatial standards recommended for geospatial interoperability.

“The GGB leadership wanted to know: How bad is it and how we got here. If the geospatial component of the COE dictated a certain set of open standards to enable a standard and shareable geospatial foundation across all systems, where do the Army programs stand right now?” he said.

He offered that the resulting findings “really weren’t that good,” which really wasn’t surprising due to a lack of properly identified consistent geospatial requirements across Army systems; lack of specific regulatory guidance addressing the Army Geospatial Enterprise (AGE), gaps and inconsistent adoption of open geospatial standards; no specific requirement for AGE certification; and no requirement for a system of systems approach to ensure geospatial foundation interoperability.

As an example of the requirements problem, he offered that the Army’s intelligence weapon system – DCGS-A – didn’t even have the requirement to provide a geospatial foundation for mission command systems until 2012. And equally troubling was the fact that there was no documented requirement that mission command systems would pull their maps from DCGS-A. “So one of the things we are seeing is all these Army programs paying to have contractors load their own maps, which means you don’t have a consistent map foundation, which means you don’t have a common operational picture,” he said. “But that’s being addressed right now as part of the Common Operating Environment. And we’re still working to codify the requirements on both sides.”

The regulatory guidance shortcomings noted are also being addressed through the Aug. 28, 2014, release of a newly updated Army Regulation: 115-11 (Geospatial Information and Services).

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AGC photo

Soldiers from the Army Geospatial Center’s Military Support Team provide Army geospatial engineering expertise in support of AGC programs and subject-matter expertise, training, and reachback support and production to generating and operating forces.

Other Army-wide geospatial challenges identified through the recent AGC efforts included the need to verify consistent implementation of open standards.

“What we were also seeing is that even if programs implemented the correct open geospatial standards, it didn’t guarantee geospatial interoperability,” said Visone. “We demonstrated to the senior leaders that five different Army programs implemented the Keyhole Markup Language [KML] standard and when a geospatial overlay was passed to each program, there were display and content issues.”

This example has become the poster child for geospatial “un-interoperability” and drove home the message to senior leaders that just providing standards alone isn’t working.

“We need to provide profiles and implementation guidance for each standard, and then ensure the programs have implemented correctly through ‘early and often’ assessment,” he added.

“I think another thing we learned is that all the Army programs, even if they were implementing geospatial technology, didn’t understand it,” Visone asserted. “There’s a big difference between a geospatial engineer and a systems engineer. And we’ve seen Army programs hiring companies without geospatial domain expertise that implement the technology incorrectly. Our support to ASA(ALT) [Assistant Secretary of the Army (Acquisition, Logistics and Technology)] and the COE with this domain expertise is critical to overcome this challenge.”

Other directorate efforts have fueled the early identification of geospatial problems in systems through the use of the AGE Node.

Established with center-directed research funds from Jeffery P. Holland, Ph.D., SES, USACE director of research and development and chief scientist, the node runs jointly with the Engineer Research

and Development Center and is an instantiation of the COE that incorporates a combination of real hardware and virtual machines to replicate computing environments (mobile/hand-held, mounted, sensor, command post, data center/cloud/generating force) from platoon to division.

“The AGE Node provides an environment to help researchers transition their research portfolios out to the warfighter,” Visone explained. “In addition, it helps us to start working on the CONOPS [concept of operations] and TTPs [tactics, techniques, and procedures] on how geospatial information is going to be moved around.”

Summarizing what he described as “the big things” over the past year and in the near future, Visone highlighted progress on the COE moving forward; progress in the implementation of standards for the Standard Shareable Geospatial Foundation; use of the AGE Node for early geospatial interoperability assessments and possible future geospatial certification; and senior-leader guidance on the development of a GEOINT CONOPS. Harper echoed the criticality of geospatial information in his own vision of recent trends and future challenges in warfighter support.

“Some folks might think that because some of those larger operations are starting to close out and come to an end that somehow there will be a downturn in the number of missions and the amount of support required,” he said. “But we’re not seeing that. In fact, what we’re really seeing right now is that we’re supporting a lot of Army operations and joint operations that are smaller in size. And because they’re smaller in size they require very detailed geospatial information, meaning that detail and precision of that geospatial information matters now more than ever.”

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HURRICANE KATRINA: A LOOK BACK, A LOOK FORWARD 10 years later, a new model for disaster preparedness

By Craig Collins

N

obody had ever seen anything like it. The words sound stale now; they’re often overused, applied to describe anything unusual. But in describing Hurricane Katrina, they are literally true. Nobody in the United States had ever seen a storm as destructive as the hurricane that made its second landfall at the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, and within a few hours had overwhelmed the city of New Orleans.

It was, by far, the costliest natural disaster in American history: more than 1,800 people killed by the storm and ensuing floods, and more than $108 billion in property damage, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) – most of it concentrated in New Orleans and southeast Louisiana.

Katrina, which had peaked at Category 5 strength fewer than 12 hours before its second landfall, hammered the nation’s Gulf Coast with rain, waves, and a storm surge that overwhelmed the region’s existing storm protection system: 53 major levee breaches, and damage to 34 of New Orleans’ 71 pumping stations. Altogether, 169 miles of the city’s 350 miles of protective structures were compromised. After the hurricane about 80 percent of New Orleans was underwater, to depths of 15 feet in some places.

The federal government responded swiftly to return New Orleans to its pre-Katrina state, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) played an integral role in the response and recovery efforts, first establishing field offices in Mississippi and Louisiana to coordinate the FEMA-requested missions under the National Response Plan. In 53 days, USACE removed about 250 billion gallons of water from New Orleans.

When the mission shifted to recovery, USACE established Task Force Guardian, charged with repairing and restoring New Orleans’ storm protection system to pre-Katrina conditions. This work, along with the addition of temporary closures and pumps at the city’s outfall canals, was completed in just nine months, and by the beginning of the 2006 hurricane season, the system was, overall, restored to pre-Katrina conditions.

The greater New Orleans area straddles the Mississippi River and is bordered by Lake Pontchartrain to the north, Lake Borgne to the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. The city’s highest elevation is about 20 feet above sea level; by the 2000s, a

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combination of factors, including interior drainage and urbanization, had caused about half the metropolitan area to sink below sea level – up to 12 feet, in parts of New Orleans East. Even so, the system of structures and pumping stations had been designed to protect the city.

To find out what had gone wrong, USACE commissioned an independent team of more than 150 experts from around the world – the Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, or IPET – to analyze the system’s engineering performance. USACE leadership designated its Institute of Water Resources (IWR) as co-leader of the sub-teams responsible for assessing the performance of the system’s interior flood control measures and consequences; the IWR was also commissioned by USACE to organize the Hurricane Protection Decision Chronology (HPDC), a study assembling and documenting the economic, policy, legislative, institutional, and financial decisions that had influenced the hurricane protection system of Greater New Orleans.

These investigations helped USACE to understand why the events related to Hurricane Katrina happened and, in turn, how to better prepare the water resources infrastructure in New Orleans – and throughout the United States – for catastrophic events.

THE HSDRRS AND SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA TODAY

IPET submitted a draft final report in June 2006, and its overall findings were bluntly worded: “The System did not perform as a system: the hurricane protection in New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana was a system in name only.” The authors concluded that while Katrina had exceeded the system’s design criteria, “The system’s performance was compromised by the incompleteness of the system, the inconsistency in levels of protection, and the lack of redundancy.”

On the heels of this report, Congress directed USACE to rebuild the area’s hurricane protection system. USACE forward deployed a team within its Mississippi Valley Division – Task Force Hope – and assigned leadership to one of its most experienced program managers, Karen Durham-Aguilera. As a member of the Senior Executive Service, Durham-Aguilera, when Katrina struck,

REDUCE DISASTER RISKS

Courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Aerial view of the Seabrook Floodgate Complex. The Lake Pontchartrain Seabrook Floodgate works in tandem with the Inner Harbor Navigation Channel Surge Barrier to provide 100-year storm damage risk reduction for areas such as New Orleans East, the Lower Ninth Ward (visible in the upper left), and St. Bernard Parish.

had been deployed to Iraq as director of reconstruction, responsible for planning and managing more than 3,200 reconstruction projects in theater. After her redeployment the following year, USACE assigned her – a civil (geotechnical) engineer who had begun her career in New Orleans – leadership of this ambitious new undertaking.

Congress authorized and appropriated $14.6 billion in federal dollars to the project. The new system, a five-parish, 350-mile network of levees and floodwalls, 73 non-federal pumping stations, four gated outlets, and three outfall canal closure structures with pumps, known collectively as the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS), was built to reduce storm damage risks associated with the 100-year storm surge event – or a storm that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in any given year. USACE conducted computer analyses of 152 storms, both historical and modeled, and designed a system that would prepare for the combined effect at return rates of 25 years to 5,000 years to occur along multiple storm tracks of these storms, rather than to the effects of a single historical precedent.

The new HSDRRS, which was able to defend against the 100-year storm by the peak of the 2011 hurricane season, differs

from the pre-Katrina system in that it is, like the most advanced systems in places such as the Netherlands and the United Kingdom – a 133-mile perimeter system consisting of a combination of levees, floodwalls, and complex structures designed to block surge from entering the interior areas of the city. The HSDRRS contains several individual elements that are, in themselves, engineering marvels: • The Inner Harbor Navigation Channel (IHNC) Surge Barrier, the largest design-build project in the history of USACE’s Civil Works program, is 1.8 miles long, 25 feet high, and more than 140 feet deep. It reduces risk for some of the city’s most vulnerable areas from storm surges driven from the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Borgne.

• The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex (GIWW-WCC) consists of the largest drainage pump station in the world, the largest sector gate in the nation, T-Walls, a closure wall, a sluice gate, and a large earthen levee. It provides the first line of defense against a storm surge entering the Harvey and Algiers canals.

• The Seabrook Floodgate Complex, in the IHNC, reduces storm surge coming from the direction of Lake Pontchartrain.

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THE POST-KATRINA WORLD

Durham-Aguilera left Task Force Hope in 2011 to become director of Contingency Operations and the Office of Homeland Security, USACE Headquarters. That job title, and the words “risk reduction” in the name of the HSDRRS, offer clues to how Katrina changed the way USACE, and its federal, state, local, and private-sector partners in emergency management, view their roles.

In their 2009 follow-up recommendations to IPET, the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council warned that levees and floodwalls, no matter how large or sturdy, can’t guarantee protection against overtopping or failure in extreme events. It’s more accurate to call the HSDRRS a “risk reduction” system, because USACE, in its hundreds of simulations, calculated the amount of risk it could buy down with the engineering solutions authorized by Congress. Knowing that eliminating all risk is impossible, USACE

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Photograph by Kristen Kendrick, USACE

It consists of two 50-foot-wide vertical lift gates and a 95-foot-wide sector gate.

All three of these massive structures were operated for the first time – and performed as designed – when Hurricane Isaac hit the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2012.

Some work remains to be done before the HSDRRS is totally complete, including the permanent replacements to the temporary structures and pump stations in the New Orleans outfall canals, which provide drainage into Lake Pontchartrain at 17th Street, Orleans Avenue, and London Avenue, as well as armoring that provides resilience against storm surge that exceeds the 1 percent design elevations.

Courtesy U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

LEFT: The wall of the IHNC Lake Borgne Surge Barrier is 1.8 miles long, approximately 26 feet high, and wide enough for a full-size truck to drive across. This structure will defend against some of the largest surge levels expected in the Greater New Orleans area. BOTTOM: (From left) Senior Project Manager Kevin Wagner, resident engineer Kenny Crumholt, then-Maj. Gen. William Grisoli, and former New Orleans District Commander Col. Ed Fleming discuss construction efforts for the West Closure Complex, the largest drainage pump station in the world.

REDUCE DISASTER RISKS

MIKE PARK, OPERATIONS CHIEF, NEW ORLEANS DISTRICT The summer of 2005 was already a period of transition for Mike Park and his family: On Aug. 16 – eight days before Hurricane Katrina made its first U.S. landfall on the Florida coast – Park and his wife finalized the adoption of their 16-monthold son. Two years earlier, the Parks had left their family home of 24 years, in New Orleans’ Gentilly neighborhood, to live in a new house in nearby Lake Terrace, on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain. In the new Lake Terrace house, Park’s 86-year-old mother-in-law was bedridden and receiving hospice care.

Park’s career, at least, was stable: He’d served for 20 years in the Operations Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) New Orleans District, where, as Katrina approached the Gulf Coast, he was acting chief of the division. When Park was instructed to evacuate to USACE’s district office in Vicksburg, Mississippi, the family confronted a difficult circumstance: “It was really impossible for my mother-in-law to make that trip,” he said. “So we managed to get her evacuated to a nursing home in the Amite area, on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain.” Then Park packed up a van and drove his wife and son, his sister-in-law, their dog, and three cats to Vicksburg. The trip, which normally takes 3 hours, was an exhausting 9-hour ordeal.

The entire group, animals and all, checked into a single motel room across the street from the Vicksburg district office, only to discover that the motel – like every other place in town – had no electric power. “It was miserable,” Park said. “At night, there were people sleeping in their cars with the air conditioners on.”

Park worked out of Vicksburg for five weeks, first as part of the emergency management team, working 14-hour shifts, seven days a week, to monitor what was happening in New Orleans and try to restore some integrity to the city’s flood

protection system. Most of their information, Park said, came from television news broadcasts, as the cell phone networks were down and satellite phone communication was spotty.

When USACE shifted from response to recovery mode, removing debris and repairing damage, Park went to work as a senior leader in USACE’s Baton Rouge field office. The Parks weren’t able to return to the city until June 2006, nearly 10 months after Katrina. Their newer Lake Terrace home, situated on a relatively high ridge, had survived Katrina unscathed, but the old Gentilly house, which they rented to tenants, had flooded to a depth of 6 feet.

As Park continued to work seven days a week, directing the efforts of the New Orleans field office, the family struggled to put their lives back together.

His mother-in-law, too frail to make the journey to Vicksburg, had succumbed to the stress of her evacuation and passed away on Aug. 30. Park’s sister’s family home in Slidell was literally blown to pieces by hurricane winds. His own house in Gentilly would need to be stripped almost bare – work Park fit in around his day job. “We had the office operating seven days a week, 12 to 13 hours a day,” he said. “But I would go over to my house early in the morning, before work, and rip out a couple of walls.”

Around July 2007, Park sold the rehabilitated Gentilly house. In 2011, he became chief, Task Force Hope, the special office established to manage and oversee the design and construction of the city’s new Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System (HSDRRS). After the Task Force disbanded, Park returned to the New Orleans District as chief of operations. “I traveled quite a divergent path from being the acting chief back in August of 2005,” he said, “to director of the recovery field office, to chief of Task Force Hope – and now I’m back in operations, doing work that was familiar to me 20 years ago.”

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– and agencies and organizations throughout the United States – rely heavily on risk analysis and risk reduction in their long-term planning. Many of the sophisticated computer models developed

by USACE are designed to do exactly that.

Durham-Aguilera’s position, too, reveals the ways in which emergency response has been restructured: It’s a whole-of-government collaboration with as many community members as possible, working to prepare an “all-hazards” approach: the readiness to mobilize expertise no matter what the precipitating event, whether natural or man-made. “FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate has been especially good at bringing this practice into the federal government,” said Durham-Aguilera, “working not only with state and local governments but with places like Walgreens and big box stores to be part of the response, donate materials, and get things

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up and running and available as quickly as possible. None of this existed in such a comprehensive way prior to Katrina.”

The mechanism for emergency response and recovery, pre-Katrina, relied on local and state governments, through mayors and governors, requesting assistance – which would then be approved or denied by the state or federal executive. The new whole-ofgovernment approach acknowledges that in the aftermath or turbulent lead-up to an extreme event, officials may not always know the specifics or the full range of these needs. Within USACE and other agencies, a new generation of professionals, with their own training and credentialing requirements, are being developed to identify and supply these needs, literally at a moment’s notice.

“History has taught us that the best way we can respond to a storm like Katrina is to anticipate what could be needed in

Photo by Paul Floro, USACE

On Aug. 29, 2012, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District closed the sector gate at the West Closure Complex in response to Hurricane Isaac. Pumps with a maximum combined capacity of 19,140 cubic feet per second move water from the Harvey and Algiers canals into the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway.

REDUCE DISASTER RISKS

KEVIN WAGNER, PROJECT MANAGER, NEW ORLEANS DISTRICT On a map, up close, New Orleans’ St. Bernard Parish is a gauzy-looking filigree, more water than land, extending eastward from the city into Lake Borgne and Chandeleur Sound. For all their lives, Kevin Wagner, his parents and siblings, and many in their extended family made their homes there – until Aug. 28, 2005.

Wagner, a project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) New Orleans District, was fishing at a family camp on Lake Pontchartrain when his wife delivered the news that Katrina had changed course and was headed toward New Orleans. He phoned a friend at the division office in Vicksburg, Mississippi, and made arrangements for his family to take up temporary residence in the friend’s lake house. “I headed home,” he said, “packed everything up I could in our van, and then we headed towards Vicksburg.”

At a hurricane briefing the following morning, Wagner was recruited to the team assigned to survey and repair the damage. He boarded a government plane, and almost as soon as he was in the air he understood Katrina had been catastrophic: Every house he saw on the Mississippi Gulf Coast had been reduced to a concrete slab. When they approached New Orleans East and his home parish of St. Bernard, Wagner said, “Water was everywhere. You couldn’t identify really where you were, because all you could see were rooftops.”

After Wagner joined the team charged with unwatering St. Bernard Parish, he visited it for the first time – along with three other team members who’d lost their homes. Though all Wagner’s family members had survived the hurricane, their homes had been mostly destroyed. His own house had been submerged to about 3 feet above the gutter line, and his neighborhood lay under 18 inches of muck and debris. Another team member’s house, a couple of blocks away, had been inundated and blown off its foundation. “He was devastated,” said Wagner. “But all those guys immediately just put that aside and went to work.”

Unwatering, getting pump stations up and running, and repairing the area’s non-federal levees was

demanding work – and had to be repeated after Hurricane Rita struck less than a month later. “My mother and father’s house was completely dry at one point,” Wagner said. “Then the next storm came and they get 4 feet of water, right up to the windowsills.”

Overall, it took Wagner’s team about a month to get all the water out of St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward.

As Wagner and other USACE personnel transitioned into Task Force Guardian, working seven days a week to repair the city’s federal flood protection infrastructure, Wagner worked to reconstitute his family: His older daughter had just begun her freshman year at Louisiana State University, but his wife, their youngest daughter, and two dogs, with no home of their own, had moved to Georgia to stay with family members.

At night, after the end of a long workday, Wagner would go out shopping for a new home – but understandably, didn’t find many options in the New Orleans real estate market. Finally he found a home in nearby Destrehan, in St. Charles Parish, west of New Orleans. “I told my wife I’d bought a house,” said Wagner. “She said: ‘Well, what does it look like?’”

When USACE began to rebuild the city’s hurricane protection system, Wagner became project manager for one of its key elements, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex (GIWW-WCC). The project earned his team the USACE Innovation of the Year Award and Wagner the USACE Project Manager of the Year Award in 2011.

Today Wagner and his family live together in Destrehan; other family members – who all used to live 15 minutes from each other – have moved to different parts of New Orleans, or to towns as far as eight hours away.

“It’s never quite the same, particularly if you grew up in an area all your life,” Wagner said. “We lived in St. Bernard for 45 years. The storm put a lot of stress on marriages and families, but luckily, I’d been dating my wife since we were 15, so we had a very good relationship. I don’t say we didn’t have our challenges.

But we made it through – and we’re going to continue to make it through.”

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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Photographer Paul Floro, USACE

REDUCE DISASTER RISKS

Photograph courtesy of the PCCP, JV

ABOVE: Pictured from left, Task Force Hope former Program Manager Mike Smith, Task Force Hope Chief Mike Park, and thenChief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Robert Van Antwerp meet before boarding a plane to inspect the progress of the Hurricane and Storm Damage Risk Reduction System construction. LEFT: USACE began construction of the Permanent Canal Closures and Pumps (PCCP) at the 17th Street, Orleans, and London outfall canals in 2013. Once completed in 2017, the PCCP will replace the interim closures structures (visible in lower right) with a permanent and sustainable means of blocking surge from entering key internal drainage canals.

terms of power outages, road clearances, and debris removal,” said Durham-Aguilera, “and move teams in ahead of time, a few days prior to the storm, so they’re as close as they can be, and ready to launch as soon as the storm passes. One of the things the Corps has been involved in is working with state and local governments to identify critical infrastructure – such as hospitals – and assessing what their emergency power needs would be: what kind of loading you need, where the generators are, so you can anticipate and bring those materials in. This practice was largely nonexistent prior to Katrina – and it’s really only existed and been developed within the last few years. That’s now become routine, and we’re still working to improve it even more.”

It’s hard to measure, in lives and dollars, the kind of difference this new approach has made. The nation’s second-costliest storm, Sandy, which raked the Eastern Seaboard for more than a

week in October 2012 before inundating New York Harbor with a 13-foot storm surge, was more than 1,000 miles wide, the largest Atlantic hurricane on record – but the local evacuations, the overall response, and especially the recovery efforts went much more smoothly than in the case of Katrina.

There’s been a lot of hard work done, and many hard choices made, since Katrina, and USACE and its partners in disaster preparedness continue to make adjustments and align themselves for maximum strength and efficiency. “Some of the things we’ve learned have become part and parcel of what we do every day,” said Durham-Aguilera. “We’ve developed the professional expertise not just of the Corps, but of all the other people we work with. It’s absolutely the systemwide approach. And that, to me, is something we can never forget: You have to take your eyes off the individual project, and continue to look at all the components of a system.”

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ENGINEERING WITH SAND USACE renourishes the Eastern Seaboard following Hurricane Sandy.

By Charles Dervarics

T

hree years ago, Superstorm Sandy caused a path of destruction across the mid-Atlantic that left many coastal communities fighting for their survival. With some beaches up to 40 feet narrower due to the storm, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) crafted detailed plans to return 27 million cubic yards of sand not just to restore beach areas but to protect them from future storms.

Fast forward to fall 2015, and USACE has completed most of these projects with contracts for related improvements also underway. The progress reflects a strong federal commitment evidenced by funding from Congress as well as aggressive efforts by USACE to protect beaches and the communities nestled behind them.

“A sandy beach is not simply a great place to lay down your towel. For us, it’s about using sand for risk reduction,” said Anthony Ciorra, chief, coastal restoration and special projects branch, at USACE’s New York District. While restoring beaches as a popular attraction, pumping sand onto an eroded beach is vital to reduce future flooding risks, he noted. Along with a beach’s size and shape, the amount of sand on a beach helps determine how well it absorbs storm surges. As a result, it can provide critical natural protection for inland areas.

USACE dredged sand from sandbars in navigation channels and established offshore sandbars, and then transferred this material directly onto beaches to help address future flooding risks.

The goal was not simply to replace but to improve. “Not only did we restore projects to their previous condition. We have restored them to their original design.”

NEW YORK DISTRICT EFFORTS

Typical of this effort is Rockaway Beach in the borough of Queens, New York, where USACE placed 3.6 million cubic yards of sand across a 6-mile area. In the process, USACE has established the beach and dune area to a height and width last seen decades ago, Ciorra said. With an elevation at least 10 feet above sea level and a 100-foot-wide beach berm, Rockaway is prepared to withstand future coastal storms. “It reflects our commitment to storm risk management,” Ciorra said.

Nearby Coney Island in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, also has a stronger beach profile thanks to USACE efforts. The placement of approximately 600,000 cubic yards of sand has restored the beach to pre-Sandy levels, and related improvements

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in the Sea Gate community, west of Coney Island, are underway. This work is part of a revitalization plan that will bring 8 million cubic yards of sand as part of restoration efforts across the New York District.

Both projects were funded as part of Public Law 113-2, the Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013.

That bill provided approximately $60 billion for Sandy relief, including funds for USACE to restore beaches, navigation channels, and other damaged areas to pre-storm conditions. The law also funded emergency dredging and flood-control procedures related to Sandy-damaged areas. For New York District, the bill included 60 projects with a $3 billion price tag to promote both short- and long-term risk reduction for coastal communities.

All design work on restoration projects was done in house at USACE, with other districts helping with architecture and engineering. “The North Atlantic Division went west, south, and north to get this done,” said Ciorra. “It was a huge accomplishment to get so much done so quickly.”

Much of this work involved dredging from navigation channels and offshore sandbars in order to pump large amounts of sand back onto area beaches. In places such as Rockaway, it was not uncommon to place much more sand in the beach area than existed prior to Sandy. “We put double the amount of sand in most locations,” he said.

Elsewhere in New York District, USACE placed about 1.5 million cubic yards of sand in Gilgo Beach on Long Island. The project is essential to restore hard-hit local beaches, protect a navigation channel, and promote coastal storm risk management at Fire Island Inlet.

The New York District also is responsible for coastal areas of northern New Jersey, where Sandy disrupted several major longterm projects. Noteworthy improvements included the Sea Bright to Manasquan Project, a long-term, pre-Sandy initiative to nourish a 21-mile area of New Jersey shoreline that constantly faces erosion. USACE has described this New Jersey project as the largest beach nourishment project it has ever undertaken while also representing the highest-volume beach fill project in the world.

Due to Sandy, beaches in this area lost 9 million cubic yards of sand. Yet four contracts awarded by USACE led to the placing of more than 8 million cubic yards of sand, with restoration to preSandy levels completed in 2014.

Throughout all of this work, USACE maintained close contact with local jurisdictions and the general public via face-to-face

REDUCE DISASTER RISKS

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the placement of sand to repair and restore a coastal storm risk management beach project at Surf City on New Jersey’s Long Beach Island.

meetings, social media updates, and other modes of communication. “The public was very aware and interested,” Ciorra said.

USACE photo by Tim Boyle, Philadelphia District

PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT RESPONDS

While New York District is responsible for the greater New York City metropolitan area, including northern New Jersey, responsibility for other hard-hit Sandy areas falls to USACE’s Philadelphia District. In areas such as Atlantic City, New Jersey, the storm caused massive erosion at beaches that were targeted for improvements in the 2013 disaster relief law.

One of these projects was the Absecon Island Coastal Storm Risk Management project serving oceanfront beaches in Atlantic City and nearby Ventnor City. USACE and its contractors dredged from permanent offshore sandbars in order to pump 1.3 million cubic yards of sand onto these ocean beaches. Other work included sand fencing, dune crossovers, and dune grass planting.

As in New York District, the projects are designed to engineer and construct beaches to their original protective design, not just their condition prior to Superstorm Sandy. USACE completed this work in December 2013, and additional dune and berm

construction in nearby Margate and Longport will soon constitute the next phase of the project.

Also hard hit was Long Beach Island, an 18-mile barrier island in New Jersey about 75 miles south of New York City where storms can regularly cause damage. At this site, USACE already was working on a restoration project at the time Sandy arrived in October 2012.

Within a year, however, USACE had completed sand replenishment at three of the island’s key beaches. “We built dunes where there were none and widened the beach in many areas,” said Jeffrey Gebert, chief of the coastal planning section for Philadelphia District.

Gebert described beach replenishment as a multi-part process.

The first major step involves the dredging of sand from a navigation channel or permanent offshore sandbar and moving it to a hard-stricken beach. Once replenishment begins, there are two critical steps – supporting a berm and a dune. “The dune is the beach itself,” he said. In post-Sandy operations, much of the work led to creation of a deeper, wider beach than was present prior to the storm. The second key step is constructing and supporting the berm, which is designed to help curtail erosion and protect nearby inland areas from flooding during strong storms, hurricanes, and nor’easters.

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Hector Mosley, USACE, CENAN Courtesy photo

Yet the Long Beach Island damage highlighted a familiar theme for Philadelphia District. As Sandy bore down on the region, USACE officials had other nourishment and construction projects underway.

“We had seven renovation projects in New Jersey and four in Delaware that were near complete or recently completed” when Sandy hit the region, Gebert said. As a result, the cleanup effort has focused not only on replenishing beaches but also on assessing damage to these 11 coastal projects.

“We got a significant pot of money to repair projects that were being built at the time Sandy hit,” he said. Working with Congress, USACE also was able to secure funding for some coastal projects that were previously authorized but had never been funded. As a result, the North Atlantic Division that includes Philadelphia District received about $5 billion for construction projects, studies, and post-Sandy repair operations, he said. For many of these projects, USACE is working with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection to gain the necessary approvals.

While sand is the popular mode of choice for most coastal areas, it is not the only tool in USACE’s coastal-protection toolbox. Near the Atlantic City inlet, there are areas where stone and wood elements are used to protect areas from erosion. “We don’t use sand because it just gets washed away as the tidal current goes in and out,” Gebert concluded. Looking across its broad portfolio of projects, he added, “We make the decisions that best fit the area.”

Vince Elias, NAN USACE

ABOVE: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the placement of sand to repair and restore a coastal storm risk management beach project at Coney Island, borough of Brooklyn, New York. LEFT: Beach nourishment being performed by the New York District along the New Jersey shore.

BOTTOM: Several long-term Philadelphia District projects absorbed much of Sandy’s impact for coastal areas of New Jersey as well as Delaware.

Renourishment efforts include sand placement and dune replanting at Bethany Beach, Delaware.

REDUCE DISASTER RISKS

PRESERVING ASSATEAGUE’S BEAUTY AND INTEGRITY

BY CHARLES DERVARICS

USACE photo by Hank Heusinkveld

Just off the mid-Atlantic Coast, Assateague Island is a popular nesting area for birds and famous for its herds of wild horses. But erosion at the picturesque barrier island adjacent to Maryland and Virginia has led to an innovative U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) approach to sand replenishment.

“We’ve seen a massive retreat on the north side of Assateague over 60 years,” said Justin Callahan, Assateague Island project manager for USACE’s Baltimore District. While storms can play a factor, the main reason behind the erosion is linked to creation of the island itself. A 1933 hurricane separated it from south Ocean City, Maryland, and local leaders realized they liked having a new inlet to promote navigation.

Jetties built after the storm expanded the inlet, but these structures disrupted the natural flow of sediment to the 37-mile-long island.

“If you’re looking at the beach and dune on the island, you only see part of the picture,” Callahan said.

“But if you look at the back bay and other areas, you can see how vulnerable it really is.”

The situation is most acute on the northernmost 6 miles in Maryland, and after extensive study, USACE opted for a two-part strategy of reinforcement. The first phase, completed in 2002, involved the hydraulic placement of 1.4 million cubic meters of sand dredged from a bank near the southernmost jetty of the Ocean City inlet, at a cost of $12.3 million.

Yet USACE realized the inlet and jetties will continue to disrupt the natural process of sand reaching Assateague, so it worked with other agencies to design a long-term solution. This result was not to physically deposit more sand onto the island but instead to help ocean sediment reach Assateague as it normally would if the jetties did not disrupt the natural process.

Using a shallow-draft hopper dredge from the Wilmington District, USACE takes sand from deposits within and just outside of​the Ocean City inlet and places it within the Assateague surf zone. Once in the surf zone, sediment can reach the island naturally and help replenish coastal areas.

“We don’t want to do anything invasive that would disturb the habitat,” which includes one endangered plant, Callahan said. After considering several options,

The Wilmington District’s special-purpose vessel, Currituck, dumps material dredged from the inlet at Ocean City, Maryland, near the shore of Assateague Island National Seashore. Currituck’s shallowdraft capabilities allow it to unload material in less than 6 feet of water. This creates a more natural look along the shoreline and helps to reduce erosion.

the hopper dredge emerged as an innovative way to move sand since it operates easily in shallow waters.

This process takes place twice a year, each time taking 60,000 to 70,000 cubic yards of sand and placing it in the island’s surf zone. “We’re not pumping sand [onto] the beach. We’re making sure that sand remains in the beach profile,” he added.

The Assateague Island Restoration Plan, as it is known, has an annual budget of $1.2 million and will continue for the foreseeable future. USACE works with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service to review progress. The park service also contributes 50 percent of the project cost, he noted.

“Most hopper dredges require a deeper draft, but not this one,” Callahan said, and the dredge has its own storage capacity. It also has been such a hit that Wilmington District has purchased a new, largercapacity hopper dredge for use in more projects. For Assateague, he added, the bottom line is that USACE is restoring the island’s natural processes “with no adverse impact” on the ecosystem.

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A “SEA CHANGE OF TRANSFORMATION” How USACE dam and levee safety programs changed in the post-Hurricane Katrina environment

By Charles Dervarics

D

am and levee experts at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are looking back at a decade of major internal changes made in response to devastating hurricanes, storms, and floods. From a greater focus on planning to improved communication and management approaches, USACE has embarked on a “sea change of transformation,” said Eric C. Halpin, P.E., special assistant for dam and levee safety at USACE Headquarters. “We’ve seen a huge culture change” since 2005, he added, with lessons learned that fundamentally changed the way USACE does business.

“The agency recognized a need to change our fundamental approaches to how we conduct business, including how we plan, assess, design, construct, maintain, and operate our infrastructure systems,” he noted. These changes have had an impact on virtually all aspects of USACE’s operation, affecting everything from decision-making to technology.

Fundamental to USACE’s approach is the identification and the study of risk – such as the likelihood of natural events occurring, the performance of the infrastructure in such events, and the devastating effects on life and property of poor performance or failure.

Such issues now guide major discussions at headquarters, regional, and local levels. From loss of property and life to major fiscal effects, “There’s a gigantic cost to not making changes,” Halpin said.

ADDRESSING RISK AND USING TECHNOLOGY

Central to USACE’s new philosophy is how it makes decisions both at headquarters and at regional and local levels. For decades, USACE typically used a standard design approach and made every project fit within it. But that approach failed to consider risk as well as cost factors, Halpin said. “It’s no longer justified.”

The new approach is risk-informed decision-making, in which experts review different options looking not only at cost but also at the risks for loss of life and property as well as environmental damage. In USACE’s view, risk management is a process of identifying potential problems, evaluating options, and setting priorities to address the most pressing challenges.

“Having one standard design for how to address an entire continent of diverse conditions often left us with less-than-optimal

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risk management,” he said. “The issue now is, ‘What is the most cost-effective risk reduction measure?’” This new approach has saved the federal government about $7 billion, he said, and will “cost avoid” several hundred million dollars in construction on Florida’s Herbert Hoover Dike, a 143-mile earthen dam that surrounds Lake Okeechobee and is key to risk reduction, water resource management, and ecosystems in South Florida and the Everglades. At that site, installing a cutoff wall and replacing culverts have reduced flood risks from high lake levels in South Florida.

In other cases, projected repair costs have dropped as USACE engineers design more customized solutions. “It’s having the right scope of work for the fix,” he said.

USACE also is leveraging science and technology to vastly improve understanding of the physical environment and enhance the quality of its data. Popular tools include those that can model flood outcomes and damage, including estimates on loss of life and property and emergency action/evacuation planning. Additionally, USACE has employed research into failure modes and other risk drivers such as over wash and internal erosion, I-wall performance, and the social science of evacuation and mobilization.

As modeling technology evolves, USACE has built it into its approach to study risk. For example, USACE has modeled hundreds of coastal events as they might affect New Orleans in the future. “We’ve employed methods to take new science into account, resulting in improved decisions,” Halpin said. With Katrina, 2011 flooding across the Midwest, and Superstorm Sandy a year later, one lesson learned is that prevention saves money. “There’s a bigger cost for the nation in not investing,” he said, noting that the U.S. government committed $22 billion for infrastructure repair post-event after Katrina, Sandy, and the Midwest flooding.

A more cost-effective investment would include infrastructure safety prior to these events. From assessing the potential damage of hurricanes to climate change, tools to assess risk now may save millions in the future, he said.

With responsibility for more than 700 dams and approximately 2,500 levee systems – many of them more than 50 years old – USACE also has recognized the need to enhance its governance structure. Prior to Katrina, Halpin said, “We were a

REDUCE DISASTER RISKS

USACE file photo

Water control structure replacement at Herbert Hoover Dike to reduce the risk of dike failure.

highly decentralized operation.” It also was one that relied little on gaining views from experts outside USACE. Those policies have changed during the past decade. “We have reinvented our review process. There are independent external reviews and an open and transparent process that was not there before,” he added.

Key tools in this process include risk characterization systems, which provide consistent guidelines for addressing safety issues and deficiencies of USACE-owned and -operated dams, and levees within its various authorities. Dams and levees can be classified very high urgency to normal, a process that factors in results of recent inspections as well as the probability of failure and its potential consequences. Since the start of this process, USACE has identified 300 high-risk and potentially high-risk dams under a system that includes periodic inspections, risk assessment, and action planning, and is currently in the process of screening all 2,500 levee systems.

It also created a Levee Safety program for those levees under USACE authority and is working to implement the National Levee Safety Initiative under the provisions of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014.

He said another major ingredient of the new governance structure is the creation of three national technical centers, where

skilled personnel take the time to examine options and suggest the best course of action to identified challenges. These new facilities include the Risk Management Center and the Modeling, Mapping, and Consequence Production Center, which have helped USACE save $7 billion in avoided costs by setting priorities based on the most current data. “We’ve built a new bench of people to address risk in a comprehensive way,” Halpin said.

MORE COMMUNICATION AND COLLABORATION

Even with all the attention to risk management, Halpin says USACE will not realize its greatest benefits unless it effectively works with and communicates among stakeholders and people and businesses affected by floods. “You can’t manage risk if you’re not able to talk about risk,” he said. With these factors in mind, USACE has stepped up efforts to conduct education and awareness activities and communicate about potential risks.

These changes affect everything from USACE public affairs to communication with state and local governments and other federal offices such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In the process, education and cooperation can lead to greater understanding of shared responsibilities and actions. “As

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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USACE photo by Todd Plain

USACE file photo

USACE photo by John Prettyman

RIGHT: Pine Flat Dam on the Kings River, near Fresno, California. The dam provides flood risk reduction, irrigation, power generation, and recreation opportunities. CENTER: Portugués Dam located near Ponce, Puerto Rico. Its primary purpose is flood risk reduction along the Portugués River. BOTTOM: Construction crews for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District install a seepage cutoff wall in an American River levee in north Sacramento, California.

engineers and scientists, we have had a narrow focus on infrastructure,” Halpin said. “But what the infrastructure protects is what’s important.”

Initiatives include support to states through the Silver Jackets Program in which USACE works with state agencies to improve collaboration and communication. Active in more than 40 states, state-led flood risk management teams (“Silver Jackets”) bring together federal, state, and sometimes local and tribal agencies to work on flood risk management and related issues. The program’s name is designed to reflect government cooperation. Typically, different agencies wear different colored jackets when responding to emergencies – USACE personnel wear red and FEMA staff wear blue, for example. But adopting the name Silver Jackets is designed to underscore the common mission of one team comprising representatives from different agencies.

“We see communication as a major part of risk analysis,” he added.

These teams typically include USACE, FEMA, the National Weather Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and state agencies focused on water resources, floodplain management, hazard mitigation, emergency management, environment natural resources conservation, and transportation. Other federal participants may include the Environmental Protection Agency, Housing and Urban Development, Bureau of Reclamation, the Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The fifth area of transformation is in technical and program guidance, where USACE has revised or updated a variety of documents to reflect the new decision-making and risk assessment processes. Examples include its dam safety regulation, “Safety of Dams: Policy and Procedures,” where the guidance incorporates all key changes made in risk assessment, decisionmaking, science, and governance. A new comprehensive guidance document on levee safety is in final review using the same framework.

USACE also has emerged as an interagency leader in authoring federal guidelines on dam safety risk management and compiling best practices in analyzing risk on dams and levees. Overall, Halpin noted, “Policy and guidance documents were not up to date. We’ve now changed that to be state of the art.”

Such guidance helps drive a culture change among employees at USACE. “We retrained and retooled our workforce to make decisions in a whole new governance structure, without adding more staff,” Halpin said. Some of these changes have had major effects on key personnel such as engineers, who used to piece together large projects by compiling a series of smaller repairs, some of which may have been less pressing than others. “Now it’s reverse engineering – we look at how it could fail,” he said. “It’s a different mindset for our engineers and technicians.”

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With a new generation of modeling tools, USACE offers (several) glimpses of the future.

By Craig Collins

S

ince 1989, when more than a dozen federal partners, including the Department of Defense (DOD), launched what’s now known as the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has played an important role in increasing the nation’s knowledge about the potential impacts of climate change. The USGCRP’s third “National Climate Assessment,” released in 2014, was written by more than 300 authors drawn from academia, government, and the private and nonprofit sectors, and listed several changes – sector by sector, region by region – that the nation is likely to see in the near future.

It’s one thing to understand how climate change is affecting and will affect American communities; it’s another to be ready for it. USACE is one of more than 20 federal agencies in the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force created in 2009 to develop recommendations for how the government and its partners can better prepare the nation for climate-related effects.

USACE updates its own “Climate Change Adaptation Plan” regularly, describing activities underway to evaluate the most significant risks posed by climate change, and the short- and long-term vulnerabilities climate change presents to its missions and operations – both at the individual project level and nationwide.

Before making important decisions about the resilience of assets and infrastructure in the face of climate change, USACE and its partners need to know more – both about which of its missions or projects are most vulnerable, and about what will need to be done to counter the threats. An area of current emphasis for USACE is to work with partners in developing studies and tools that will help decision-makers know what the future might hold. In many cases, these tools are sophisticated models for predicting several possible outcomes, among several possible combinations of future conditions. Such studies are laying the groundwork for resilience – not only at USACE and military installations, but also in communities across the country.

THE FRAGILE COASTS: RC-1701

Since 2008, DOD’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) has commissioned research of the vulnerabilities of coastal military installations to sea level rise and other possible effects of climate change. One of these studies, proposed and designed by scientists and engineers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), has produced the most detailed look yet at what a coastal installation – Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia – might encounter.

Kelly Burks-Copes, Ph.D., a research ecologist with the ERDC’s Environmental Laboratory and the study’s program manager, explained that the study site was very carefully selected. “In the Hampton Roads area,” she said, “there are 19 military bases. We picked Naval Station Norfolk because it has several one-of-a-kind features. It’s the first one, for example, to have a double-decker pier designed to accommodate the new [Gerald R.] Fordclass aircraft carriers just coming off the line.” The base, headquarters of the Atlantic Fleet, is among the nation’s most critical military installations – and according to the station’s own water gauges, the area it occupies has already experienced the highest relative increase in sea level on the East Coast: 14.5 inches from 1930 to 2010.

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All graphics courtesy of USACE

CLIMATE CHANGE

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan D. McLearnon

TRANSFORM CIVIL WORKS

TRANSFORM CIVIL WORKS LEFT: Tugboats assist the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) as it steams away from the pier at Naval Station Norfolk. Because of its one-of-a-kind features among U.S. naval stations, Naval Station Norfolk was selected as the study facility for potential vulnerabilities to sea level rise and other possible effects of climate change. BOTTOM: Based on the analysis, Naval Station Norfolk can expect to see a maximum of 9 meters (29.52 feet) of water covering the installation under the largest storm (100-year return) and highest sea level-rise (2 meters or 6.56 feet) scenario.

The study designed by Burks-Copes and her team – RC-1701, for short – accepted a straightforward requirement from SERDP: to model the effects of future storms, given five possible sea level-rise scenarios, measured at half-meter increments from 0 to 2 meters (6.56 feet) from baseline conditions. The team incorporated an unprecedented number of variables, combining the capabilities of 11 separate numerical models to calculate coastal storm forcings including surge, winds, and waves under the five sea level-rise scenarios.

The team also gathered as much site-specific infrastructure fragility data as possible both above and below ground. “We took a look at their critical infrastructure and asked: ‘Can it withstand [the] kind of forces produced by hurricanes under the sea level-rise scenarios? Can it withstand various degrees of flooding? If a generator is going to get wet, can it still function?’ We looked at power lines and steam lines.

We looked at literally everything they rely on to be able to bring in a ship and put it back out to sea. They need water, electricity, fuel, food, people, and communications. We literally took every system that would be servicing the ship and broke it down into asset capability networks,” Burks-Copes said. Once the storm intensities (1-, 10-, 50-, and 100-year return intervals) and sea level-rise scenarios are dialed into the model, the team can quantify the risks to critical infrastructure, service production, and mission performance – capturing the threats and pinpointing tipping points – those instances where increased sea level rise threatens catastrophic failure of the system.

RC-1701 represents the most useful tool yet in helping the military with what ERDC refers to as “regret management”: identifying threats and making difficult choices (oftentimes based on limited resources) to address concerns within these constraints, with an eye toward buying down risk and owning the outcome. “They’ll never have enough budget to fix everything immediately,” she said. “They’ll have to plan out into the future and determine what level of risk they’re willing to accept.”

MAINSTREAMING CLIMATE RESILIENCE

The reasons for such an exhaustive, but relatively expensive analysis of Naval Station Norfolk’s vulnerability, are obvious: It’s one of the nation’s most critical installations, occupying one of the country’s most threatened locations. Such an up-close look at other installations both here and abroad might not be an appropriate, or smart, use of resources – particularly if those installations are outside the coastal zone.

And yet, said Burks-Copes, the methods and data used in RC1701 are certainly applicable and transferable to other installations or even other situations. “Military bases are like small cities,” she said. “You could literally take this approach to a small city and run

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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the same level of processing to help inform their long-term planning and management activities. The cities around Norfolk in the Hampton Roads area have recently joined in a multi-governmental initiative to assess sea level rise and coastal storm threats to the region, and are considering using something like the RC-1701 approach to assess their risks and manage their own regrets.”

After Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage along the East Coast in 2012, Congress directed USACE to lead a much more broadly focused study of the flood risks for communities and infrastructure along 31,000 miles of the North Atlantic coastline.

The North Atlantic Coast Comprehensive Study (NACCS), led by USACE’s National Planning Center of Expertise for Coastal Storm Risk Management, involved engineers from North Atlantic Division districts, ERDC, and USACE’s Institute for Water Resources (IWR). The final report, submitted to Congress in January 2015, modeled the effects of more than 1,000 storms over coastal terrain from Maine to Virginia, and identified the areas at highest risk from flooding or storm surges. It also provides a framework for risk management at the regional, statewide, and local scales: identifying risk, evaluating an array of different strategies to manage that risk, and ultimately collaborating with others to build resilience into coastal communities.

One of the tools used to prepare the NACCS was a set of map services, developed

by USACE, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and collectively referred to as the Sea Level Rise Tool for Sandy Recovery. USACE was already using a similar tool it had designed for use in a broad-based screening of its coastal projects: the Comprehensive Evaluation of Projects with Respect to Sea Level Change (CESL).

This effort had its foundation 10 years ago, after Hurricane Katrina, when USACE realized it must set a nationwide standard for datum and subsidence, and improve its existing guidance for incorporating changing sea levels in planning and design.

This first phase of the CESL, completed in September 2014, evaluated the resilience of 1,431 USACE projects – and found that about two-thirds of these met the standards of resilience established by USACE. Among those that did not, 25 were categorized as having a “very high vulnerability.”

According to Kathleen White, Ph.D., P.E., the USACE Climate Preparedness and Resilience Community of Practice lead, future phases of the CESL will become progressively more detailed – intermediate levels of specificity, she said, somewhere between these high-level screenings and the microscope applied by the ERDC team to Naval Station Norfolk.

The second phase has already involved a closer look by IWR, ERDC, and district-level subject-matter experts at a project featuring coastal dikes and a navigation gate. “The

next step,” White said, “will be moving on to other classes of projects such as jetties, ecosystem restoration projects, and things like that.”

The use of climate information for planning and executing infrastructure projects is rapidly becoming mainstreamed – not only throughout USACE, but also to agencies and entities throughout the nation’s coastal regions, particularly on the East Coast. The use of these kinds of models to inform decision-making in the nation’s interior, White said, isn’t happening as quickly. “That climate hydrology is really complex,” she said; it involves the notion of “nonstationarity” – the fact that runoff and precipitation, given the changing climate, don’t behave in the way that they did in the past.

Watershed-scale studies of how changing climate might affect communities and infrastructure are a tall order. A reliable dataset of future projections is limited in terms of the types of downscaling and hydrologic models used. But USACE scientists and their external partners are expanding these datasets to provide more information about future hydrology. They are using this data to develop a new generation of tools to help determine the resilience of individual projects. “We’ve been evaluating flood flow frequency curves using future climate hydrology,” White said, “and we’re starting to see patterns that tell us, in some places, the current methods we’re using are OK – those are the places where flood flow frequency has already been captured using today’s methods. But there are other places where we’re going to have [to] come up with new methods.”

IWR, ERDC, and district-level staff as well as their partners are working on a tool to detect nonstationarity in observed flows – the tipoff that a more detailed examination will be necessary. “These tools are actually a big deal,” she said. “They make information accessible to our staff, but also to stakeholders, because we make them available on the Web. We’ve had some of the best academic and National Center for Atmospheric Research people working on the hydrology, teams working really hard now for three years, and the progress they’re making is now enabling us to make decisions based on this information. Five years ago there was no way we could have done this.”

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USACE’S WATER RESOURCES CIVIL WORKS STRATEGIC PLAN A sustainable effort producing sustainable solutions

By Chuck Oldham

T

he U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has played a key part in developing and managing the nation’s water resources for more than two centuries, and the solutions it has developed and deployed have reflected the changing needs and desires of the nation and the nation’s leadership as America has grown and changed. These needs and desires have evolved as our knowledge of the nature of our water resources has expanded, and the solutions to meet those needs have changed to keep pace, culminating in USACE’s most recent strategic plan: “Sustainable Solutions to America’s Water Resources Needs: Civil Works Strategic Plan 2014-2018.”

“This strategic plan presents USACE’s commitment to responsibly develop the nation’s water resources, while protecting, restoring and sustaining environmental quality. USACE is dedicated to learning from the past and adapting the organization to ensure the U.S. enjoys a prosperous and sustainable future,” said USACE Director of Civil Works Steven L. Stockton.

USACE’s traditional water resource civil infrastructure mission continues today in serving the public through development and management of the nation’s water resources; support of commercial navigation; restoration, protection, and management of aquatic ecosystems; flood risk management; and engineering and technical services in an environmentally sustainable, economic, and technically sound manner with a focus on public safety and collaborative partnerships.

USACE oversees, manages, and maintains a massive amount of infrastructure devoted to the nation’s water resources, including: • More than 700 dams that minimize risk of flooding and provide water supply storage • 12,000 miles of commercial inland navigation channels with 192 lock sites and 236 chambers through which shipping traffic passes, and 13,000 miles of commercial deep draft and coastal navigation channels • 926 coastal, Great Lakes, and inland harbors • 2,000 miles of the 14,700 miles of levees in the USACE inventory that reduce risk from floods • 75 hydroelectric power facilities with 353 generating units that produce power for homes, businesses, and communities • 54,879 miles of lake shoreline and recreation areas that support 370 million annual visits But while USACE’s traditional water resources mission continues, it is also changing due to evolving circumstances and increased awareness. The strategic plan addresses the maintenance and development of water resources from the perspective of all the

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A group of employees take a fishing hike during the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District’s third district campout May 15-17, 2015, at New Hogan Lake in Valley Springs, California. The new Civil Works Strategic Plan outlines USACE’s commitment to develop the nation’s water resources while protecting, restoring, and sustaining environmental quality.

U.S. Army photo by Todd Plain

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stakeholders involved, taking into account their varying needs and sometimes conflicting interests. The strategic plan places increased emphasis on sustainability, resilience, efficiency, and safety.

“As society’s needs and values have changed, the Army Civil Works mission has evolved from one of primarily development and management of water resources to one that inherently includes protection and restoration of water resources and the ecosystems they support,” Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works the Honorable Jo-Ellen Darcy and Chief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick wrote in the introduction to the strategic plan.

“USACE must operate and manage existing water infrastructure in a manner that meets the nation’s contemporary water resources needs, and adapts to changing conditions such as climate change and demographic shifts to ensure such resources are available for future generations,” the introduction continued. “Competing water uses must be balanced to provide multiple benefits such as economic security, environmental health, social well-being, and public safety. For example, navigation projects must be designed and operated to safely and efficiently convey vessels and cargo to ports and waterways, and also minimize any adverse impacts to the environment. Flood damage reduction projects must simultaneously reduce flood risks and sustain healthy ecosystems.”

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USACE photo by Patrick Moes

TOP: The Springville (Scoby) Dam located in Springville, New York, is the focus of a Great Lakes Fishery and Ecosystem Restoration Section 506 study. The purpose of the study at the dam is to evaluate an array of measures that will provide fish passage above the dam to the upstream reaches of Cattaraugus Creek and its tributaries while prohibiting upstream migration of sea lampreys. The Springville Dam currently blocks all upstream movement of fish to the upper reaches of Cattaraugus Creek and its tributaries. Restoring, protecting, and managing aquatic systems is one of the goals of the Civil Works Strategic Plan. ABOVE: Barges with their tug pass through Lock and Dam 1 in Minneapolis on the Mississippi River. The Civil Works Strategic Plan goals recognize the importance of facilitating transport of commerce on the nation’s coastal channels and inland waterways.

Thus the five goals of the strategic plan aim to preserve and improve the nation’s water resources and supporting infrastructure for future generations while still managing and employing them for needed uses today. The goals are to: 1. Transform the Civil Works program to deliver sustainable water resources solutions through Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM).

2. Improve the safety and resilience of communities and water resources infrastructure.

3. Facilitate the transportation of commerce goods on the nation’s coastal channels and inland waterways.

4. Restore, protect, and manage aquatic ecosystems to benefit the nation.

5.

Manage the life-cycle of water resources infrastructure systems in order to consistently deliver sustainable services.

One of the keys to the strategy is that USACE seeks to achieve these goals through IWRM, a holistic approach that looks to the whole of the resource and also recognizes that external forces such as climate change, resource constraints, and shifting demographics as well as the land-use changes associated with those demographic changes will require innovative and flexible solutions to adapt to such changes. IWRM employs six strategies to achieve this overarching focus on whole systems rather than component parts devoted to particular stakeholders.

First, USACE knows from experience that water resources are complex systems with often complex interplays at work between the natural and built environments, and this means all stakeholders must be involved in husbanding and developing those resources, necessitating a systems analysis approach to evaluate management alternatives.

“Water resources planning and management should be watershed-based, using systems analysis methods and tools to understand, assess and model the interconnected nature of hydrologic watersheds/systems, the economic and ecologic systems they support, and identify and evaluate management alternatives

Photo by Andrew Kornacki, USACE Buffalo District Public Affairs

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TRANSFORM CIVIL WORKS and holistic inputs and outputs,” according to a USACE release concerning the strategic plan.

Second, because those stakeholders and their interests are intimately connected with the development, use, and maintenance of water resources and infrastructure, the opportunity exists for more collaboration and partnerships with other agencies and organizations. Therefore USACE will strive to “build and sustain collaboration and partnerships with other agencies and organizations at all levels to leverage authorities, resources, talent, data, and research.”

Third, and related to the above, these common interests provide the opportunity for innovative financing arrangements such as public-private partnerships and other funding mechanisms. USACE will “seek innovative arrangements such as public-private partnerships, revised funding prioritizations, and other appropriate funding mechanisms to develop and sustain water resources infrastructure.”

The latest, state-of-the-art technology must also be embraced to seize every financial advantage in cutting the costs of assessing and completing projects, taking advantage of “new and emerging technology and research that improve infrastructure resiliency, assist in updating design criteria, improve approaches toward planning and design, and support smart decisions.”

Likewise, because changing risk factors and conditions require a more adaptive management approach, USACE will “use adaptive

management, a life-cycle decision process that promotes flexible decision making that can be adjusted in the face of risks and uncertainties, as outcomes from management actions and other events become better understood through monitoring and improved knowledge.”

Finally, because there are simply too many projects requiring attention and not enough funding, even with the possibility of increased support from partnerships and alternative funding streams, a risk-informed decision-making model must be used for determinations such as which dams are in most urgent need of repair and upgrade, or which of the many 50-plus-year-old navigation locks on the nation’s inland waterways must be refurbished or replaced and in what priority. The model will “develop and employ risk- and reliability-based approaches that incorporate consequence analysis, especially risk to humans; identify, evaluate, and forestall possible failure mechanisms; and quantify and communicate residual risk.”

Lessons learned from past successes as well as new awareness of changing conditions and demands inform USACE’s civil works strategic plan, which will continue to support the nation’s water resources needs today while preserving water resources and infrastructure for the future.

“Sustainable Solutions to America’s Water Resources Needs: Civil Works Strategic Plan 2014-2018” is available at www.usace.army. mil/Portals/2/docs/civilworks/news/2014-18_cw_stratplan.pdf.

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A WRECK REBORN: RECOVERING THE CIVIL WAR IRONCLAD CSS GEORGIA FROM THE SAVANNAH RIVER

By Jeremy S. Buddemeier, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Savannah District

As

cities along the East Coast scramble to bolster their infrastructure and employ massive dredges to deepen their harbors, Savannah began its harbor expansion with a team of 10 people who used wire baskets to raise a handful of objects at a time.

The team, a group of marine archaeologists from Panamerican Consultants, Inc., was recovering and preserving small artifacts from the CSS Georgia, a Civil War-era ironclad that rests at the bottom of the Savannah River.

Their work, along with that of U.S. Navy divers who recovered ordnance in July and will be raising larger portions of the vessel through September, comprises the first phase of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, or SHEP. Once complete, the approximately $700 million project will deepen the river from 42 to 47 feet, extend its length by 7 miles, widen three bends, and add two meeting areas to better accommodate post-Panamax ships as early as 2021, according to Jason O’Kane, a senior project manager at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Savannah District.

Post-Panamax refers to a new class of cargo ships too large to fit through the Panama Canal before its expansion, which is expected to be complete by April 2016.

“Many have wanted to recover this historically significant Civil War vessel since the 1970s and learn more about her,” O’Kane said.

“With SHEP underway, it now must be removed in order to deepen this area of the channel. It’s exciting to be getting both now.”

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

Before marine archaeologists began their daily dives in January 2015, the amount of historical information on CSS Georgia was limited.

“We know very little about the ship itself, other than from the lithographs from the Civil War period in the newspapers,” Stephen James, lead archaeologist from Panamerican Consultants, Inc., said while presenting his team’s findings at a public lecture in the Savannah History Museum on June 2.

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Though no blueprints exist, historians do know the Ladies Gunboat Association raised approximately $122,000 in 1862 (roughly $2 million to $3 million today) to construct the ironclad, whose armor or “casemate” was fashioned from alternating railroad tracks because the South lacked sufficient foundries for pressing steel into plates.

The ship’s tonnage and undersized propulsion, combined with the strength of the Savannah River’s currents and tides, pigeonholed the vessel into becoming a floating battery across from Old Fort Jackson, where it guarded against a Union naval advance into Savannah.

The ship served in this capacity for two years but never fired a shot in battle, except for an unconfirmed volley against a Union rowboat attempting to scout upstream. As Gen. William T. Sherman’s troops advanced on Savannah in December 1864, Confederate forces scuttled the ship to prevent it from being used against them.

The ironclad remained undisturbed for more than a century before a dredge struck and marked it in 1968.

RAISING THE WRECK

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contracted Texas A&M University to survey the vessel in 1980, which formed the foundation for further exploration. Six years later divers recovered approximately 100 cannonballs and rifled Brooke shells, along with two cannons, which are displayed at Old Fort Jackson.

As sonar and survey technology improved, marine archaeologists gained a clearer picture of the wreck site’s topography. This technology also brought into focus the damage inflicted on the vessel from more than 150 years of routine dredging, merchant traffic, and its most formidable enemy: teredo worms, which James likened to “sea termites,” that destroyed most of the ship’s wooden hull.

Divers currently use multibeam sonar technology to map the ironclad’s tattered remains, which are spread over a 150- by 250-foot area.

Archaeologists subdivided this area into 10-by-10-foot squares on an electronic grid to enable them to record the location of and methodically recover the artifacts.

Diving on the CSS Georgia

TRANSFORM CIVIL WORKS A 3-D graphic taken from archaeologists’ multibeam sonar technology shows sections of the CSS Georgia’s casemate, propeller, and cannons. The multibeam survey led archaeologists to the previously undiscovered fourth cannon, which lies away from the rest of the wreck, closer to the center of the channel.

Graphic courtesy of Panamerican Consultants, Inc.

Raising the big guns

According to James, the 3-D technology allowed archaeologists to virtually fly over the wreck site, pinpoint areas of interest and subsequently send a diver down to explore.

In one case, a suspicious object turned out to be a log trapped underwater in debris; in another, it was a fourth cannon that previous surveys had overlooked because it lay closer to the channel, away from the rest of the wreck.

However, a majority of the artifacts aren’t visible with the multibeam sonar and the conditions in the Savannah River have complicated the recovery process.

The turbid, cold water limits divers’ visibility to 6 inches or fewer and requires them to wear thick gloves, which also inhibit their ability to sense objects. In addition, because the tides can fluctuate up to 8 feet and currents are strongest at high and low tide, the optimal safe diving time is limited to a one- to two-hour period at slack tide, when currents slow to a halt.

These factors combine to make the process painstakingly slow. Once on the bottom, the lone diver places a wire basket in the middle of one 10-by-10 foot square, and, while holding onto the basket with one hand, uses his other hand and feet to locate objects.

To the untrained eye on the surface, many of the artifacts look like hunks of barnacle-covered rock, which makes the divers’ job even more impressive. A closer examination, sometimes via X-ray, reveals much more.

“Stuff will just appear out of concretions,” James said.

As divers recover artifacts, they’re sent upriver to Jim Jobling and Parker Brooks, a project manager and graduate student, respectively, from Texas A&M University’s Conservation Research Laboratory. They tag and catalog the artifacts before sending them to the lab in Texas for further analysis and conservation.

PIECING IT TOGETHER

To date, archaeologists have recovered 1,506 artifacts, which have provided rare glimpses into the lives of Confederate sailors serving aboard the ironclad.

Archaeologists knew life aboard the creaking, leaking ironclad was not a choice assignment, but the discovery of three full sets of leg irons suggests something more: that sailors had to be shackled in some cases to prevent them from going AWOL. Another item, a bayonet handle from a P.S. Justice rifle bayonet, model 1861, type II, illustrates Confederate sailors’ hopeless plight if they were to encounter the enemy. P.S. Justice products were notorious for their lackluster performance.

One inspector wrote that the bayonets were “of such frail texture that they bend like lead, and many of them break off when going through the bayonet exercise,” according to College Hill Arsenal, a website specializing in Civil War relics. Imagine going to war with a weapon that couldn’t harm a practice dummy.

Archaeologists have also recovered a panoply of munitions and accoutrements related to the six cannons on board the ship. Brass parts like the “eyes for tackle” and an elevator screw, used to control the direction and height of the cannon, respectively, were still in good condition. Brooks was impressed the elevator screw still turned after being submerged for more than 150 years.

In addition to the cannonballs and rifled rounds, archaeologists raised two grapeshot stands, comprised of five to six golf ball-sized rounds that dispersed from the cannon like a shotgun, and an 80- to 100-pound “bolt” round.

The bolt is a solid, gunpowder-less projectile from a 6.4-inch Brooke rifled cannon that was used to puncture fortifications and ironclad armor.

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Photo by Michael Jordan, Cosmos Mariner Productions

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TRANSFORM CIVIL WORKS “With this, they didn’t want boom, they wanted a hole,” Brooks said.

But amid the fort-busting shells are more delicate items such as pottery, wine bottles, and a hand-polished glass top from a decanter or condiment bottle.

“It really makes our day when we find objects used by an individual,” Brooks said. “It helps tell more of the story.”

During the June 2 lecture, James said that CSS Georgia also functioned as a sieve over the years. His team recovered several pieces of decorated pottery that predated European explorers’ arrival in North America, which drew a collective “oooh” from the audience.

THE PAST AND FUTURE MEET

Despite the amount of information archaeologists have gathered from the artifacts, many questions remain.

For example, archaeologists still don’t know if CSS Georgia had one or two propellers. Divers recovered one propeller July 24, and even though modern surveys have never shown signs of a second propeller, it is probable the second propeller was removed from the site during a salvage operation in the 1860s-1870s, according to Julie Morgan, USACE Savannah District lead archaeologist for the project.

In addition, though Civil War-era lithographs show 10 gun ports, archaeologists haven’t determined how many cannons were on board when it was scuttled.

Six cannons have been identified at the site: two reside at Old Fort Jackson from the 1986 survey, and Navy divers recovered the other four in late July of this year. One of those four cannons turned out to be a 9,000-pound Dahlgren rifled cannon, which was a pleasant surprise to archaeologists when it was raised July 21, as they previously thought a different type of cannon rested at the site.

Other issues surrounding the propulsion equipment have archaeologists scratching their heads.

Jobling said the engine block is missing mounting screws, and the wrist pin that would have joined the piston and the connecting rod has been removed. If the wood beneath the engine block rotted away, the screws would still be attached to the block, so this suggests a different explanation.

Did Confederate sailors remove these items before scuttling the vessel?

Another hypothesis is that a post-Civil War salvage operation was aborted midstream when the funding ran out and the recovered items were dumped back overboard.

In addition to these nuanced questions, the overall fate of the ironclad and its artifacts after the recovery also remains obfuscated.

After Navy divers have recovered ordnance, cannons, and larger pieces of machinery, a mechanized “five finger” style crane and clamshell will grapple and scoop the remaining casemate, assorted railroad iron, and the bed on which the wreck rests. Archaeologists will quickly sift through the items to separate artifacts of worth and duplicates, Jobling said.

The ship, which is considered a captured enemy vessel, belongs to the Navy. USACE is working with the Navy to find museums interested in exhibiting the ironclad’s artifacts, but nothing concrete has been established.

With time, perhaps the CSS Georgia’s future, like the remnants of its past that are still being raised from the Savannah River’s turbid waters, will become clearer. For now, speculation will have to suffice.

CSS Georgia Lecture

TOP: A combination of three photos of a set of leg irons: covered in concretions, X-rayed, and a replica made from the “mother” mold of the artifact. To produce the replica, researchers constructed a silicon mold from the original object, injected epoxy into the mold, and colored the finished product to make it resemble the original. CENTER: Cross section of railroad trackage.

This is a profile view of a slice of the casemate from the CSS Georgia that was recovered in November 2013. The artifact is comprised of alternated railroad rails and the dark material between the rails is sediment deposited while the ironclad sat at the bottom of the Savannah River. ABOVE: The CSS Georgia continues to surprise archaeologists. Case in point: this 9,000-pound Dahlgren rifled cannon that archaeologists thought was a different type of cannon before raising it to the surface July 21.

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THE 2014 WATER RESOURCES AND REFORM DEVELOPMENT ACT A comprehensive law with comprehensive benefits to the nation

By Rhonda Carpenter

W

hen President Barack Obama signed into law the 2014 Water Resources and Reform Development Act, or WRRDA, on June 10, 2014, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) was given authority to maintain and develop the U.S. transportation infrastructure on the nation’s waterways as well as continue to address risk reduction, flood protection, and environmental needs.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, in its May 15, 2014, WRRDA Conference Report, stated that “the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 is one of the most policy and reform focused measures of its kind in the last two decades.”

“A WRRDA is an authorization bill,” said Jan Rasgus, senior policy advisor in USACE’s Planning and Policy Division, Civil Works.

“It provides authority to the Corps to do certain things. The Corps can only do things when we have an authority to do it.”

However, USACE can only begin to fulfill its civil works mission when appropriated funds become available to maintain, continue work on, or begin new projects. Over the last several years, available funding has not allowed USACE to fully maintain its much-needed work on the country’s aging dams, levees, ports, and waterways infrastructure.

“When programs, projects, and studies are authorized, we need funding in order to actually carry them out,” she said. “As you may know, the authorization process and the appropriations process are two separate things. Once we get an authority, we have an opportunity to do something. But until we actually have the appropriations associated with that authority, we cannot go out and implement or use that authority.”

WHAT’S IN WRRDA 2014?

The act contains a provision that authorizes USACE to study and recommend to Congress the deauthorization of nearly $18 billion worth of old, inactive projects that were authorized prior to WRDA of 2007, the most recent act. Projects eligible to be removed from the federal ledgers include those that have not begun construction, or if they have begun construction, have not

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received funds from federal or non-federal sources within the last six years. This process prioritizes removal of the oldest projects that have been inactive the longest. As a result of this provision, their elimination more than offsets the 2014 WRRDA authorization provisions by approximately $6 billion.

To highlight some of WRRDA’s other components, Rasgus explained that Congress gave USACE new authorities while expanding existing authorities “that really focus on [what] I would call reform measures.” These reform measures fall into several categories including planning modernization; greater nonfederal participation in the planning and construction of federal projects; and alternative financing mechanisms to help fund the construction of new projects and support the rehabilitation of aging infrastructure.

USACE had already begun streamlining its planning processes, but the act put into law some of the very processes underway, such as completing feasibility studies within three years and at a federal cost of $3 million or less.

WRRDA also eliminated the requirement for conducting a “reconnaissance” study, which required USACE to make certain determinations before moving forward with the feasibility study process. Eliminating this phase, which could take a year or longer, frees USACE to move directly into a feasibility study and hit its target of completing assessments within three years or less.

The legislation also supports alternative financing mechanisms, whereby nonfederal entities may provide work in kind or undertake the planning and design of civil works projects. “Alternative financing in and of itself,” said Rasgus, “is a very broad term. But there were several provisions that support the Corps moving forward on projects with different funding sources.”

WRRDA also included a first-ever fiscal provision, which sanctions USACE to enter into agreements with private-public partners in the future. “This is a new authority that we have never had … one that we are working with very carefully and very diligently to determine how we are going to proceed in light of that new law.”

Another financing provision contained within WRRDA is the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. It’s a loan program – secured loans and loan guarantees to governmental and nongovernmental entities.

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USACE’s New York District has played a major role in the navigation, development, and maintenance of water resource activities in the New York and New Jersey Harbor Estuary. From maintenance and channel dredging to drift removal and environmental restoration, the district has been involved in many facets of port improvement plans.

USACE New York District photo

U.S. INFRASTRUCTURE AND WATERWAYS NEEDS

To comprehend the importance – and history – of waterways in the United States, one can go back to the 1824 General Survey Act that authorized the president to survey and improve canals and roads “of national importance, in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail.” That responsibility was given to the Corps of Engineers, whose history dates to 1775.

Today, USACE operates, owns, or maintains water resources infrastructure on a large scale, including: • More than 700 dams that minimize risk of flooding and provide water supply storage • 12,000 miles of commercial inland navigation channels, with 192 lock sites and 236 navigation chambers and 13,000 miles of commercial deep-draft and coastal navigation channels • 926 coastal, Great Lakes, and inland harbors • 2,000 miles of the14,700 miles of levees in the USACE levee inventory that reduce risk from floods • 75 hydroelectric power facilities with 353 generating units that produce power for homes, businesses, and communities “These civil works projects provide a key foundation or component of the nation’s public infrastructure,” Rasgus explained.

“That includes our levees, our locks and dams, and the environmental projects that we construct. This infrastructure helps

promote economic growth, supports quality of life and environmental health, and contributes to our national security.

The nation’s goods are moved via four modes of transportation: roads, rail, air, and water.

“A lot of times it’s the water infrastructure that is sort of the forgotten component of that transportation system,” said Gene Pawlik, public affairs officer for Civil Works at USACE Headquarters. “But it’s there. It’s a much more silent, less visible way of doing things. But it’s critical to the nation’s economy, lifestyle, and environmental and public health.”

The importance and value of water resources and transportation infrastructure to the nation’s economy is measureable: • Inland waterways carry 51 million truck trips per year, reducing wear and tear on road infrastructure and associated emissions • 2.3 billion tons of cargo at a value of $2 trillion are handled

by U.S. ports and waterways • 48 percent of consumer goods bought by Americans pass through harbors maintained by USACE • 41 states are directly served by USACE ports and waterways With the nation in need of new navigable port and harbor infrastructure as well as improvements to existing structures – some of which are 50-plus years old – USACE prioritizes these needs.

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TRANSFORM CIVIL WORKS “Among existing navigation projects,” Pawlik said, “priority is given to the operation and maintenance of harbors and waterway segments that support high volumes of commercial traffic, including the nation’s three busiest inland waterways – the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, and the Illinois Waterway – and high commercial-use harbors and channels. Priority also goes to harbors that support significant commercial fishing, subsistence, or public transportation benefits.”

IMPLEMENTING AND APPLYING WRRDA

With a law of this scope, USACE methodically looks at the WRRDA and develops implementation guidance, because implementation affects the public and those with whom USACE works.

“When we first get a WRRDA,” Rasgus said, “we go through every section and subsection within it, and make a determination as to whether or not we need to write implementation guidance.

“We develop implementation guidance to make sure there is a consistent application of the law across the Corps of Engineers,” an important consideration since USACE has nine divisions, 43 districts, and nine centers and labs.

“If everybody just picked up the law and started doing what they wanted to do,” Rasgus said, “we would have people implementing the law in different ways. So, the overall purpose of preparing implementation guidance is to make sure that there is

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consistency in the application of WRRDA-related policies and procedures across the Corps.”

In order to obtain public input for the development of implementation guidance, USACE also received comments from a variety of sources prior to developing any guidance. It conducted four webinars/listening sessions, allowing for public comment from those who had an interest in individual projects or provisions, including state, local, and tribal organizations, special interest groups, stakeholders, farmers, and others.

The initial thinking is that there would be a Water Resources and Development Act every two years. Yet, WRRDA of 2014 is the first to be passed by Congress since 2007.

“It’s critical to get WRRDA back on two-year cycles to ensure that Congress has a fundamental role in the development of Corps of Engineers projects, and in the oversight of the agency,” said Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., during the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s “One Year Anniversary After Enactment: Implementation of the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014” June 10, 2015, hearing.

“WRRDA 2014 was an overwhelmingly bipartisan action probably at a higher level than you see almost anything else get through Congress,” Pawlik concluded. “That was a big thing there [to have WRRDA passed]. And a lot of [policymakers] have talked about the need to make sure that this happens more frequently.”

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1. D ams provide many other benefits beyond electricity. In fact, only 3 percent of the nation’s 80,000 dams currently generate power. For example, of the more than 700 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) dams across the United States, the 75 dams with hydropower contribute to a water resource management system that provides flood risk management, water quality improvement, irrigation, fish and wildlife habitat, and recreation.

2. The energy generated through hydropower relies on the water cycle, which is driven by the sun, making it a renewable power source and making it a more reliable and affordable source than fossil fuels that are rapidly being depleted.

3. Some hydropower facilities can quickly go from zero power to maximum output, making them ideal for meeting sudden changes in demand for electricity, especially when other renewable sources like wind and solar cease power production suddenly. Additionally, hydropower provides essential back-up power during major electricity disruptions, such as the 2003 blackout that affected the northeastern United States and southern Canada. Given the ease of hydropower start up, it is able to re-energize the electrical grid to allow other forms of generation to come online after a major power system disruption.

4. Over the last decade, hydropower provided about 7 percent of the electricity generated in the United States and 63 percent of the electricity from all renewable sources. In the Pacific Northwest, USACE produces significant hydroelectric power for the nation at its dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers.

5. Hydropower costs less than most energy sources.

States that get the majority of their electricity from hydropower, like Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, have lower energy bills than the rest of the country.

6. Every state uses hydropower for electricity, and some states use a lot. America’s hydropower industry has more than 100 gigawatts of hydropower capacity and employs an estimated 200,000-300,000 people. USACE is the largest owner-operator of hydroelectric power plants in the United States and one of the largest in the world, with 21,000 megawatt-hours (MW) of capacity. Almost one out

Billie Johnson

TOP 10 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT USACE HYDROPOWER

One of the powerhouses at Bonneville Lake and Dam.

of every four MW of hydropower capacity in the United States is owned by USACE. 7.

When most people think of hydropower, they imagine a huge dam storing an entire river behind its walls. But hydropower facilities can be tiny, too, taking advantage of water flows in municipal water facilities or irrigation ditches. They can even be “dam-less,” with diversions or run-of-river facilities channeling part of a stream through a powerhouse before the water rejoins the main river.

8. Hydropower is one of the oldest power sources on the planet. It was used by farmers as far back as ancient Greece for mechanical tasks like grinding grain.

9.

USACE hydroelectric projects produce more than 70 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy a year. This amount of renewable energy prevents approximately 50 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent greenhouse gas emissions from being emitted into the atmosphere or taking 10 million cars off the road.

10.

There are 63 privately owned and operated hydropower projects on USACE dams. These projects have 2,300 MW of installed generating capacity. There is an additional 3,000 MW of potential capacity that can be developed on existing USACE-owned non-powered dams. ead more about the benefits of hydropower and the many services it R provides to the nation at these links: w ww1.eere.energy.gov/water/pdfs/epri_value_hydropower_ electric_grid.pdf www.hydro.org/why-hydro/affordable/ energy.gov/eere/water/benefits-hydropower

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Col. Richard A. Pratt, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District commander, gets a firsthand look at dam operations as Anthony Condi (left), a senior technician with the Eufaula Lake Dam operations and maintenance team, monitors a controlled release of reservoir water as release levels were increased from 48,000 cubic feet per second to approximately 62,000 cubic feet per second, May 18, 2015. Pratt traveled to the area to assess the situation and thank the technicians, hydrologists, park rangers, and engineers there for their hard work fighting flood waters in the region.

U.S. Army photo by Edward N. Johnson

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SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTS USACE WITH STAKEHOLDERS AND THE PUBLIC

By Charles Dervarics

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hen record flooding hit Oklahoma and Texas in May 2015, residents and even TV stations got much of their fast-breaking news from a surprising source: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Thanks to intensive round-the-clock postings via social media, residents learned of areas with rising floodwaters and viewed hundreds of images of floodstricken sites, alerted to potential trouble spots in the region.

Having communities get much of their information from USACE was not new to the Corps of Engineers, however. Instead, the flood event provided perhaps the most dramatic example yet of USACE’s commitment to social media to convey messages quickly and accurately. Via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms, USACE has invested in a strong national and regional presence that builds lines of communication with state and local governments as well as individuals.

The work of USACE’s Tulsa District “is a shining example of the potential for social media,” said Evan Dyson, social media program manager at USACE Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Its comprehensive effort during the flooding also illustrated the many benefits of USACE investments at headquarters and at regional and district levels to provide a regular, reliable way to communicate with the public. “Social media provides us with tools to advance our organizational goals,” Dyson said.

HEADQUARTERS’ PHILOSOPHY

The Tulsa District experience reflects a top-down USACE commitment to promoting the effective use of social media. At headquarters, Dyson compiles a weekly calendar of events and observances, such as the Army’s birthday, and sends it out to all communication specialists across USACE as source material to develop social media posts. These updates may include case studies on the use of social media plus information on new or emerging technologies.

“We leave it up to [district and regional] offices to do what they want, but we give them guidance and tools,” he said. These updates are important as new technologies launch regularly. “Social media is not a static environment,” he said. “What people thought about social media two years ago isn’t true today.”

Headquarters staff use Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube as well as Flickr (for posting photos), and Google+™, another social media tool with similarities to Facebook. However, USACE is most active on Facebook, even compiling monthly metrics on posted Facebook messages and views from the general public.

Dyson said he and other staff at headquarters typically post seven listings daily to Facebook. Agency-wide, USACE can have 2,300 to 3,800 Facebook posts per month, with an average of about 3,000. These posts, during certain months, have generated as many as 57 million impressions, or the number of times a post is presented to Facebook users. Any individual can view USACE’s Facebook content, and those who “like” the page can have regular content updates published in their news feeds.

The social media presence has intensified as part of USACE’s efforts to communicate broadly with stakeholders and deploy staff who have the capacity to provide various skills during times of crisis. Many postings provide timely updates on construction and restoration projects, although some may be relatively routine such as photos or video from ribbon-cutting events. “We don’t have a ghost presence,” Dyson said. “If we have something, we post it.”

Dyson described Twitter, with entries limited to 140 characters, as “the CliffsNotes of the Facebook postings.” There are currently 67 Twitter accounts across USACE, as most regions utilize the tool to provide updates on construction or other news.

USACE also uses LinkedIn, a popular outlet for job seekers and business networking. This tool is especially useful to publicize job openings and to help prospective job seekers learn more about working for USACE, he said.

“We use social media to engage community stakeholders and get input,” Dyson said. For example, USACE may use social media to post highlights from public hearings or meetings that summarize events for those who could not attend.

Not all regions use all of these social media outlets, he said, and some tools, like LinkedIn, are consolidated as one USACE-wide presence. The social media office at headquarters will advise regions on specific tools and how to use them, emphasizing the need to offer engaging subject matter. “It’s important to time your social media content when there are compelling images,” Dyson said.

TULSA’S EXAMPLE

Nowhere were there more compelling images than those from the Tulsa District, where Facebook postings counted for about 22 million views in May 2015 and resulted in media attention from around the world. The social media activity was triggered by a historic rainfall in Oklahoma and Texas, which began last spring and continued through the summer, that followed years of drought. “Droughts often end in a flood, and that’s what happened here – a 100-year flood,” said Edward Johnson, chief of public affairs for the Tulsa District.

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PREPARE FOR TOMORROW With both states experiencing record monthly rainfall, Johnson’s office responded with a 24/7 commitment to social media, providing regular updates through various platforms and including video and photos wherever possible. “We managed social media right from the field. We were not at a desk,” he said.

He also learned a critical lesson early in the crisis when it became obvious that audiences were more interested in viewing raw, unedited footage of events as they unfolded on the ground, rather than waiting for USACE to take the time required to produce more traditionally edited video content. According to Johnson, sharing raw footage as soon as it was captured was an effective way to both inform and educate the audience. “Based on the Facebook trends we were seeing during the flood, it was clear that people wanted short, relevant videos rather than waiting for us to spend time producing more conventional, edited content,” he said.

For six weeks, his team of four public affairs specialists worked 12hour days, posting social media updates and answering news media questions. In addition, his staff made video available via the file-sharing service Dropbox™ to reporters and TV stations that were free to use the footage on their websites and newscasts.

“We decided we needed to have most of the public affairs team in the field where the flooding was happening, so we embedded our staff with those helping to fight the flood,” he said. Johnson and his staff did not try to “spin” the information, instead providing updates, photos, and videos from the situation on the ground. “We showed people exactly what was happening in an effort to be as open and transparent as possible.”

This approach reflected a top-down philosophy in USACE of providing factual information without editorializing. Engineers and rangers recorded photos and videos, as did members of the general public, including private pilots. One video of a reservoir draining its water – thereby creating a massive whirlpool capable of sucking in a full-size boat – drew 2.5 million YouTube views worldwide. According to Johnson, global interest in real-time imagery from the flood helped USACE dramatically increase public awareness of ongoing emergency response and flood risk mitigation operations.

For fast posting, Johnson and his team used automated social media tools to upload to multiple sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

They uploaded thousands of photos and videos to sites like Flickr and YouTube, not just so people could see what was happening at the front line “but to establish an ongoing archive of this historic event.”

Some videos showed the sacrifices made by USACE engineers, park rangers, and other emergency personnel, sometimes with unintended positive effects. For example, one photo posted on social media showed crews eating hot dogs during a break. In response, some people came to ranger stations with home-cooked meals, saying that the hard-working crews deserved better food.

Another ingredient to the success of social media was the ability of the team to adapt to changing circumstances. “We had a media plan, but we changed our plans and adapted to the situation on the ground,” Johnson said. Ultimately, “We made a point to show things that people wouldn’t ordinarily see or was important to their personal safety.” Overall, the district’s Facebook postings achieved 42.5 million views in June – far above the 80,000 views it typically received per month. “We learned that a text message had some interest. If you

TOP: A video of an intake vortex, produced by Tulsa District during its flood response, drew more than 2.5 million views worldwide on YouTube. The intake vortex was created as water entered the Denison Dam spillway on Lake Texoma. The vortex was approximately 8 feet in diameter and capable of sucking in a full-sized boat. This type of vortex is a normal occurrence when flood waters are released from the reservoir via flood control gates, and the visual demonstrated the need for the public to heed all safety buoys and caution signs.

ABOVE: Arkansas River flood waters being released through the Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam as part of regional flood mitigation efforts, May 30, 2015, at a rate of 349,000 cubic feet per second. Located 8 miles south of Sallisaw, Oklahoma, the total length of the structure, including the spillway, powerhouse intake, and navigation lock, is 7,230 feet. The maximum height is 75 feet above the streambed.

had a message with a photo, it was better. The best was having a 15- or 20-second video of what’s happening during a crisis.”

Tulsa’s experience reinforced USACE’s philosophy that social media is a powerful way to engage with stakeholders, whether they are government agencies or the general public. “One advantage of utilizing social media during a crisis communications scenario is that doing so allows us to provide people real-time information when and where they need it,” he said. The flooding also showed the depth of public interest in a topic that can be met swiftly by USACE through social media. “When people are passionate about a topic, they will seek information and social media is a great way to do that,” Dyson added.

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SUSTAINABILITY

USACE, with the expertise of its Huntsville Center, leads the way to net zero.

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he Army’s new Energy Security and Sustainability (ES2) Strategy, unveiled earlier this year, lays out a strategic roadmap to future energy security and sustainability.

The goal is to foster a more adaptable and resilient force that is prepared for a complex, uncertain, and rapidly changing future.

The strategy outlines five goals: • Inform decisions; • Optimize use; • Assure access; • Build resilience; and • Drive innovation.

The strategy notes that if the Army is to maintain its tactical and strategic edge, it must make wise use of its resources of energy, water, and land.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) partners with Headquarters Department of the Army, the Assistant Secretary of the Army

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(Installations, Energy and Environment), the Department of Energy, Department of Defense (DOD), the Office of Energy Initiatives (OEI), Army land-holding commands, and other federal agencies to support federal energy mandates, renewal energy initiatives, and the Army’s strategic energy goals.

Energy experts within USACE – some of whom work at the U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center in Huntsville, Alabama – are responsible for executing a number of the programs that are moving the Army toward these goals. Huntsville Center’s integrated energy project delivery teams incorporate experts in engineering, project management, contracting, resource management, legal, and others to ensure success.

According to Paul Robinson, chief of the Energy Division at the Huntsville Center, this leadership is applied to nearly all the Army’s energy projects – the only exception being large-scale renewable

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

By Craig Collins

PREPARE FOR TOMORROW This 5-kilowatt-hour photovoltaic (PV) system in front of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Visitors Center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was dedicated in 2007 to kick off the first Southeast Solar Summit. The system provides 9,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year. A similar system is in the final approval stages for placement at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

energy projects, of 10 megawatt-hours (MW) or greater, which are executed under the OEI within the Army Secretariat. The 30-MW, $75 million, 200-acre photovoltaic farm currently being installed at Fort Benning, Georgia, is an example of a project being led by the OEI. The tools devised by Huntsville’s technical experts are numerous and varied, designed to shepherd a project from its beginning stages to completion. Experts in the Commercial Utility Program, for example, help analyze an installation’s existing utility services for security and efficiency, and establish goals before a project is scoped. The Energy Engineering Analysis Program conducts energy audits to identify cost-saving energy and water conservation measures that will bring Army installations – and, as of 2011, USACE civil works projects – into compliance with federal energy and water consumption goals.

Every year brings news of projects that have been planned with the use of tools such as these, and executed to take advantage of a given installation’s particular environment and circumstances. In May, for example, officials broke ground on what will become the largest solar array in Kentucky, a 5-MW array, leveraging a unique power purchase agreement (PPA) and utility energy service contract (UESC) combination, which will help reduce the reliance of Fort Campbell on coal-powered energy.

At Fort Irwin National Training Center, in California’s Mojave Desert, USACE is at work building a new waste-to-energy plant and a hospital that will be powered by a photovoltaic farm; last year, Huntsville’s technical experts helped Fort Irwin achieve 90 percent energy savings through retrofits of lighting and control technologies.

“We are, in a sense, the crossroads for Army energy and the execution of these programs,” Robinson said. “We understand how to leverage these tools, and to determine which are optimal to use, depending on the circumstances at hand. So we’re in a position to take a very holistic approach to solutions.”

CREATING A MARKET FOR CONSERVATION

A commonly used tactic for minimizing waste and increasing energy efficiency is to use contracting and third-party financing mechanisms that invert the traditional arrangement, in which a utility or energy company delivers a certain amount of energy at a certain price. Such an arrangement can create the incentive for a provider to produce and sell as much energy as possible, yet it’s often very expensive for customers. To avoid this arrangement, a

customer can fund its own renewable energy projects. The Huntsville Center’s energy professionals share expertise in contracting and finance mechanisms that reward energy savings and reduce capital costs, including: • UESCs, which allow utilities to provide customers with demand reduction services or improvements in energy and/ or water efficiency. In a UESC, the utility fronts the capital costs, assesses the opportunities for savings, and designs and implements the conservation measures.

This summer, experts from the Huntsville Center’s UESC program began working with USACE’s Baltimore District and the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) on a recapitalization project to upgrade and centralize the heating and cooling systems in four buildings to one central plant. The UESC allowed the DIA to accomplish more with less up-front capital than it could have achieved with its own construction budget.

• PPAs, which enable customers to fund on-site renewable energy projects with minimal up-front capital costs. In a PPA, a developer installs a renewable energy system on agency property, at the developer’s own expense, and the agency negotiates to purchase the power generated by the system – essentially, paying for the system’s construction throughout the life of the contract.

In fall 2014, Fort Drum, New York, entered into a 20-year PPA with ReEnergy, in which the installation will buy energy generated by a biomass-burning power plant located on the base’s grounds. The agreement is the largest of its kind in the Army to date, and makes Fort Drum the first Army installation to receive 100 percent of its electricity from a renewable energy source.

• Energy Savings Performance Contracts (ESPCs), in which an agency partners with an energy service company (ESCO) to procure energy savings and facility upgrades with no up-front capital costs. In an ESPC, the ESCO designs a project that meets the agency’s needs, arranges for financing, and guarantees energy and dollar savings, a portion of which will pay for the project throughout the term of the contract – up to 25 years.

A recent upgrade to the heating system at the Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, was begun in April; Huntsville’s ESPC team awarded the contract to Honeywell International, which will remove the arsenal’s old coal-fired steam plant and replace it with a high-efficiency decentralized heating system. In addition to reducing the arsenal’s greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 21,000 metric tons annually, the new system will reduce energy consumption by 11 percent and water consumption by 12 percent.

Earlier this spring, Huntsville Center entered into a partnership with the Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), aimed at driving down the federal government’s energy costs through the government-wide adoption of these third-party mechanisms for performance contracting.

“The services are resource constrained and need to strategically utilize their limited dollars to support warfighting, readiness, and to improve the quality of life for our Soldiers,” Robinson said.

“And so third-party financing becomes very important in that

SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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PREPARE FOR TOMORROW equation to help offset the need for appropriated funds. That’s the reason we’ve partnered with the Federal Energy Management Program – which recognizes that we, as a federal government [entity], are going to continue to do more and more ESPCs in the future. So this partnership will allow us to bring our expertise to the table to help other federal agencies, as well as DOD, succeed in achieving their goals.”

The keystone of the Army’s strategy for sustainability and energy security is its net zero initiative, which aims to minimize both energy and water consumption as well as waste production at its facilities. In January 2014, the Army directed all its installations to implement net zero energy, water, and waste to the maximum extent practical and fiscally prudent.

In April 2011, the Hon. Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment, announced the 17 pilot installations for the net zero program that would provide testbeds to generate lessons learned and the technical expertise necessary to institutionalize the concept throughout the Army. After a competitive application process, the Army selected nine installations to pilot net zero energy by 2020, with six focused solely on net zero energy.

“In the purest sense, net zero is about making consumption as efficient as possible, and then offsetting the remaining consumption with a renewable energy source,” Robinson said. The Army’s energy strategy encourages installations to become more secure and resilient, and to develop a plan to distribute energy, rather than centralize.

Every installation has its differences, Robinson said, “So we want to establish general guidelines for creating a strategy and implementing a plan in a very logical and sequenced way.”

Not all installations will get to a net zero state, but in the process of evaluating options, there is an opportunity to make installations more secure and robust in terms of their abilities to self-sustain as much as they can.

“I throughly enjoy what I do,” said Robinson, “because we find ourselves, more often than not, at the forefront of a lot of things.

We’re continually breaking new ground.

What the Corps does in support of the Army, in my opinion, truly is moving the Army toward being more efficient and selfsustaining.”

TOP: Greg Lee, of Nolin RECC, Fort Knox Electric Utility Privatization contractor, demonstrates the capabilities of the Fort Knox Energy Security Project. Those in attendance included U.S. Rep. Brett Guthrie for Kentucky’s 2nd District, and the Honorable Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy & Environment). ABOVE: A geothermal pond in a large retention basin on Fort Knox, Kentucky, catches runoff from a 41-acre parking lot and a 339,000-square-foot roof area. The pond offered highly efficient cooling when coupled with the heat pumps in the complex.

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STEM EDUCATION

USACE and DODEA join forces to inspire a future generation of engineers and scientists. By Craig Collins

It’s

not a complaint you hear often these days: more jobs than people to fill them.

But the nation’s economic competitiveness relies upon the expertise, innovation, and productivity of professionals in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and there simply aren’t enough young people coming out of the American pipeline to meet the country’s future needs. A 2011 study by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce estimates that by 2018, there will be eight million STEM jobs in the United States, accounting for nearly 5 percent of all American jobs.

Like everyone else in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick, USACE’s commander and the Army’s chief engineer, thinks this is a problem:

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Photo by Trish Kobialka

PREPARE FOR TOMORROW

PREPARE FOR TOMORROW The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Far East District participates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities in April 2015 at Humphreys Central Elementary School. Some of the stations set up included balloon rockets, floating orbs, and a blow dryer/ ping pong ball to demonstrate how air pressure works.

USACE is the world’s largest public engineering firm, employing approximately 32,000 civilians and 700 military personnel in the United States and around the world. To meet its mission requirements, it will need more than a few good women and men. When he visited USACE’s Japan Engineer District in April 2015, Bostick made a point to visit with students at Zama American Middle School at the U.S. Army’s Camp Zama, near Tokyo.

“I told them in 2018 we’ll need a million more STEM graduates just to meet

the requirements in our country,” said Bostick. “And that will take individuals at a very young age keeping the doors open to studying science and math.”

Zama American Middle School is one of seven pilot schools involved in a partnership launched in spring 2013 by the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DODEA), the civilian agency that administers the schools for military children and teenagers in the United States and at overseas defense installations. The partnership, aimed at awakening a passion for STEM problem-solving among students, brings volunteers from USACE into DODEA classrooms to collaborate with teachers and work with students on solving real-world problems.

This new joint program, known as STEM ED, has three basic objectives: 1. Establishing a focused and sustainable long-term STEM partnership in communities where USACE and DODEA are co-located; 2. Increasing student awareness and interest in STEM activities and careers; and 3.

Increasing student awareness and interest in the need for more STEM professionals to help meet USACE mission requirements and the nation’s future needs.

The pilot phase of STEM ED is focused on middle school students. The overall curriculum for the program’s first year in the classroom, a unit on natural hazards and disasters, was hammered out by scientists and educators at DODEA headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, and designed to dovetail with existing curriculum standards. The focus of classroom units was on building strong structures.

“At the end of the program’s first year,” said USACE’s program manager for the

STEM ED program, Carla Shamberger, “we polled all the volunteers and asked for their feedback about ways we could make improvements to the program. And based on those survey results, we wanted to build in flexibility, to allow them to be more creative and innovative in the classroom, based on their specialties.” The new, more flexible curriculum has launched innovative classroom experiences and exciting interactions between volunteers and students at STEM ED pilot schools.

REAL PROBLEMS, REAL SOLUTIONS

At Seoul American Middle School, for example, at U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, South Korea, USACE volunteers and teachers created several meaningful engineering-related activities during both the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years: Geotechnical engineers advised students through competitions in building bridges and earthquake-resilient structures, and throughout the program, these engineers visited the school to discuss the impacts of severe weather and natural disasters on buildings and their designs.

One of the most innovative STEM ED events occurred recently at Scott Middle School, Fort Knox, Kentucky, in February 2015, when five structural engineers with USACE’s Louisville District visited to give more than 100 eighth-grade students a look at the work of today’s engineers. During their initial visits, the engineers advised students on the design of structures built to withstand seismic forces and the costs that might be associated with building them.

“This year we talked to the teachers prior to starting this program,” said Mercedes M. Hughes, P.E., one of the visiting engineers. “And we tried to incorporate the subjects they were going to be teaching. So what we did as a group was sit

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LEFT: Volunteers from the Japan District visited Zama American Middle School May 27, 2015, to help judge STEM projects for a seventh-grade science class. The projects culminated a sixweek session on “Natural Hazards and Disasters.” Throughout the six-week period, volunteers helped to facilitate the classroom sessions, providing real-world engineering insight and faceto-face interaction with the teacher and students. RIGHT: Far East District southern resident office engineers participated in Daegu High School’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Day event April 20 at Camp Walker in Daegu, Korea. Engineers explained what their work entails and also participated as judges for a marshmallow tower competition.

down and try to come up with activities that related to those subjects, but at the same time showed how we apply those principles to our everyday jobs.”

The group was able to combine two of the subjects the students had been learning about: earthquakes and economics. First, Hughes and her colleagues introduced students to the field of engineering and demonstrated, through video clips and sketches, how seismic forces can affect a building. The students were then guided through the design and evaluation of model structures.

“That was fun for them,” said Hughes, “but in addition to that, we brought in the economics of it. Each part they used to build their structure had a price. In real life, you have to take into account what it’s going to cost you – you can build it super strong, but it’s going to be really expensive. There’s a middle ground you have to negotiate. So they learned that too.” After the structures were evaluated, students were introduced to the 3-D modeling software used by engineers in design.

On her group’s last visit, the volunteers and teachers took advantage of a nearby construction project – the design/build of a new elementary school facility at Fort Knox – with the help of a volunteer architect from RS&H, the firm building the school.

The architect brought equipment – 3-D goggles, an Xbox® controller, and a system console, similar to a video game console – that enabled students to take a virtual tour, navigating through the common areas and classrooms of the new school building.

“It was really exciting for them,” Hughes said. “They loved it. They were engaged the whole time. And to me, that’s a job well done, because that’s one of the main challenges for us – to

deliver all this information at their level and keep them engaged the whole time.”

Hughes, who was born in Peru and grew up with limited opportunities, volunteered to participate in STEM ED as soon as she heard about the program. “I feel very blessed with the job I have,” she said, “and I want to share this feeling with the kids. But more importantly, I volunteer because I want to reach that kid who thinks he is not good enough or smart enough, or that his present situation will not allow him to become a certain type of professional, and motivate them to reach their goals.”

The feedback from STEM ED volunteers, teachers, and students, after its second year, is overwhelmingly positive. In surveys, volunteers repeatedly assert that being in the classroom has helped them to grow as engineers and scientists – and that they would volunteer again, if asked.

The program has received interest from throughout USACE, from other professionals interested in volunteering their time and expertise, and also from non-DODEA schools, including a few in the District of Columbia’s public school system. It seems a promising start to a program that will continue to grow and evolve.

“Gen. Bostick is really excited about this program,” said Shamberger, “and very excited to renew this partnership. One of the changes we’ve made is to emphasize not only the work students are doing on a particular project, but also the possibility of a career in STEM. We want students to understand the connection: This is what you can be when you grow up. This is why you’re learning math and science in the classroom, and these engineering concepts we’re bringing to the class. Someday you can work in these exciting fields.”

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USACE’S WOUNDED WARRIOR PROGRAM Providing employment and networking opportunities for those who have sacrificed in many ways

By Gail Gourley

By

their nature, wounded warriors possess a desire to serve. Many programs and organizations help these dedicated Soldiers transition into civilian life, where they bring those qualities of service and dedication to new employment opportunities. As a significant part of that effort, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has assisted hundreds of wounded warriors and veterans find employment through its own Wounded Warrior Program.

“It’s about taking care of those who have sacrificed so much and helping them transition to employment,” said Sue Engelhardt, USACE director of Human Resources. “It’s the right thing to focus on, so we’ve really made a concerted effort to do that.” And the numbers reinforce the enterprise. Since the 2013 fiscal year, the USACE program has aided almost 600 wounded warriors in finding employment, to include within USACE, referrals to other companies, or any assistance that resulted in a job.

The program has several components. One key element is hiring interns through Operation Warfighter (OWF), a Department of Defense internship program that places wounded, ill, and injured service members in supportive work settings to provide meaningful activity while they recuperate. The interns gain valuable skills and build resumes in preparation for either returning to the military or entering the civilian workforce.

According to Engelhardt, USACE became increasingly engaged with OWF in FY 13, coinciding with the emphasis on assisting wounded service members that Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Bostick brought to USACE when he became the Army Corps of Engineers commander. Since then, USACE has placed 325 recovering Soldiers in OWF internship positions.

In addition to OWF, USACE’s campaign focuses on attending wounded warrior and veteran outreach and recruitment events in order to connect with transitioning service members. Since FY 13, USACE has hosted or attended almost 500 events. These events include social events that provide for interaction and support, including recreational opportunities.

Initial contact with wounded warriors and veterans occurs through multiple channels, including each service branch’s program for wounded warriors.

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Chad Girard became aware of a USACE employment opportunity through his Marines’ wounded warrior program representative. Initially unsure if he met the requirements and hesitant to apply, he ultimately decided to go forward and submit his resume.

It turned out successfully, and in April 2015, Girard began his position with USACE’s Middle East District as a general supply specialist.

Having left the Marine Corps a few years earlier, Girard had remained connected to the Marines’ Wounded Warrior organization. He had found employment, but was looking for a different, more appropriate fit in a job opportunity. Since coming to USACE, he feels comfortable in that setting and thoroughly enjoys his job. “It’s sort of like being back working with the military,” he said, “even though it’s the Army, not the Marines.”

And he’s been surprised by “how supportive they are about it, and how eager they are to help.” He also appreciates the additional training to increase his skills, and that they’re very accommodating to veterans.

Girard’s enthusiastic message to wounded warriors or veterans considering USACE employment is “don’t hesitate – just go for it.”

Veterans’ resource organizations also provide an avenue to connect with potential USACE candidates.

When Kristy Rakes left the Air Force, she began her job search assisted by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program and the Virginia Employment Commission. She worked with a counselor to develop a strong resume that, through networking channels, attracted the attention of the USACE Norfolk District. Her qualifications matched the requirements for an open position, and Rakes began her employment as staff action coordination officer in 2014, where she facilitates the flow of information throughout the district.

In the Air Force, Rakes, medically retired, had served as a bioenvironmental engineer, so she was attracted to the engineering focus of USACE. Though her job is administrative, “there’s still a lot of the engineering problem-solving … and I appreciate that,” she said, adding, “That’s really where I wanted to go with my post-military employment.”

PREPARE FOR TOMORROW

Patrick Bloodgood

Shannon Hodges, Middle East District

RIGHT: Chad Girard. BOTTOM: Kristy Rakes.

Rakes said the USACE program provided a four-month trial period, which facilitated her transition from military to civilian employment. While she was becoming familiar with the scope of her job, she and her supervisor also worked together to meet her needs. “Those first four months were a chance to try out the job,” Rakes said. “And the couple of reasonable accommodations that I needed, USACE has supported that.”

Rakes added that her USACE employment is significant because it enabled her to get back into the workforce with full-time employment. She credits her post-military success to utilizing available resources, and encourages others to do the same. “I know it’s hard for former military, whether wounded warrior or not, to get hired under civil service,” she said, so by setting an example, “I’m just trying to knock as many barriers down as I can.”

Attending career fairs nationwide, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) events, is another USACE priority, allowing personal outreach and potentially rapid results. “When we can, we try to bring job openings to the events so we can actually do interviews on site,” said Engelhardt, adding that they can utilize Schedule A hiring authority, which allows federal agencies to appoint individuals with disabilities in a non-competitive hiring process.

Parrish Weaver, retired Navy veteran, connected at an HOH career fair. Weaver began employment in February 2015 at USACE Headquarters as a contract specialist in the Workforce Development Division, as its new Defense Acquisition

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A veterans’ assistance organization told him about an upcoming HOH event, at which he met his current USACE team. “They interviewed me on the spot, they loved me, I loved them, and then they hired me,” said Weaver. “I had my resume with me and I was able to articulate everything that I had been doing in a contract prior to that particular interview. And my background, my education, and my training – it was a good fit.”

Weaver was looking for a veteran-friendly organization and one that would appreciate his skills and prior experience. He immediately felt USACE met that criteria. He said, “Their attitude was all about, ‘What can we do for the veteran and how can we get the veterans in our program?’”

Weaver credits USACE’s support of veterans as stronger than he initially anticipated. “That’s a great place to work, one where you feel like you’re at home,” he said. And now he promotes the very attitude that he sought. As a veteran with a service-connected disability, he said, “I’m able to relate to other veterans with disabilities. I understand the struggles. I understand the issues and the obstacles that they have to overcome.”

Weaver said USACE has provided the tools and resources he needs to excel, and he sees his career potential as unlimited. “It is the opportunity that I’ve been waiting for,” he said.

Another avenue of employment and skill-building is the Veterans Curation Program (VCP). This USACE program employs veterans for up to five months, during which they acquire skills involved in archaeological processing and curation at laboratories in Alexandria, Virginia; Augusta, Georgia; or St. Louis, Missouri.

“It provides employment and training and technological skills to veterans so they can improve their access to the mainstream job market, because it’s giving them tangible work experience on preservation of federally owned archaeological collections,” Engelhardt explained. “It’s amazing the work that they do.”

Additional competencies such as records management, computer proficiency, photography, writing, and interpersonal communication help veterans build resumes and confidence. As of December 2014, the VCP had employed 203 veterans, with 118 obtaining permanent employment, some with USACE, and 31 working in VCP laboratories.

USACE also maintains volunteer positions for wounded warriors at many USACE parks and recreation centers, offering opportunities to develop skills and become informed about employment in the recreation field while increasing their visibility to potential employers. And for recreation, some districts organize hunting trips or fishing tournaments so wounded warriors can participate in outdoor activities they enjoy.

Although USACE attempts to assist as many wounded warriors as possible, Engelhardt noted one challenging aspect: “We are a highly technical organization,” she said. “We have STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] professionals. Most of our workforce – engineer-wise and STEM focused – requires degrees.” While not all USACE jobs require advanced education, and some wounded warrior applicants do

Parrish Weaver.

have degrees, Engelhardt stressed the importance of USACE’s networking efforts and strategic partnerships with other organizations, public and private, to assist in finding employment for applicants whose education and technical background don’t match an available USACE position.

Engelhardt looks to build on the success of USACE’s Wounded Warrior Program as it evolves. “I think we’ve come such a long way,” she said. “People talk about it; people understand the importance of it.” To enhance emphasis on hiring wounded warriors, they’ve increased communication efforts with managers to educate them about hiring authorities like Schedule A and to encourage their use. They have an internal collaboration site for people to share ideas. “Then it just becomes part of what you do when you have a vacancy,” she said. “The first thought process should be, ‘Could I fill this opening with a wounded warrior?’

It won’t always be true, but that should be something a hiring manager is always thinking.”

Engelhardt added that future focus will not only continue the momentum, but also expand efforts to assist all transitioning service members as they return home from war, and as much as possible, “help those who have sacrificed in many different ways.”

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DIRECTORY

USACE DIRECTORY:

DIVISIONS, DISTRICTS, CENTERS, AND COMMANDS The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is a dynamic organization with approximately 32,000 civilian and 700 military employees located throughout the United States, Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.

This diverse workforce provides vital public engineering services in peace and war to strengthen the nation’s security, energize the economy, and reduce risks from disasters. To successfully meet its broad mission areas, USACE comprises a Washington, D.C., headquarters office, nine division offices and 43 district offices; six main engineering, research and development, finance, and technical centers; the 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power); and the 412th and 416th Theater Engineer Commands. In fall 2009, USACE created the new Transatlantic Division to manage all overseas contingency operations, including reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan. The missions of all these offices and centers are as varied as the locations and customers they serve. Brief summaries of each are provided here.

DIVISIONS AND DISTRICTS GREAT LAKES AND OHIO RIVER DIVISION 550 Main Street • Cincinnati, OH 45202 Tel: (513) 684-3010 The history of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can be traced to June 1775, when the Continental Congress organized an Army and appointed Col. Richard Gridley as Gen. George Washington’s first chief engineer. Army engineers were instrumental in some of the major battles of the Revolutionary War. In 1794, Congress organized a Corps of Artillerists and Engineers but it was not until 1802 that it re-established a separate Corps of Engineers. In that same year, Congress established a military academy at West Point, New York.

Its first superintendent, Jonathan Williams, was also the chief engineer of USACE. From its inception, many politicians wanted USACE to contribute to both military construction and works “of a civil nature.” Throughout the 19th century, USACE supervised the construction of coastal fortifications and mapped much of the American West, constructed lighthouses, helped develop jetties and piers for harbors, and surveyed and mapped the channels of many rivers for navigation improvements.

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With the organizational evolution of USACE, district offices began forming in the 1870s. Division offices were created by general orders in 1888. The North Central Division, located in Chicago, Illinois, included the three Great Lakes districts, Buffalo, Chicago, and Detroit, along with Rock Island and St. Paul districts on the Upper Mississippi River. In 1901, the Central Division office, in Cincinnati, Ohio was established to manage the Civil Works program. In 1933, it was renamed the Ohio River Division with responsibility for USACE civil works and defense missions in the basin.

In 1997, USACE began restructuring several of its divisions, which led to combining the North Central and Ohio River divisions to form the Great Lakes and Ohio River Division (LRD).

LRD consists of the Great Lakes (which include the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence River) and the Ohio River watersheds.

It encompasses 335,300 square miles – all or portions of 17 states – that contain a population of more than 70 million people.

Stretching from the Great Lakes south to Alabama, from the Mississippi River east to Virginia’s Old Dominion, the division and its seven districts carry out rich and diverse missions.

Buffalo, Chicago, and Detroit districts carry out missions along the Great Lakes while Huntington, Louisville, Nashville and Pittsburgh districts work in the Ohio River’s watershed. The Louisville District also executes military missions that support 20 Department of Defense (DOD) organizations in its five-state area – Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky.

The division has a robust navigation mission. In the division’s northern area, the Great Lakes transport vital commodities to and from the nation’s heartland. Total annual commerce on the Great Lakes averages 175 million tons. Assigned the responsibility of keeping the Ohio River system navigable, the division performs work along the Ohio River’s mainstem and its seven tributaries.

The basin’s 2,582 miles of waterways carry 35 percent of the country’s waterborne commerce.

The division office supports even more than the 70 million people within its boundaries. As a representative to the International Joint Commission on the Great Lakes, the division works hand in hand with the Canadian government and industry on matters of international shipping and protection of the Great Lakes ecosystem.

More than 300 division employees have deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan since 2001 in support of USACE’s Global War on Terrorism mission.

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Photo by Andrew Kornacki

The Great Lakes and Ohio River Division enhances and protects the region’s waterways and its citizens, facilitates national and international commerce, supports the Army and Air Force with quality facility construction, and helps defend the nation and its allies. It performs vital public engineering services and is committed to all of its customers.

BUFFALO DISTRICT 1776 Niagara Street • Buffalo, NY 14207-3199 Tel: (716) 879-4410 The Buffalo District traces its roots to Capt. Theodore Maurice, first assigned to the territory in 1824 to supervise federal engineer operations on Lake Erie. The first permanent USACE office opened in Buffalo, New York in 1857. Today, the district serves 38,000 square miles from Massena, New York, to the Indiana state line. It encompasses the United States’ drainage basins for both the Lower Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River and a significant portion of the nation’s industrial heartland.

There are approximately 300 employees in the district, which includes seven field offices covering portions of New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

The district’s workload ranges from $80 million to $100 million annually, not including a robust International and Interagency Services (IIS) program. Major areas of effort include the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program; maintenance of five of the top 100 U.S. ports and 110 miles of federal navigation channels; and 38 miles of dikes, piers, and breakwalls.

The Buffalo District was responsible for the design and construction of the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, including the Eisenhower and Snell locks. It operates and maintains Mount Morris Dam – the largest concrete gravity “dry” dam east of the Mississippi River.

District employees plan, design, construct, and operate water resources projects to maintain navigation, flood and storm damage reduction, stream bank and shoreline protection, and ecosystem restoration. Its substantial expertise in water resources management supports ongoing programs related to wetland planning and management, water quality, and water supply. The Buffalo District also has regulatory authority over work impacting navigable waters and discharge of fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands. It partners with other federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Fish and Wildlife Service, Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service, and Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER, the only science-based, community-focused advocacy organization in western New York dedicated to protecting and restoring the quality and quantity of water.

CHICAGO DISTRICT 231 S. LaSalle Street, Suite 1500 • Chicago, IL 60604 Tel: (312) 846-5330

Buffalo District

The Chicago District’s mission is to provide valued, world-class leadership, engineering services, and management capabilities to the diverse stakeholders and partners within the Greater Chicago and metropolitan area, a region of about 5,000 square miles with a population of about 9 million, and the nation.

In 1833, Army engineers began improvements to the harbor at the mouth of the Chicago River, creating an important shipping center. From 1844 to 1915, USACE constructed and improved harbors along the Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin shorelines.

From the 1940s through the 1970s, the district was involved in a variety of military and civil construction projects including Nike missile bases, the military facility at O’Hare, widening the Cal-Sag navigation channel and constructing Burns Harbor. In the 1980s, the Chicago District took over operation and maintenance of the Chicago Harbor Lock and expanded its interagency support to include providing construction assistance to the EPA’s wastewater treatment Construction Grants Program and Superfund. In the 1990s, the Chicago District began several major flood risk management projects in Illinois and northwest Indiana, directed the emergency relief effort for the Great Chicago Tunnel Flood, developed an enhanced aquatic ecosystem restoration program, and started addressing aquatic nuisance species issues.

Today, the Chicago District is responsible for water resources development in the Chicago metropolitan area through a variety of projects ranging from protecting the Chicago shoreline from erosion to restoring ecosystems along area waterways.

The Chicago District maintains seven major harbors on the Illinois and Indiana shores of Lake Michigan and operates and maintains the Chicago Lock, one of the busiest in the nation.

Major projects include the McCook Reservoir Project, which is a 10-billion-gallon reservoir that will capture combined sewer overflows that cause flooding and watercourse contamination, benefiting Chicago and 36 suburbs, including 1.5 million structures and 3 million people and the Electric Dispersal Barriers, which deter the inter-basin passage of Asian carp and other aquatic nuisance species via the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal through the use of pulsed direct current in the water.

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DIRECTORY DETROIT DISTRICT 477 Michigan Avenue • Detroit, MI 48226 Tel: (888) 694-8313 www.ire.usace.army.mil Established in 1841, the Detroit District covers 82,000 square miles of land inhabited by about 14 million people and includes portions of Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota within the Great Lakes drainage basin, encompassing 3,200 miles of Great Lakes shoreline.

It employs approximately 400 employees with the headquarters office in downtown Detroit and area offices in Detroit, Michigan; Duluth, Minnesota; Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; and the Lake Michigan Area Office with locations in Grand Haven, Michigan, and Kewaunee and Appleton, Wisconsin.

The district takes an ongoing regional approach to Great Lakes navigation projects. The Great Lakes Navigation System is a complex deep-water network, stretching 1,600 miles through all five Great Lakes and connecting channels that facilitate the transport of vital commodities to and from the nation’s heartland.

Maintenance of this system includes dredging of commercial and recreational harbors, and connecting channels; operation and maintenance of the economically vital Soo Locks; development and maintenance of dredged material disposal facilities; and structural repairs to breakwaters, piers, and revetments. Around 8,000 vessels traverse the Soo Locks each year, carrying more than 80 million tons of cargo – mostly iron ore, coal, grain, and stone.

In addition to managing navigation maintenance throughout the Great Lakes, the Detroit District designs and constructs navigational

Detroit District

structures and flood protection projects. These structures perform vital roles in providing for safe navigation, reducing shoaling problems in harbors and protecting the land-based infrastructure that has grown behind them.

The Detroit District also supports the U.S. State Department and the International Joint Commission in carrying out the requirements of the 1909 Boundary Waters Treaty and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. To support this mission, the district monitors hydrologic conditions and forecasts water levels throughout the Great Lakes system.

With a surface area covering almost 300,000 square miles, the Great Lakes are a unique and precious natural resource. Diligence is required to maintain the delicate balance between human and environmental/ecological needs. The Detroit District monitors water levels and flows through Great Lakes and their connecting channels, which is necessary for water-level forecasting, hydropower operations, and determining dredging needs for commerce and recreation.

Additionally, the Detroit District oversees environmental and ecosystem restoration projects by supporting the administration’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through on-the-ground projects that clean up contaminated sediments, restore wetlands, and restore rivers from concrete-lined channels to meandering natural habitats, remove obstacles for fish passage, and control the spread of aquatic invasive species.

The district has a strong construction management mission, helping to construct buildings to support housing, military research,

DIRECTORY and administrative functions; and other infrastructure for the nation’s federal partners. District staff members have also supported many interagency customers with their construction management needs such as rehabilitating hospitals for U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and construction of a new 100-agent border station in Detroit for U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The Detroit District alone processes about 1,600 permit applications a year for projects in Michigan. The permit evaluation staff analyzes a full spectrum of projects including shore protection, piers, marinas, and wetland fills. The enforcement staff is on the ground to conduct jurisdiction determinations, ensure permit compliance, conduct wetland delineations, and investigate any unauthorized work.

The Detroit District has two of the top five visitors centers USACE-wide based on annual attendance: one in Duluth, Minnesota, and one at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. They serve to educate the public on the importance of maritime history and preserve a variety of artifacts.

The district’s hydropower plant, located at the Soo Locks, was recently selected as one of the “Top Performers” within the entire USACE Hydropower Program. The St. Marys Falls plant generates more than 150 million kilowatt-hours of electric power each year.

This power operates the Soo Locks facility, while the surplus is distributed to meet the demands of the power grid of the eastern Upper Peninsula in Michigan.

Photo by Michelle Briggs

HUNTINGTON DISTRICT 502 Eighth Street • Huntington, WV 25701-2070 Tel: (304) 399-5353 The Huntington District is responsible for a geographic area in the Appalachian hills and mountains of southern and central West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, western Virginia, northwestern North Carolina, and the rolling plains of southeastern and central Ohio.

Within this 45,000-square-mile area, more flood control dams, levees, and floodwalls have been designed and constructed in more than in any other USACE district in the country. Huntington District operates and maintains 35 dams, 25 federal levees, and nine locks and dams. The district’s primary civil works missions include flood damage reduction, navigation, regulatory activities, water supply, water quality, hydropower, environmental conservation and enhancement, recreation, and emergency response. The district’s work has reduced flood damages by more than $12 billion, restored ecosystems, and aided regional development through the transport of bulk commodities on the nation’s inland waterways. The district includes the nation’s largest inland waterway port – the seventhlargest port nationally. The district hosts two national-level centers: the Planning Center of Expertise for Inland Navigation and RiskInformed Economics Division (PCXIN-RED) and the Dam Safety Modifications Mandatory Center of Expertise (DSMMCX).

LOUISVILLE DISTRICT P.O. BOX 59 • Louisville, KY 40201-0059 600 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Place Louisville, KY 40202 Tel: (502) 315-6766

The Louisville District’s geographic area covers Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio. Louisville, one of USACE’s more diverse districts, performs work in military construction; military environmental missions; and civil works missions. In addition to its regional military construction mission, Louisville District manages the Army and Air Force Reserve program nationally. The district’s environmental program provides management, design, and execution of cleanup and protection activities. The civil works boundary is nearly 76,000 square miles in the Lower Ohio River Basin. Primary civil works services include flood control, navigation, regulatory activities, water supply, water quality, hydropower, environmental conservation and enhancement, recreation, and emergency response. To date, Louisville District projects have prevented more than $7.6 billion in flood damages.

Support to the nation’s Overseas Contingency Operations includes deployment of district employees to Afghanistan and in support to emergency operations.

NASHVILLE DISTRICT P.O. Box 1070 • Nashville, TN 37202-1070 Tel: (615) 736-7161 The Nashville District encompasses more than 59,000 square miles and includes parts of seven states. It has regulatory, flood control, navigation, hydropower, and recreational responsibility for the Cumberland River watershed. It also has regulatory and navigation responsibility for most of the Tennessee River watershed.

With programs that lead USACE in recreation, hydropower, and navigation, and a diverse workforce ready to meet any challenge, the Nashville District is positioned to respond to the nation’s needs in peace, war, and natural disaster. The district’s recreation program leads the nation in the number of visitors, with more than 33 million last year to 10 lakes in the Cumberland River Basin. In hydropower, the Hydropower Rehabilitation Program is providing customer funding to rehabilitate the district’s power plants over the next 20 years. With 1,175 miles of navigable waterways, which is nearly 10 percent of the U.S. Inland Waterway System, the Nashville District leads the nation in managing and maintaining navigation. In 2015, the district completed the Barrier Wall at Center Hill Dam, a high-risk dam. Rehabilitation work is continuing at Center Hill with the installation of roller-compacted berm behind the saddle dam. The Nashville District continues to support to the nation’s overseas contingency operations, including deployment of district employees to Afghanistan and other missions.

PITTSBURGH DISTRICT 1000 Liberty Avenue • Pittsburgh, PA 15222-4186 Tel: (412) 395-7500 The Pittsburgh District’s 26,000 square miles include portions of western Pennsylvania, northern West Virginia, eastern Ohio, western Maryland, and southwestern New York with more than 328 miles of navigable waterways. The district maintains and operates 23 navigation locks and dams on the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers and 16 multipurpose flood control reservoirs. Additionally, 41 local flood reduction projects

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protect communities along nearby rivers and tributaries. All told, Pittsburgh District’s flood damage reduction facilities have paid off handsomely – preventing more than $11 billion in flood damages.

Fueled by the expertise and dedication of its employees, Pittsburgh – the Headwaters District – enhances the lives of the area’s 5 million residents. With 140 years of experience, it has developed expertise to accomplish its varied missions, which include flood damage reduction, navigation, regulatory activities, recreation, fish and wildlife management, environmental protection and restoration, water supply and quality, construction management, low flow augmentation, and emergency response. The district’s two major construction projects – the Lower Monongahela River Project and the Emsworth Dam Rehabilitation Project – will keep its waterways viable, year-round transportation corridors.

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY DIVISION P.O. Box 80 • Vicksburg, MS 39181 Tel: (601) 634-7729 The Mississippi Valley Division is responsible for USACE’s water resources programs within 370,000 square miles of the Mississippi River Valley. The division boundary encompasses the entire Mississippi River from Lake Itasca, Minnesota, to the Gulf of Mexico, and includes all or parts of 12 states: Kentucky,

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Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The mission of the division is to serve the Mississippi Valley region by managing the watersheds and developing collaborative engineering solutions that will reduce risks through the reduction of flood damage potential, maintain and enhance navigation, and protect, restore, and enhance environmental ecosystems, while being prepared to respond to regional and national emergencies.

As North America’s most important waterway, the division’s civil works along the Mississippi River represent critical investments in the nation’s future. The division’s effectiveness in orchestrating the river’s immense power greatly profits America’s economy, environment, and defense.

District offices located in St. Paul, Minnesota; Rock Island, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Memphis, Tennessee; Vicksburg, Mississippi; and New Orleans, Louisiana, conduct the programs and activities overseen by the division. The 1.25-million-squaremile Mississippi River drainage basin (third largest in the world) gathers water from 41 percent of the continental United States, including all or parts of 31 states and two Canadian provinces.

The division also serves as headquarters for the Mississippi River Commission. The commission was established by an act of Congress in 1879 to give the civilian engineering community a greater voice in developing a flood control and navigation plan for

USACE Mississippi Valley Division photo

Mississippi Valley Division

DIRECTORY the Mississippi River. The commission consists of seven members: three USACE officers (one as its president), one from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and three civilians (two must be civil engineers). All members are nominated by the president, subject to confirmation by the Senate, and serve as advisers to the secretary of the Army and the chief of engineers.

MEMPHIS DISTRICT 167 N. Main Street, Room B-202 • Memphis, TN 38103-1894 Tel: (901) 544-3005 Established in 1882, the Memphis District encompasses 25,000 square miles of America’s Mid-South, including portions of six states. The district is responsible for keeping 355 miles of the Lower Mississippi River and 245 miles of the White River in Arkansas open for commercial navigation. A comprehensive system of stone dikes, concrete revetments, and state-of-the-art dredges aids commerce on the rivers. Since passage of the Flood Control Act of 1928, the Memphis District has worked – under the Mississippi River and Tributaries (MR&T) Project – to reduce and control flooding in the valley. Thanks to the work done under the MR&T Project, the district prevented more than $35.5 billion in flood damages between 1998 and 2011. Environmental stewardship, emergency operations, and other authorized civil works round out the Memphis District’s mission areas as it strives to benefit its region and the nation.

NEW ORLEANS DISTRICT P.O. Box 60267 • New Orleans, LA 70160-0267 Tel: (504) 862-2201 The New Orleans District provides comprehensive water resources management, including navigation, flood, hurricane, and storm damage risk reduction, and environmental stewardship for south Louisiana to ensure public safety and benefit the nation.

Responsible for one of the largest civil works programs, more than $350 million annually, the New Orleans District covers more than 30,000 square miles of south Louisiana, from Alexandria to the Gulf of Mexico. The district includes 2,800 miles of navigable waterways – including five of the top 15 ports in the nation, 1,300 miles of levees and floodwalls, 11 navigation locks, six major flood control structures, and other projects designed to create and protect coastal wetlands.

ROCK ISLAND DISTRICT (CEMVR-CC) Clock Tower Building • P.O. Box 2004 • Rock Island, IL 61204-2004 Tel: (800) 799-8302 or (309) 794-4200 The Rock Island District oversees 314 miles of the Mississippi River from Guttenberg, Iowa, to Saverton, Missouri, and 268 miles of the Illinois Waterway from Lake Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois, to the LaGrange Lock and Dam, southwest of Beardstown, Illinois. The district maintains 22 locks and 18 dams, three flood-risk management reservoirs in Iowa, two flood retarding reservoirs in Illinois, and 65 recreation and visitor sites within its 78,000-square-mile area of responsibility.

The district is the national supplier of Innovative Flood Fight Products for USACE and the Regional Flood Fight Product

Distribution Center for local and state governments during natural disaster response. It operates the Regional Structural Repair Center for maintaining river structures on the Upper Mississippi River.

While some Corps districts have both military construction and civil works missions, Rock Island District is primarily a civil works district administering federal water resource development programs in large portions of Iowa and Illinois and smaller portions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Missouri. It maintains the capability to support the military construction program when necessary. District missions include navigation, environmental restoration, flood risk management, regulatory functions, recreation, federal real estate management, mobilization for both federal disaster response and national defense, and emergency operations.

The district has a diverse staff that includes both advisory and administrative personnel who manage district operations, and a technical staff comprised of specialists and technicians representing a variety of scientific and professional fields. About one-third of its staff work at its headquarters on Arsenal Island, Illinois, while the other two-thirds work at its lock and dam sites, recreation areas, river project offices, reservoirs, and construction field offices.

ST. LOUIS DISTRICT 1222 Spruce Street • St. Louis, MO 63103 Tel: (314) 331-8000 The St. Louis District is an engineering and water resource agency dedicated to maintaining a proper and healthy balance of the multiple uses of the heartland’s waterways. The district supports the needs of the community and the environment through many civil works missions. Missions include navigation, flood risk management, environmental restoration, environmental river engineering, environmental stewardship, water supply, emergency operations and disaster response, hydropower, recreation, regulatory oversight, and cleanup of hazardous and toxic waste material connected to nuclear weapons production in the 1940s.

The district’s AOR encompasses approximately 28,000 square miles, divided almost equally between Missouri and Illinois. The St. Louis District maintains 300 miles of navigable waterway on the Mississippi River from Saverton, Missouri, to Cairo, Illinois, as well as 80 miles of the lower Illinois River and 36 miles of the Kaskaskia River. The district operates and maintains six lock chambers at four dams on the Upper Mississippi River and one lock and dam on the Kaskaskia River. The district also oversees maintenance and operation of 90 flood-protection levee systems and exercises regulatory control over some 42,000 miles of waterways. On average, the district hosts 15 million visitors a year at its five lakes and rivers projects. Visitors have access to 32 camping areas, offering more than 2,000 campsites, 20 marinas, 112 boat ramps, day-use areas, and swimming beaches.

ST. PAUL DISTRICT 180 5th Street East, Suite 700 • St. Paul, MN 55101-1678 Tel: (651) 290-5807 The St. Paul District is where the “Mighty Mississippi River” starts its long journey through the middle of the United States to

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DIRECTORY the Gulf of Mexico. The district covers an area of approximately 139,000 square miles, and its borders follow the edges of four river basins – the Mississippi River, the Red River of the North, the Souris River, and the Rainy River. This area includes most of Minnesota, the western half of Wisconsin, the northeastern section of North Dakota, and small portions of South Dakota and northeastern Iowa.

Today, the St. Paul District supports inland navigation by maintaining the 9-foot navigation channel and operating 12 locks and dams for navigation on the Mississippi River. The district helps communities reduce damages caused by flooding by building flood risk management projects and operating 16 reservoirs for flood risk reduction, recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, and water supply.

It can also assist communities by responding to floods and other natural disasters. It provides engineering services to the DOD and other federal agencies to include FEMA. It issues permits for work in wetlands and navigable rivers and is responsible for an environmental restoration program to improve fish and wildlife habitat. In addition, the district maintains 49 recreation areas open to the public.

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Norfolk District

and management framework for USACE critical infrastructure protection and resilience, dam safety, and levee safety programs.

It also provides critical feedback necessary to refine and update USACE guidance and policies for dam and levee safety.

NORTH ATLANTIC DIVISION 302 General Lee Avenue • Brooklyn, NY 11252-6700 Tel: 347-370-4550 The North Atlantic Division is one of nine regions providing engineering and construction services to the nation. Headquartered at Fort Hamilton Brooklyn, New York, USACE’s North Atlantic Division (NAD) is a robust team of about 3,500 men and women who work together to execute the diverse missions of USACE in the northeastern United States as well as in Europe and Africa.

In the continental United States, it services the Department of Defense (DOD) and federal and state agencies from Maine to Virginia, including the District of Columbia. It is USACE’s

U.S. Army photo by Patrick Bloodgood

VICKSBURG DISTRICT 4155 East Clay Street • Vicksburg, MS 39183-3435 Tel: 601-631-5000 The Vicksburg District encompasses 68,000 square miles in three states with a $250 million annual water resources program.

Seven major river basins fall in the district’s jurisdiction, including the Mississippi, Red, Ouachita, Pearl, and Yazoo rivers. The district is charged with several key projects that are critical to the economic and military security of the nation and that keep the district at the forefront of international engineering. These include: developing and maintaining a 9-foot-deep navigation channel on 278 miles of the Mississippi River; constructing and operating an expansive flood-control system that to date has prevented $50 billion in flood damages; operating three of the 16 hydroelectric plants in Arkansas, which include Blakely Mountain at Lake Ouachita, Narrows at Lake Greeson, and DeGray at DeGray Lake, capable of generating 168,500 kilowatts of electricity; key environmental projects such as restoring the water quality in Arkansas’ largest natural lake, Lake Chicot, and the restoration of thousands of acres of bottomland hardwoods in the Mississippi Delta; 12 river ports in Mississippi and Louisiana, with the capacity to handle more than 9.5 million tons of cargo; the Ouachita-Black rivers’ navigation project and the J. Bennett Johnston navigation project on the Red River are multipurpose projects providing navigation, recreation, flood control, water supply, and fish and wildlife benefits; and a recreation program that attracts nearly 10 million visitors annually to nine lakes and provides $200 million in benefits to local economies.

The district is also home to the national Modeling, Mapping, and Consequences production center (MMC). The MMC supports more than 20 USACE districts throughout the United States in the production of hydrologic and hydraulics models, economic consequences models, and flood inundation mapping. These models and maps support a risk-based assessment, prioritization,

DIRECTORY opportunities, environmental restoration and protection, and water supply.

NAD’s districts maintain and improve navigation channels in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Norfolk harbors, and in hundreds of smaller ports in the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, James, and other river basins.

All districts within NAD support the military through consolidation and modernization projects on Army and Air Force bases in the Northeast and throughout Europe.

NAD is a Center of Expertise for the DOD’s National Relocation Program and the Enhanced Use Lease Program and serves as the National Planning Center of Expertise for Coastal Storm Damage Reduction.

NAD also serves as the National Design Center for Military Munitions as well as the DOD Education Activity.

NAD also has an environmental protection and restoration program that supports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program, the Defense Environmental Restoration Program, the Base Realignment and Closure Program (Environmental Restoration), and the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program.

headquarters for the northeastern United States, Europe, and Africa, with district offices in Concord, Massachusetts; New York City; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Norfolk; and Wiesbaden, Germany.

Overseas, the North Atlantic Division serves the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) and the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) through the Europe District. In Europe, NAD provides military construction services on U.S. installations in the EUCOM footprint and supports various U.S. government agencies and NATO to help build strategic partnerships.

In Africa, NAD promotes a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy through AFRICOM by executing civil-military operations, exercise-related construction, and infrastructure development projects and programs.

All districts in the continental United States plan, design, build, operate, and maintain projects to address the environmental, infrastructure, and water resource challenges within the region, including navigation, flood risk management, hurricane and storm damage reduction, emergency and disaster response, recreational

BALTIMORE DISTRICT 10 S. Howard Street, • Baltimore, MD 21201 Tel: (800) 434-0988 Since the nation’s fight for independence, USACE has played a vital role in the development of our country. The Baltimore District has a long and storied history that extends as far back as the early 1800s when USACE constructed Fort McHenry, successfully shielding Baltimore against British attack in the War of 1812. And when the threat of coastal attack diminished in the 1820s, the Baltimore District turned its attention to developing roadways, railways, canals, and more, thus marking the beginning of the district’s civil works mission.

Today, the 1,100 members of the Baltimore District proudly serve the citizens of the mid-Atlantic region including Maryland, northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and southern New York; spanning the Susquehanna, Potomac, and Chesapeake Bay watersheds.

Headquartered adjacent to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, the Baltimore District provides design, engineering, construction, environmental, and real estate expertise to a variety of important projects and customers, and provides drinking water to the District of Columbia and Falls Church, Virginia, through the Washington Aqueduct.

In addition to its diverse military and civil works missions, the Baltimore District provides real estate, design, and construction services to the nation’s intelligence community. These services support an ever-growing list of emerging security requirements, including cybersecurity and homeland security that serve the warfighter, and ultimately, protect the nation.

With a surface area of 4,400 square miles and more than 7,000 miles of coastline, the Baltimore District remains an active partner in the development of the North Atlantic region.

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DIRECTORY EUROPE DISTRICT CMR 410 Box 1 • APO AE 09049 USACE’s Europe District has been helping its partners solve their toughest engineering challenges in over 100 countries for more than 40 years. The district supports various U.S., international, and hostnation military and government agencies in Europe, Africa and parts of the Middle East.

Headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany, the district provides premier planning, design, construction, environmental- and projectmanagement services to meet partner infrastructure requirements; engineering services supporting the Theater Security Cooperation Plan; and a Forward Engineer Support Team-Advanced, or FEST-A, for contingency operations and civil emergencies in the EUCOM and AFRICOM AORs. Work is executed from area, resident, and project offices in Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Romania, and Turkey.

The district supplements installation engineers with the total resources, experience, and expertise of USACE in its efforts to resolve operations and maintenance, host-nation engineering and construction issues.

Stuttgart schools “LEED” the way in sustainability: http://www.army.mil/article/154103/ NEW ENGLAND DISTRICT 696 Virginia Road • Concord, MA 01742-2751 Tel: (978) 318-8238 USACE traces its beginnings to the opening days of the Revolutionary War when Boston native Col. Richard Gridley was named chief engineer of the Massachusetts Volunteers, and shortly thereafter, chief engineer of the newly formed Continental Army by Commander in Chief Gen. George Washington. The first Army engineer action occurred on the night of June 16, 1775, when Gridley designed and supervised the construction of an earthwork on Breed’s Hill overlooking Boston Harbor that would prove impregnable against British bombardment during a fierce battle the following day. Although the patriots lost the position after running out of ammunition, the Battle of Bunker Hill (as it was later called) marked the beginning of the long tradition of service to New England that USACE continues today.

The New England District manages USACE’s civil works responsibilities in a 66,000-square-mile region encompassing the six New England states east of the Lake Champlain drainage basin.

The region has 6,100 miles of coastline, 11 deep-water ports, 102 recreational and small commercial harbors with USACE improvements, 13 major river basins, and thousands of rivers and streams. Within this AOR, USACE operates, maintains, or has constructed 36 federal flood control dams, 100 local protection projects, and five hurricane barriers.

The missions of USACE in New England include engineering environmental remediation; support to Army and Air Force installations and missions; flood control; natural resource management; streambank and shoreline protection; navigation improvements and maintenance; disaster and emergency assistance; regulatory administration (about 6,000 permit 94

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applications annually); and engineering and construction management support to other agencies.

The New England District project sites total more than 50,000 acres that include 36 dams and reservoirs in five river basins. Some of this land is periodically used to store floodwaters, but in their natural state, these lands make ideal habitats for fish and wildlife.

The district’s project sites are also managed to provide recreational opportunities. The New England District also operates, manages, and maintains the world’s widest sea level canal – the Cape Cod Canal.

The New England District has had a history of unique projects and programs. Under its IIS services, the district provides engineering and construction support to many other federal agencies including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the EPA, and the Interior Department. The New England District is proud to have pioneered the construction of hurricane barriers. The Fox Point Hurricane Barrier in Rhode Island was the first in the nation. Today, the New England region has five, with the district operating the barriers with navigational features in New Bedford, Massachusetts; Providence, Rhode Island; and Stamford, Connecticut. The New England District also pioneered the use of nonstructural flood control with the Belmont Park Project in Warwick, Rhode Island, and the Charles River Natural Valley Storage Area Project that combines a large dam/tidal barrier with three locks downstream between Boston and Cambridge and nearly 8,000 acres of upstream nonstructural floodplain storage.

NEW YORK DISTRICT 26 Federal Plaza • New York, NY 10278-0090 Tel: (917) 790-8007 New York District’s history began when Gen. George Washington named Col. Rufus Putnam as chief engineer for the defenses of New York. Today, New York District is a full-service district working vital civil, military, and environmental projects in the most densely populated geography of any USACE district. The district is responsible for overall military design and construction management in northern New Jersey, New York, and Thule, Greenland. The most high-visibility projects include work at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Fort Drum, New York. New York District’s civil works responsibilities include northern New Jersey, eastern New York, and portions of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The district is also responsible for managing both short- and long-term recovery efforts associated with Hurricane Sandy – a mission that includes more than 60 projects at a cost of $3.2 billion. In addition to its work related to Hurricane Sandy, New York District is also working on deepening the harbor to 50 feet of key shipping channels in the Port of New York and New Jersey, a $1.8 billion project to enhance both navigation and the environment while ensuring the future success of a vital economic engine serving 35 percent of the American population. New York District’s Drift Collection and Floatables Program operates yearround to locate and remove obstructions and debris that could be a hazard to navigation from harbor waters. The program is a cooperative effort with the EPA, the states of New York and New

DIRECTORY York District is a key player in environmental restoration efforts, including supporting the EPA at various Superfund sites. And district personnel stand ready to deploy in support of overseas contingency operations or crises here at home.

NORFOLK DISTRICT 803 Front Street • Norfolk, VA 23510 Tel: (757) 201-7606 Established in 1879 and headquartered at historic Fort Norfolk, the men and women of the Norfolk District execute the district’s military, civil works, environmental, and emergency operations missions in support of the nation, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and its communities.

The district’s military program includes premier engineering, construction, project management, real estate, and environmental management products and services for nine U.S. Army/U.S. Air Force installations in the Commonwealth of Virginia, including Arlington National Cemetery, Defense Supply Center Richmond, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee, Fort Pickett, the National Ground Intelligence Center, Radford Ammunition Plant, and Joint Base Langley-Eustis.

The Norfolk District’s IIS program provides planning, engineering design and construction management, environmental services, and technical services related to water, natural resources, buildings, and infrastructure. Customers include NOAA, NASA Wallops Flight Facility, and NASA Langley Research Center.

Norfolk District’s civil works mission provides water resources support Virginia’s towns, counties, and cities, as well as nongovernmental organizations, with environmental restoration, flood risk management, and navigation products and services. The district’s civil works boundaries cover more than 21,000 square miles and include the Rappahannock, York, James, and Chowan river basins, as well as the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay coastal basin. The district is also responsible for the Port of Virginia, the country’s largest coal-exporting terminal and the fourth busiest container port in the nation. The district operates and maintains 38 miles of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

The district’s Regulatory Program covers Virginia’s 42,775 square miles, evaluates more than 4,000 permit applications, and annually performs another 4,000-plus pre-application site visits and jurisdictional determinations.

The district’s real estate specialists plan, acquire, lease, manage and dispose of fee, and other interests in real property for both civil works and military installation projects, and manages the Army Residential Communities Initiative and Privatization of Army Lodging.

PHILADELPHIA DISTRICT Wanamaker Building • 100 Penn Square East Philadelphia, PA 19107-3390 Tel: (215) 656-6515 The Philadelphia District manages water resources throughout the Delaware River Basin and along the New Jersey and Delaware coasts; executes military construction projects at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, Tobyhanna Army Depot, Pennsylvania, and Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey; and provides engineering, environmental, and project management services for other federal agencies on a reimbursable basis.

Within its five-state geographic area, the district maintains more than 550 miles of navigable waterways, most notably the 40-foot Delaware River, Philadelphia to the Sea federal channel (to be fully deepened to 45 feet by 2017) and the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, which the district owns, operates, and maintains – along with the five highway bridges that span the canal. Philadelphia is also homeport to the McFarland, one of only four USACE-owned oceangoing hopper dredges on call 24/7 for emergency operations.

Philadelphia is especially known among USACE districts for its coastal storm damage reduction program. Since 1990 the district has built 12 beach nourishment projects between Barnegat Inlet, New Jersey, and the Delaware-Maryland line. After Superstorm Sandy (late 2012), the district’s FEMA missions in New Jersey included closing a breach that had severed one community from the mainland, dewatering a major sewage treatment plant, and refurbishing former Army barracks for temporary housing. Then in 2013, the district fully restored all its existing beachfill and dune systems, with five more started or approaching construction since 2014.

The district operates five dams in eastern Pennsylvania with a long history of reducing flood damages while providing water supply, water quality, and recreation. Best known are Blue Marsh Lake near Reading, which annually hosts about 1.5 million day visitors, and F.E. Walter Dam in the Pocono Mountains, whose annual flow management plan benefits both rafting and fishing enthusiasts.

An increasing share of the district’s workload in recent years has supported ecosystem restoration. At New Jersey’s Lower Cape May Meadows, a protective dune and berm was combined with the clearing of marsh reeds and reseeding of native vegetation to preserve freshwater migratory bird habitat. Other projects have involved building fish passages, removing obsolete dams, and revitalizing urban streams.

Military milestones include a $1 billion, 1.5-million-square-foot electronics research and development campus at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, built under BRAC 2005; a new mortuary, personal effects depot, and medical examiner facility at Dover Air Force Base; and the district’s dedicated contracting support to the Army’s 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power), since 2003 totaling more than $3 billion to deliver centralized power plants and distribution grids in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For nearly three decades the Philadelphia District’s remediation of toxic waste sites in New Jersey has accounted for a major share of USACE’s nationwide support to the EPA Superfund program, from Lipari Landfill (once ranked as EPA’s No. 1 cleanup priority) to several projects still ongoing. Other major federal customers engaging the district’s services have been FEMA, the Coast Guard, Navy, Veterans Affairs, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

NORTHWESTERN DIVISION P.O. Box 2870 • Portland, OR 97208-2870 Tel: (503) 808-3733 The Northwestern Division covers all or parts of 14 states and nearly 1 million square miles. The division owns or manages more than 1.8 million acres of military property, including SERVING THE NATION AND THE ARMED FORCES

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nearly 1 million square miles. The division owns or manages more than 1.8 million acres of military property, including 13 Army, 17 Air Force, and one joint base, Joint Base LewisMcChord, installations. The Northwestern Division has 465 miles of navigable waters in the Columbia River Basin and 735 miles in the Missouri River Basin. It maintains 22 deep-draft and 20 shallow-draft harbors. The division oversees 255 floodprotection projects (flood walls, levees, channel improvements) and 91 flood-control projects containing 115 million acre-feet of flood storage, or about 35 percent of the total USACE water storage capacity. There are 2,956 miles of levees in the division.

Northwestern Division power plants on the Columbia, Snake, and Missouri rivers generate almost 75 billion kilowatts of power per year, which is about 75 percent of the total USACE hydroelectric capacity. The division also oversees an annual program of about $3.5 billion in military, civil works, and environmental restoration activities, executed through its five district offices.

KANSAS CITY DISTRICT 601 East 12th Street • Kansas City, MO 64106-2896 Tel: (816) 389-3486 With more than 165,000 square miles of district operations and a century of vision, achievement, and service as the “Heartland’s Engineers,” the Kansas City District provides comprehensive engineering, management, and technical support to help defend America’s security – militarily, economically, and environmentally.

The district’s civil works boundaries span the states of Kansas and Missouri and parts of Colorado, Iowa, and Nebraska. The district maintains 500 miles of the Missouri River from Rulo, Nebraska, to St. Louis and operates 18 multipurpose reservoirs in Kansas, Missouri, southern Iowa, and southern Nebraska that welcome more than 15 million annual visitors. Additionally, the district’s levee safety program provides assistance to 156 flood risk management projects that reduce risk to communities along

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OMAHA DISTRICT 1616 Capitol Avenue, Suite 9000 • Omaha, NE 68102-1618 Tel: (402) 995-2417 The Omaha District is a full-service district covering 700,000 square miles. 1,200 employees execute a $1 billion-plus program across 1,200 military construction projects in eight states, civil works projects in nine states, and environmental restoration projects in 41 states. With incredible geographic diversity, including the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, Badlands of the Dakotas, lakes of Minnesota, and Great Plains of the Midwest, the district is home to more than 24 Native American tribes and reservations. Omaha District specializes in protective design, transportation, rapid response, interior design, and hydrant fuels, and maintains 27 dams, including six giant multipurpose dams and reservoirs.

PORTLAND DISTRICT P.O. Box 2946 • Portland, OR 97208-2946 Tel: (503) 808-4510 Serving the needs of the Pacific Northwest since 1871, today the Portland District provides products and services in civil works areas such as flood risk mitigation, navigation, hydroelectric power production, ecosystem restoration, fish and wildlife enhancement, emergency preparedness and response, irrigation, water quality, recreation, and regulatory duties. The district’s boundaries cover 79,405 square miles in western and central Oregon and 8,740 square miles in southwestern Washington. The district has a strong environmental mission looking at ways to protect, preserve, and restore our fragile environment.

Throughout the organization, people are working to identify ways to minimize the impact that dams and their operations have on migrating salmon. Clean, inexpensive hydroelectric power is the chief output of the dams’ operations. Each year, the district produces about 25 million megawatt-hours of electricity (worth $1.36 billion) – the most of any district within USACE. SEATTLE DISTRICT P.O. Box 3755 • Seattle, WA 98124-3755 Tel: (206) 764-3750 The services Seattle District provides and the customers it serves are extremely diverse. The district provides a full range of civil and military services. Facilities design and construction for military installations represent the majority of the district’s military program, from major Army construction such as the wastewater treatment plant for Joint Base Lewis-McChord, to Reserve centers, to Air Force hangars, and quality-of-life facilities. The district’s

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Eileen Williamson

Omaha District

the heartland’s rivers and tributaries. All told, these facilities have paid off tremendously, preventing more than $32.5 billion in flood damages. Whether supporting engineering projects in the Midwest, serving volunteer tours overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of overseas contingency operations, or joining the effort to recover from catastrophic tornadoes, hurricanes, or floods, the professionals of the Kansas City District continue to answer the call of the nation, as it has since 1907.

DIRECTORY services concentrate around hydropower, flood damage reduction, navigation, regulatory, and disaster response programs, as well as environmental protection and improvement – from protecting wetlands to ecological restoration. The district is a center of expertise nationally for historic preservation, the Army’s program manager for constructing morale, welfare and recreation facilities, and a leader in emergency preparation and response. Seattle District employees are deployed in Afghanistan in support of overseas contingency operations, and travel around the region and nation responding to natural and man-made disasters.

WALLA WALLA DISTRICT 201 North 3rd Avenue • Walla Walla, WA 99362-1876 Tel: (509) 527-7020 The Walla Walla District was established in 1948 to build McNary Dam on the Columbia River near Umatilla, Oregon, slightly downriver from the Hanford Nuclear Reservation near the Tri-Cities area in Washington. The district’s civil works boundaries generally follow the Snake River basin and include approximately 107,000 square miles in six states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and portions of Nevada and Utah. The district is USACE’s second-largest hydropower producer, capable of providing a total generating capacity of 4,413 megawatts to the federal Columbia River Power System. The district also is pioneering some of the most advanced fish and salmon research in the world to include providing fish passage at all its Snake and Columbia rivers’ dams. The district operates and maintains the federal navigation channel from McNary Dam on the Columbia River through four lower Snake River projects, providing a navigable waterway 465 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean to Lewiston, Idaho, with a market commodity value of $3 billion. The Walla Walla District also provides engineering, environmental, and planning services to the region under the continuing authorities program and has established an office in Boise to assist local and state governments in Idaho with using these services.

PACIFIC OCEAN DIVISION Building 525 • Fort Shafter, HI 96858-5440 Tel: (808) 835-4715 The Pacific Ocean Division (POD) stretches from Alaska and the Arctic Circle in the north to American Samoa below the equator in the south. It encompasses Hawaii, and then moves across the international dateline and across Polynesia to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Republic of Palau. From there, the division’s boundaries extend out of Micronesia and into Southeast and Far East Asia.

Within its area of responsibility, the Pacific Ocean Division is the Department of Defense engineering, design, and construction agent for the Army in Alaska and Hawaii, and for the Air Force in Alaska. POD designs and builds for all of the services – the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marines – in Japan, Republic of Korea, and Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands. Most notably the division

contributes significantly to the peace and security in the Pacific region through the execution of multibillion-dollar construction programs for U.S. forces in Japan and the Republic of Korea. The annual program of the division amounts to $5 billion.

Its 1,500-strong workforce produces every type of construction imaginable in support of service members and their families throughout the region, from barracks to high-rise family housing, from fitness centers to child care centers, and from ship berths to aircraft runways and hangars. It is the only USACE division whose division and district headquarters are all located on military installations (three Army, one Air Force). Additionally, the division has a civil works mission in Alaska and Hawaii. It is responsible for executing the federal water resources development program there and also in U.S.-controlled land in the Pacific.

POD also has civil works projects ongoing in the U.S. territories of Guam and American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Most of its civil works activities and capabilities are focused in the areas of navigation, flood and coastal storm damage reduction, and ecosystem restoration.

Typical projects include deep- and shallow-draft harbors, riverine and coastal structures, and wetland restoration. In addition to its planning, design, construction and operations and maintenance responsibilities for water resources development, it has a responsibility to regulate or oversee certain activities in the nation’s waters to protect its quality and availability through its Regulatory Program.

Ancillary to these duties are environmental services that include studies and hazardous and toxic waste cleanup. On a reimbursable basis, the division also performs work for other military commands, federal and state agencies, and sovereign island nations in the Pacific. The former United Nations Trust Territories of Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and Federated States of Micronesia are prime examples where the Pacific Ocean Division continues to provide important environmental and engineering design and construction services on a reimbursable basis. Pacific Ocean Division also supports U.S. Pacific Command and U.S. Army Pacific’s Theater Security Cooperation strategies, Humanitarian Assistance Program, and Civil Military Emergency Preparedness with projects throughout the Asia Pacific region.

ALASKA DISTRICT P.O. Box 6898 • Anchorage, AK 99506-0898 Tel: (907) 753-2522 Since its establishment in 1946, more than a decade before statehood, the Alaska District has served as the nation’s leader in arctic engineering and construction to forge an influential role in the development of the “Last Frontier.”

The organization’s area of responsibility encompasses the largest state in the union, spanning 586,412 square miles and measuring one-fifth the size of the lower 48 states combined.

This territory presents an extreme operating environment marked by a harsh climate, rugged landscape, austere conditions, and remote project sites.

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DIRECTORY As a full-service district, major programs include military construction and civil works development as well as environmental cleanup and restoration. The agency also provides contracting, regulatory, real estate, and emergency management services, along with operations and maintenance functions.

Its military program constructs world-class facilities for America’s Army and Air Force on time and within budget, while helping to provide economic stability in the far north. These projects boost warrior readiness, training, and quality of life.

In a state valued as a strategic military location, the Alaska District also assists the DOD Missile Defense Agency with enhancements to its operational capability. These efforts strengthen the ballistic missile defense system to shield the United States and its allies from attack.

The district’s Civil Works program builds and maintains small boat harbors to back an industry that supplies half of the country’s fish harvest, while enriching the marine transportation framework in a state with few roads. As directed by the administration and Congress, the agency also protects rural communities from shoreline erosion associated with climate change.

Furthermore, the Alaska District operates USACE’s northernmost flood risk mitigation project in the North Pole. Since operations began in 1979, the Chena River Lakes Flood Control Project has managed 22 flood events to keep Fairbanks and surrounding communities safe from high water during the spring and fall.

The Formerly Used Defense Sites Program in Alaska, which is responsible for the environmental remediation of military sites from the World War II era, remains steady with funding at $30 million a year and work is expected to continue beyond 2020.

In addition, the agency’s regulatory program, which protects aquatic resources while allowing for reasonable development, is one of the largest in the nation and processes more than 1,500 permit actions annually. USACE authorization is required for proposed projects that impact wetlands or waterways – such as oil and gas development, mining operations, and property improvements ranging from roads to bridges to docks.

Meanwhile, the Alaska District operates on the forefront of the U.S. defense strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. It supports the U.S. Pacific Command’s Humanitarian Assistance program by providing schools, medical clinics, and other key facilities in seven countries throughout Southeast Asia. Under the DOD Foreign Military Sales program, the organization oversees the design and construction of critical infrastructure for C-17 Globemaster III aircraft at Hindon Air Force Station in India.

Through the State Department’s Global Peace Operations Initiative, the district manages construction of training centers for host-nation peacekeeping forces in Bangladesh and Mongolia. In addition, it assists the U.S. Agency for International Development with the establishment of roads and multipurpose cyclone shelters in Bangladesh.

Lastly, the organization is prepared to engage in response and recovery missions following natural or man-made disasters within the Pacific Region. These activities often involve the delivery of critical assistance to communities impacted by earthquakes,

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hurricanes, or floods. To date, more than 600 personnel have deployed from Alaska to participate in overseas contingency operations and civil emergencies.

FAR EAST DISTRICT Unit 15546 • APO AP 96205-5546 Tel: (011-82) 2270-7301 Headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, USACE’s Far East District provides high-quality planning, engineering, design, contracting, and construction management services across the full spectrum of military operations in support of DOD agencies.

From the Demilitarized Zone to the southern coast of the Korean peninsula, the Far East District team focuses on delivering quality facilities to enhance military readiness and improve the quality of life for Soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, civilians, and their family members through military construction, host-nationfunded construction, non-appropriated funds, and sustainment, restoration, and modernization projects.

HONOLULU DISTRICT Building 230 • Fort Shafter, HI 96858-5440 Tel: (808) 835-4004 Honolulu District’s AOR spans five time zones, the equator, and the International Dateline. It covers an estimated 12 million square miles from the Hawaiian Islands to American Samoa, through Micronesia to Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The district accomplishes military missions, including military construction, real estate, and environmental services for the Army and Air Force in Hawaii, for all DOD agencies in Kwajalein Atoll, and for other defense agencies in its AOR as assigned. Honolulu District also has a civil works mission: federal water resource management and development, focusing on navigation, flood control, and shore protection in Hawaii, the U.S. territories of Guam and American Samoa, and the Marianas. The district also has regulatory jurisdiction governing work in waters and wetlands of the United States within its AOR. JAPAN ENGINEER DISTRICT APO AP 96338-5010 Tel: (011-81) 311-763-3575 The Japan Engineer District services 88 U.S. Forces Japan installations supporting 48,000 service members, DOD civilians, and their families as the designated construction agent for U.S. MILCON (military construction) and host-nation-funded construction programs in Japan. The district provides support to all U.S. installations in planning, design, and construction of operations and maintenance reimbursable projects. Host-nation-funded work includes projects funded by the Japan Facilities Improvement Program, Special Action Committee on Okinawa program, and the Defense Policy Review Initiative program. From its inception in fiscal years 1979-2008, the host-nation-funded construction programs have benefited U.S. forces with $23 billion in construction projects.

Total annual construction placement for the district exceeds $700 million. The district supports U.S. forces, installations, and

DIRECTORY agencies with planning, engineering, construction, environmental, and other related services. The district provides construction surveillance through the Okinawa Area Office and six resident offices based throughout mainland Japan.

SOUTH ATLANTIC DIVISION Room 10M15, 60 Forsyth Street SW Atlanta, GA 30303-8801 Tel: (404) 562-5011 USACE’s South Atlantic Division is one of eight regional offices of USACE overseeing military and water resources design, construction, and operation in the eight states in the Southeast, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. The division has five districts located in Wilmington, North Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Jacksonville, Florida; and Mobile, Alabama.

The South Atlantic Division designs and builds major military facilities for the Army and Air Force in the Southeast. Serving 14 major Army posts and 13 Air Force bases, the division builds barracks, hospitals, office buildings, commissaries, and other facilities to meet the needs of the American military. Within the division boundaries, 32 percent of the stateside Army and 18 percent of the Air Force find their home, and six major commands have their headquarters.

Thirty-three multipurpose projects in the Southeast provide citizens with flood damage reduction, hydroelectric power, water supply, recreation, navigation, and wildlife enhancement. The division operates and maintains more than 6,000 miles of federal navigable channel and 32 deep-draft harbors in the region. The division also has a growing environmental restoration workload, including the largest single environmental restoration project in the world, the Everglades restoration in South Florida.

USACE works in concert with the private sector in accomplishing its military and water resources programs. By contracting with architect-engineer, construction, and many other types of companies, the South Atlantic Division designs, builds, and operates dams, waterways, buildings, recreational, and other facilities throughout the region.

CHARLESTON DISTRICT 69A Hagood Avenue • Charleston, SC 29403-5107 Tel: (843) 329-8123 The Charleston District has a wide and varied program that grows larger every year. The civil works, military construction, and interagency and international support programs serve a diverse group of customers that spans not only South Carolina, but the entire United States, which keeps the staff of approximately 275 quite busy.

The district’s Civil Works program includes the operation and maintenance of several navigation projects, the biggest project being Charleston Harbor – one of the nation’s 17 strategic ports.

The district is currently in the feasibility phase of the Charleston

Harbor Post 45 Deepening Project, with an expected release of a chief ’s report on the final recommended depth in September 2015.

The district manages military construction, operations and maintenance, and sustainment, restoration and modernization work for Fort Jackson, which trains 43,000 Soldiers entering the Army each year. The U.S. Army Reserve 81st Regional Support Command is the district’s newest customer. The district provides preventative maintenance and municipal services contracts for issues such as HVAC systems repair, removing carpet, and repairing sewer lines.

Through its robust IIS program, the district provides contracting support, facility management, construction management, and project management for customers such as the Department of Energy, Department of State and Department of Veterans Affairs.

Since post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent issue with Soldiers, the district recently completed construction of a research addition for the Ralph H. Johnson VA medical center to aid those affected by PTSD and other mental health issues.

Charleston District also has an active regulatory program that works hard to balance development needs and the needs of the environment as it provides sound permit decisions through the enforcement of the Clean Water Act. The district has recently issued permits to Boeing, Amazon, Haile Gold Mine, and Volvo, furthering economic development in the state this year.

With science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) becoming a top priority for the nation, the district has actively expanded its STEM program by increasing partnerships with middle and high schools, and colleges and universities. This includes providing more than 20 opportunities for students to engage and learn from the district’s personnel and projects this year.

JACKSONVILLE DISTRICT 701 San Marco Boulevard • Jacksonville, FL 32207 P.O. Box 4970 • Jacksonville, FL 32232-0019 Tel: (904) 232-2568 Boasting a diverse culture and geography, Jacksonville District is a USACE pioneer, leading the largest coordinated ecosystem restoration ever undertaken – restoring America’s Everglades.

This program involves the restoration and preservation of natural habitats; improvement to water storage and movement for more natural flows; development of controls for invasive exotic plants and animals; field and laboratory research; and water quality improvement. The district maintains 1,500 miles of Florida’s coastal shoreline and 900 miles of inland waterways. Nine of Florida’s ports are in the top 100 in the United States in terms of annual tonnage; two (Jacksonville and Miami) were included in President Barack Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” initiative, along with the Central Everglades Planning Project. The district is an innovator in flood damage reduction and water management, has the largest Regulatory program in USACE, and serves as the national Center of Expertise for aquatic plant control operations. The district is the only USACE district with an unmanned aerial vehicle program, which has a broad range of potential applications in monitoring

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MOBILE DISTRICT 109 Saint Joseph Street • Mobile, AL 36602-3630 Tel: (251) 690-2511 • Fax: (251) 690-2525 The Mobile District has both civil works and military missions throughout the southeastern United States and in Central and South America. The district’s military mission is in support of U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Navy installations located in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Tennessee. This work includes design and construction management for a multitude of different types of facilities such as medical centers, dormitories, aircraft facilities, sewage treatment plants, gymnasiums, and family housing. The district also provides engineering studies and other technical assistance such as master planning, environmental management, and real estate support.

Interagency and International services (IIS) is USACE’s program providing technical assistance to non-DOD federal agencies, state and local governments, tribal nations, private U.S. firms, international organizations, and foreign governments. Most IIS work is funded on a reimbursable basis. USACE provides engineering and construction services, environmental restoration and management services, research and development assistance, management of waterand land-related natural resources, relief and recovery work, and other management and technical services. A few customers include: the Federal Bureau of Investigations, VA, and NASA. Since 1970, Mobile District has been the USACE lead agent for all activity in Central and South America when it assumed responsibility for support to the Panama Canal. In this role, Mobile District has executed hundreds of projects across the region, ranging from the planning design, and construction of entire military installations to small humanitarian projects designed to improve the quality of life for the local populace. To accomplish this important mission, Mobile District relies on a dedicated team of professionals who work directly from USACE offices in Peru, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, and El Salvador.

Established in 1815, the Mobile District’s civil works mission

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Mobile District

now covers more than 96,000 square miles in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi. It includes all river, harbor, and flood damage reduction works within the drainage basins of six major river systems. The district’s civil works mission includes navigation within five major inland waterways with more than 2,200 miles of inland navigation, seven deep-water harbors, and 21 shallowdraft ports; flood damage reduction with more than 67 projects, which have prevented in excess of $200 million in flood damages during the last 10 years; eight hydropower facilities generating 2 billion kilowatts of electricity and returning $23 million to the U.S. Treasury; one of the largest recreation programs in the federal government, with 27 lakes and 464 recreation and nature areas averaging more than 28 million visits a year; and water supply for municipalities, industry, and irrigation.

The Mississippi Coastal Improvement Program (MSCIP) is a comprehensive plan to increase the resiliency of the Mississippi coast to future storms including non-structural and structural risk-reduction measures and ecosystem restoration. MSCIP was authorized in the Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014 and comprehensive restoration of the Mississippi barrier islands began in February 2015.

SAVANNAH DISTRICT 100 W. Oglethorpe Avenue • Savannah, GA 31401 Tel: (912) 652-5279 With a large military construction program and extensive civil works projects, two of the Savannah District’s primary missions include support to national security, plus water resource management across the region.

The Savannah District serves the communities of seven Army and four Air Force installations in Georgia and North Carolina. The district has more than $842 million under construction or contract to build or renovate barracks, dining facilities, training areas, command and control buildings, child care facilities, and more.

On the civil works side, the district’s annual routine maintenance dredging ensures global access for ships carrying imports and exports through deep-water ports at Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia. Additionally, the district is overseeing the Savannah

Photo by Jim Roof

of Expertise for aquatic plant control operations. The district is the only USACE district with an unmanned aerial vehicle program, which has a broad range of potential applications in monitoring invasive species, beach erosion, the structural condition of levees and canal banks and conducting biological investigations and wildlife census. Herbert Hoover Dike, which surrounds Lake Okeechobee, the second-largest freshwater lake within U.S. boundaries, is undergoing a $1 billion rehabilitation to provide continued protection for south Florida communities. The district’s AOR covers the Caribbean Basin and includes support for the USAID in Haiti and other Caribbean nations. The district has an office in Puerto Rico, home of the first single-centered, rollercompacted concrete thick-arch dam built by USACE in United States territory and a state-of-the-art school at Fort Buchanan, one of the first Department of Defense Education Activity schools to incorporate 21st century school design elements and which is expected to achieve a LEED® Silver rating. District projects have received USACE, national, and international recognition.

DIRECTORY million project is expected to net more than $174 million in annual economic benefits to the United States over a 50-year period. The benefit-to-cost ratio is an impressive $5.50 for every $1 invested.

Farther upstream, the district operates and maintains three hydroelectric dams and reservoirs on the Savannah River. The Hartwell, Richard B. Russell, and J. Strom Thurmond projects have prevented an estimated $211 million in flood damage since constructed. The projects also enhance water supply and quality for municipalities and industry, and produce 2 million megawatthours of low-cost, clean, renewable energy each year. Encompassing more than 200,000 acres of land and water, these outdoor havens attract more than 18 million visitors annually.

Commercial developers and private citizens turn to the Savannah District Regulatory Program to evaluate permit applications when construction plans could impact streams or wetlands in the state of Georgia. Through fair, flexible, and balanced permit decisions, the district helps protect the nation’s aquatic resources, while allowing reasonable development.

Savannah District’s emergency management operations most recently assisted in recovery efforts from Hurricane Sandy, with the deployment of a 12-person emergency power team to Pennsylvania. The district has also deployed more than 200 civilians to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of overseas contingency operations. These volunteers facilitated construction efforts of critical infrastructure in these countries.

As the administrator for DOD’s Homeowners Assistance Program, the Real Estate Division has processed 18,050 applications and paid more than $1.64 billion in benefits to qualified military and civilian applicants since 2009.

The multidisciplined Savannah District team remains committed to the partners, stakeholders, and customers it serves. It has been designated as a regional or national center of expertise for emerging programs including energy independence, subsurface explorations, mitigation bank development, and environmental services.

The Savannah District has promoted a strong sense of community by providing jobs and contracts to large and small businesses, including disadvantaged-, minority-, and veteranowned small businesses, since 1829. Its community outreach efforts give encouragement and guidance to local schools and universities. Through these partnerships, team Savannah lays the foundation for continued support of the engineering requirements, environmental needs, and economic future development of the district, region, and nation.

WILMINGTON DISTRICT 69 Darlington Avenue • Wilmington, NC 28403 Tel: (910) 251-4626 Today, the Wilmington District stands at the threshold of a new era. In the past, the district might best have been described as an independent district working cooperatively with others. Today, it is one of five interdependent districts operating regionally. Instant communication and common business practices empower it to enhance services and create efficiencies.

The district has transformed many times since the late 1700s when USACE first began to improve navigation in coastal North

Carolina. In 1884, a permanent Corps office was established on the Cape Fear River with a sole purpose: to support the states’ leading port and waterway.

In time, our role expanded to encompass river basin management. We built and operated dams and reservoirs for flood risk management and hydropower production. Today, some of those facilities have celebrated more than 50 years of operation, and are undergoing major renovations and re-evaluations to adjust management practices to better reflect today’s conditions and environmental values. The district includes six river basins and more than 300 miles of the Atlantic shoreline. The district’s mission is to provide North Carolina and the Virginia Roanoke River Basin with water resources and navigation project development, management, and integration. This includes environmental remediation and restoration as well as regulatory permitting, enforcement, and emergency response, recovery, and mitigation.

Our history traces a growing responsiveness to environmental concerns, and we incorporate environmental principles in all we do. We have taken a leadership role in wetlands management.

We’ve partnered with North Carolina to help create a nationally recognized Ecosystem Enhancement Program, a powerful concept that we share with other Southern states. The Wilmington District’s coastal storm damage reduction projects and disaster response and recovery operations have proven effective through several years of severe hurricanes.

The district’s biggest endeavor is the Wilmington Harbor Project, deepening the Cape Fear River channel from 38 to 42 feet and enabling larger ships to call at the Port of Wilmington. It’s the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in North Carolina and also included beneficial-use placement of dredged, beachquality material on area shorelines.

Since early 2003, more than 60 Wilmington District employees have volunteered for service in Iraq and Afghanistan. They, side by side with our mobilized reservist and guardsmen, testify to the selfless service and unique quality and character of the people who make up USACE. The district’s mission has expanded to include military construction. The district serves the needs of the U.S. Army Special Operations and Joint Special Operations commands at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, providing engineering design, project, and construction management for improved facilities to better serve our Soldiers and civilians involved in our critical overseas missions.

Whether in a continuing regional role, like our dredge fleet’s east coast operations, or in new missions supporting other geographic areas, Wilmington District team members are eager to join their skills, passion, and spirit of creative cooperation with those same outstanding qualities found all over the South Atlantic Region to better serve you, our customers and stakeholders.

SOUTH PACIFIC DIVISION 1455 Market Street • San Francisco, CA 94103-1398 Tel: (415) 503-6800 Established in 1888, the South Pacific Division is “Building Strong and Taking Care of People!” Its workforce of 2,300

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DIRECTORY civilian and military engineers, scientists and technical experts manages a $1.5 billion annual military and civil works design and construction program.

The region encompasses California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and parts of five other Western states. Four operating districts are headquartered in Albuquerque, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Sacramento.

The division is also home to two USACE virtual centers of expertise – the Range Support Military Munitions Design Center and the Dam Safety Production Center.

The division supports 13 Army and 12 Air Force installations.

The Air Force is the largest military customer. South Pacific Division is currently executing one of the largest Air Force modernization programs in the nation.

More than 25 percent of all Formerly Used Defense Sites (FUDS) and 38 percent of all Military Munitions Response Program sites in the nation are in this region. The division currently manages cleanup of munitions at more than 1,700 FUDS. Key civil works missions are flood risk reduction, navigation, and environmental restoration. Fifteen of the 25 fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States are in this diverse region, where water is precious and there is tremendous economic and environmental focus on integrated water management. Five major river basins include the Sacramento, San Joaquin, Santa Ana, Colorado, and Rio Grande.

Most of the region gets less than 20 inches of precipitation a year; however, due to climate and geography, peak runoff flows occur in a very short time, setting conditions for cycles of flood, drought and wildfire disasters.

South Pacific Division manages 46 USACE dams and reservoirs for flood risk, water supply, environmental stewardship and recreation, in cooperation with local water supply managers and other stakeholders.

California’s ports and harbors are the gateways for more than 250 million tons of foreign and domestic cargo annually. The division maintains five major deep-draft ports to depths greater than 40 feet, six operational ports to 20 to 40 feet, plus 17 small craft harbors, and 429 miles of federal channels. The two largest container ports are Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. Together they contribute more than 1.6 million jobs and $40 billion per year to the economy.

The region is home to more than one-quarter of all threatened and endangered species in the nation. USACE issues permits for all construction activities affecting U.S. water – balancing development with healthy aquatic resources. The division averages 3,400 general permits, 300 individual permits, and 4,500 jurisdictional determinations annually.

ALBUQUERQUE DISTRICT 4101 Jefferson Plaza NE • Albuquerque, NM 87109 Tel: (505) 342-3349 The Albuquerque District covers all of New Mexico, about a third of Colorado, and one-fifth of Texas. The district recently celebrated 75 years of civil works and other support to its regional customers. The civil works planning, design, and construction

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team works on flood risk management, ecosystem restoration, watershed studies and environmental infrastructure projects within New Mexico, southeast Colorado, and southwest Texas.

Major flood risk management projects include levees along the Rio Grande from San Acacia to Bosque del Apache near Socorro, New Mexico, and levees from Albuquerque to Belen, New Mexico. One of the district’s key ecosystem restoration projects is centered on the area surrounding the Middle Rio Grande.

The district performs design, construction, and operations and maintenance services for three New Mexico Air Force bases and design services to two Arizona Air Force bases. The district’s personnel have extensive experience in the design and construction of family housing, dormitories, bridges, hangars, research facilities, and airfields, as well as the remodeling of existing structures.

Albuquerque District’s environmental program includes endangered species surveys, environmental assessments and impact statements, and cultural resource mitigation. The district is one of 20 partners supporting the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Act Collaborative Program, aimed at protecting and improving the status of endangered species, while simultaneously protecting existing water uses. Tribal relations and partnership is very important to district personnel, as USACE operates two facilities on tribal lands and enjoys working under the Tribal Partnership Program.

LOS ANGELES DISTRICT 915 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 930 • Los Angeles, CA 90017 Tel: (213) 452-3333 The Los Angeles District provides civil works and military engineering support to Southern California, Nevada, Arizona, and parts of Utah. The scope of missions in the district varies from constructing a water treatment system in the desert at Fort Irwin, California, to its involvement along one of the nation’s most significant waterways, the Los Angeles River.

Navigation channels maintained by the district for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach account for a majority of West Coast trade and shipping.

Major projects to reduce disaster risk include improvements to Prado Dam and the Santa Ana River Mainstem project. The district is responsible for the operation and maintenance of 16 dams, 14 navigation projects, 13 miles of breakwaters, and 54 miles of flood control channels. The dams and recreation areas host more than 7 million visitors a year.

Military missions at eleven installations are focused on support to the warfighter and include construction of a hospital at Fort Irwin, California, and F-35 facilities at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.

Ecosystem restoration projects form a major part of the district’s workload and are transforming the way we deliver civil works projects. These include the Tres Rios project in the heart of Phoenix and the Los Angeles River ecosystem restoration study, focused on water quality improvements and passive recreation opportunities along portions of these rivers.

The Interagency and International Support program allows the district to do work for other federal agencies by tailoring program

DIRECTORY support capabilities to customer requirements and budget. Major projects include construction of border patrol stations for DHS and rehabilitation of infrastructure at VA facilities.

To prepare for tomorrow, the district reaches out to high schools and universities to increase awareness and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and career pathways to address the nation’s critical need for STEM professionals.

SACRAMENTO DISTRICT 1325 J Street • Sacramento, CA 95814 Tel: (916) 557-5100 The Sacramento District operates in parts of eight western states.

It has nearly 1,000 employees covering that large territory, which includes robust civil works and military programs missions.

The district’s work on the Sacramento and San Joaquin river basins with the state of California and dozens of local stakeholders exemplifies USACE’s collaborative approach to problem solving for multiple objectives throughout watershed systems. The district is partnering collaboratively with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, California Department of Water Resources, and the Sacramento Area Flood Control Agency to dramatically reduce the Sacramento region’s flood risk by constructing an auxiliary spillway – a massive, new secondary dam at Folsom Dam – and many upgrades to the downstream levee system.

The 43,000-square-mile Central Valley watershed, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin River Basins flow together to form a diverse delta, is a complex system of reservoirs, aging levees, weirs, and floodwater bypasses operated for water supply, floodplain management, land use, and ecosystem viability. This flood-prone area is home to 4.4 million people, provides habitat for dozens of species, and is one of the nation’s great agricultural breadbaskets, accounting for 8 percent of U.S. agricultural production. It’s also a drinking water source for much of California. USACE shares responsibility in this complex issue with a host of local, state, and other federal stakeholders.

The district is heavily involved in the Army’s Energy Conservation Investment Program (ECIP), with multiple projects in support of the Army’s goal to improve energy efficiency at DOD facilities, including plans to reach net zero energy use at some installations (creating all of the energy that the installation consumes).

The Sacramento District is also a USACE center of expertise for cleanup of hazardous, toxic, and radioactive waste, as well as the dam safety production center for the South Pacific Division.

SAN FRANCISCO DISTRICT 1455 Market Street • San Francisco, CA 94103-1398 Tel: (415) 503-6800 Established in 1866, the San Francisco District oversees civil works missions in construction covering approximately 40,000 square miles, mostly along the northern California coastline from the Klamath River watershed in Oregon to San Louis Obispo, south of Monterey. The district’s programs and projects contribute more than $100 million annually to the regional economy. The

district’s operation and maintenance program includes dredging more than 4.5 million cubic yards annually, including 1.5 million cubic yards in San Francisco Bay to keep navigation channels, harbors, and ports open for more than 100 million tons of cargo shipped to the area’s deep-water ports.

The district helps build the nation’s long-term economic strength in an environmentally sustainable way through water supply management and flood damage reduction, shore and coastal protection, ecosystem restoration, and wildlife protection; all of these sustainable tools will be incorporated to protect the south San Francisco Bay shoreline from future sea level rise. Currently, the district is creating hundreds of acres of San Francisco Bay wetlands habitat through the beneficial reuse of dredged material. Dredge material is also being used to replenish Ocean Beach to mitigate years of erosion. Debris collection in San Francisco Bay, which averages 1,500 tons per year, is another high-visibility mission keeping cargo vessels and commuter ferries moving safely to port. Congress tasked the San Francisco District with removing debris from the San Francisco Bay’s federal channels in 1942 after a tragic accident involving a seaplane crashed into the bay carrying Navy Adm. Chester Nimitz.

The district’s Bay Model in Sausalito is a major visitor center with education programs focusing on the environmental, historical, and cultural elements of the region. The Bay Model originally served as a scientific tool used by engineers, scientists, and planners to analyze, in a laboratory setting, the effects of change on the physical tidal forces of the bay and delta region.

SOUTHWESTERN DIVISION 1100 Commerce Street, Suite 831 • Dallas, TX 75242-1317 Tel: (469) 487-7007 The Southwestern Division (SWD), headquartered in Dallas, Texas, has served the region since 1937, overseeing hundreds of water resources development and military design and construction projects. Since that early beginning, the division has continued to grow in expertise and missions, seeking innovative solutions for future challenges.

The division’s regional team, which includes four district offices in Little Rock, Ark., Tulsa, Okla., and Galveston and Fort Worth, Texas, provides diverse engineering and construction expertise and other services in all or portions of seven states. The division’s AOR covers some 2.3 million acres of public land and water, with an annual program totaling $2.6 billion.

The division’s civil works mission area includes 90 lakes, which has prevented some $1.3 billion in average annual flood damage while providing 7.7 million acre-feet of water supply storage.

SWD’s recreation areas are the most visited in USACE, with the division managing more than 11,400 miles of shoreline and 1,172 recreation sites. More than a half-billion tons of commerce are shipped annually over the SWD’s 1,458 miles of channels, including some 22 shallow-draft ports, 12 deep-draft ports, and 22 lock chambers, ranking it second in USACE for navigation.

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DIRECTORY The division’s 18 hydropower plants provide enough electricity to power more than three-quarters of a million homes.

Almost one-third of the nation’s military activities are located within the Southwestern Division boundaries, covering an area of some 443,700 square miles. The division provides new facilities, rehabilitates older ones, and provides other services at nine Air Force and nine Army installations. Across the region, SWD anticipates future military missions with focus on the restoration and modernization of existing facilities and continues to pursue ways to reduce of cost of military construction project delivery.

In addition to the valuable contributions it provides each day to the communities it serves, the division supports emergency response and recovery efforts when hurricanes or other natural disasters occur, whether within or beyond its area of responsibility.

Under its IIS mission, the Southwestern Division provides services to DHS, the VA, the Department of Justice, Native American governments, and various other federal, state, and local agencies.

FORT WORTH DISTRICT 819 Taylor Street, Room 3A24 • P.O. Box 17300 Fort Worth, TX 76102-0300 Tel: (817) 886-1312 The Fort Worth District, established in 1950 after disastrous floods in the area, is responsible for water resources development in two-thirds of Texas and military design and construction in Texas and parts of Louisiana and New Mexico. It covers a geographical area of approximately 410,000 square miles and employs just over 1,200 team members. The district’s operations and maintenance program includes 25 multipurpose projects, three hydropower plants, and 197 parks serving more than 25 million visitors annually. These reservoirs have prevented billions of dollars in flood damages since their construction, a benefit-to-cost ratio of 8.2-to-1. The district has numerous ongoing studies and construction projects that will result in additional flood damage reduction and environmental restoration for the citizens of the Lone Star State. Fort Worth District also manages one of the largest military construction programs in USACE, supporting the Army, Air Force, DOD, and IIS customers. The district currently manages approximately $2.6 billion worth of projects under construction and approximately $4 billion under design, including ranges and other training facilities, barracks, dining halls, hospitals, reimbursable and Soldier/family readiness centers. In addition, the district provides real estate support for recruiting commands, housing assistance for Soldiers, and leasing in support of emergency operations and military facility reuse. The district is also responsible for one of the largest FUDS programs with almost 900 sites identified. Fort Worth District provides planning, real estate, and construction support for all Department of Homeland Security projects with a focus on border security and assessment services for many military and civilian federal agencies. The district’s Regional Planning and Environmental Center provides support to a variety of USACE military and local sponsor projects for the Fort Worth, Tulsa, and Galveston districts.

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GALVESTON DISTRICT P.O. Box 1229 • Galveston, TX 77553-1229 Tel: (409) 766-3004 The Galveston District, established in 1880 and fondly known as the “Custodians of the Coast,” plays a key role in America’s well-being by keeping waterways open for navigation and commerce and serves the nation as part of the world’s largest public engineering, design and construction management agency.

Encompassing the Texas coast from Louisiana to Mexico – an area that spans 50,000 square miles contains more than 1,000 miles of channels (750 shallow draft and 250 deep draft) serving 28 ports and includes 700 miles of coastline – the district successfully executes its mission of providing vital public engineering services in peace and war to strengthen the nation’s security, energize the economy, and reduce risks from disasters. With its 300 dedicated professionals, the Galveston District continues to focus efforts along the Texas coast to improve and maintain Texas channels, support nonfederal investment in infrastructure, and protect our shorelines all while providing valuable navigation, flood risk mitigation, environmental, shoreline protection, regulatory, and emergency management services to the nation.

LITTLE ROCK DISTRICT P.O. Box 867 • Little Rock, AR 72203-0867 Tel: (501) 324-5551 The Little Rock District has been serving southern Missouri and Arkansas since 1881, with both military and civil missions.

The district has a wealth of experience as a planning, design, and construction agency. It has a “can-do” reputation for delivering a quality product on time and within cost. Its employees include professionals in a wide range of disciplines who provide expertise in many areas. The district manages $6.5 billion worth of public infrastructure that provides tremendous benefits to the region and the nation. Among them are 12 multipurpose lakes in the White, Arkansas, and Little River basins that have prevented $3.2 billion in flood losses and provide drinking water to tens of thousands of people. The district’s 13 locks and dams and 308 miles of navigation channel on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System enable $3.7 billion worth of commerce to move cleanly and efficiently, the equivalent of about half a million trucks not on the highways. The district’s 148 parks help generate nearly $1.1 million a year in visitor spending in the vicinity of district projects. The district’s seven hydroelectric plants have the capacity to generate enough electricity to power 500,000 average homes each year and prevent about 1.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

TULSA DISTRICT 1645 South 101 East Avenue • Tulsa, OK 74128-4609 Tel: (918) 669-7366 The Tulsa District was established in 1939, and its civil works boundaries include Oklahoma and parts of southern Kansas and northern Texas. The district’s civil works mission is one of the largest in USACE; it includes 38 multipurpose lakes, including

DIRECTORY five locks, dams, and pools on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. Although the primary purpose of district lakes is flood control, they also provide recreation, water supply, hydropower, navigation, and fish and wildlife habitat. The district’s navigation channel boasts the most inland, ice-free river port in America and provides waterway commerce to the heartland of the country. Tulsa District projects have prevented nearly $17 billion in flood damages, and the district’s eight hydropower facilities provide about $52 million in annual sales. The district has 267 parks with more campsites – 6,000 – than any other district in USACE. The Tulsa District’s military construction mission provides engineering and construction management services to two Army and four Air Force installations. During the last 10 years, the district has managed the design and construction of more than $1 billion in facilities for its military customer.

USACE Transatlantic Afghanistan District

TRANSATLANTIC DIVISION P.O. Box 2250 • Winchester, VA 22604-1450 Tel: (540) 667-3173 The Transatlantic Division (TAD) is USACE’s newest division with headquarters in Winchester, Virginia. TAD stood up for the second time on Oct. 1, 2009, after its original establishment in 1991 to support the increased reconstruction activities following the 1990-1991 Gulf War, after which it was re-designated as a center in 1994.

TAD is USACE’s ninth major subordinate command, providing engineering services to the nation in support of U.S. Central Command’s (CENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR), which spans 20 countries from Egypt to the Arabian Gulf and Central Asia.

TAD administers thousands of projects overseas with a full spectrum of regional support, including the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), Afghan Infrastructure Fund (AIF), U.S. and coalition forces, counter-narcotics and border management, strategic reconstruction support to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Commander’s Emergency Response Program. TAD’s AOR is the second-largest USACE operational area and the United States’ No. 1 priority.

The Transatlantic Division has under its command the Transatlantic Middle East (TAM) District, formerly the Transatlantic Programs Center, in Winchester, Virginia; the Transatlantic Afghanistan (TAA) District in Kabul, Afghanistan; and a TAD Forward Operational Command Post (OCP) at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, which stood up in 2015. The division, its two districts, and the Forward OCP deliver high-intensity engineer capabilities for all of CENTCOM, providing USACE’s expertise in overseas contingency operations.

USACE designated TAM as its worldwide Center of Standardization for Contingency Standard Designs and the Technical Center of Expertise for Aircraft Hangar Fire Protection. TAM supports USACE military construction and interagency and international programs while providing maximum reachback support to TAA. TAA continues Afghanistan reconstruction efforts and promotes infrastructure development while conducting project management,

Transatlantic Afghanistan District

construction, and engineering to help establish a secure, stable environment and supports deployed coalition forces and other government agencies.

TAD established a Forward OCP in Kuwait in 2015 with a mission to provide CENTCOM and Army Central Command (ARCENT) with technical expertise in engineering and capabilities to anticipate and plan for future requirements while providing administrative and logistical support for USACE-sourced teams across CENTCOM in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR).

TRANSATLANTIC DIVISION-KUWAIT (TAD-KU) Attn: Camp Arifjan • APO AE 09366 Tel: (540) 667-3173 The Transatlantic Division (TAD)-Kuwait (KU) Forward OCP officially stood up in May 2015 and is the Transatlantic Division’s newest outpost with an office at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait.

TAD-KU’s mission is to provide liaison capability, technical engineering expertise, and planning capability to anticipate future requirements to CENTCOM and ARCENT in support of Operation Inherent Resolve while providing administrative and logistical support for USACE-sourced teams across the 20 countries in CENTCOM’s AOR. TAD-KU is USACE’s forward asset, sharing and coordinating its engineering expertise for overseas contingency operations.

TAD-KU also assists Area Support Group (ASG)-Kuwait with engineer support by creating building and constructions plans, to include wiring diagrams among other specifications, and performing inspections of the construction facilities on Camp Arifjan, Camp Buehring, the Kuwaiti Navy Base (KNB), and other U.S. facilities in Kuwait. TAD-KU also assists ASG-KU in the areas of real estate, contracting, and environmental matters.

TRANSATLANTIC AFGHANISTAN DISTRICT Attn: Bagram Airfield • APO AE 09354 Tel: (540) 678-2975 Established first as an area office and subsequently in 2004 as a district, the USACE Afghanistan Engineer District (AED) later split into two districts, AED-North in Kabul and AED-South in Kandahar. Since 2002, USACE has completed more than $11 billion in construction in Afghanistan, mostly building facilities for the Afghan National Security Forces. In July 2013, the two districts were inactivated and the Transatlantic Afghanistan District (TAA) was activated. The USACE mission in Afghanistan is to

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DIRECTORY conduct project management, construction, and engineering to help establish a secure, stable environment and promote construction and infrastructure development. USACE has supported coalition forces participating in Operation Enduring Freedom since 2002, and the first USACE district in Afghanistan, AED-North, was established in March 2004. AED-South was activated in summer 2009.

In support of coalition forces, TAA provides facilities to support bed-down, administration, and base operations in various locations around Afghanistan to include Bagram, Kandahar, and Kabul. The district works with the Resolute Support (RS), Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan (CSTC-A), U.S. Forces Command-Afghanistan (USFOR-A), Commander’s Emergency Response Program, USAID, donor nations, and agencies to complete projects that will have the most significant impacts toward building partner capacity and managing transitions. Projects include infrastructure, military and university facilities such as the Afghanistan National Defense University, the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense headquarters’ buildings. The district has completed a significant number of headquarters, maintenance buildings, fire stations, and power plants. TAA continues to execute construction while supporting deconstruction, drawdown, and the retrograde mission of coalition forces from Afghanistan.

MIDDLE EAST DISTRICT P.O. Box 2250 • Winchester, VA 22604-1450 Tel: (540) 665-4085 USACE has worked in the Middle East for more than six decades.

In the mid-1970s, USACE established a stateside organization near Winchester, Virginia, to support operations in Saudi Arabia. Over the next decade, USACE expanded its engineering services to other areas of the Middle East and Africa, concurrently changing its organizational structure and location to meet U.S. national security requirements.

Today the Middle East District is a subordinate element of the Transatlantic Division and still provides skilled engineering and construction, and other related technical services to U.S. and foreign customers in the 20-country area of operations for the U.S. Central Command; the district is currently active in 15 of those countries. Headquartered in Winchester, the district has field offices throughout the Middle East. When the Gulf Region District, the last USACE district in Iraq stood down in 2011, the Middle East District assumed responsibility for USACE operations in Iraq.

Working closely with the Transatlantic Afghanistan District, the Middle East District also continues to provide reachback support and oversight of a small handful of projects in Afghanistan.

The Middle East District’s work falls into the following areas: • Designing and building facilities for U.S. forces deployed within CENTCOM’s AOR; • Managing service contracts for various military customers, supporting USACE programs, such as logistics and maintenance, transportation and security, and personal services; • Providing engineering, project management, contracting, and support services to the USACE district in Afghanistan;

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• Designing and building facilities under the USACE International and Interagency Support program. Most of this work is through DOD’s Foreign Military Sales program, aimed at supporting the defense interests of the United States and its allies. The district also has a multitude of foreign military financing projects, which enhance USACE and U.S. government relationships in the region. These programs permit eligible foreign governments to purchase U.S. defense equipment and services, including the full array of USACE technical and contracting services; and • Supporting DOD-funded projects providing humanitarian assistance and counternarcotics projects in the region.

The Middle East District also houses the Technical Center of Expertise for Aircraft Hangar Fire Protection, and the Center of Standardization for Contingency Standard Designs, which won an award for value engineering in 2015.

CENTERS USACE HUNTSVILLE CENTER P.O. Box 1600 • Huntsville, AL 35807-4301 Tel: (256) 895-1694 The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville provides technical expertise and innovative engineering solutions in support of U.S. forces, their families, and the nation.

Huntsville’s more than 900 employees manage a $2.8 billion annual budget to support a very diverse global customer base that includes USACE divisions and districts, federal agencies, and military installations worldwide. Huntsville Center was activated in October 1967 as the Huntsville Division with its sole mission being the Sentinel ballistic-missile defense program.

Since that time, the center’s mission has evolved and diversified significantly to include installation support, energy, ordnance and explosives, chemical demilitarization, engineering, and environmental programs.

Huntsville Center is USACE’s mandatory center of expertise for the Army range and training lands program; electronic security systems; medical facilities; environmental and munitions; and utility monitoring and control systems. The center is also home to many technical centers of expertise: industrial control systems cybersecurity energy savings performance contracting; facility systems safety; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning; installation support; facilities reduction; facilities repair and renewal; centralized furnishings; and operation and maintenance engineering enhancement. In addition, Huntsville Center is assigned 16 centers of standardization facility types in the following categories: medical facilities; child and family services; sports and fitness facilities; fire and emergency facilities; and training ranges.

USACE FINANCE CENTER 5722 Integrity Drive, Building 787 • Millington, TN 38054-5005 Tel: (901) 873-9000

DIRECTORY USACE’s Finance Center provides responsive and professional day-to-day operating finance and accounting support worldwide.

This support includes the full range of customer services, payments, disbursing, accounting, and financial reporting for civil works and military programs appropriated funds and revolving and trust funds. The Finance Center is responsible for performing research, analysis, development, installation and systems maintenance for the USACE Financial Management System (CEFMS) and for the USACE Enterprise Management Information System (CEEMIS). The Finance Center has the principal responsibility for providing overall operating finance and accounting functions for USACE. This mission is accomplished with a dedicated, professional staff of accountants, accounting technicians, and various other support personnel.

In keeping with the Commander’s vision, the Finance Center has built the bench with a talented and motivated staff that is cognizant of the costs of operation and continues to achieve greater efficiencies through improved business processes and enhanced financial systems. The Finance Center searches for ways to reduce costs by identifying and eliminating duplicative processes, taking advantage of leading technology, encouraging e-commerce, and improving business processes.

USACE ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER 3909 Halls Ferry Road • Vicksburg, MS 39180-6199 Tel: (601) 636-3111 The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) supports the nation and armed forces. ERDC research and development saves Soldiers’ lives, improves homeland security, enhances the economy, reduces disaster risks, and improves the environment. Its technologies and expertise support warfighters, military installations, and USACE civil works missions as well as other federal agencies, state and municipal authorities, and U.S. industry (through innovative work agreements). ERDC R&D focuses on four primary technical areas: • Military Engineering – deployable force protection; environmental effects on sensor performance; adaptive protection; austere entry and maneuver; weapons effects; and antiterrorism; • Geospatial Research and Engineering – terrain analysis for signal and sensor performance; geospatial and temporal information structure and framework; geospatial reasoning; geo-enabled mission command; and imagery and geo-data sciences, including human terrain analysis; • Environmental Quality and Installations – adaptive, resilient, and sustainable installations and infrastructure; military materiels in the environment; and risk-based decision analysis; and • Water Resources/Civil Works – inland and coastal navigation hydropower; flood risk management and coastal systems; water supply and emergency management; environmental restoration, regulation, and stewardship; water resources infrastructure; and system-wide water resources.

ERDC Headquarters is located in Vicksburg, Mississippi, along with four of its seven laboratories – the Coastal and Hydraulics, Geotechnical and Structures, Environmental, and Information Technology laboratories. Other laboratories include the Construction Engineering Research Laboratory in Champaign, Illinois; Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory in Hanover, New Hampshire; and the Geospatial Research Laboratory in Alexandria, Virginia. These laboratories provide a wide range of research expertise that can collectively address diverse and complex challenges. ERDC has a staff of more than 2,500 engineers, scientists, and support personnel, with an annual research program budget exceeding $1.1 billion. Its staff includes more than 1,060 engineers and scientists, many with advanced degrees (32 percent hold doctoral degrees and 44 percent have master’s degrees).

The center has more than $1 billion in research facilities, including unique national assets. It manages the DOD High Performance Computing Modernization Program and five DOD Supercomputer Centers around the country (one is located at ERDC Vicksburg). The center hosts the DOD’s largest and most powerful supercomputer, putting ERDC in the top tier of computing capacity. Other world-class facilities include the world’s most powerful centrifuge, blast effects simulators, physical models of river and coastal projects, specialized chemistry and analytical labs, frost and ice engineering facilities, a large shake table, and a 1,800-foot coastal research pier. Its research is recognized throughout the Army, DOD, the nation, and internationally.

ERDC – Innovative Solutions for a Safer, Better World!

U.S. ARMY GEOSPATIAL CENTER 7701 Telegraph Road • Alexandria, VA 22315-3864 Tel: (703) 428-3736 The U.S. Army Geospatial Center (AGC) is a direct reporting center under USACE to provide timely, accurate and relevant geospatial information, domain expertise, training, and reachback capabilities to our warfighters across the operational environment.

As a knowledge center for geospatial engineering expertise, the AGC coordinates, integrates, and synchronizes geospatial information requirements and standards across the Army, as well as develops and fields geospatial systems and capabilities to the Army and DOD. The AGC supports the Army, DOD, and the nation through: 1) enterprise development and system acquisition support synchronizes geospatial policies, priorities, program strategies, and technologies across Army acquisition, ensuring efficient integration; provides geospatial domain expertise to Army programs and Network Integration Evaluations; develops, acquires, and fields engineer and intelligence capabilities; and evaluates the Tactical Exploitation of National Capabilities; 2) warfighter support and production that collects, creates, and provisions strategic-operational-tactical imagery, elevation data, geospatial information, and mission-related products; provides information on water-location quantity and quality, and provides training, technical support, and reachback capabilities to the field; and 3) research, development, technology, and evaluation (RDT&E) that conducts RDT&E focused in current and emerging geospatial

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DIRECTORY technologies that will help characterize and measure phenomena within the physical (terrain) and social (cultural) environments encountered by the Army.

One of the AGC’s primary goals is to enable an Army Geospatial Enterprise (AGE), which addresses geospatial capability gaps, preventing systems from achieving a true common operating picture. The AGE enables horizontal and vertical dissemination and the exchange and synchronization of geospatial feature data between echelons. It improves continuity of operations during unit Relief in Place/Transfer of Authority and enhances and extends the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s data holdings with Army-produced operational and tactically relevant geospatial information. The AGE enhances Soldier situational awareness and leads to information superiority and improves commanders’ military decision-making process, ultimately improving the probability of mission success.

MARINE DESIGN CENTER Wanamaker Building • 100 Penn Square East Philadelphia, PA 19107-3391 Tel: (215) 656-6850 The Marine Design Center is USACE’s center of expertise and experience for the development and application of innovative strategies and technologies for naval architecture and marine engineering. The center provides total project management including planning, engineering, and shipbuilding contract management in support of USACE, Army, and national water resource projects in peacetime and augments military construction capacity in time of national emergency or mobilization.

The Marine Design Center was established in 1908 to give USACE a group of naval architects and marine, mechanical, and electrical engineers who could design, build, and maintain the complex craft needed to improve and maintain the inland and coastal waterways. Located in Philadelphia since 1939, the center is a field operating activity under the Directorate of Civil Works that provides services to USACE worldwide.

The center’s skills and talents have also served other federal agencies and foreign governments through international agreements. The center’s work is naval architecture, marine engineering, and marine construction management, including the assurance of quality construction. These efforts have been concentrated on the “turn-key, designto-delivery” philosophy. The center also offers expertise in design, preparation of plans and specifications, contract management, and inspection of marine equipment including structures and machinery. Experience includes projects for dredges, towboats, floating cranes, survey vessels, and various other service vessels. The center has completed thousands of such projects since its inception. The Marine Design Center can also be called upon to study and make recommendations concerning vessel modifications, occupational safety, energy conservation, fire prevention programs, or environmental problems, or to conduct an accident investigation or marine condition survey.

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U.S. ARMY ENGINEER INSTITUTE FOR WATER RESOURCES 7701 Telegraph Road, Casey Bldg. • Alexandria, VA 22315-3688 Tel: (703) 428-8250 The USACE Institute for Water Resources (IWR), with its National Capital Region (NCR) headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, was established to provide forward-looking analysis to aid the development of the USACE Civil Works program. IWR’s mission emphasizes the linkage of planning, socio-economic, environmental, hydrologic, and engineering risk considerations within a contemporary evaluation and investment decisionsupport framework for water resources systems, global change, sustainable development, and collaborative problem solving.

The institute has offices in five locations, including its office in Alexandria, Virginia, which includes the Navigation and Civil Works Decision Support Center (NDC), the Conflict Resolution & Public Participation Center of Expertise (CPCX), and the International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM). ICIWaRM affiliated with the United Nations and involves collaborative relationships with universities and nongovernmental organizations. IWR’s remote centers include the Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) in Davis, California; the Waterborne Commerce Statistics Center (WCSC) in New Orleans, Louisiana; and the Risk Management Center (for dam and levee safety) with offices in Golden, Colorado, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

IWR’s NCR office houses the USACE chief economist and a diverse multidisciplinary workforce specializing in the advancement of planning methodologies, developing and applying procedures for evaluating multipurpose water resources investment alternatives involving both monetary and nonmonetary outputs, and conducting a wide range of special investigations commissioned either by the Congress, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), and/ or USACE Headquarters, including strategic studies aimed at informing agency decisions on the future direction of the Civil Works program. The NCR office also includes the secretariat for the U.S. Section of the World Association for Waterborne Transport Infrastructure (also known as PIANC), a global forum for professional organizations to share and exchange knowledge of worldwide trends and challenges in port and waterway development and management.

NDC provides a critical mass of expertise focusing on the management of infrastructure utilization and performance information for USACE programs and projects spanning civil works business lines. NDC directly supports the USACE navigation, hydropower, recreation, environmental compliance, water supply, regulatory, homeland security, emergency, and readiness functions as well as those of other federal, state, and local agencies, plus those in the private sector with interests in water transportation. NDC also provides integrated business information in support of USACE operational decision-making, and includes financial, output, and performance measurements that are used in the

U.S. Army National Guard photo by Spc. Mark VanGerpen

DIRECTORY development and defense of the USACE civil works budget.

NDC’s WCSC specializes in the collection and synthesis of all U.S. waterborne commerce statistics, vessel movement data, along with maintaining information on vessel characteristics, port facilities, dredging cost, and performance data and information on navigation locks.

The mission of the CPCX is to help USACE field practitioners anticipate, prevent, and manage water conflicts, ensuring that the interests of the public are addressed in water resources decisionmaking. The CPCX provides technical assistance and training to USACE division and district offices as well as other stakeholders on collaborative processes, facilitation, public involvement, risk communication, and collaborative modeling (shared vision planning). CPCX also supports USACE-HQ on relevant aspects of national initiatives and policy development and coordinates USACE’s cross-cutting Collaboration and Public Participation Community of Practice.

The Hydrologic Engineering Center (HEC) is world renowned for its applied software model development, training, and consulting in hydrologic and hydraulic engineering, water resources planning, and water systems management. The primary mission of HEC is to support the nation in its water resources management responsibilities by enhancing USACE technical capacity in applied hydrologic and hydraulic engineering. Its additional mission goals include providing technical leadership in improving the analytical methods for the hydrologic aspects of water resources planning and in the delivery and application of the integrated suite of models serving as the USACE Water Management System, which is used by the MSC and district’s water in the real-time operation of reservoirs throughout the nation. HEC models represent state-of-the-art tools that are widely used throughout the world.

The mission of the Risk Management Center (RMC) is to support the USACE Civil Works program by providing a nationally consistent context for managing and assessing risks associated with dam and levee systems across USACE, to support dam and levee safety activities throughout USACE, and to develop policies, methods, tools, and systems to enhance those activities.

The RMC also assists USACE Headquarters in the technical and policy oversight of infrastructure safety decisions, and serves as an independent technical adviser to USACE senior leadership, maintaining and developing risk competencies and helping ensure consistency of risk assessment processes, the application of risk criteria, and the basis for decision-making on dam and levee safety projects across USACE. The ICIWaRM was established in collaboration with other U.S. agencies, academic institutions, and organizations sharing an interest in the advancement of the science and practice of integrated water resources management around the globe.

ICIWaRM was formalized as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) “Category 2” water center in 2009, the first such center in the United States.

ICIWaRM serves as a nexus for technology transfer, integrating new ideas, advancing practical scientific and technological

applications of integrated water resources management approaches developed both in the United States and by partner nations within UNESCO’s International Hydrological Program (IHP).

The center focuses on water security, adapting to global change, applying collaborative approaches, and ensuring environmental sustainability, consistent with U.S. government goals for international water resources. ICIWaRM is also the Technical Secretariat for IHP’s Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands, or G-WADI.

ENGINEER COMMANDS 249th ENGINEER BATTALION (PRIME POWER) 9410 Jackson Loop, Building 1418 Fort Belvoir, VA 22060 Tel: (703) 805-2643 The 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power) is a multicomponent active-duty, versatile prime power generation battalion assigned to USACE that provides commercial-level, mediumvoltage power to military units and federal relief organizations during unified land operations. The battalion is also an integral part of USACE’s response to the National Response Framework under Emergency Support Function #3. Additionally, the commander serves as the commandant of the U.S. Army Prime Power School, the institution responsible for the development of Army and Navy power generation specialists. The organization is charged with the rapid provision of Army generators to support worldwide requirements.

249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power)

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DIRECTORY The battalion consists of a headquarters and headquarters company, four Prime Power line companies (Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta), and the Prime Power School. The Prime Power School graduates the Army’s Prime Power Production Specialist (MOS 12P) following a one-year course that includes math, physics, engineering, and power plant operations and maintenance.

• Each line company has a headquarters and four platoons comprised of a warrant officer and 15 noncommissioned officers. The platoons are capable of setting up, operating, and repairing complete medium-voltage power generation and distribution systems worldwide.

• Alpha Company, 249th Engineer Battalion, is located at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

• Bravo Company, 249th Engineer Battalion, is located at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

• Charlie Company was activated in 2008 and is located at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

• Delta Company, comprised of all Reserve Soldiers, is headquartered in Cranston, Rhode Island Each of the battalion’s 13 power generation platoons has the capability to produce approximately 3.2 megawatts of power at 4,160 volts (medium voltage). The battalion has three additional platoons of power line-distribution Soldiers who specialize in aerial and underground distribution systems. The battalion’s 52 medium-voltage deployable generator systems are capable of converting the voltage to a user level (120/208/277/480 volts).

The battalion also offers a variety of services, including: • electrical power requirement assessment and power production • transformer inspection and test analysis • maintenance/repair of power plants, substations, and government-owned or managed transmission and distribution systems • circuit breaker and relay maintenance • infrared surveys • medium-voltage electrical contractor oversight • training for personnel to operate and maintain prime power distribution and generation equipment 416th THEATER ENGINEER COMMAND 10 S100 South Frontage Road • Darien, IL 60561 Tel: (630) 427-9700 The 416th Theater Engineer Command (TEC) is a major subordinate command of the U.S. Army Reserve Command that provides engineer-planning support to U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM), U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), and U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM).

Headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Darien, the 416th TEC provides trained and ready forces in support of global operations utilizing the Army Force Generation model; and provides policies, guidance, resourcing, and administrative support as an operational command over assigned Army Reserve units. On order, the 416th TEC mobilizes and deploys to a theater

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of operations as the senior engineer headquarters to provide mission command of assigned or attached units in support of the Army Service Component (ASCC) assured mobility, protection, logistics, and infrastructure development lines of operation. The 416th TEC leads 135 units in 37 states across the United States, encompassing more than 12,500 Soldiers, two engineer brigades, one maneuver enhancement brigade, the USACE Contingency Response Unit (CRU), one Forward Engineer Support TeamMain, and 10 Forward Engineer Support Teams-Advance.

Recent deployments include Operation Desert Shield/Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), and Operation New Dawn. During the first deployment in support of OIF, the command oversaw the planning and construction of several prisoner-of-war camps, U.S. military logistics bases, and a 230-mile-long Inland Petroleum Distribution System – the largest-ever constructed in wartime by the U.S. Army – from Kuwait through the southern desert of Iraq to ensure the availability of fuel for the units moving forward.

The 416th TEC serves as the principal engineer force provider and engineer planner for annual exercises around the globe such as Beyond the Horizon (formerly New Horizons) in Central and South America and Bright Star in Egypt. Beyond the Horizon emphasizes humanitarian assistance every year in a different Central or South American nation, while Bright Star emphasizes joint and international military readiness.

The 416th Theater Engineer Command motto is “Serving by Building.”

CONTINGENCY RESPONSE UNIT, 416th THEATER ENGINEER COMMAND 441 G St NW, 3rd Floor • Washington, DC 20134 Tel: (202) 761-4116 The Contingency Response Unit (CRU) is a highly specialized reserve unit under the 416th TEC that is comprised of 46 Soldiers, 37 officers and nine noncommissioned officers. The CRU was organized on Oct. 16, 2000, as a ready source of trained Army Reserve engineers. CRU Soldiers would fill a recognized shortage of military engineers within USACE, capable of providing military planning and management during overseas contingency Operations (OCO) and civil disasters. Utilized extensively from 9/11 to today, the CRU has answered the call to duty through numerous full- and partial-unit mobilizations and deployments. These include missions in support of OCOs Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn; and Defense Support of Civil Authorities (DSCA) activities with Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Sandy. The CRU was originally envisioned as a source of highly trained technical personnel to expand or establish USACE division battle staffs, liaison with major Army commands (MACOMs), and serve as project engineers. The CRU mission has expanded to include close coordination and augmentation of geographic combatant command (GCC) and Army Service Component Command (ASCC) Engineer battle staffs, and service as subject-matter experts (SMEs) for engineerrelated assessments. The CRU is structured to align subordinate

DIRECTORY teams with each of the six GCCs as well as USACE divisions. This allows the teams to closely coordinate with the GCCs, ASCCs, and USACE in order to provide support for technical engineering requirements, disaster response, and battle staff augmentation.

CRU Soldiers regularly support strategic level and national-level exercises such as Ulchi Freedom Guardian, Lucky Warrior, and others. The CRU Motto speaks true to its mission: First Forward!

the 130th Engineer Brigade in Iraq. In 2006 and 2008, task forces deployed to augment the then-Gulf Region Division of USACE in Iraq. In 2009, the very first 412th TEC Deployable Command Post deployed to Afghanistan, where it served as the U.S. Forces-Afghanistan Engineer Staff. In 2011, the 412th TEC began conducting military-to-military engagements in support of theater security cooperation efforts in developing countries by providing engineering expertise.

412th THEATER ENGINEER COMMAND 1265 Porters Chapel Road • Vicksburg, MS 39180 Tel: (601) 631-6103/6176 Mission: The 412th Theater Engineer Command (TEC) provides trained and ready forces in support of global operations utilizing the Army Force Generation model, and provides policies, guidance, resourcing, and administrative support as an operational command over assigned Army Reserve units.

On order, the 412th TEC mobilizes and deploys to a theater of operations as the senior engineer headquarters, providing mission command of assigned or attached units in support of the Army Service Component assured mobility, protection, logistics, and infrastructure development lines of operation.

History: The 412th TEC provides theater-level engineer support to the combatant commander in the event of a contingency operation. It is designed to command hundreds of engineer units and thousands of Soldiers in a warfighting capacity.

Prior to mobilization, the 412th TEC is under operational control of headquarters, USACE. The command has historical training relationships in the Pacific and European theaters, and provides direct support to the 8th U.S. Army in Korea. It also serves as the Reserve Executive Agent for River Assault, a training exercise held annually at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

As an operational command, the 412th TEC has three brigades and 140 other assigned units with approximately 13,000 Soldiers located throughout the southeast and northeast United States.

These units include the 926th Engineer Brigade, the 411th Engineer Brigade, and the 302nd Maneuver Enhancement Brigade.

The 412th TEC was formed in the Organized Reserves in 1923, and served in World War II, earning the Meritorious Unit Commendation. In the 1990s, the command participated in Operations Joint Endeavor and Joint Forge in Bosnia and Kosovo, and as part of the Hungary Joint Task Force East in several former Warsaw Pact and Soviet countries.

Soldiers from the 412th TEC have assisted with construction missions and supported joint exercises in Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and the Marshall Islands and provided engineer support to the United Nations during the East Timor crisis in 2002.

The 412th TEC Headquarters has deployed numerous detachments since the beginning of the Global War on Terrorism.

In 2003, a detachment deployed as the engineer section for headquarters, U.S. Army Europe. In 2004, the commanding general and a small detachment supported the multinational force in Baghdad. In 2005, a design-management section supported

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USACE photo by Alicia Palmer

INTERVIEW

Children with Bobber the Water Safety Dog at USACE’s Raystown Lake during an event. Raystown is the largest lake located in Pennsylvania and offers 8,300 surface acres of clear water surrounded by 21,000 acres of forested mountain slopes. It is a multipurpose lake managed by the Baltimore District for flood damage reduction, recreation, and natural resource opportunities, as well as hydropower. USACE is participating in the “Every Kid in a Park” initiative that will provide all fourth-grade students and their families with free admission for a year to more than 2,000 federally managed sites nationwide. Fourth-graders can visit the “Get Your Pass” section of the Every Kid in a Park website: www.everykidinapark.gov.

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