• Vegetation control to begin on Missouri River sandbars between Yankton and Vermillion, S.D.

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct vegetation management activities during the month of September on sandbars in the Missouri River between Yankton and Vermillion, S.D., the upper portion of Lewis and Clark Lake near Springfield S.D. and Niobrara, N.E., and as far upstream as Pickstown, S.D. to keep the sandbars free of vegetation and usable by the threatened Piping Plover for nesting as well as to control invasive common reed that has become prevalent in the lake area.
  • USACE to host public review of the B. A. Steinhagen/Town Bluff Dam Master Plan revision

    Fort Worth District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials announce today a public meeting on August 29 at 4-6 p.m. at the Jasper County Annex, 271 East Lamar, Jasper, Texas 75951 to provide information and receive public input as it revises the Master Plan for B. A. Steinhagen Lake. At the conclusion of the presentation there will be an opportunity for the public to view maps, ask questions, and provide comments about the proposed draft Master Plan.
  • Truman and Stockton Dams produce hydropower for region: Celebrate National Hydropower Day

    With the National Hydropower Association declaring August 24, 2023, as National Hydropower Day, the Kansas City District wants to celebrate our hydropower plants at Harry S. Truman Lake and Stockton Lake in central Missouri. The NHA theme for this year: hydropower is the key. What does that mean? Well, hydropower is key to cleaner communities. Hydropower production does not add to greenhouse gasses that contribute to higher temperatures on earth. Water runs through turbines in the dam and produces energy by turning the turbines with assistance from gravity.
  • Corps begins construction on Upper Pool 4 project near Bay City, Wisconsin

    ST. PAUL, Minn. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, and its contractor, LS Marine, Inc., of Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota, have begun construction on the Upper Pool 4 habitat restoration project, near Bay City, Wisconsin.
  • Houston Ship Channel Numerical Model Update and Validation

    Abstract: The Houston Ship Channel (HSC) is one of the busiest deep-draft navigation channels in the United States and must be able to accommodate increasing vessel sizes. The US Army Corps of Engineers, Galveston District (SWG), requested the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory, update and revalidate a previously developed three-dimensional Adaptive Hydraulics (AdH) hydrodynamic and sediment model of the HSC, Galveston, and Trinity Bays. The model is necessary for analyzing potential impacts on salinity, sediment, and hydrodynamics due to alternatives designed to reduce shoaling in the HSC. SWG requested an updated validation of the previously developed AdH model of this area to calendar years 2010 and 2017, utilizing newly collected sediment data. Updated model inputs were supplied for riverine suspended sediment loads as well as for the ocean tidal boundary condition. The updated model shows good agreement to field data in most conditions but also indicates potential issues with freshwater flow inputs as well as the ocean salinity boundary condition.
  • 3D Measurements of Water Surface Elevation Using a Flash Lidar Camera

    Abstract: This Coastal and Hydraulics Engineering technical note (CHETN) presents preliminary results from a series of tests conducted at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory (CHL), Field Research Facility (FRF), in Duck, North Carolina, to explore the capabilities and limitations of the GSFL16K Flash Lidar Camera in nearshore science and engineering applications. The document summarizes the spatial coverage and density of data collected in three deployment scenarios and with a range of tuning parameters and provides guidance for future deployments and data-collection efforts.
  • Measuring Maritime Connectivity to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Using Automatic Identification System (AIS) Data

    Abstract: The purpose of this Coastal and Hydraulics Engineering technical note (CHETN) is to summarize a portion of recently published work (Young, Kress, et al. 2022) that used archival Automatic Identification System (AIS) data to measure the commercial vessel traffic connected to Puerto Rican and US Virgin Island (USVI) port areas from January 2015 to June 2020. Vessel movement derived from AIS was aggregated to construct a network that measured the port-to-port connectivity for all ports in the network and the interconnectivity of traffic between those ports. AIS data provided a description of vessel movement and the identification of specific vessel classes. Metrics such as interconnectedness can be used in conjunction with standard US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) metrics describing waterway utilization, which traditionally have included total tonnage and specific commodity tonnage. The ability to consider the self-selected vessel-type broadcast via AIS, as well as dominant commodity type and tonnage reported through statistical publications, provides a fuller and more accurate description of waterway capacity utilization. This knowledge, along with port-to-port interconnectedness, reveals potential redundancies between ports, robustness across supply chains, and the impacts of seasonality, thereby allowing the USACE to expand its understanding of maritime supply-chain resilience.
  • Geomorphic Metrics Used in FluvialGeomorph

    Abstract: FluvialGeomorph (FG) is a geographic information system-based geomorphic analysis toolkit that analyzes high-resolution terrain data to provide river-reach assessments for watershed studies. This report demonstrates the utility of FG to identify physical stream channel characteristics that are used to determine channel stability. The FG toolbox is a remote-sensing approach based on lidar data, designed to measure channel, floodplain, valley, and watershed metrics necessary for watershed assessments. Currently, channel slope and cross-sectional analysis and planform metrics are being evaluated with existing lidar data from different hydrophysiographic regions within the United States. Recent study areas include the Northwest, Southwest, South, Midwest, and upper Midwest of the United States.
  • Portland District's Garrett Hall selected for ERDC University

    Researchers from 10 U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Districts have been selected for the 2023 session of the Engineer Research and Development Center University (ERDC-U). Garrett Hall, senior mechanical engineer with the Portland District’s Dalles Lock and Dam, has been chosen as a participant for this developmental program.
  • Final Feasibility Report and Integrated Environmental Assessment for Lower Brule North (NE Shoreline) Ecosystem Restoration, Lyman County, South Dakota Available

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District (Corps) has conducted an environmental analysis in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended. The final Integrated Feasibility Report and Environmental Assessment (IFR/EA) dated July 2022 for the Lower Brule North Ecosystem Restoration Project addresses ecosystem restoration and cultural and natural resource preservation opportunities in Lyman County, South Dakota adjacent to and north of the town of Lower Brule. The study and assessment were conducted under the Tribal Partnership Program (TPP). The resulting report proposes a Recommended Plan that will restore critical riparian and wetland habitats to be implemented as two separable projects under Section 203 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2000 (WRDA 2000), as amended (33 U.S.C. § 2269).