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  • Celebrating World Wetlands Day

    World Wetlands Day was celebrated this week with the theme ‘Call to Act’ for Wetlands. It's an appeal to invest financial, human, and political capital to save the world’s wetlands from disappearing and to restore those we have degraded. It highlights the need to raise national and global awareness about wetlands to reverse their rapid loss and encourage actions to conserve and restore them. To protect against further loss, the nation has in recent years adopted a policy of "no net loss" of wetlands. USACE, working in partnership with many other organizations, is helping to implement this policy by protecting, preserving, and restoring.

  • Antecedent Precipitation Tool (APT) Version 1.0: Technical and User Guide

    Abstract: This document provides an overview of the technical components of the Antecedent Precipitation Tool (APT) and a user guide for using the APT. The APT is an automation tool that the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) developed to facilitate the comparison of antecedent or recent precipitation conditions for a given location to the range of normal precipitation conditions that occurred during the preceding 30 yr¹. In addition to providing a standardized methodology to evaluate normal precipitation conditions (“precipitation normalcy”), the APT can assess the presence of drought conditions and the approximate dates of the wet and dry seasons for a given location.

  • Engineering With Nature®: Supporting Mission Resilience and Infrastructure Value at Department of Defense Installations

    Abstract: This book illustrates some of the current challenges and hazards experienced by military installations, and the content highlights activities at seven military installations to achieve increased resilience through natural infrastructure.

  • Expert Elicitation Workshop for Planning Wetland and Reef Natural and Nature-Based Features (NNBF) Futures

    Abstract: This special report discusses the outcomes of a September 2019 workshop intended to identify barriers to the consideration and implementation of natural and nature-based features (NNBF) in US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) civil works projects. A total of 23 participants representing seven USACE districts, the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), and the University of California–Santa Cruz met at USACE’s South Atlantic Division Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, to discuss how to facilitate the implementation of NNBF into USACE project planning for wetlands and reefs using six categories: (1) site characterization, (2) engineering and design analysis, (3) life-cycle analysis, (4) economic analysis, (5) construction analysis, (6) and operation and maintenance (and monitoring). The workshop identified seven future directions in wetland and reef NNBF research and development: • Synthesize existing literature and analysis of existing projects to better define failure modes. • Determine trigger points that lead to loss of feature function. • Identify performance factors with respect to coastal storm risk management (CSRM) performance as well as ecological performance. • Focus additional research into cobenefits of NNBF. • Quantify the economic life-cycle costs of a project. • Improve technology transfer with regards to NNBF research and topics.

  • From the Wicomico River to Deal Island

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, and several local, state and federal agencies have been partnering up to find a new placement site on the eastern shore of Maryland for material dredged from the Wicomico River. After extensive research and evaluation, USACE and partners agreed on the Deal Island Wildlife Management Area in Somerset County to hold the material and also provide beneficial long-term environmental benefits.

  • Remotely Sensed Habitat Assessment of Bottomland Hardwood and Swamp Habitat: West Shore Lake Pontchartrain Hurricane Storm Damage Risk Reduction System Potential Impact Area

    Purpose: This study used remote sensing techniques to identify and assess the current condition of bottomland hardwood (BLH) and swamp habitats within the West Shore Lake Pontchartrain (WSLP) hurricane storm-damage risk reduction system (HSDRRS) project area. This effort provides baseline knowledge of the location and quality of these habitats prior to the construction of the WSLP HSDRRS project. The resultant products will assist the USACE—New Orleans District (MVN) by informing ecosystem decision-making related to environmental assessments.

  • DOJ: Agricultural Developer Agrees to Pay Clean Water Act Fines, Mitigate Impacts to Sensitive Streams and Wetlands

    A California agricultural developer has agreed to pay a civil penalty, preserve streams and wetlands, effect mitigation, and be subject to a prohibitory injunction to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act (CWA) on property near the Sacramento River located in Tehama County, California, the Justice Department announced today.

  • Chief of Engineers signs Grand River Basin Study – on to Congress

    Lt. Gen. Scott A. Spellmon, USACE Commanding General and 55th U.S. Army Chief of Engineers, signed the Chief’s Report for the Grand River Basin Study on November 19, 2020. The signing of the report progresses the project to Congress for authorization. “I am grateful for the hard work of the entire team and for the outstanding partnership with the State of Missouri, other federal agencies, and the local communities in this area. The partnership is what made this important study successful. This is a great example of improving habitats and the environment while also increasing flood protection in an area. Ultimately, it will greatly benefit the people, the economy, the environment, and the many areas of the Grand River Basin,” said Col. Bill Hannan, commander, Kansas City District.

  • Readily Available Hydrologic Models: Pertinence to Regulatory Application

    Purpose: Water is the driving force of wetlands. Hydroperiod represents both the frequency and duration of inundation or soil saturation whether it is from flooding or ponding. The formation of hydric soils and an expression of hydrophytic vegetation are evidence of the hydroperiod, which can be described along a gradient of hydrologic conditions (Figure 1). Hydrologic modeling provides a means to establish wetland hydroperiod, including current wetland hydrologic conditions and forecasting future conditions in response to future with and without wetland impacts or restoration actions. Today, fast computer processing and hydrologic models allow the user to make a large number of computations very rapidly on potentially large volumes of data. Currently, there is a myriad of hydrologic models available that offer an array of applications. For regulatory application, accurate determination of wetland hydrology is paramount to the following: - Confirm wetland hydrologic criteria in accordance to the US Army Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual (1987 Manual) and Regional Supplements. - Establish frequency and duration (hydroperiod) of wetland ponding and flooding. - Conduct wetland functional assessments including identification of predominant water source(s). - Estimate wetland impacts from regulated activities. - Determine ecological lift in response to restoration actions (compensatory mitigation). - Establish performance standards and success criteria for compensatory mitigation. - Facilitate development of a monitoring and adaptive management plan. The objective of this report is to provide a treatise of hydrologic models that offer specific application to establish wetland hydrology for existing and future conditions in response to regulated activities and restoration actions. The emphasis is on the suitability of existing hydrologic models to hydrogeomorphic (HGM) wetland classes. HGM subclasses are not addressed in this technical note. For more details on HGM classification, see Brinson (1993).

  • Army Corps of Engineers seeks public comments on proposal to renew and revise nationwide permits

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced today it is seeking comments on its proposal to renew and revise 52 nationwide permits for work in wetlands and other waters that are regulated by Section 404 of the Clean Water Act and/or Section 10 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. In addition, USACE is proposing to issue five new nationwide permits that pertain to authorizing seaweed mariculture activities, finfish mariculture activities, electric utility line and telecommunications activities, utility line activities for water and other substances, and water reclamation and reuse facilities.