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  • July

    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.
  • Dr. Emily Allen, dean of the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology, California State University, Los Angeles, and Col. Kirk Gibbs, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, sign a partnering agreement July 5 in Los Angeles, California, to foster collaboration in a relationship that stresses the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics as officials from the university and the Corps look on. The agreement also provides a road map to employment with the Corps through various programs, including the Pathways internship program.

    Corps, Cal State LA agree to partner for STEM education and careers

    The U.S Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District signed a partnering agreement with the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology at California State University, Los Angeles July 5. The agreement promises to enhance opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, or STEM, education and career paths.

  • 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.
  • Travis Bone (right), archeologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District speaks with a delegation from the Colorado River Indian Tribes May 31. The Corps hosted scoping meetings to solicit stakeholder and public comment on changes to the Alamo Dam Water Control Plan.

    Corps hosts scoping meeting for proposed update to water control plan

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District hosted scoping meetings on May 31 to solicit stakeholder and public comment on changes to the Alamo Dam Water Control Plan.

  • May

    Maj. Scotty Autin, deputy district commander for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District and Lt. Col. Peter Stambersky, Los Angeles District contracting officergroup of LA D joined district team members and their families assembled for the two-mile parade route May 19 as participants in the 59th annual City of Torrance Armed Forces Day parade.

    District participates in the City of Torrance Armed Forces Day parade

    The City of Torrance honored the five branches of the military during the Torrance Armed Forces Day Celebration May 18 to 20. This year the honored service was the United States Marine Corps.
  • 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.
  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District inducted two retired employees into its Gallery of Distinguished Civilian Employees in a ceremony May 15 at the District headquarters in Los Angeles. Former Executive Assistant Patsy Delgado and former Executive Secretary Jeanne Imamura were this year’s inductees. The induction was in conjunction with the District's annual Retiree Recognition Day. More than three dozen retirees participated in the day's activities, which included a breakfast social, commander's update and catered lunch.

    District inducts two into distinguished employee cadre

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District inducted two former employees into its Gallery of Distinguished Civilian Employees in a ceremony May 15 at the District headquarters. The two retirees had a combined total of 96 years of federal service, all with the Los Angeles District.
  • 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.

  • March

    Supervisory Biologist Sallie Diebolt, Arizona-Nevada Area Office, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, explains the Corps Regulatory Program to a prospective contractor at the Business Opportunities Open House March 22 at GateWay Community College in Phoenix, Arizona. More than 150 business representatives attended the event to learn of the Corps' business lines and upcoming contracting opportunities.

    Corps opens house for business opportunities

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District hosted its annual Business Opportunities Open House March 22 at GateWay Community College in Phoenix, Arizona. More than 150 business representatives attended the event to learn of the Corps' business lines and upcoming contracting opportunities.

  • 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.

  • January

    Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, discusses the national perspective of the Corps’ civil works program, among other topics, during the Jan. 18 California Marine Affairs and Navigation Conference in San Pedro, California.

    Chief of engineers speaks at conference, advocates for change, innovation

    SAN PEDRO, California – During a recent trip to California, Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, told stakeholders he envisions the Corps as “champions for change.”
  • From left to right, Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, commanding general of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; Col. Kirk Gibbs, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District; Gary Lee Moore, Los Angeles city engineer; and Carol Armstrong, executive officer to the Los Angeles Deputy Mayor of City Services, pose for a picture Jan. 19 after Corps of Engineers leaders presented a signed design agreement with the city to move forward with the Los Angeles River Ecosystem Restoration project.

    Corps signs design agreement with city for LA River Ecosystem Restoration project

    LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District signed a design agreement to move forward with the LA River Ecosystem Restoration project at a recent meeting with city officials.
  • Tom Fayram, deputy public works director for Santa Barbara County, briefs Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite (center), commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, at the Montecito debris basin in Montecito, California, Jan. 18 during a visit to the site of a deadly mudslide. The Corps, as assigned by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is removing more than 450,000 cubic yards of debris from 11 basins and 10 channels in areas of Santa Barbara, California, hit hard by the disaster that left 18 people dead.

    USACE commanding general views emergency response to Santa Barbara mudslides

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commanding general was in California Jan. 18 to visit the site of a deadly mudslide. Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite toured areas of Santa Barbara hit hard by the disaster that left 18 people dead and three missing.

  • December

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District Tribal Liaison Quana Higgins (speaking) briefs current partnering initiatives between the Navajo Nation and the Corps, and explained the importance of the partnership started under the watershed study. The Tribal Partnership Program authorizes the Corps, in cooperation with tribes and other federal agencies, to complete watershed assessments or determine the feasibility of projects that will substantially benefit Indian tribes.

    Landmark agreement to move watershed study forward

    Under the Tribal Partnership Program, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in cooperation with tribes and other federal agencies, can complete watershed assessments or determine the feasibility of projects that will substantially benefit Indian tribes.

  • November

    Puerto Rico Business Emergency Operations Center participants meet Nov. 13 at the Sheraton Hotel in Isla Grande section of San Juan, Puerto Rico, to develop plans to help local businesses participate in recovery-related contracting opportunities. The group, with local input, coordinates efforts to anticipate and eliminate barriers to getting Puerto Rico back in business.

    FEMA, local businesses partner for Hurricane Maria recovery

    After Hurricane Maria devastated vast portions of Puerto Rico, businesses and industry in local communities began coordinating with the government of Puerto Rico, FEMA and other federal agencies to fast-track efforts to revitalize and stimulate commerce on the island. The FEMA-Puerto Rico Business Emergency Operations Center is a critical cog in that effort.
  • Ed Flores, a disability employment consultant with the California Department of Rehabilitation, speaks to the Los Angeles District Oct. 24 at the downtown Los Angeles headquarters in observance of National Disability Employment Awareness Month. His presentation sought to eliminate the stigma associated with disability.

    District observes disability employment awareness month

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District observed National Disability Employment Awareness Month Oct. 24 at the district's headquarters in downtown Los Angeles.

  • October

    Maj. Gen. Michael Wehr, deputy commanding general for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, presents Great Minds in STEM awards to (from left) Juan Dominguez, Mayra Flores and Carlos Gonzalez at the 29th annual Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation conference Oct. 18 to 22 in Pasadena, California.

    HENAAC honors Corps employees at national conference

    Great Minds in STEM has a long tradition of honoring civilian and uniformed military personnel in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. During the 29th annual Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation conference Oct. 18 to 22 here, three U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees received recognition for their outstanding performance in support of that program.
  • College engineering students pose for a picture during the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference College Bowl Oct. 20 in Pasadena, Calif. Great Minds in STEM's annual HENAAC Conference is the organization's flagship event to celebrate Hispanic excellence in STEM. This year's conference was hosted Oct. 18 to 22 in Pasadena.

    HENAAC conference gives Hispanic students hope toward future careers in STEM

    Tyler Miller, a student at the University of California-Merced, hopes the future generation will grow up and not have to worry about air and water pollution.