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  • December

    1st Lt. Luke Ritz (center), a project engineer at the District’s Fort Huachuca Resident Office, ensures that the concrete for the new apron at Libby Army Airfield meets stringent design specifications. Ritz and Harold Colby (right), a construction representative from the Tucson Resident Office, oversee several tests that confirm the concrete will properly cure for maximum strength and durability.

    LAAF south ramp project underway

    During construction on Libby Army Airfield's new south ramp Dec. 18, 1st Lt. Luke Ritz, a project engineer at the Los Angeles District's Resident Office here, and Harold Colby, a construction representative from the Tucson Resident Office, supervise testing of random batches of concrete to ensure that it meets stringent design specifications.
  • Troy Morris (center), project manager, briefs Col. Kirk Gibbs, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, Dec. 7. Morris guided Gibbs and Shari Brandt, resident engineer for the Tucson Resident Office, through the newly completed 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group hangar, a 76,746-square-foot facility that features a two-story administration section housing a technical order library, records storage, tool cribs, equipment storage and an observation deck overlooking the hangar floor.

    New hangar unveiled at Davis-Monthan

    Col. Kirk Gibbs, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District joined Brig. Gen. Steven J. Bleymaier, commander, Ogden Air Logistics Complex, Hill Air Force Base, Utah, and Tim Gray, deputy director, 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group, to cut the ribbon officially opening the 309 AMARG hangar at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson Dec. 7.

  • November

    Rob Crist (left), resident engineer at Luke Air Force Base, briefs Los Angeles District Commander Col. Kirk Gibbs Nov. 19. Crist updated Gibbs on the status of aviation maintenance unit facilities built in support of the F-35 beddown at Luke.

    District commander visits regional office

    Col. Kirk Gibbs, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, toured Arizona-Nevada Area Office projects Nov. 19-20. His first visit since assuming command in July, Gibbs met stakeholders, spoke with employees, presented awards, and viewed key projects.
  • Dam Operations Supervisor Louis Munoz talks to area high school students about the operation of Hansen Dam, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District flood risk reduction project located in the San Fernando Valley, during a tour of the basin Nov. 19.

    Area students visit Hansen Dam

    On Nov. 19, resident experts, U.S. Army recruiters and Los Angeles District’s engineering interns showed local high school students Hansen Dam’s part in keeping the City of Los Angeles and surrounding areas from becoming a flood zone.
  • Water resources managers from seven Southern California counties met Nov. 12 at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District Headquarters to discuss and prepare for flood risk reduction activities, water conservation and other structural and operational issues in advance of the anticipated El Nino.

    Water managers prepare for El Nino

    Directors from water resource agencies representing seven Southern California counties met with the commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District here Nov. 12 to discuss preparations for the anticipated El Nino winter and other issues of common interest.
  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles district sent a four-person team of engineering professionals to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin to assess damages to the installation after flash floods from a storm hit the post Oct. 5.

    Corps sends team to Fort Irwin to assess recent storm damage

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles district sent a four-person team of engineering professionals to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin to assess damages to the installation after flash floods from a storm hit the post Oct. 5.
  • Kim Gavigan, the chief of the water resources planning section for the Los Angeles District’s Arizona Area Office speaks at a public meeting in Casa Grande, Arizona on Nov. 9. Gavigan and Corps representatives spoke about a Flood Risk Management Feasibility Study for the Lower Santa Cruz River. The scoping meeting is the first step in the National Environmental Policy Act process.

    Corps and Pinal County host scoping meeting for feasibility study

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District and the Pinal County Flood Control District hosted a meeting Nov. 9 to solicit public comment on the Flood Risk Management Feasibility Study for the Lower Santa Cruz River.

  • October

    Joaquin Mujica, deputy chief of Operations Division, New Orleans District, was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award for 30 years or more of service and commitment to STEM at the 27th Annual HENAAC Conference held in Pasadena, California, Oct. 14-18.

    Corps employees honored at STEM conference

    The Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Corporation recognized three U.S. Army Corps of Engineers employees at their 27th annual conference here Oct. 14-18.
  • The phase separator of the mechanical evaporator located on the right of side of the photo is the third stage of the purification process. The project is the design-build of a six million gallon per day water treatment plant. The new plant will use a three-stage, electro-dialysis reversal (EDR) water treatment plant that treats all contaminants found in Fort Irwin's ground water in accordance with federal and state requirements. The plant will include: an electro-dialysis reversal (EDR) primary treatment, lime softening clarifiers, lime solids thickeners, lime sludge lagoons, reverse osmosis (RO) filters, brine treatment facility, concentrate equalization basins and a mechanical evaporator tower and feed tank, and three evaporation ponds to achieve the post’s 99 percent water recovery rate. The project also includes water system improvement and supporting utilities and infrastructure upgrades

    Fort Irwin water treatment plant reaches construction milestone

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District and Corps contractor CDM Constructors, Inc., of Rancho Cucamonga have reached a critical milestone in the construction of the new Fort Irwin Water Treatment Plant as it began to transition to the plants commissioning phase in September.
  • Adobe Dam and the Arizona Canal Diversion Channel built in the 1980s have done much to protect historic sites and metropolitan Phoenix. The dam in northwest metro was built near Skunk Creek and the Hedgpeth Hills. It is the present day home of Arizona State University’s Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve with art work dating from 700 years ago to roughly 7000 B.C.

    Adobe Dam and ACDC protect historic site

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District and stakeholder Flood Control District of Maricopa County completed Adobe Dam in 1982 to protect local communities from storm flows along Skunk Creek, in northwest metro.
  • Members from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Congresswoman Napolitano’s Office, Los Angeles County Fire Department, Azuza Police Department and the City of Duarte discuss the problems in cleaning up the San Gabriel River near Sana Fe Dam Oct. 21.

    Forming San Gabriel River clean up plans

    A meeting was held Oct. 21 in the Duarte Historical Museum near the Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale, California, to discuss the complex issue of cleaning up the San Gabriel River before the rainy season gets here.
  • Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Norwalk; Brig. Gen. Mark Toy, USACE South Pacific Division commander; Brig. Gen. (CA) James Gabrielli, Youth and Community Programs Task Force commander; Col. Steven Buethe, chief of staff for the program sits with Cadets Dantayan Mitchell, Reise Rodriguez, Stephanie Molina and Aylin Camacho during a presentation from Lt. Col. Joel Armstrong, Sunburst Youth Academy Director at Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base.

    California youth learn from the best

    Amongst the training of the U.S. military’s elite at the Joint Forces Training Base, Los Alamitos, a California Military Department base, the National Guard showed the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and a congresswoman on Oct. 13 how they help the state’s youth improve their lives with education.
  • Corps employees and contractors discuss the status of piling installation along a section of Reach 9 of the Santa Ana River just downstream from Prado Dam. The pilings are part of bank protection along the flood risk reduction project.

    Lower Santa Ana River receives flood management project of the year award

    The Los Angeles Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers presented its 2015 flood management project of the year award to the Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District for its Lower Santa Ana River Reach 9 Phase 2B project during ceremonies held Oct. 3 at The Proud Bird restaurant, adjacent to Los Angeles International Airport.
  • The Kino Environmental Restoration Project features a 2.2-mile paved path around the basin for walking, jogging, bicycling, and wildlife viewing. KERP and the Kino Sports Complex are also on "The Loop" with more than 100 miles of multi-use paths around Tucson.

    KERP and the Corps

    In 1966, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District constructed the Ajo Detention Basin where the present-day Kino Environmental Restoration Project lives.

  • September

    The new Fort Irwin Weed Army Community Hospital at Fort Irwin, California , 7.6 acre photovoltaic (PV) array and a solar thermal array, will generate 2.4 megawatts of power and the solar thermal array will provide a majority of the hot water the hospital requires. The new hospital project consists of a 216,000 square foot hospital facility which will provide Soldier and family patient care, emergency medicine, and a wide variety of clinical support. The facility stands to become the first LEED Platinum, net-zero, carbon-neutral hospital that will generate all of its energy needs from solar power and renewable energy systems

    USACE senior leaders visit Fort Irwin Hospital project

    Joe Calcara, director of programs, USACE South Pacific Division, and the senior executive project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Fort Irwin Weed Army Hospital replacement construction project, hosted the project’s Senior Executive Review Group quarterly briefing at Fort Irwin Sept. 22.
  • Jose Rocha (right), the Corps' lead engineer on the Murrieta Creek project, describes its current status to Los Angeles District Commander Col. Kirk Gibbs, during a Sept. 23 visit to the project. The visit included discussions with Dusty Williams, the general manager and chief engineer of the Riverside County Flood Control & Water Conservation District, about the ongoing work in the channel and the goals and obstacles to providing long-term flood risk reduction for the area’s residents and businesses.

    Work on Murrieta Creek project begins

    Col. Kirk Gibbs, commander of the Corps’ Los Angeles District, met with local representatives in Temecula on Sept. 23 to discuss upcoming work on the Murrieta Creek flood risk reduction project.
  • Col. Kirk Gibbs, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District commander,John Keever, USACE Los Angeles District chief of construction, and Capt. Evan Nelson, project engineer discuss design features at the Weed Army Hospital replacement project site. Gibbs, toured several District projects at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, during a visit to the fort Sept. 9-10.

    District commander tours Fort Irwin construction projects

    Col. Kirk Gibbs, the commander of the Los Angeles District, toured several District projects at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, during a visit to the fort Sept. 9-10
  • Col. Kirk Gibbs, Los Angeles District commander, presents the Joseph W. Kimbel Award to Lillian Dampios Sept. 8 in Los Angeles. The award recognizes the lawyer who demonstrates the highest potential for future legal achievement within the Corps.

    District lawyer earns national recognition

    The Joseph W. Kimbel Award recognizes the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers attorney who demonstrates the highest professional potential for future legal achievement.

  • August

    Veronica Li (foreground) and Sophia Ma (background) take California Rapid Assessment Method measurements in San Diego Creek in Orange County for the Orange County Transit Authority Measure M2 Freeway Program. (Photo courtesy of Sarvy Mahdavi, US EPA)

    Veronica Li honored as top Corps regulator

    Veronica Li, a senior project manager in the Los Angeles District’s Regulatory Division, received the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Don Lawyer Regulator of the Year Award during a ceremony held Aug. 6 in Washington D.C.

  • District employee receives top honor

    Chief of the Construction Division for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District is the 2015 Lt. Gen. John W. Morris Civilian of the Year winner.