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  • Preliminary Permafrost Predictions within the Chena River Watershed, Alaska, Using Landscape Characteristics

    Purpose: This Technical Note presents a method to create permafrost predictions in the Chena River watershed near Fairbanks, Alaska, using landscape characteristics. We produced probabilities for near-surface permafrost in the Chena River watershed using a published algorithm applied in a nearby region. The methodology presented serves as a proof of concept for developing permafrost maps using similar data in other cold regions.

  • Missouri River navigation restoration efforts hit major milestone despite challenges

    2024 will mark five years since the historic flood of 2019 in Kansas City and the surrounding region. Water levels on the Missouri River reached heights not seen for decades and caused an estimated $2.9 billion in damages across the Midwest. While the historic flooding impacted many in the area in ways they will likely not soon forget, it might be hard to believe that just a couple of years after the historic flooding, the region entered a period of historic drought. With water levels now at historic lows, repairing the river’s navigation channel to its pre-flood condition has not been an easy feat.

  • Corps announces fourth annual Eagle Fest at Shenango River Lake

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District, in partnership with the Shenango River Watchers, will host the fourth annual Eagle Fest at Shenango River Lake, Jan. 13.

  • Rend Lake Dam Road Closed Starting January 10 for Maintenance

    The Rend Lake Dam Road will temporarily close to all traffic beginning at 7 a.m., Wednesday, January 10 for bridge maintenance. This closure will remain through midsummer until maintenance work is complete. Work will consist of installation of new traffic barrier terminals, installation of steel bridge railing, construction of new concrete curbs, and cleaning, sandblasting, and painting of all structural steel on the spillway bridge.

  • Army Corps Waives Day Use Fees at Thurmond, Hartwell Lakes for MLK Day

    SAVANNAH, Ga. -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced it will waive day use fees at its more than 2,850 Army Corps-operated recreation areas nationwide, to include Hartwell and J. Strom Thurmond Lakes, in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Jan. 15, 2024.

  • ERDC’s Wittrock named CERL Research Assistant of the Year

    The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL) named Joseph Wittrock the lab’s 2023 Research Assistant of the Year.

  • Scaled-Up Synthesis of Water-Retaining Alginate-Based Hydrogel

    Purpose: Synthesis of a scaled-up version of a lithium-ion-based alginate/poly(acrylamide-co-stearyl methacrylate) [Li-alginate/P(AAm-co-SMA)] hydrogel with several optimizations for thermal signature investigations on various environmental substrates.

  • Review of Regressive Channel Erosion and Grade Control Options on the Rio Coca, Ecuador

    Purpose: The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is assisting the Ecuadorian state-run Corporación Eléctrica del Ecuador (CELEC) in addressing a water resource issue involving regressive channel erosion on the Rio Coca. Reconnaissance of the site was completed the week of 21 February 2022; parts of the river system were viewed to determine if improvements could be made to the current grade control structure (GCS) mitigation plan for reducing channel erosion and stabilizing the river system downstream of the Coca Coda Sinclair (CCS) Dam. The Rio Coca is a tributary to the Amazon River system in South America. It originates on the east side of the Andes Mountains and generally flows from southwest to northeast through the project area and then turns and flows east into the Amazon basin (Figure 1).* The Rio Coca valley is a current example of how damaging regressive erosion can be to a fluvial system (Figure 2).

  • Assessing Differences in the Wetland Functional Capacity of Wet Pine Flatwood Compensatory Mitigation Sites Managed with Prescribed Fire and Mechanical Mowing

    Abstract: This report assesses the functional capacity of wet pine flatwood wetland habitats in the Gulf Coastal region of the United States, with a specific focus on compensatory mitigation sites maintained using mowing or prescribed fire, or both, as understory management strategies. The use of mowing in lieu of prescribed fire treatments has been proposed for a variety of reasons, including when mitigation sites are located near residential areas or where fires pose a risk to private property and public safety. This study evaluates the effects of mechanized mowing on ecosystem functions by using the hydrogeomorphic (HGM) wetland functional-assessment method to compare mitigation sites managed by mowing to sites managed by prescribed-fire regimes. Assessing mowing as a vegetation-control strategy in lieu of prescribed-fire regimes provides valuable information that can improve the design and management of wet pine flatwoods mitigation sites throughout portions of the southeastern United States, where this wetland class occurs.

  • RISC TAMER Framework: Resilient Installation Support Against Compound Threats Analysis and Mitigation for Equipment and Resources Framework

    Every day, decision-makers must allocate resources based on the best available information at the time. Military installations face a variety of threats which challenge sustained functionality of their supporting and supported deployable systems. Considering the compounding and interdependent impacts of the threats, both specified (what is known) and unspecified (what is not known) and the investments needed to address these threats adds value to the decision-making process. Current risk management practices are generally evaluated via scenario analyses that do not consider compound threats, resulting in limited risk management solutions. Current practices also challenge the ability of decision-makers to increase resilience against such threats. The Resilient Installation Support against Compound Threats Analysis and Mitigation for Equipment and Resources (RISC TAMER) Framework establishes a decision support structure to identify and categorize system components, compound threats and risks, and system relationships to provide decision-makers with more complete and comprehensive information from which to base resilience-related decisions, for prevention and response. This paper focuses on the development process for RISC TAMER framework to optimize resilience enhancements for a wide variety of deployable systems in order to implement resilience strategies to protect assets, to increase adaptability, and to support power projection and global operations.