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  • December

    Los Angeles District leaders gathered for a seminar at the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in downtown Los Angeles Dec. 10-12 to discuss future goals and process improvement. Everyone met in front of the hall's Christmas tree for a group photo on the final day.

    District leadership chart future during planning seminar

    Los Angeles District leaders gathered for a seminar at the Bob Hope Patriotic Hall in downtown Los Angeles Dec. 10-12 to determine future goals and the work necessary to achieve them.
  • Staff Sgt. James Harris, a military policeman with the California National Guard, currently serves as a security coordinator at the District's security and law enforcement office in downtown Los Angeles. Harris sustained injuries while serving as a MP platoon sergeant in Northern Afghanistan in 2012 and is participating in the Federal Internship Program, which affords him an opportunity to put his experience to work while providing him with the flexibility to complete medical treatment for his combat injuries.

    District’s Wounded Warrior program a ‘win-win’

    The Los Angeles District is supporting the U.S. Army’s Wounded Warrior Transition Program and it’s paying off in big ways—both for the District and the warriors themselves.
  • A view into the fog from atop Painted Rock Dam on the Gila River, upstream of Yuma, Ariz.

    Sand, solitude and sunshine equate to satisfaction for dam tenders at Painted Rock Dam

    In the late 1950s, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed Painted Rock Dam on the Gila River, upstream of Yuma, Ariz., to help minimize flooding and protect water rights according to a treaty with Mexico. However, most of the year, the dam’s basin is completely dry. The hearty souls who keep the place operting stay in "stand by" mode in case there is heavy rain.
  • The Los Angeles District was tasked with a seemingly impossible mission in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces on Dec. 7, 1941: To camouflage acres upon acres of Los Angeles real estate where military aircraft were being built. Lockheed Aircraft’s Burbank factory before the District was done with its groundbreaking camouflage project. (Photos courtesy of Lockheed via thinkorthwim.com)

    In WWII LA, no task was too tough for District

    Many people understand the engineer’s role in society. Among the definitions of engineer, the Oxford Dictionary lists one as “(verb) to skillfully or artfully arrange for an event or situation to occur.” This is certainly the definition most befitting of the myriad of challenging missions the Los Angeles District undertook in the days after Japanese forces bombed the Pearl Harbor Naval Air Base on Dec. 7, 1941.

  • November

    District counsels recognized for outstanding performance

    LOS ANGELES – The Chief Counsel of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recognized Elizabeth Moriarty
  • Corps officials brief EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy (left) on Los Angeles County Drainage Area projects during her visit to a Los Angeles River overlook point in Elysian Park Nov. 21. The newly appointed EPA chief visited Los Angeles to get a first-hand view of LA River revitalization efforts.

    EPA chief visits LA River

    Newly appointed EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy visited Los Angeles Nov. 21 to see first hand plans for the LA River's restoration. The EPA chief said she was pleased to view the work that's been done to connect the community to the natural world.
  • More than 40 retired District employees responded to an invitation from Los Angeles District Commander Col. Kimberly Colloton to attend a “State of the District” presentation and lunch at the District headquarters Nov. 12.

    District inducts two into its ‘Distinguished Civilian Employee’ cadre

    More than 40 retired District employees responded to an invitation from Los Angeles District Commander Col. Kimberly Colloton to attend a “State of the District” presentation and lunch at the District headquarters Nov. 12. It also presented an opportunity to unveil the names of two retirees who were chosen to be honored as Distinguished Civilian Employees.
  • This student's card was included in a pile of 1,400 handmade holiday cards received by the Los Angeles District meant for deployed troops and civilians. The card drive was initiated by the Veterans Advocacy Group of America and sponsored by Skanska.

    Local students wish deployed USACE employees ‘Happy Thanksgiving’ with handmade cards

    More than 1,400 cards were delivered to the Los Angeles District headquarters by the goodwill program’s sponsoring agency, the Veterans Advocacy Group of America, on Nov. 1. The cards will be forwarded to employees and others serving in temporary assignments in Afghanistan.
  • View of Santa Fe Dam after storm event.

    Dam operators play essential role in public safety

    Michael Moran is a dam operator at Santa Fe Dam and Reservoir, which is a flood risk management project constructed and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District. Built in 1949, the project is located on the San Gabriel River about four miles downstream from the mouth of the San Gabriel Canyon, near Irwindale, Calif. It is one of 13 dams in the District.

  • October

    Bill Peters, a fire prevention specialist with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, spoke to Corps employees about the dangers of wildfires during a lunch and learn session at the District's headquarters Oct. 16.

    Wildfire preparedness talk helps ready Corps employees

    Bill Peters, a fire prevention specialist from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, spoke with District employees on the dangers of wildfires in Southern California during a lunch and learn session at the District's headquarters in Los Angeles Oct. 16.
  • General George S. Patton worked with the Los Angeles District in 1942 to develop the first iteration of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, then known as the Desert Training Center-California Arizona Manuever Area. The official history of the 773rd Tank Destroyer Battalion, which was among the first units to train at DTC-CAMA, described the area as: "The world's largest Army post and the greatest training manuever area in the U.S. military history. Eighteen thousand square miles of nothing in a desert designed for Hell." More than one million men experienced the Desert Training Area's version of "hell" before the post was closed in 1944. This illustration by Bill Fleming, appeared in "Did You Know? Vol. II," a historical guide developed by the District historian in 1975.

    Did You Know? LA District has a long history with Fort Irwin

    LOS ANGELES--The National Training Center was officially activated on Oct. 16, 1980, making the current incarnation of the sprawling Fort Irwin 33 years old. But did you know that the Los Angeles District worked under the direction of Gen. George S. Patton Jr. to procure the land to build an early and more vast version of NTC—then known as the Desert Training Center-California-Arizona Maneuver Area—in 1942?

  • Corps announces closure of Regulatory offices due to government shutdown

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District today announced it will close its Regulatory offices due to the absence of available federal funding. Regulatory offices will be unable to evaluate individual permit applications, Pre-Construction Notifications for Nationwide Permit or Regional General Permit authorizations, or requests for jurisdictional determinations until after current year funding is received and the offices reopen.
  • Upstream view of the Los Angeles River channel above Butte Street bridge during construction.

    The LA River and the Corps: A brief history

    The Los Angeles River is regarded as an icon of LA’s sprawling hyperurbanization. To some, it’s nothing more than a part of the landscape that splits the concrete jungle in two. To others, it’s an eyesore; a resplendent piece of nature stunted in a tomb of steel and cement. But the 51-mile-long river wasn’t always a flood control channel.

  • Corps projects continue during government shutdown

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District projects continue to operate temporarily despite the government shutdown. Many Los Angeles District projects have enough remaining funding from past appropriations for work to continue beyond Oct. 1.

  • September

    USACE Mehrbad Golshani, an electrical engineer with the Los Angeles District, inspects an electrical panel at this Fort Irwin Office. The Los Angeles District sent a team of more than 70 engineering and technical support professionals to the fort to assess damage and provide recovery operations after flooding from a monsoon-like storm covered the post with mud and debris Aug. 25.

    South Pacific Division commander tours Fort Irwin flood damage

    FORT IRWIN, Calif.—-Brig. Gen. David Turner, commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers South Pacific
  • KEARNEY, ARIZ. – Mike Langley, A senior project manager in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District Arizona-Nevada Area Office’s Regulatory Division, discusses options during a public meeting held Sept. 24 for the proposed new tailings facility for Asarco’s Ray Mine. Langley is working on drafting an Environmental Impact Statement for the proposed facility and held the meeting to set forth the plan the District is working on during the course of the study.

    Corps holds two public meetings on proposed Ray Mine changes

    Members of the Regulatory Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s Arizona-Nevada Area Office held public scoping meetings on Sept. 24 and 25 in Kearney and Apache Junction, Ariz., to discuss a proposal for a new tailing facility for the Ray Mine in Pinal County.
  • The District conducts pre- and post-flood season visual inspections of flood control channels built and operated or maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. On Sept. 25, District personnel, along with graduate student volunteers from Harvard University identified native and non-native plants and observed damage, like undercutting, in a portion of the channel.

    Harvard students help Corps inspect portion of Los Angeles River

    The District conducts pre- and post-flood season visual inspections of flood control channels built and operated or maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. On Sept. 25, District personnel, along with graduate student volunteers from Harvard University, identified native and non-native plants and observed damage, like undercutting, in a portion of the channel.

  • Compton Creek: thinking globally, acting locally

    Compton Creek, a concrete-lined channel feeding into the Los Angeles County Drainage System, is beset by conditions prevalent in many of our nation’s waterways: debris, maintenance issues, and a lack plants, wildlife and recreation, to name a few. If students at Compton High School have anything to say, that may change some day.
  • Los Angeles District Program Manager Robert Klein was selected as the Corps’ Program Manager of the Year for 2013 in July.

    Award winning program manager is customer of his customer

    He’s not the type of person who says one thing but does another. He isn’t someone who does just enough to get by. In fact, Los Angeles District Program Manager Robert Klein’s impressive dedication was recognized by headquarters when they selected him as the Corps’ Program Manager of the Year for 2013 in July.

  • San Luis Rey River habitat maintenance resumes

    Habitat maintenance along the San Luis Rey River resumed in Oceanside, Calif., Sept. 9 when RECON Environmental, Inc., once again deployed water trucks to help establish recently planted native vegetation in the riverbed.