WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 27, 2015) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, or USACE, has been working on important projects worldwide that often go unnoticed -- as compared to a large natural disaster when Corps activities get more visibility. Here are some snapshots of work they've been doing just over the last several weeks.
TENNESSEE
State and federal agency representatives met in the Music City to improve how they consult with tribal nations nationwide in a workshop hosted by the Corps.
Participants attended sessions Jan. 12-14 in Nashville that covered topics such as the history of federal Indian law, key laws that require consultation, Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and government-to-government strategies. They also participated in exercises on multi-party facilitation and problem solving.
Chip Smith, assistant for Environment, Tribal and Regulatory Affairs with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, said over the past several decades the Army has been transforming its relationships with Native American nations, and he believes the key to working with tribes involves respect and communication.
"We now have a Tribal Community of Practice and we have Tribal Policy Principles. We decided to come up with very simple principles to simply communicate a message" -- so it's vital to establish relationships where agency representatives talk early, talk often and talk in advance with tribal nations, he said.
On a different topic, but also in Tennessee, the Corps is working to protect the symbol of the United States, the American bald eagle.
The eagle population declined in Tennessee between the 1950s and 1970s because of the insecticide DDT, which caused infertility or thin egg shells that would break under the weight of adult birds, according to wildlife experts.
Due to the banning of DDT and restoration efforts, there are now more than 200 eagle nests across the state of Tennessee, said Patty Coffey, deputy chief of the Nashville District Operations Division, the wildlife biologist who served in the Planning Branch as the project manager of the Eagle Restoration Program nearly three decades ago.
Today, people in Tennessee can once again see American bald eagles, thanks to work by the Corps and other agencies over the years, who have cared for the eagles, and tracked them after release, ensuring a smooth transition to the wild, she said.
TEXAS
Dredging the Texas coast to keep navigation channels open for commerce and recreation often goes unnoticed, with many citizens not aware this process is taking place out in the Gulf of Mexico on a recurring basis.
David B. Boothby Jr. applies his expertise in civil engineering to maintaining more than 1,000 miles of channel, including 250 miles of deep draft and 750 miles of shallow draft.
"The Corps is continuously dredging to maintain safe and efficient navigation in channels up and down the Texas coast," Boothby said, during a Jan. 14 interview. "Along with the dredging requirement, there is a need for locations -- literally requiring thousands of acres of land -- to place dredged material removed from the channels. This is an enormous recurring task requiring hundreds of people from the Corps and its partners to execute."
This is where Boothby's geotechnical expertise in civil engineering comes in handy.
"I provide geotechnical analysis and design support to project delivery teams for planning studies, design projects and general investigations as well as to the operations and construction branches for navigation, flood risk management and ecosystem restoration projects," said Boothby. "Geotechnical engineering modeling and analysis essentially provides insight into the physical properties of soils and the application of those properties in engineering solutions for structures which depend on their foundations in soils for stability."
For navigation projects, this analysis might include the stability of cut for channel side slopes or dredged material confined placement area containment dike design.
Project locations Boothby works on include the vital Houston Ship Channel and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway from High Island to Brazos River and Cedar Bayou.
GERMANY
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District welcomed 36 students, representing 23 U.S. military high schools, for a day of design, engineering and construction activities during the fourth-annual, week-long Department of Defense Dependents Schools-Europe STEMposium at Wiesbaden, Germany, in late December.
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- critical skills much in demand in today's high-technology environment.
The STEMposium brings students together to engage in divergent thinking and work in teams to confront disasters using STEM-type skills. DODDS-Europe event organizers change the nature of the disaster from year to year. During the 2014 STEMposium, student were faced with an Ebola outbreak scenario and challenged to design Ebola treatment units, or ETUs.
With that scenario in mind, students interacted with engineers involved in Operation United Assistance, the U.S. military mission to fight Ebola in West Africa, said Lt. Col. Robert Hailey, the Corps' planner to U.S. Africa Command.
"I immediately realized they wanted to dive into the Ebola project," he said. "Some kids had a laundry list of questions, and during almost every question, I saw lots of heads nodding and pencils moving."
After Hailey shared U.S. Agency for International Development treatment unit design plans with the students, the Corps' Forward Engineer Support Team, or FEST, conducted a video teleconference from Liberia. Despite the 4,477-mile distance and poor audio connection, students concentrated on the challenges forward engineers face while operating in West Africa and posed complex questions on waste disposal, avoiding contamination and ensuring safe water supply to ETUs.
FEST members shared photographs of site preparation, raw-material acquisition and completed ETUs to further demonstrate their real-world experiences in Liberia.
"Having students online talking to folks downrange -- that was great," Hailey said. "Normally, these things wouldn't happen live; it was a great opportunity for the students."
Darnell Forbes, a ninth-grade student, from AFNORTH High School in Brunssum, the Netherlands, said the presentations enabled him to connect new ideas. As an aspiring marine biologist, Forbes didn't think he was interested in civil engineering, water towers, or structural strength and stability.
"I didn't know you guys existed, and I didn't know you built ETUs or made our schools, either," he said. "It makes me see the significance of a building. When I go outside and see a parking lot, I think, 'Oh, it keeps cars.' But now I see how much goes into building something -- it's a paradigm shift for me."
After visiting Europe District headquarters, students traveled to Clay Kaserne to tour an active construction site, explore design and building software, learn about the history and uses of concrete, and then, mix a batch. Engineers from the Corps' Wiesbaden Resident Office and members of the Consolidated Intelligence Center project team were on hand to speak with the STEMposium students.
Presenter Katie Archer, a district civil engineer, discussed how concrete, the most widely used construction material in the world, is often misunderstood.
"A lot of students were surprised to know how versatile concrete can be," she said. "A lot of them thought of roads and buildings when we talked about concrete; they didn't realize it's something that can be aesthetically pleasing -- used in art and architectural elements."
The concrete presentation was informative and interesting, said Ayomi Obuseh, a Ramstein High School ninth-grader.
"I didn't know the difference between concrete and cement," she said. "I thought they were the same."
While visiting the construction project office, students also learned about software used to design building models and bring them to life in 3-D, said Jason Redeen, the district's CIC project office engineer.
"Half the kids were really interested in what technology is out there -- Revit and Building Information Modeling software -- while others were really interested in the field, the actual construction site," he said.
WEST VIRGINIA
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hosted the annual Bill Nesbit Memorial Hunt in Elk Garden, West Virginia in late December.
The annual hunt gave eight handicapped hunters and disabled veterans the opportunity to harvest deer with the help of safety instructors and dozens of volunteers.
The annual hunt began nine years ago when rangers at the lake began noticing a deer overpopulation problem.
"When the lake was constructed, they stopped all hunting, so there hadn't been hunting in the area for 20 years and the deer population exploded," said Stephen Rexrode, retired sergeant with the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources. "We suggested that a handicapped hunt would be a good idea."
It has become an event that the local community looks forward to every year. The event gives participants an opportunity to get back to hunting.
"Just last night at the fire hall I had one of the participants tell me it is the first time he has been able to make it out in the woods in 14 years," said Tom Craig, USACE Jennings Randolph Lake park ranger.
The event gives hunters a comfortable environment to get back out into the woods and accommodates for their disabilities.
"Hunting is an activity that a lot of us take for granted, but for these gentlemen, the opportunity to get out there means so much," said Bill Donnellan, USACE Jennings Randolph Lake park ranger.
Many of the participants experienced traumatic events that prevent them from participating in routine activities.
"A lot of people that we have here have hunted in the past and when something traumatic happens to them they think it's over and they can't do anything anymore," said Rexrode. "When people go hunting, it's really something they look forward to and when they think it's over -- it's disheartening to think they can never do that again and we've given them another opportunity."
Every year the Corps also reaches out to a local veteran's hospital for wounded warrior participation.
"This year we had a wounded warrior participate," said Rexrode. "As a Vietnam veteran, I'm really glad we were able to provide this opportunity and personally it's very special to me," said Rexrode.
Participants are accompanied by a volunteer hunter education instructor in the blinds to ensure safety during the hunt. The wooden blinds are heated to create comfortable conditions for the hunters.
"I'd give up my whole hunting season for these guys," says Rodney Brelsford, who sat alongside Charles Harris, a disabled veteran whose Humvee was hit by an IED in Afghanistan.
(Contributing to this article were: Leon A. Roberts, Nashville District, USACE; Isidro Reyna, Galveston District; Jennifer Aldridge, Europe District, USACE; and Brittany Bangert, Huntington District. For more ARNEWS stories, visit www.army.mil/ARNEWS, or Facebook at www.facebook.com/ArmyNewsService, or Twitter @ArmyNewsService.)
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