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  • March

    The USACE Technical Services Dive Team completed ROV and Dive Inspections at the Guajataca Dam in Puerto Rico from Feb. 26-28, 2017 in support of USACE Jacksonville District, repairs for FEMA to collect detailed facility conditions and measurements for upcoming repair work. Team member order in the group shot are (L-R) Andrew Hannes, Mike Draganac, Dave Bala, Shanon Chader, Weston Cross, Brian Dockstader. (Photo by Dave Mastriano, Jacksonville District)

    Ever-active USACE Buffalo District dive team inspects Guajataca Dam in Puerto Rico

    Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico in late Sept. 2017. While the majority of sustained news media coverage was concerned with power restoration, there were countless other blows to critical infrastructure resulting from the storm; the 90-year-old dam in Guajataca was one such structure.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District's Mike Snyder and Dan Bennett accompany Chris David with the Cuyahoga Valley National Park as part of a comprehensive streambank assessment of the Cuyahoga River June 7, 2017.

    USACE works with Cuyahoga Valley National Park on Cuyahoga River bank stabilization

    National Parks in the U.S. are popular tourist destinations. Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio, for example, had over 2.2 million visitors in 2017. National Parks are set aside for us to appreciate nature’s beauty, and guests who visit these areas expect to see healthy wildlife, lush vegetation and clean waters. Cuyahoga Valley National Park is within the Cuyahoga River Watershed, which drains about 809 square miles, split right down the center by the Cuyahoga River; the river is one of the park’s most important natural assets.
  • Pictured are Chris Akios (USACE), Jason Lewis (US Fish and Wildlife Service), Ron Huffman (USFWS), Tracy Colston (City of Port Clinton), Mayor Hugh Wheeler (City of Port Clinton), Mike Kelly (Ohio Environmental Protection Agency), Linda Merchant-Masonbrink (OEPA), and Angela Adkins (OEPA). In the background, the Port Clinton site featuring the dominance of Phragmites. While picturesque, this plant monoculture does not support a diversity of plants and animals. The current project aims to change that and restore the site to support a variety of native plants and animals.(Picture by Gerlyn Hinds, USACE)

    Government agencies collaborate to restore coastal wetlands in the Great Lakes

    Sometimes, when people at different levels of government put their minds together, good things happen.Take what’s going on at Port Clinton, Ohio, where the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the City of Port Clinton, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have joined together to restore 12 acres and add another 1.4 acres of coastal wetlands on Lake Erie.

  • February

    Retired former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Design Chief Joseph Foley tours the Eisenhower and Snell Navigation Locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway in Aug. 2017.

    USACE Buffalo District engineer visits his project after more than 30 years in retirement

    Retired former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Design Chief Joseph Foley tours the Eisenhower and Snell Navigation Locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway in Aug. 2017.

  • January

    Jean Brockner, a USACE, Buffalo District contractor runs the First Aid station during the Erie Canal bicentennial event held at the Buffalo District headquarters on Aug. 8, 2017.

    Life-saving skills are the calling card for USACE Buffalo District’s Jean Brockner

    Ms. Brockner’s selfless heroism is known in the Western New York community and deservedly, she’s been previously recognized for assisting others in critical need.
  • CW3 Michael Osborne teaches in the CES Intermediate Course on Jan. 22, 2017 at the Army Management Staff College in Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas.

    Civilian training alive and well in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

    When a hiring official is comparing two potential candidates with comparable education and experience, the official must look further for something that distinguishes one candidate over the other. Sometimes that distinction is that one of the candidates took a CES course.

  • December

    North view of Otter Creek from a car bridge on Sept. 14, 2016.

    The value of Value Engineering in USACE projects

    The Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act (41 U.S.C. 1121, 1711), requires each executive agency to establish and maintain cost-effective VE procedures and processes. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-131 requires Federal agencies to apply VE procedures to all new projects and programs with estimated costs of at least $5 million or such lower dollar threshold as determined by the Senior Accountable Official and identified in the agency's VE guidelines. For USACE, any project of $2 million or above must go through the VE process.
  • Public affairs specialist Dr. Michael Izard-Carroll attends Speaker Paul Ryan's press conference in San Juan, PR on Oct. 13, 2017.

    The value of training federal employees: My Puerto Rico story

    The feature story provides a personal anecdote about the specialized training a public affairs specialist received, while showing how that training was applied to a real life scenario working in Puerto Rico in response to Hurricane Maria.
  • Local service members from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, U.S. Coast Guard Sector Buffalo, Niagara Falls Air Reserves Station and the Buffalo Military Entrance Processing Station delivered holiday cards and visited with veterans of the Veterans Affairs Adult Day Health Care center, Dec. 20, 2017.

    USACE Buffalo District shows the spirit of giving this holiday season

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is a premiere engineering organization that performs a host of critical services and manages projects from maintaining dams, operating locks, dredging waterways, to restoring ecosystems. However, at this time of year, the USACE Buffalo District is focused on a different type of project—spreading joy in the community.

  • November

    USACE infrastructure assessment inspection team leader James Scungio, left, with Angel Emanuel Martinez Mateo, a student at the Benigna L. Caratini School.

    USACE IA team inspires young interpreter’s career plans

    After Hurricane Maria, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was tasked to assist with inspecting and evaluating the damage to the island’s schools. While inspecting a school in Coamo in the southern part of the island, the Infrastructure Assessment team left a lasting impression on one particular student.
  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Buffalo District Dive Team, accompanied by USACE Detroit District Hydraulic Engineers, traveled north to the St. Lawrence River and installed an Acoustic Doppler Velocity Meter (ADVM) 4-miles upstream of Morristown, New York.

    Diving in the St. Lawrence River to better understand Lake Erie and Ontario

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Buffalo District Dive Team, accompanied by USACE Detroit District Hydraulic Engineers, traveled north to the St. Lawrence River and installed an Acoustic Doppler Velocity Meter (ADVM) 4-miles upstream of Morristown, New York.
  • Photo infographic breaking down the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District programmatic success in Fiscal Year 2017 by the numbers (created by Joe Ruszala, USACE VI Specialist).

    USACE Buffalo District delivers in Fiscal Year 2017

    During Fiscal Year 2017 the USACE, Buffalo District delivered $92.3 million worth of programs, contributing to the Army Corps of Engineers mission success, while delivering on promises to District stakeholders.

  • October

    Photo illustration of a floodplain map generated by the Army Corps of Engineers Floodplain Management Services.

    USACE Buffalo District Provides Valuable Flood Management Services

    The importance of sensible floodplain management cannot be overstated, especially given the extreme damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, flash floods in 2009, and the recent slew of hurricanes that have battered the southeast United States and outlying islands.
  • Piping Plover banding crew (L to R) Mary Birdsong, shorebird monitor; Patti Barber, PGC Biologist; Stacey Wolbert, PGC Biologist; Jerry McWilliams, author and naturalist; Tim Hoppe, PGC Biologist; Cathy Haffner, PCG Biologist. Photo Credit: Tracy A. Graziano / Pennsylvania Game Commission Photo

    Piping Plover returning to Presque Isle State Park reflects power of federal and state partnerships

    Having been absent from Presque Isle State Park for over 50 years, the endangered Piping Plover has made a modest, yet significant return to the Park.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District employee Michelle Barker receives her annual flu shot, as part of the District’s annual vaccination event, October 11, 2017.

    Combating the flu with a quick shot

    It is that time of year when the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that everyone receives an annual flu shot.

  • September

    An isometric rendering of a utilidor, a large underground concrete duct that has multiple utilities inside. The concept is to keep utilities together in one structure to facilitate future operation and maintenance in an environmental climate that has frozen ground nine months of the year. The use of the utilidor provides year-round access and also minimizes the potential of frozen lines, which can occur with direct buried utilities.

    Using remote technical review collaboration to ensure successful project delivery

    In the design of engineering products, a critical component is collaboration, whether it’s at the initial design phase or the final review before the project is posted for bid.
  • USACE regulator, Douglas Kapusinski, discusses permit compliance with representatives from the Summit County Engineers office, at a bridge replacement project site.

    Will your project pass a USACE permit compliance inspection?

    When you buy a car and register it at the Department of Motor vehicles, that’s not the last thing you ever have to do with your car. In New York State, for example, vehicle owners are required to get an inspection annually. Ignoring the law and not getting an inspection can result in a fine or even lead to the owner having to turn in the license plates and take the car off the road. Similarly, obtaining a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a project is subject to follow-up compliance inspections, and permittees are expected to construct and maintain an approved project according to the terms and conditions of the permit issued.
  • Economist Steve Stalikas uses the USACE regional economic impact modeling tool called RECONS. RECONS is a regional economic impact modeling tool that was developed to provide accurate and defendable estimates of regional economic impacts associated with Corps of Engineers spending.

    Determining the return on investment of Civil Works projects: A look behind the scenes

    BUFFALO, NY—A team of economists and analysts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Institute for Water Resources, Michigan State University and the Alward Institute for Collaborative Science met with the Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District at the Buffalo District headquarters in August 2017 to review the Regional Economic System (RECONS) model, which is a program used to assess the regional, state, and national impacts of projects.

  • August

    US Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District engineer Robert Simmington measures a lot as part of a facility condition assessment on a federal property in South Korea in June 2017.

    Corps of Engineers does its part to protect federal assets domestically and abroad

    BUFFALO, NY—The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers carried out four major facility conditions assessments at U.S. military installations in South Korea in late June 2017, under an agreement with the Defense Logistics Agency in place since 2009.
  • Biologist Michael Voohees inspects one of the plants pulled up from the bottom of Cayuga Lake near Aurora, NY on July 17, 2017. The purpose of the inspection was determine the amount of proliferation of the invasive Hydrilla plant; the plants were later treated with herbicides on July 20, 2017.

    Herbicide treatment of invasive Hydrilla in Cayuga Lake completed near Aurora, NY

    BUFFALO, NY—The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District completed a scheduled herbicide treatment of the invasive Hydrilla plant in Cayuga Lake near Aurora, NY in late July 2017, having previously conducted a plant survey in the location the last week of June and again on July 17, 2017.