• August

    Mississippi River Project Balances Aquatic Ecosystems and Navigation

    Is it possible to promote a healthier and more resilient Mississippi River ecosystem without impacting navigation? The Upper Mississippi River Restoration, or UMRR, Program was initiated to do just that. Authorized by the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, UMRR was the first environmental restoration and monitoring program undertaken on a large river system in the United States.
  • April

    Incorporating environmental flows through the Sustainable Rivers Program to support lake sturgeon spawning continues to prove successful

    The lake sturgeon, an ancient whisker-snouted fish from the Cretaceous period, is tied to present-day conservation efforts on the Mississippi River at the Melvin Price Locks and Dam in West Alton, Missouri. Despite their name, lake sturgeon, also known as “rubbernose or rock” sturgeon, are found in rivers and lakes. Evolving 150 million years ago, long before the evolution of the T-Rex and the other dinosaurs, they have scale-less skin and diamond-shaped plates along their back. Mature lake sturgeon live up to their unique legacy by reaching eight feet in length, weighing more than 200 pounds, and living over 100 years, making them extraordinarily impressive fish. These giants of the fish world are sustained from a diet of snails, crayfish, mussels, and aquatic insects found with barbel sensors and their suction-like toothless mouths.
  • January

    2023 Annual Festival of Lights Auto Tour illuminates Redman Creek West Recreation Area at Wappapello Lake

    This festive competition and public event, held annually since 1992 features holiday displays sponsored by local businesses along with appearances by Mr. and Mrs. Claus where visitors get to drive through a festively decked out auto tour in the Redman Creek West Campground located in Wappapello, Missouri.  Supported by volunteers from the Wappapello Lake Area Association and River Radio, area businesses drape lights on campers, tractors, and trees and add in their favorite wooden cutouts and holiday mascots that all come together in hopes of winning this year’s contest and spreading Christmas cheer to all that come to visit. Categories included first, second, and third place of the best decorated campsites.
  • July

    Iowa site works to award new remediation contract

    The Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) continues its efforts to complete remediation at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP) near Middletown, Iowa. This site update includes cubic yards shipped to a license, out-of-state disposal facility as of June 30, 2023 as well as efforts to obtain a new remediation contract.
  • April

    North County site: Team working in last phase of former Ballfields

    Remediation work continues in last phase at former Ballfields.
  • March

    North County site: Team continues to investigate Coldwater Creek

    Sampling nears end of Coldwater Creek.
  • North County site: FUSRAP partners with MoDOT during I-270 North Project

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), St. Louis District, and the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) work together on the I-270 North Project in North St. Louis County. MoDOT work allows USACE’s environmental-remediation program, the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP), to gain access to contaminated soils that had been inaccessible.
  • Downtown site sets sights on 2029

    Remedy Complete for the St. Louis Downtown Site (SLDS) is on the horizon.
  • Iowa site nears completion of active remediation

    The Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) is in the home stretch of active remediation at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP) site.
  • February

    Record setting dredging season comes to an end

    The Dredge Potter crew finished up an unprecedented 2022-23 season on February 1, 2023, that required tremendous teamwork to maintain the congressionally mandated nine-foot-deep, 300-foot-wide navigation channel and overcome the challenges from the widespread drought, and prolonged extreme low water that affected the Mississippi River basin. Dredging operations moved nine million cubic yards of material, at 70 different locations along 300 miles of the St. Louis District. In total, seven dredging units -- dustpan, cutterhead and mechanical -- were working throughout the St. Louis District area of responsibility. Two other units, for a total of nine, supported Mississippi Valley Division efforts on the Mississippi River.
  • October

    St. Louis District’s Matthew Glover graduates from the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) University

    Following his six-month project with mentors from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, geophysicist Matthew Glover with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) St. Louis District presented his research results virtually at the ERDC University (ERDC-U) graduation ceremony Sept. 15, 2022.
  • August

    USACE St. Louis District’s Glover continues ERDC University Project

    Matthew Glover, a geophysicist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) St. Louis District, has completed the half-way mark of his research project with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s (ERDC) six-month detail program, known as ERDC University (ERDC-U).
  • July

    St. Louis District has recreation for everyone

    St. Louis District recreation sites provide a diverse range of outdoor recreational activities that promote a healthy lifestyle to those who visit every year, with the commitment to providing visitors a safe, fun and secure experience. Each year, the St. Louis District hosts millions of visitors who come to enjoy the many recreational opportunities available at our rivers and lakes. Whether it is fishing, camping, boating, picnicking, swimming, sight-seeing, bird watching, hunting, or a variety of other recreation activities, we have something for you.
  • March

    Courtney Wilson, Carlyle Lake & Kaskaskia Lake Project Manager

    Courtney Wilson, Operations Project Manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Louis District, Carlyle Lake Project and Kaskaskia River Project started off as a co-op ranger in college and has turned it into a successful career.
  • St. Louis District’s Matthew Glover selected for ERDC University

    Researchers from five U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Districts have been selected for the 2022 session of the Engineer Research and Development Center University (ERDC-U). Geophysicist Matthew Glover of the St. Louis District was chosen as a participant for this detail program, now in its seventh year.
  • September

    DOE Legacy Management makes site visit to IAAAP

    Director, staff from Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management (DOE-LM) visit Iowa Army Ammunition Plant (IAAAP) in Middletown, Iowa, Sept. 9, 2021.
  • USACE hosts DOE-LM at Iowa Army Ammunition Plant FUSRAP Site

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staffers escorted the director of the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management at Iowa Army Ammunition Plant Sept. 9, 2021.
  • June

    An end to an era: River gage reader changes Mississippi River gage

    There is an end to an era of manual data collection. After nine decades of River Gage Readers, and Art Denkmann serving three of these decades, it now comes to an end.   Just a few years shy of being a century old, the collection of data by gage reader observations on the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Mo., comes to an end. This river gage has been in place since March of 1933. Throughout the years tourists, locals, and navigation interests have passed by this river front gage which now has been officially replaced with a Data Collection Platform system. 
  • July

    Rivers Project Office – Timber Sale

    The Rivers Project Office in West Alton, Mo., is conducting its first timber sale and harvest in order to promote the establishment of early successional floodplain forest along the Mississippi River. The objective of this project is to improve forest health and enhance habitat for a variety of wildlife. Bids are now open to the public.
  • Corps, Quail Forever work together to restore wildlife habitat

    While the primary mission of Wappapello Lake is as a flood-control reservoir, wildlife and land management also fall under the responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and recently, it has partnered with the Black River chapter of Quail Forever to improve wildlife habitat in the Asher Creek area.