• U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center Board of Directors visits Nashville District projects

    The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Board of Directors visited the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on Sept. 16 to tour key projects, including the Kentucky Lock Addition construction project and the Barkley Power Plant and Dam. The visit aimed to explore opportunities for innovation and collaboration.
  • USACE Vicksburg District announces new Resource Management Chief

    VICKSBURG, Miss. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Vicksburg District has selected Cheryl Boyd as chief of the Resource Management Division. The Resource Management Division is responsible for all district level financial management activities and offers professional financial advice, guidance, and policy interpretations while ensuring the implementation of procedural controls, processing of reports and meticulous review of delegated fiscal responsibilities. Resource Management encompasses key branches: Finance and Accounting Branch and Budget, Manpower, and Management Branch.
  • State and federal partners encourage public to attend Jefferson City spin-off study public meeting

    Officials will hold a public meeting for the Lower Missouri River Jefferson City spin-off study on September 26, 2024, in Jefferson City, Missouri. The meeting, which will be held by the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, will present all study information up to this point and make sure all stakeholders know the information available regarding what alternatives have federal interest, and what the schedule looks like for the study going forward.
  • Public information meeting to be held for Surf City draft report

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Wilmington District, will host a public information meeting for the recently published draft General Reevaluation Report (GRR) and Environmental Assessment (EA) for the Surf City Coastal Storm Risk Management (CSRM) project, on September 24th at 6 PM at the Surf City Municipal Center (214 W. Florence Way, Hampstead NC 28433).
  • ERDC earns high scores on annual student survey

    This summer, ERDC hosted a record-breaking number of interns at its seven laboratories—544 of them to be exact. Ninety-five percent of the students, interns, and fellows who worked at the organization during Fiscal Year 2024 agreed in an annual student survey that ERDC’s work activities provided a positive learning experience.
  • Army Civil Works announces invitations to apply for dam safety loans; $2 billion in potential federal financing for California

    WASHINGTON (Sept. 13, 2024) – The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today announced the first set of proposals being invited to apply for loans under the new Corps Water Infrastructure Financing Program (CWIFP). Eight of the invited applicants are in California and the financing associated with these applications could result in dam safety work on 37 dams throughout the state.
  • IWR Seeking GS-14 Program Manager

    IWR is looking for a motivated team player to fill a term assignment as a GS-14 Program Manager,
  • Pacific Lamprey returns disappointing as compared to 2023, new structures offer hope

    After a prolific 2023, adult Pacific Lamprey returns are looking disappointing this year. So far, fish counters estimate only 22,021 (as of Sept. 14) lamprey have passed through Bonneville Lock and Dam’s fish ladders during daytime hours on their way upstream to spawn. Last year’s daytime fish ladder count was 63,937, which Northwestern Division touted in a news release, as it was much higher than the 10-year average.
  • Updated hunting regulations in effect at Kansas lakes

    To align with Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks public lands hunting regulations, an updated policy restricting certain hunting practices is in effect at Kansas lakes.
  • Human Well-Being and Natural Infrastructure: Assessing Opportunities for Equitable Project Planning and Implementation

    Abstract: There is consensus within psychological, physiological, medical, and social science disciplines that active and passive exposure to nature enhances human well-being. Natural infrastructure (NI) includes elements of nature that can deliver these ancillary well-being benefits while serving their infrastructure-related purposes and, as such, offer great promise for agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a means of enhancing economic, environmental, and societal benefits in civil works projects. Yet, to date, NI are typically framed as alternatives to conventional infrastructure but are rarely competitive for project selection because there is no standardized approach to demonstrate their value or justify their cost. The infrastructure projects subsequently selected may not maximize societal well-being or distribute benefits equitably. A framework is needed to capture diverse and holistic benefits of NI. As part of ongoing research, this paper describes the components necessary to construct a framework for well-being benefits accounting and equitable distribution of NI projects and explores how they might be applied within a framework. We conclude with methodological examples of well-being accounting tools for NI that are based on ongoing research and development associated with this project. The findings provide insights and support for both the Engineering with Nature community and the community of NI practitioners at large.