23 Apr 2021

Ron Rabena, Friends of Raystown Lake president, to receive 2021 Enduring Service Volunteer Award during Cleanup Day

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District Commander Col. John Litz will present the Corps Foundation Enduring Service Volunteer Award to Ron Rabena, Friends of Raystown Lake (FRL) president, during the Raystown Lake annual Cleanup Day, May 1, 2021, at noon at the Tatman Run picnic shelter. The Corps Foundation is the only nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to supporting the nation's lakes, rivers and the lands surrounding them.

23 Apr 2021

St. Francis Basin Partnering Meeting a success

Memphis District St. Francis Basin (SFB) Partners, Stakeholders and Project Management, members of the district's Hydrology and Hydraulics branch, and district Engineering and Construction managers traveled to the Fisher Delta Research Center in Portageville, Missouri for their annual partnering meeting on Mar. 30, 2021. The Memphis District Team meets annually with SFB partners and stakeholders to provide current basin status updates.

23 Apr 2021

Expanding the Practice of EWN through Landscape Architecture

VICKSBURG, Miss. – In this episode of the Engineering With Nature (EWN) Podcast, Dr. Jeff King, deputy national lead of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) EWN program, discusses how three landscape architects ― Auburn University’s Rob Holmes, University of Pennsylvania’s Sean Burkholder and the University of Virginia’s Brian Davis — have joined forces with EWN to explore innovative solutions to coastal resilience. The group describes their efforts to synthesize the engineering and landscape architecture disciplines and the opportunities and potential for advancing EWN practices. The EWN approach of leveraging natural processes to accomplish the desired engineering outcome while creating environmental and social benefits aligns well with the discipline of landscape architecture in which landscapes are co-designed by humans and natural processes. King and his guests discuss the power of integrating landscape architecture practices into the work Burkholder, Holmes and King are doing with colleagues at the Philadelphia District along the New Jersey coast.

23 Apr 2021

Memphis District Hurley: Thawed out and ready to dredge

During most off seasons, maintaining the Hurley takes a few months and a couple of crews to get everything done. This off-season was a bit different, as unexpected weather posed more obstacles than usual. Much of the south, including Memphis, Tennessee, was hit hard with frigid temperatures in mid-February this year. The last time Memphians experienced weather like this was in 1994.  From frozen pipes to no electricity, many people and structures were impacted by the icy weather, including the district’s Dredge Hurley.

23 Apr 2021

Army Corps announces road closure at Francis E. Walter Dam

The U.S. Army Corps Engineers’ Philadelphia District announced sections of Walter Dam Road (and through traffic between Bear Creek Road and Route 940) will be closed from April 26 through June 30 for repairs and road reconstruction.

22 Apr 2021

Chief of Engineers signs report recommending ecosystem restoration in Prado Basin

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ top general signed a report April 22 – on Earth Day – recommending a plan to restore more than 600 acres of valuable riparian habitat within the largest riparian forest in Southern California. Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, the Corps’ commanding general and 55th U.S. Army chief of engineers, signed the Chief of Engineer’s Report for the Prado Basin Ecosystem Restoration and Water Conservation Feasibility Study at the Corps’ headquarters in Washington, D.C. The project is headed by the Corps’ Los Angeles District, in partnership with the Orange County Water District.

22 Apr 2021

USACE Increases Lake Okeechobee Releases to Caloosahatchee

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Jacksonville District will increase Lake Okeechobee releases at the W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam (S-79) from the current 1,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) to 2,000 cfs beginning April 24.

22 Apr 2021

Earth Day 2021: Restore Our Earth

Happy Earth Day! Here at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, every day is Earth Day. Our efforts to protect and preserve the environment are an enduring mission. Environmental stewardship is part of our culture and is grounded in our USACE Environmental Operating Principles (EOPs) which we incorporate into all that we do, across all mission areas.

22 Apr 2021

LOSOM Project Delivery Team Meeting scheduled for May 7

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District, announces a Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual (LOSOM) Project Delivery Team (PDT) Meeting, to be held Friday, May 7, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

22 Apr 2021

Computational Investigation on Interactions between Some Munition Compounds and Humic Substances

Note: This document was originally published as a journal article or conference proceeding. The link and document will be accessible after a 12-month embargo expires (December 14, 2021 for this document). For more information, see "Frequently Asked Questions on Public Access to Federally Funded Journal Articles" at https://discover.dtic.mil/pdfs/padf/DTIC_FAQs_Public_Access.pdf Abstract: Humic acid substances (HAs) in natural soil and sediment environments affect the retention and degradation of insensitive munition compounds and legacy high explosives (MCs): 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN) DNi−NH4+, N-methyl-p-nitroaniline (nMNA), 1-nitroguanidine (NQ), 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO; neutral and anionic forms), 2,4,6-trinitroto-luene (TNT), and 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX). A humic acid mode compound has been considered using molecular dynamics, thermodynamic integration, and density functional theory to characterize the munition binding ability, ionization potential, and electron affinity compared to that in the water solution. Humic acids bind most compounds and act as both a sink and source for electrons. Ionization potentials suggest that HAs are more susceptible to oxidation than the MCs studied. The electron affinity of HAs is very conformation-dependent and spans the same range as the munition compounds. When HAs and MCs are complexed, the HAs tend to radicalize first, thus buffering MCs against reductive as well as oxidative attacks.