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  • February

    Marvel Comic cosplayers pose for pictures on the Red Carpet prior to the start of “Excelsior! A Celebration of the Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible and Uncanny Life of Stan Lee” Jan. 30 at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California. The event was a memorial tribute to Stan Lee, Marvel comic book writer, editor, publisher and co-creator, who died in November 2018. Lee was an Army veteran and former writer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during World War II.

    Military members pay tribute to Marvel comic book legend, Army veteran during Hollywood ceremony

    As a child, Maj. Scotty Autin loved reading Marvel comic books. One of his favorite characters was Gambit, a fictional quick-handed, card-playing thief from New Orleans. “Considering I’m from Louisiana, I was always drawn to Gambit,” said Autin, deputy commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District. “I read all the comics that featured him and watched the X-Men animated series just to see him. I remember as a 10-year-old, I would practice throwing playing cards just to be like him.” So when Autin was invited to participate in “Excelsior! A Celebration of the Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible and Uncanny Life of Stan Lee” Jan. 30 at The Creative Life, or TCL, Chinese Theatre, formerly known as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, in Hollywood, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
  • Adam Bier, senior hydraulic engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, briefs county flood control directors about 408 permitting during the Seven County Flood Control Directors meeting Jan. 31 at the Corps’ LA District headquarters in downtown LA.

    Corps, counties meet to collaborate on flood-risk management, share best practices

    Directors from flood-risk management agencies representing seven Southern California counties met for the Seven County Flood Control Directors meeting Jan. 31 at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District headquarters in downtown LA. The purpose of the meeting was to provide the Corps’ partners with the latest information about flood-risk management programs and operations, including emergency assistance procedures, regulatory programs and permitting, as well as address matters of concern and interest from each respective county.

  • January

    Maj. Gen. Scott Spellmon, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers deputy commanding general for Civil and Emergency Operations, right, and Brig. Gen. Kim Colloton, South Pacific Division commander, second from right, receive a briefing about the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach during a Jan. 10 boat tour around the ports.

    Senior Corps’ official tours civil works projects in the Golden State

    A senior U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official got a firsthand glimpse of flood risk management and other civil works projects in Southern California during a recent trip to the Golden State.

  • November

    Col. Aaron Reisinger, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chicago District, speaks to community members during a public meeting about the Westminster/East Garden Grove Flood Risk Management Study, as Col. Aaron Barta, the Corps' Los Angeles District commander, looks on Nov. 7 in Westminster, California.

    Corps partners with Orange County on study to reduce flood risk, receive public input

    Close to a half million people within the Westminster watershed could be affected by flood risk. That is the number one reason the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chicago and Los Angeles districts, in partnership with Orange County Public Works, are collaborating on the Westminster/East Garden Grove Flood Risk Management Study – a proposed project they hope will reduce that risk.
  • Representatives with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District meet with potential business partners during the District’s annual Business Opportunities Open House Nov. 13 at the District’s Headquarters building in downtown Los Angeles. More than 125 business representatives attended the event, seeking opportunities to do work for the Corps.

    Corps hosts open house for potential business partners, contractors

    About 125 business representatives from across the state and beyond attended the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s Business Opportunities Open House Nov. 13 in downtown LA. The semi-annual event allows companies to introduce their capabilities to more than two dozen Corps’ staffers and to learn about potential work along the Corps' business lines.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District Employees and military members listen as Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, talks about talent management, delivering the program and revolutionizing the Corps during a town hall meeting Oct. 18 at the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference in Pasadena, California.

    Semonite talks talent management, delivering program with employees during HENAAC

    The commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spoke to about 50 employees and military members Oct. 18 during the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference, or HENAAC, in Pasadena.

  • October

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District employees pose for a picture after receiving Year-End Hero awards during the LA District’s End-of-the-Year celebration Oct. 3 at the District’s headquarters office in downtown Los Angeles. The annual event acknowledges employee achievements leading up to the Sept. 30 end-of-the-fiscal-year deadline.

    Corps’ Los Angeles District celebrates end of fiscal year with more than $556M in contract awards

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District awarded about 750 contracts worth more than $556 million in fiscal year 2018. Employees were honored for those achievements during an End-of-the-Year celebration Oct. 3 at the District’s headquarters office in downtown Los Angeles. The District’s area offices in California and Arizona joined the event via video teleconference.

  • September

    A volunteer hauls in trash from the Santa Ana River Marsh Sept. 15 at Newport Beach, California. The event was part of California Coastal Cleanup Day.

    Corps hosts cleanup event at Santa Ana River Marsh

    With a navy pink- and- blue-flowered baseball cap pulled over her forehead, purple boots and a plastic grabbing tool in hand, 4-year-old Amelia Jones set off down the marsh’s dirt road. Her parents, Erin and Chris, both biologists, and her uncle, Andrew Hardison, were not far behind. As Amelia scoured the ground for trash, Erin, who works for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, pointed to a plastic water bottle hidden in the brush. Amelia seemed pleased with her find, as she picked up the bottle with her grabber and dropped it into her lime-green bucket.

  • Commander reflects on time as member of 9/11 search-and-rescue team

    The inside of the building was dark, smoky, damp and hot. It was still smoldering from the fires that raged within it just hours before, when Col. Aaron Barta, then a captain and commander of the Military District of Washington Engineer Company, and his team stepped into the battered Pentagon Sept. 11, 2001.
  • Robert Klein, project manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, center, discusses the Corps’ San Diego Veterans Affairs project with Col. Aaron Barta, LA District commander, right, while Shaun Frost, area engineer with the Construction Division, Southern California Area Office, LA District, left, looks on during an Aug. 29 site visit to the hospital in San Diego, California.

    LA District commander tours San Diego, Riverside project sites

    As the new commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, Col. Aaron Barta understands the importance of visiting project sites firsthand. “Seeing project sites myself and talking to our team members makes it much easier for me to clearly advocate for the Los Angeles District,” he said.

  • August

    Gary Lee Moore, Los Angeles city engineer, second from left, talks to students and instructors with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Planning Associates Program about plans for ecosystem restoration along the Los Angeles River during the group's July 25 bus tour of Los Angeles County watersheds.

    Planning Associates group learns about California watersheds

    Seven members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Planning Associates program traveled to Los Angeles July 23 to 27 to learn about water resource planning. The program develops emerging leaders in the planning community of practice. In its second year at the South Pacific Division, the Integrated Water Resources Management-Watershed course is an advanced training opportunity in water resources planning. The goal of the program is to broaden planners’ competencies in solving complex water resource challenges and to strengthen their leadership talents.

  • July

    Col. Aaron Barta, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District commander, speaks to the audience after becoming the 62nd District commander during a July 19 Change of Command ceremony at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California.

    New LA District commander brings broad range of experience to position

    As Col. Aaron Barta begins to settle into his new position as the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, he considers himself lucky. “Coming to the Los Angeles District is a dream come true, both professionally and personally,” he said. “I am proud to pass on that every leader I've encountered (has told me) I am walking into a world-class organization filled with the Corps’ best.”
  • Col. Aaron Barta, incoming U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District commander, speaks during a July 19 change of command ceremony at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California.

    Barta becomes 62nd LA District commander

    After three years as the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, Col. Kirk Gibbs relinquished duties to Col. Aaron Barta during a July 19 change of command ceremony. Barta, a native of Texas, became the 62nd commander of the LA District, during the event at Fort MacArthur’s Community Center in San Pedro.
  • Col. Kirk Gibbs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles commander, presents Barron Arakawa, Emergency Management specialist, with a commander’s coin for his participation in Bring a Child to Work Day April 26 at the District headquarters.

    Gibbs reflects on time as leader of the Corps’ Los Angeles District

    If there is any advice Col. Kirk Gibbs can give to his successor, it is this: Lead with honor and humility. As Gibbs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s 61st commander, prepares to relinquish command of the LA District July 19 to Col. Aaron Barta, he offered up some advice and reflected on the past three years as the leader of one of the largest Corps districts in the country.

  • June

    Joe Goldstein, Dam Safety program manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, center, works with representatives from Los Angeles County on how the team would respond during a flood-risk tabletop exercise June 21 at the LA County Department of Public Works.

    Corps of Engineers, LA County, state join forces for flood-risk exercise

    El Nino has returned with a vengeance. Over the last week, back-to-back storm systems have hit southern California. The National Weather Service is predicting a third storm in the area, describing it as the “biggest storm of the season.” The already saturated conditions, along with the additional forecasted rainfall, indicate Los Angeles River channels will be flowing at full capacity and may overtop.

  • May

    Eileen Takata, landscape architect, lead water resources planner and public involvement specialist with the LA District’s Planning Division, right, and her son, Seth, left, prepare a native plant during a community tree-planting event May 12 in Norco.

    Community rallies around Corps’ ecosystem restoration project in Norco

    About 120 volunteers came together to help restore an area around the Santa Ana River to its natural habitat. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, along with its contractor, UltraSystems Environmental, partnered with the City of Norco to host a restoration-planting event May 12 on more than one acre of the Corps’ land near the Santa Ana River. About 520 plants and 200 plant cuttings, including California buckwheat, Chemise, Mexican elderberry and arroyo willow were planted.
  • Ed De Mesa, chief of the Planning Division for the LA District, talks about growing up as a child in the Philippines, immigrating to the U.S. as a young adult and joining the U.S. Air Force during the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s Asian American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month Observance May 22 at the District headquarters in downtown LA.

    LA District planning chief, former immigrant grateful for opportunities

    One thing that life has taught Ed De Mesa from growing up with 11 siblings in the Philippines to immigrating to the U.S. as a young adult is servitude with gratitude.
  • Maj. Scotty Autin, deputy commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, briefs the media about the Corps’ Santa Barbara Debris Removal Mission May 11 in Ventura, California. Autin was one of several speakers who gave an update about the debris removal efforts in southern California, following the Thomas Wildfire in December and the Jan. 9 mudslide in Montecito, California.

    Corps of Engineers completes debris removal from Santa Barbara basins following devastating mudslide

    It was a dark, cold night in February in Santa Barbara County – in the low 30s – and freezing outside, as far as Mary Carmona was concerned. As she worked alongside a contractor during a 12-hour night shift at the Cold Springs Creek Basin in Montecito, she pondered why she was there. She missed her family and just wanted to go home and sleep in the comfort of her own bed. But going home wasn’t an option for Carmona – at least not for the next 20-some days, as she and about 60 other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees set up temporary residence in the county to help clear vehicle-sized boulders, several feet of mud, trees and other debris from the community’s basins. It was a daunting task in less-than-ideal conditions, but these weren’t even less than ideal; they were catastrophic.

  • April

    Keith Kelson, engineering geologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District, provides an example to other U.S. Army Corps of Engineers geologists of how clues from pre-historic and historic floods can help predict future flooding events during an exercise March 15 at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area near Las Vegas.

    Geologists learn studying past holds keys to future during visit to Red Rock Canyon

    Spread out across more than 195,000 acres of the Mojave Desert, Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is a geologist’s playground. With its picturesque canyons displaying an array of colors, rock formations and unique features molded over more than 600 million years, to preserved archeological discoveries, like pictographs and petroglyphs etched and drawn on canyon walls from cultures long ago, the secrets Red Rock Canyon holds can tell scientists a story that may save lives in the future.

  • February

    A high school student at John Muir High School in Pasadena, California, tries on a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hardhat during the school’s Engineering and Environmental Science Academy School Exploration Showcase Feb. 14 in Pasadena.

    Corps’ representatives spread love of engineering to Pasadena high school students on Valentine’s Day

    Some people spread their love on Valentine’s Day with cards, flowers and candy. Three representatives with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District spread a different kind of love Feb. 14 – a love of engineering.