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  • April

    Ceremony marks completion of Newport Harbor dredging

    Dredging of the Newport Beach lower harbor came to a ceremonial end April 17 when officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the city of Newport Beach celebrated the project’s benefits to the region and the relationships that enabled its success.
  • California seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones spoke to Los Angeles District employees April 15, at the invitation of the District’s Emergency Operations Center. Jones is the U.S. Geological Survey's Science Advisor for Risk Reduction.

    Earthquake specialist shares insight about California’s next big one

    California seismologist Dr. Lucy Jones spoke to Los Angeles District employees April 15, at the invitation of the District’s Emergency Operations Center. As the U.S. Geological Survey’s Science Advisor for Risk Reduction, Jones spends a lot of time analyzing the world’s earthquakes and aftermath in an attempt to help minimize the impact of future quakes.
  • Following “The Power of Partnerships” conference, Col. Mark Toy, commander of the Corps’ Los Angeles District, converses with (l to r) Phil Anthony, chair of SAWPA and a member of the Board of Directors of the Orange County Water District, Mike Marcus, general manger of the Orange County Water District, and Celeste Cantu, general manager for SAWPA. The Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority sponsored the conference held April 11 in Costa Mesa, Calif.

    Partnerships bring recognition, success

    Several hundred watershed management professionals gathered April 11 in Costa Mesa, Calif., to discuss the benefits of consolidating efforts for maximum benefit in the present and anticipated times of fiscal limitations.
  • Holocaust survivor Albert Rosa shows employees his photos and other items he brought for his visit to talk about his experience in the concentration camps April 9.

    Holocaust survivor shares somber story with District employees

    Employees of the Los Angeles District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gathered April 9 to listen to Albert Rosa, a Jew and Holocaust survivor from Greece, recount his tragic story of survival and endurance for the purpose of Holocaust remembrance.
  • A crane lifts the last bucketfull of material from the Port of Los Angeles main channel April 3, marking the end of the Corps' 10-year project. The dredging project removed 15 million cubic yards of material in total, deepening the channel to a depth of 53 feet that will allow passage of "post-Panamax" ships.

    Final bucket marks completion of Port of LA channel deepening

    Standing on the fantail of the USS Iowa, dignitaries watched as a dredge lifted the final bucket of material from the water and emptied it into an adjacent barge, marking the end of a $370 million channel deepening project at the Port of Los Angeles April 3.
  • One in five Californians lives in a flood plain and nearly everyone in California is at risk from flooding. That’s the warning delivered by a new, comprehensive report on flood risk throughout the state, developed by the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

    State, Corps study: One in five Californians faces flood threat

    One in five Californians lives in a flood plain and nearly everyone in California is at risk from flooding. That’s the warning delivered by a new, comprehensive report on flood risk throughout the state, developed by the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
  • The water contained and released from Alamo Dam by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District, which entered an innovative partnership with state and federal agencies in the 1990s, helps maintain a state park which hosts thousands of visitors every year and sustain 50 miles of downstream riparian habitat along the Bill Williams River all the way to the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge. The Corps manages nearly twelve million acres of water across the country and is consistently seeking innovative and environmentally sustainable solutions to the nation's water resources challenges to help strengthen the nation.

    LA District continues innovative partnership

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District has helped develop a strong partnership at Alamo Dam and along the Bill Williams River to continue sustaining our nation’s economic and water resources. Through the collaboration, known as the Bill Williams River Corridor Steering Committee, with other government agencies and partners, the Corps ensured the flows from Alamo Dam maximized taxpayer dollars by maintaining a high level of sustainability for a variety of communities.

  • March

    PHOENIX – Sallie McGuire, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District Arizona Regulatory Branch chief, speaks with a group of employees at the District’s Arizona/Nevada Area Office Mar. 27 about the District’s mentoring program. Among the goals of the program are allowing employees the opportunity to develop deeper professional relationships and enhancing both the mentor’s and associate’s leadership and interpersonal skills.

    Arizona/Nevada Area Office hosts Mentoring Program meeting

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District held a meeting at the District’s Arizona/Nevada Area Office Mar. 27 to discuss the District’s mentoring program. Among the many other goals of the program are allowing employees the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of what is needed to succeed and advance in the Corps and enhancing both the mentor’s and associate’s leadership and interpersonal skills.
  • Jacob Berkowitz, a research soils scientist at the Corps' Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, Miss., describes the process for evaluating soils during a March 20, 2013 training site visit to Pond 20, a former salt mining area, in San Diego Bay.

    Soils training gets down in the mud at salt pond

    Twenty regulators and biologists left the comfort and safety of their offices March 20 to slosh through mud and muck in their search for hydric soils at a former salt mining pond in San Diego Bay.
  • PHOENIX – Victor Bartkus, a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s Arizona/Nevada Area Office’s Asset Management division, speaks with members of the public at the annual Tres Rios Nature and Earth Festival Mar. 9. Bartkus and other members of the LA District spoke with members of the public during the two-day festival about USACE projects including the Tres Rios Flow Regulating Wetlands project in Phoenix’s West Valley.

    LA District team members brave the elements for annual Tres Rios Nature Festival

    Members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s Arizona/Nevada Area Office joined with exhibitors and vendors at the annual Tres Rios Nature and Earth Festival held Mar. 9 and 10 at the Baseline and Meridian Wildlife Area near the Phoenix International Raceway. District team members talked with members of the public about projects across the Valley, the state and the LA District, which covers Southern California, all of Arizona, and portions of Nevada and Utah. One of the major local projects the team discussed was the Tres Rios Environmental Restoration Project.
  • Occupational safety and health specialists like Steve McCombs ensure that scaffolding at project sites is safe and that contractor personnel are adhering to accident prevention plans.

    Corps’ proactive safety stance helps prevent mishaps

    The District employs six safety and occupational health specialists, and one wellness coordinator, to cover its widespread area of operations. These employees keep tabs on myriad projects, like military and civil works construction, dredging, and operation and maintenance activities, as well as more routine workplace safety aspects like promoting ergonomic work environments, wellness activities and managing the Army Safety Program requirements.
  • This graphic shows the channels within the Santa Ana River marsh where contractor CJW will remove nearly 73,000 cubic yards of material to restore channel depth, tidal flow and improve water quality.

    Channel dredging benefits coastal marsh

    A Los Angeles District Army Corps of Engineers project will not only remedy adverse environmental conditions at the Santa Ana River marsh but will also provide material to renourish a nearby section of coastline.

  • February

    From left to right: Janet Chin, representative from the office of Sen. Dr. Ed Hernandez; Lt. Col. Scott Peterson, commander of the Army’s Los Angeles Recruiting Battalion; Debra Mehndelson, a representative from LA supervisor Michael Antonovich’s office, Lt. Col. Alex Deraney, deputy commander of the LA District; Maj. Gen. Megan Tatu, Commanding General of the 79th Sustainment Support Command; and Navy Commander Michelle D. Carter, commanding officer of Navy Recruiting District Los Angeles, cut the ribbon commemorating the grand opening of the joint recruiting center in El Monte, Ca., Feb. 26.

    District helps improve LA-area recruiting efforts with new joint recruiting center

    The Los Angeles District helped open the doors to the newest joint recruiting center in LA county in a ceremony in El Monte Feb. 26. "This facility is an example of how the Corps of Engineers is ‘Building Strong and Taking Care of People,’ starting with our Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines, and our new recruits, who will play such a critical role in helping to maintain the strength of our Nation," said Lt. Col. Alex Deraney, deputy commander of the Los Angeles District, during the ceremony.
  • Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, commanding general of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, speaks with Los Angeles District team members at the Arizona/Nevada Area Office during a lunch meeting held in the office Feb. 15. Bostick took time to answer questions from team members and give his vision for the direction of the Corps and how it relates to the local office.

    USACE commanding general visits Phoenix

    Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commanding general, attended the Feb. 15 public meeting of the USACE Environmental Advisory Board and visited the USACE Los Angeles District Arizona/Nevada Area Office to meet with local team members.
  • Employees Noemi Rodriquez (front left) and Jonathan Machorro (back left) meet mentors Norman Boeman (front right) and Ned Araujo (back right) speed-dating style during a mentoring-matchmaking process at the Los Angeles District office Feb. 13.

    Matchmaking session pairs District’s mentors with associates

    More than a dozen employees interested in finding a mentor rotated through a speed-dating style, mentoring-matchmaking process at the Los Angeles District office Feb. 13.
  • PHOENIX - Members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Environmental Advisory Board and other USACE team members visit the flow-regulating wetlands at the Tres Rios Environmental Restoration Project Feb. 14. The EAB, hosted by the LA District's Arizona/Nevada Area Office team, visited Phoenix for two days to see environmentally-related projects throughout the valley in order to gain information to help them as they brief USACE leadership.

    LA District hosts USACE Environmental Advisory Board

    PHOENIX, Ariz. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District’s Arizona-Nevada Area Office
  • (Left to right) San Fernando Valley Audubon Society President Dave Weeshof, Los Angeles District Commander Col. Mark Toy and SFVAS Conservation Chair Kris Ohlenkamp lead a group of Corps employees and local environmentalists on a nature walk Feb. 12 at the Sepulveda Dam Basin vegetation management area. (USACE photo by Jay Field)

    Corps to resume Sepulveda vegetation management operations

    During a nearly three-hour nature walk in the Sepulveda Dam Basin Feb. 12, Los Angeles District Commander Col. Mark Toy told representatives of local environmental groups that his operations and maintenance crews would soon resume the vegetation management work that began in December 2012.
  • During the Encinitas public meeting, several speakers provided comments to (from left) Col. Mark Toy, Susie Ming, David Van Dorpe and Dr. Josephine Axt about aspects of the proposed coastal storm damage reduction project.

    Corps solicits public comment on beach projects

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers held two public meetings in early February to discuss alternatives for and accept public comments about a shoreline protection project for the Southern California towns of Encinitas and Solana Beach.
  • KINGMAN, Ariz. - At the public meeting the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District held Feb. 5 regarding the upcoming Time Critical Removal Action at sites in the former Kingman Ground-to-Ground Gunnery Range Fran Firouzi (left), project manager, and Susan Hill, realty specialist, speak with Jim Dennis (right) and another member of the local community. Firouzi, Hill and other members of the USACE team were among the representatives from the Corps' project team available to the public to discuss the soil removal activities of hazardous material associated with the TCRA.

    LA District hosts public meeting in Kingman

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Los Angeles District hosted a public meeting Feb. 5 regarding the upcoming Time Critical Removal Action at sites in the former Kingman Ground-to-Ground Gunnery Range. The purpose of the meeting was to make representatives from the Corps of Engineers available to the public to discuss the soil removal activities of hazardous material associated with the clean up in a portion of the Chaparral Mesa II and New Kingman subdivisions located near the intersection of East Thompson Avenue and Rose Drive.
  • One of the speakers at the Gregory Canyon landfill public hearing held Jan. 31 at the California Center for the Arts in Escondido expresses his opinion on the issues the Corps should consider while determining whether or not to issue an environmental permit that will allow work on the landfill to proceed.

    Public provides comments on Gregory Canyon landfill permit application

    ESCONDIDO, Calif. -- Nearly 400 people attended a public hearing Jan. 31 at the California Center for the Arts here on a permit application for the proposed Gregory Canyon landfill near Pala, providing scientific data, historical information and personal perspective, both for and against the controversial project.