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  • Juvenile salmon benefit from spring spill

    In April, the Northwestern Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started spilling water on the Snake and Columbia rivers to help juvenile salmon migrate downstream. We met up with Julie Ammann, Reservoir Control Center chief at Bonneville Lock & Dam to check it out.

  • USACE and Harlan County Lake conduct community emergency preparedness exercise

    A tabletop exercise was conducted in Superior, Nebraska, on April 12, 2023, by local emergency management agencies for Harlan County Lake in conjunction with the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The purpose of the exercise was to showcase the joint emergency preparedness between local communities around Harlan County Dam and USACE. In attendance at the tabletop exercise were representatives from the City of Superior, Nebraska, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the Superior Volunteer Rescue Squad, Jewell County Emergency Management, Superior Fire Department, the National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Nuckolls County Emergency Management and the Jewell County Sheriff’s Office.

  • Rock protection project begins on portions of the Harlan County Dam

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District has begun construction on a project placing a rock, also called riprap, overlay on portions of the upstream side of Harlan County Dam, near Republican City, Nebraska. This project will protect the dam from future wind and wave erosion.

  • USACE needs more engineers for its Dam Safety Production Center

    Dams are often synonymous with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Responsible for more than 740 dams across the nation, USACE and its Dam Safety Program is responsible ensuring these structures provide many significant benefits to the nation while also reducing risks to people, property, and the environment. Central to this effort in the Southwestern Division are the engineers working for the Dam Safety Production Center.

  • Frigid temps increase power demand while Army dams balance needs

    With frigid temperatures and near record-setting snow accumulation in some areas of the Pacific Northwest, Army dams responded by producing power to keep the lights and heat on. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has 21 dams in the Columbia and Willamette river basins that ramp up power production to keep the grid stable during high demands.

  • Corps to release draft Mojave River Dam Master Plan revision for public comments

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District will release the draft Mojave River Dam Master Plan revision on Jan. 27. The public is invited to view the information found at the following website: https://www.spl.usace.army.mil/Missions/Operations-Division/Mojave-River-Dam/.

  • Wolf Creek Dam provides enormous flood risk management benefits

    JAMESTOWN, Ky. (Jan. 13, 2023) – When the Cumberland River Basin in southeastern Kentucky experiences storms and waters rise, Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland River provides enormous flood risk management benefits.

  • Corps extends public comment period for proposed Willamette Valley System 30-year plan

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Portland District (Corps) has extended the deadline from Jan. 19 to Feb. 23 for public feedback on its proposed 30-year plan for the operation and maintenance of 13 dams and reservoirs across the Willamette River Basin.

  • Risk-Based Prioritization of Operational Condition Assessments: Methodology and Case Study Results

    Abstract: USACE operates, maintains, and manages more than $232 billion of the Nation’s water resource infrastructure. USACE uses the Operational Condition Assessment (OCA) to allocate limited resources to assess condition of this infrastructure in efforts to minimize risks associated with performance degradation. The analysis of risk associated with flood risk management (FRM) assets includes consideration of how each asset contributes to its associated FRM watershed system, understanding the consequences of the asset’s performance degradation, and a determination of the likelihood that the asset will perform as expected given the current OCA condition ratings of critical components. This research demonstrates a proof-of-concept application of a scalable methodology to model the probability of a dam performing as expected given the state of its gates and their components. The team combines this likelihood of degradation with consequences generated by the application of designed simulation experiments with hydrological models to develop a risk measure. The resulting risk scores serve as an input for a mixed-integer optimization program that outputs the optimal set of components to conduct OCAs on to minimize risk in the watershed. This report documents the results of the application of this methodology to two case studies.

  • Rock repairs to start at Tuttle Creek Dam, portions of dam closed to public

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City District has announced an upcoming construction project to repair the rock overlay on the remaining portions of the upstream side of Tuttle Creek Dam. During 2019, portions of the existing rock overlay degraded due to the extended duration of high water and wave action. The initial phase of these repairs was completed in fall and winter 2021. Work is expected to begin on or around Nov. 1, 2022, and will require closure of public access at the east and west dam parking lots and the entire upstream face of the dam. These closures include all pedestrian access and bank fishing.