8/14/2019 US Army: fall06 http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/us-army-fall06 1/16 The New York District Times Fall 2006 Vol. 31, No.4 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District Commander’s complete biography Inside . . . Page 2 Col. Aniello “Nello” L. Tortora grasps the Corps flag at the change of command ceremony held August 25, 2006 in downtown Manhattan. New York District welcomes Col. Aniello ‘Nello’ L. Tortora, the 49 th commander and district engineer. He relieved Col. Richard J. Polo Jr., at a formal ceremony Aug. 25 in the U.S. Custom House in Lower Manhattan. Col. Tortora accepted the command flag from Maj. Gen. Wil- liam T. Grisoli, North Atlantic Division commander at the time, and with it full responsibility for the District’s operations and personnel. Tortora, who imagined his father arriving at Ellis Island in New York Harbor and recalled his own journey to begin his Army career “up the Hudson,” noted that the Corps of Engineers has “a very special mission to create, to maintain and to safeguard the infra- structure that makes America work. “This is a special contract with the American people,” he said. Col. Tortora emphasized that “the greatest asset we have in fulfilling our mission is the people assembled here today. “I want to focus on the success of our people and customers,” he said. “I want to be a champion for the District’s employees.” Col. Richard J. Polo Jr., who had led the District since 2004, retired during the ceremony. In the weeks following, it was a seamless transition. Col. Tortora immediately made his rounds and met with District employ- ees and toured and inspected New York District project sites, ongo- ing civil works and military programs construction projects. Commander’s philosophy Page 3 New York District welcomes its 49th District commander and District engineer P h o t o : V i n c e E l i a s ‘Cradle of the Corps’
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District TimesFall 2006 Vol. 31, No.4 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
Commander’s complete biography
Inside . . .
Page 2
Col. Aniello “Nello” L. Tortora grasps the
Corps flag at the change of command
ceremony held August 25, 2006 in
downtown Manhattan.
New York District welcomes Col. Aniello ‘Nello’ L. Tortora,the 49th comman der and district engineer. He relieved Col. Richard J.Polo Jr., at a formal ceremony Aug. 25 in the U.S. Custom House in
Lower Manhattan.
Col. Tortora accepted the comm and flag from Maj. Gen. Wil-liam T. Grisoli, North Atlantic Division commander at the time, andwith it full responsibility for the District’s opera tions and personnel.
Tortora, who imagined his father arriving at Ellis Island in
New York Harbor and recalled his own journ ey to begin his Armycareer “up the Hudson,” noted that the Corps of Engineers has “avery special mission to create, to maintain an d to safeguard the infra-structure that makes America work.
“This is a sp ecial contract w ith the Am erican peop le,” h e said.
Col. Tortora emph asized that “ the greatest asset we hav e infulfilling ou r mission is the peop le assembled h ere today.
“I wan t to focus on the success of our p eople and customers,”he said. “I wan t to be a cham pion for the District’s emp loyees.”
Col. Richard J. Polo Jr., who had led the District since 2004,retired d uring th e ceremony.
In the weeks following, it was a seamless tran sition. Col.Tortora immediately made h is roun ds an d m et with District emp loy-ees and toured and inspected New York District p roject sites, ongo-
ing civil works and military p rograms construction projects.
Commander’s philosophy Page 3
New York District welcomes its 49th Districtcommander and District engineer
- Authorization: The New YorkDistrict Times is an authorizedunofficial newsletter of the NewYork District. It is published inaccordance with provisions of
Army Regulation 360-1.
- Circulation: 1500 copies perissue in print and available on
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- Submission: News, features,photos and art are solicited.
Direct queries to: Editor, PublicAffairs Office, U.S. Army Corpsof Engineers, New York District,26 Federal Plaza, Room 2113,
New York, NY 10278-0090.
- Contents: Views and opinionsexpressed herein are notnecessarily those of the
Department of the Army or thiscommand. All photos, unlessotherwise credited, are official
U.S. Army photos.
US Army Corps
New York District
9-11-01
Lest we forget
®
Colone l Aniel lo L. Tortora took command of theNew York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Aug. 25.
The New York District is responsible for the
Corps’ water resource development, navigation, and
regulatory activities in northeastern New Jersey, east-
ern and south-central New York State, including the
New York Harbor and Long Island, and parts of Ver-
mont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. The District is
also responsible for design and construction at Army and Air Force installations
in N ew Jersey, New York, and overseas in Greenland.
Tortora also holds the title of Supervisor of N ew York Harbor.
Tortora, a native of southern Florida, was commissioned an engineer of-
ficer from the Uni ted States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., in 1985. He
holds a bachelor of science degree from the U.S. Military Academy, a Master of
Science in Engineering from the University of Texas, and a Master of Science in
National Security Strategy from the N ational D efense University.
Throughout his career, Tortora has served in a variety of operational, com-
mand and staff assignments in the United States and overseas. He has commanded
at every level from platoon to battalion. His most recent assignment was Senior
Joint Engineer, Defense Continuity and Crisis Management, Assistant Secretary
of D efense (Homeland D efense) in Washington, D.C.
His previous assignments include: platoon leader and company executive
officer, 43rd Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Heavy), Fort Benning, Georgia, and
Honduras; B Company commander, 16th Engineer Battalion (Combat), 1st Ar-
mored D ivisio n in Nuremberg, Germany, and for Operations Desert Shie ld and
Desert Storm; project engineer, Omaha District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers;
Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, Chief of Engineers, an d staff from H Q, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers visited NewYork District Aug. 31 for a media tour a rran ged by
New York District’s Public Affairs staff.Following an entire day of meeting with the m edia
ran ging from the Associated Press, New York Times,Fox television netw ork an d Time Magazine, Lt. Gen.Strock boarded a Corps vessel and cond ucted aharbor inspection w here he w as briefed by Districtpersonn el on key navigation, operations and m ainte-nance p rojects in the Port of New York and NewJersey.
District personnel board the dredge Maricavor and the drill
boat Fractor during a Harbor inspection in August.
The New York H arbor is a major shipping port and center of comm erce. Key channels have to be d redgedto meet the growing dem and s of the port. It is the nation’s third largest container port, ind irectly and directly
supporting more than 230,000 jobs in the region. Important navigation projects for the Port of New York andNew Jersey include the recently completed 45-foot Kill van Kull Channel, the 41-foot Arthur Kill Channel --How land Hook Marine Terminal Deepening and the 41-foot Port Jersey Chann el Deepening.
New York District has played a major role in thenavigation, developm ent and ma intenance of water re-source activities in the New York and N ew Jersey Har-bor Estuary for m ore than 200 years. The District is facedwith the challenge of deepening the N ew York and NewJersey Harbor w hile preserving its natura l estuary.
On Aug. 29, NY District personnel from HarborBranch, Opera tions and the Kill van Kull field office p ro-
vided a h arbor insp ection and briefing for Col. Aniello
L. Tortora , comm and er, New York District. Col. Tortorainspected ongoing harbor deep ening projects, boardedthe d redge Maricavor and the d rill boat Fractor.
The inspection includ ed an overview of the Port Jer-sey Chann el, the Kill van Kull, the Arthu r Kill and New -ark Bay and its relevant container terminals.
(l-r) Col. James Rowan, Col. Aniello L. Tortora, Commander
New York District; Maj. Gen. Don Riley, Director of Civil Works,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Capt. Clay Morgan.
Maj. Gen. Don Riley, director of Civil Works, HQ,
U.S. Arm y Corp s of Engineers visited N ew York Dis-
In Augu st, personnel from the U.S. ArmyCorp s of Engineer s in conjun ction with th e U.S.
Arm y Recruiting Battalion, New York City cel-ebrated the grand opening of the U.S. Army’srecruiting center in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Army recruiters immediately set uptheir new offices to enable them to continue theirrecruiting m ission. The cost of the bu ild out forthe new center was $57,730. SLMGI Constru c-
tion Inc. of Elmhurst, N.Y. was the contr actor.
The center replaced an older facility lo-cated on a d ifferent block in Brooklyn just fou rblocks from a major traffic intersection. The
older facility w as d eteriorating, had pest p roblems an dwas not visible to foot tra ffic.
According to on e recruiter, because of a lack of foot traffic in front of the building, it made recruiting
tougher to attract new candidates for enlistment.
The new recruiting center is at the intersectionof Pitkin and Rockaway Avenues, which hap pens to beone of the bu siest areas in Brownsville.
“In recruiting, just like in any commercial realestate venture, the most importan t thing is location, lo-cation, location,” said Alex Litvak, realty specialist, withthe Corps Real Estate Division, in N ew York District.
“Pitkin Avenue is a major commercial hot spotin Brownsville. The new office is located on the sameblock as a cell phone store, athletic footwear store, vari-ous sp orts shop s and electronic stores. These businessesattract the kind of age dem ograph ics the Army is try-ing to recruit.”
Litvak went on to say that the new recruiting
center ’s comm and er, Sgt. Pedro Santiago informed h imthat four d ays into the initial opening, he w as about tosign three n ew recruits. Sant iago believes this is an ex-tremely good sign and shows off the imp ortance of be-ing located in a highly vis ible port ion of theneighborhood.
Santiago’s commanding officer, Capt. KatiaCollette echoed his sentiments.
“This facility is a lot better than the last one,”
said Collette, “because it puts us closer to the target
Article and Photo by Kenneth Wells
pop ulation w e’re seeking to recruit from.”
The recruiting center is equipp ed w ith a testing office for new candidates, state-of-the-art officespaces and is one of the largest single service recruit-ing centers in the city at over 2,000 square feet. It isalso completely accessible for persons with disabili-ties.
Two challenges in getting the facility bu ilt in-
volved th e HVAC climate control system to ma intaincomfortable temp eratures through out the year, in ad-
dition to a mold problem in the basement. New YorkDistrict’s contractors rebuilt the HVAC climate con-trol system from scratch. Litvak worked closely withthe landlord on the mold issue and used a professionalmold removal comp any to take care of it.
“The challenge a realty specialist faces,” he ex-plained, “is to negotiate as mu ch of the initial build-out construction cost into the lease itself and shift
maintenan ce responsibility to the land lord. This waythe government saves money on future spending wh enit comes to m aintenance and material costs and struc
tural rep airs.”
“We’re always looking to increase the Arm y’svisible presence in a neighborhood, as well as select-ing commercial areas that p rovide high tra ffic in th eArmy’s recruiting age d emograp hic,” said Litvak. “Weaim to establish recruiting centers near convenientmeans of available transporta tion such as buses, trains
and major highw ays; select sound stru ctures with longtenancy potential and find amicable landlords thatsupport our effort and are responsive during timeswh en m aintenance issues arise.”
Former deputy commander commands Honolulu District
Col. John B. O’Dow d, form er New York District Comm and er and District En-
gineer retired in July following a 28-year career in the U.S. Army. O’Dowd servedfrom 1978 to 2006.
O’Dowd was commander and District Engineer of the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers N ew York District from July 2001 to August 2004. He took comm and of the
Corp s’ Afghan istan District in August 2004. Following his assignm ent in Afghani-stan, he served as chief of staff, U.S. Military Mission at the United Nations in NewYork City.
Former District Engineer retires
Col. Charles H. Klinge, former deputy commander, New York District took
command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Honolulu District July 21.Photo:BillErwin
U.S. Arm y Corp s of Engineers Pacific Ocean Division Command erBrig. Gen. John W. Peabody (left) passes the ceremonial Honolulu
District colors to Lt. Col. Charles H . Klinge sym bolizing the officialchange of comm and for the Corps’ Hon olulu District. Klinge be-came the 65th H onolulu District Comm and er.
Col. Richard J. Polo Jr. retired a fter more than 26 years of ser-vice. Polo was honored at the change of comm and ceremony in Au-gust for his Army career just p rior to his retiremen t.
Polo was honored with th e Legion of Merit for his outstand ingservice to the nation, the Silver Order of the de Fleurry Medal on be-half of the Engineer Regiment for inspirational leadership in the Corp sof Engineers, and received tr ibutes from the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S.Environmental Protection Agency, Region II. He also received lettersof comm endation from Sens. Robert Menend ez and Frank J. Lautenberg(N.J.), and Reps. Timothy Bishop (N.Y.-1), Bob Ferguson (N.J.-7),
Rodney P. Frelingh uysen (N.J.-11), and William J. Pascrell Jr. (N.J.-8) inadd ition to an award from the N ew York Chap ter of the Society of American Military Engineers.
His w ife received the Com man der ’s Award for Civilian Ser-
vice in recognition of supp ort given to her hu sband and his comm and personnel d uring h is Army career.
In his farewell remark s, Polo said he was p roud to finish his career “in the greatest city in the w orld.” Herecalled a sp eaker at a comman d course advising that “long-serving Civilians take p ride in the Corps…even ifwe [military commanders] screw up, the Civilians will make it all right.” Polo said he had come to think ofCivilian em ployees of the Corps as Soldiers, “only w ith long hair,” w ho are ded icated to their m ission of servingthe nation.
Polo’s first task in retirem ent is to literally ride into the su nset, taking a m otorcycle journey to th e Ameri-can West with fellow Corp s retirees who are members of his motorcycle club .
CERB Board Members -- (l-r) Col. Richard B. Jenkins; Brig. Gen. Todd T. Semonite,
Commander, North Atlantic Division; Richard J. Seymour; Maj. Gen. Don Riley Direc-
tor, Civil Works, USACE; Joan Oltman-Shay; Brig. Gen. Joseph Schroedel, Com-
mander, South Atlantic Division; and R. Bruce Taylor.
The 82nd meeting of the Coastal EngineeringResearch Board was held a t the Ocean Place Resort andSpa, Long Branch , N.J. Oct.11-13. The board meets
semi-annu ally at various coastal and Great Lakes loca-tions. The meeting was hosted by the U.S. Arm y Corpsof Engineers, North Atlantic Division, and New York
District.
Over 90 participants at-tended the symposium, whosetheme w as “Challenges in CoastalProtection and Restoration.”
The CERB provides guid-ance to the Corp s for coastal engi-neering research. The CERB is acongressionally authorized advi-sory board that provides policyguidan ce and review of plans and
funding requirements for coastalresearch and development to theChief of Engineer s.
The board is comprised of
four U.S. Army Corp s of Engineerssenior officers and three civilian en -gineers or scientists who are ex-
Coastal engineering panel meets in New Jersey
P h o
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Archaeologist serves as deputydirector on investigation team
Nancy Brighton explains to Maj. Gen. William
H. McCoy Jr., Commander, Gulf Region Division,
and Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, Chief of Engineers, the
set up of the Forensic Analysis Facility and how
it operates as an introduction to entry into the
cultural objects laboratory tent.
Nancy Brighton , an archaeologist with N ew York District,recently d eployed to Iraq as p art of the forensic labs mass gravesteam. Brighton is the d epu ty d irector of the Mass Graves Investiga-tion Team, Regime Cr imes Liaison O ffice.
As dep uty d irector, she w orks with techn ical specialists, whoare contractors, and ensures they carry out the analyses and pre-pare repor ts, as well as reviewing rep orts and technical produ cts.At the team’s forensic ana lysis facility, she briefed Lt. Gen. Strock,Chief of Engineers; Maj. Gen. William H . McCoy Jr., Command er,Gulf Region Division, and Brig. Gen. Michael J. Walsh, the new d i-vision commander for the Gulf region, on the work at the facility,wh ich included taking them on a site visit.
They met w ith the archaeology, cultural objects and anth ro-
pology teams to observe analyses. The mission of the teams, un der the d irection of program d irector Michael K.Trimble, St. Louis District, identifies, excavates and analyzes mass graves and gathers evidence for the IraqiHigh Tribunal for use in the prosecution of crimes.
In ad d ition to working w ith Trimble, she w orks w ith logistics director Wade Ricard , St. Louis District toensure the facility has the equ ipmen t and personnel required to sup port th e technical staff.
per ts in the field of coastal engineering.
Presentations were made by the N ew York and
Philadelphia District Corps of Engineers staff mem-bers, and representatives of sister federal agencies,coastal engineering firms an d New York and New Jer-sey state agencies.
On the d ay of the attack onthe World Trad e Center in Man hat-
tan, it was virtu ally impossible forpeople to get out of Manhattan byany type of ground transportationduring and in the aftermath of thecollapse of the buildings at theWTC complex.
There was a virtual armad aof boats that came together, cross-ing the water of the Hu dson River
to reach stranded people and getthem safely out of the area.
A mo n g t h e b o a t s w ereseven vessels operated by boatcrews from the Corps. These crews
and vessels ferried thousands of stranded p eople, some of who w ereinjured , from Man hattan.
On return journeys, the crews ferried emergency
response w orkers into the smoke-filled area of Manhat-tan. The fleet of NY District vessels consisted of the Hock-
ing, Hatton, Hudson, Hayward, Gelberman, Driftmaster an d
Survey Boat number 1.
Liz Finn w as one of several Corps crewmem berswh o jum ped into action. Finn w as in training at thetime and joined her fellow crewmember classmates onthe pier at N ew York District’s Caven Point facility. Cap-tain Billy Cuthrell, Captain Ray Bleam, and AssistantMaster George Loveless, three Wilmington District Fleet
crewm embers, happened to be attending the same train-ing class.
They assisted throu gh th e night, sup plying fire-boats and fire tru cks with fuel, lube oil, passing it in 5-gal. buckets, along with food and water. Their effortsenabled the fire boats and fire trucks to remain on sta-tion performing their rescue m ission without h aving toleave the area to refuel, thu s saving valuable time.
Finn an d her crew were aboard the Gelberman.Finn’s crew of Edd ie Quirk and Eric Gund ersen of NewYork District and Jim H olcroft and Mitch Tillyard of the
Philadelphia District’s dredge McFarland ferried over 500
Reflecting on America’s darkest day and the Corps’ finest hour
As smoke fills the air in lower Manhattan, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers boat crews
performed evacuations of people from Manhattan and delivered desperately needed
supplies and personnel to Ground Zero.
peop le from Manhattan and also took supp lies and
medical personnel to disaster assistance centers inthe city.
“Everyone volunteered to help. Without asecond thought, they placed themselves on duty,”
said Joe Meyers of Caven Point. “When w e arrivedpeople on the pier were covered in dust from thecrumbling bu ildings.”
“They were passing five-gallon cans by han dThere was no other way to access the site,” said JoeDaskalakis of Caven Point.
The Hayward crew helped keep firefighterson the job by supp lying them with m ore than 16,000gallons of fuel and water, in addition to flashlightsbatteries, protective gear, food, water, lanterns andshovels, according to Meyers.
The Hocking became the command vessel thatransported the North Atlantic Division command eto the site to assess the situa tion and offer Corp s assistance.
( Editor’s note: Just ine Barati, U.S. Army Corps of Engi
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers • New York District10
North Atlantic Divisionchanges commanders
Brig. Gen. Todd Semonite (right) accepts the Corps
flag from Lt. Gen. Carl A. Strock, Chief of Engineers,
during North Atlantic Division’s change of command
ceremony at Fort Hamilton Sept. 18.
New York District welcomes Brig. Gen. Todd T.Semonite to the region. Semonite took comm and of the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers, North Atlantic Division Sept. 18.
He relieved Maj. Gen. William T. Grisoli who moved on to anew assignment at the Pentagon. The ceremony was held atFort H amilton, Brooklyn, N.Y.
“I’m prou d to be joining th e great N orth Atlantic Divi-sion team and am looking forward to the challenge of leadingthe division,” said Semonite.
“It is one of the Corp s’ elite divisions in on e of the mostun ique and visible regions in the w orld, and it has an ou tstanding repu tation of performan ce and achievement
that sets the bar h igh. It’s going to be an exciting tour.”
Brig. Gen. Todd T. Semonite is a na-
tive of Bellows Falls, Vt., and is a registered
professional engineer in Virginia and Vermont.
He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy,
West Point, N.Y. and was commissioned into
the Corps of Engineers in 1979.
As commander North Atlantic Divi-sion, Semonite oversees the planning, design
and construction of projects to support the mili-
tary, protect America’s water resources, and
restore and enhance the environment within
a 180,000-square-mile area along the Atlan-
tic Coast, including 13 states from Maine to
Virginia and the District of Columbia. He is also responsible
for a variety of Division engineering and construction activi-
ties for international, Federal, state and local governments
and agencies in the United States and overseas.
Before becoming the commander, North AtlanticDivision, Semonite served as Commanding General, Ma-
neuver Support Center and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. Before
that he served as Assistant Commandant, U.S. Army Engi-
neer School and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and in a wide
variety of command and staff positions including: Director,
Office of the Chief of Engineers, HQDA at the Pentagon;
Deputy Commander, Task Force Restore Iraqi Electricity (re-
sponsible for designing and executing a $1.1 billion recon-
struction program); and Executive Officer to the Commanding
General, U.S. Army, Europe, and 7th Army.
About the North Atlantic Division commanderSemonite has also served as Commander
of the 130thEngineer Brigade and the V Corps
Engineer at Hanau, Germany; Chief of Mili-
tary Operations and Topography, and Chief
of International Operations, both with U.S.
Army, Europe; Battalion Commander, 23rd
Engineer Battalion, 1st Armored Division,
Friedberg, Germany (with a one-year deploy-
ment to Bosnia); Construction and Design Su-
pervisor, 416thENCOM, Chicago, IL; S4, 937th
Engineer Group, and S3 and Executive Of-
ficer, 1st Engineer Battalion, both at Fort Riley,
Kan.; and Operations Officer, Corps of Engi-
neers Office, Fort Drum, N.Y.
He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil En-
gineering from the U.S. Military Academy, a Master of Sci-
ence in Civil Engineering from the University of Vermont,
and a Master of Military Arts and Sciences from Fort
Leavenworth. He is a graduate of the Engineer Officer Ba-
sic and Advanced Courses, the Combined Arms Services
Staff School, the Command and General Staff College, and
the Army War College.
His awards include the Legion of Merit (4 Awards),
Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal (7 awards), Army
Commendation Medal (3 awards), Army Achievement
Medal, Army Superior Unit Award (2 awards), NATO award,
Becky Barth, daughter of Bill Barth of Engineering, plays one of the maincharacters of the Wizard of Oz at The Land of Oz theme park in North Carolina. Thecast is from Freehold , N.J., and South Caro lina.
Becky has played the part of the Wicked Witch of the West at the an nu al event,
wh ich is staged at the th eme p ark at Beech Mou ntain, Banner Elk, N.C. The p erfor-man ce is typically on the first weekend of October. She began portraying the charac-ter when she w as invited to work at the park for the weekend.
Lou Benard, executive assistant and physical scientist (center)and a group of participants of East Hamton Town Shellfish Cul-ture Workshop on Long Island, N.Y.(Photo: East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery).
Kevin Smyth, of Planning, David Rackmales, andFernand o Baustista, both of Engineering retu rned to New York District in August following three months of support to theForward Engineer Supp ort Team, or “FEST” in Fort Irwin, Ca-
lif. It was the second time they dep loyed in supp ort of FESToperations to supp ort armed forces units training in a d esertscenario.
Their m ission was to gath er d ata from the field, p ro-
cess the same in accordance with building codes, buildingregulations, program requirements, Army requirements, andArmy regulations. They then d elivered the end prod uct to thecustomer with a brand new design with construction docu-ments read y to be built. prototype d esigns are created d ue toFEST-A team has the expertise and flexibility to graphicallyvisualize the custom er ’s needs on site. According to Bautista,
the Fest-A Mission from the su pp orted un it, is the FEST-A teamgathers requiremen ts and accepts m issions for execution. The FEST team w orks d irectly for the sup ported un it,
rath er than just in a limited liaison role. The team’s value is far more than just additional engineer staff. ”Mydirect par ticipa tion had to do w ith the full architectu ral design cycle for new Army facilities,” said Bautista.
Forward Engineer Support Team A returns
Lou Benard, executive assistant and physical sci-
entist, New York District is involved in a var iety of com-mu nity activities and events. Recently she participated
in the first annu al East H amp ton Town shellfish cultureworksh op. The first of a series of workshop s was spon-sored by th e East Hampton town Shellfish Hatchery, LongIsland , N.Y.
The rain-or-shine events consisted of the historyof shellfish enhancement and aquaculture in N ew York,shellfish biology, spawning an d h atchery culture, harvest-ing, field grow out, seeding and experimentation.
Executive assistant participates
in shellfish culture workshop
Corps kids
FEST A members at Fort Irwin, Calif. interviewing acontractor at a bid opening.
Each year , pr imari ly during the summermon ths, hun dred s of visitors, nature enthu siasts, rec-reation seekers, and local residents make a trek to
Vermont’s 850-acre Waterbury Reservoir campsite.They make the journ ey to enjoy the outd oor activitiesavailable along the 19 miles of pr istine shoreline. Theyfind the p opu lar area to be perfect for camp ing, fish-ing, hiking, and w ater sports.
However, during recent years, the slopedbanks along the shoreline had become unstable dueto erosion and p osed a safety hazard .
In response, the Corps u sed trad itional and in-novative engineering techniques to make the banks
of the reservoir safer.The erosion is believed to be due to a
number of factors including the drawdown of the reservoir that is performed every winterwh en the camp ground closes and w ave actionfrom recreational boats impacting the previ-ously exposed shoreline.
In 2000, the State of Vermont loweredthe reservoir due to safety concerns at the
nearby Waterbury Dam and lowered it againin 2002 wh en the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
began construction work on the dam .
The Corps designed and managed the
construction of the dam in 1935 in response toa flooding d isaster and since then h as periodi-cally modified it.
In recent years, the dam has experiencedseepage p roblems and the Corp s’ New York District, with the assistance of other Corp s dis-tricts, has been making repairs that are expected to becompleted this fall.
To perform these repairs the reservoir was low-ered in 2002 to 520 feet, which is norm ally at 590 feet,sum mer pool level. Presently, the water is at 550 feet,and will be back to summ er pool level wh en the work is comp leted.
The sloped banks of the reservoir are veg-etated. When the reservoir w as lowered it exposed the
lower portions of the bank that are not vegetated.
This exposed ban k causes the soil on the u p-per part of the bank to erode and uproot vegetation,
Corps project reduces erosion at recreation areaBy JoAnne Castagna, Ed.D., PPMD
View from the crest of the dam looking out over the reservoir as it
is being refilled.
P h o t o : M a r t y G o
f f
especially du ring ra infall. When th e vegetation is lost,
this leaves upper portions of the bank exposed andsubject to erosion.
When th e ground is exposed it makes it easyfor ground water to p ercolate out of the soil and con-
tribute further to the slope’s erosion and add ing ad-d itional soil to the reservoir.
If this runoff continues the camp ground canloose large portions of land and the w ater quality ofthe reservoir and dow nstream river will be adverselyimpacted.
In ad dition, the flow of sediment into the res-ervoir creates turbidity, muddy water, reduces the
water ’s oxygen level and increases the water ’s tem-peratu re, wh ich can harm w ater habitats.
This summ er, the Corp s in collaboration w iththe State of Vermont constructed a shoreline stabili-zation project for 1,100 feet of reservoir shoreline u s-ing both traditional and bioengineering method s.
“Trad itional techniques are being used to sta-bilize the bottom of the slope,” said Marty Goff, projectengineer, New York District. “This includes usingstone, or riprap , on the toe, or the bottom, of the slope.
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers • New York District14
District attends Passaic River SymposiumCol. Aniello L. Tortora, Commander, New
York District along w ith Peter Wepp ler and Pau lTumminello participated in the Passaic River Sym-posiu m Oct. 13 at Montclair State Univer sity, N.J.
They spoke to over 200 attendees includingindividuals from academia, the private sector,partn ering agencies, and congressional representa-tives.
They discussed the Corps’ efforts in thePassaic River Basin includ ing the ecosystem resto-ration, federal navigation and flood d amage red uc-tion.
“We are long on the way to restoring thePassaic River as a critical comp onent of a w orld class
estuary,” said Tortora.
“This symposium w as an opp ortunity for theCorps to p resent our on going projects to the pu blic,to communicate and share ideas with project part-ners and stakeholders and to have a forum to learn
from researchers in the field studying the Passaic,”said Megan Grubb, District project manager of theLower Passaic Ecosystem Restoration FeasibilityStudy.
Passaic River Symposium attendees (l-r) Dr. Kirk Barrett, director,
Passaic River Institute, Montclair State University; Alan Steinberg,
Administrator, U.S. EPA Region 2; Lisa Jackson, Commissioner,
NJ DEP; Lisa Baron, project manager NJ DOT and representing
the Hudson-Delaware Chapter, Society of Environmental Toxicol-
ogy ad Chemistry; Col. Aniello L. Tortora, Commander, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, New York District; and Mark Stout, assistant
commissioner, planning and development, N.J. DOT.
The weight of the stone p revents wav e actionfrom moving or removing the stone and p revents scor-ing or erosion of the toe of the slope. This par t of theslope must remain stable in order for the upperreaches, wh ich were stabilized using bioengineeringtechniques, to remain in p lace and function prop erly.”
Bioengineering techniques are a variety of method s that use dorm ant plant cuttings from wood yplants to alleviate soil erosion. The plants are placedin specific arrangements in the soil dep end ing up onthe technique. The cuttings come from p lants that rooteasily. The root system of the plan ts helps to hold thesoil together p reventing sedimen t loss.
Only native plants are being u sed. The toe, orbottom, of the slope w ill be planted with w illow, dog-wood and alder species to provide qu ick rooting. Theremaining slope will be planted with a mix of lowgrowing to med ium sized shru b species.
Along the top of the slope w hite pine and east-ern hemlock are being planted to maintain the aes-thetic consistency of the cam ping area.
“The State of Vermont has been a strong pro-ponen t of bioengineering and they encouraged us touse it in this p roject,” said Goff. “The Corp s has u sedbioengineering in the past, but just using grass. Thisis the first time w e used native plants. This is a depar-ture from the more trad itional app roach, wh ich typi-cally involves steel sheet pile and back-filling. Theresult is a more natu ral and sustainable slope.”
Combining traditional and bioengineeringtechniques is beneficial because a stable slope is be-ing achieved without d iminishing the natural app ear-
ance of the area. The project will not have the“engineered” look of many slope stabilization projects
The toe stabilization at the bottom of the slopesis comp leted. Grass seed is now being layed d own onthe tops o f the s lopes fo r immedia te s lopestabililization. This fall a mix of live cuttings and con-tainers of wood y vegetation, such as shrubs an d treesare being planted on the slopes for long-term stabili-zation. Planting in the fall is more condu ctive to p lantsurvival than p lanting d uring the sum mer.
Corps project reduces erosion at recreation area (cont.d from page 13)
In today’s world, the number of peop le who need h elp is rising exponen-
tially and the Combined Federal Cam-paign gives federal employees a chance
to combat these issues by provid ing a fo-cused, cost-efficient opportunity to im-prove the quality of life for all.
The CFC campaign for this year kicked off Sept. 1 and will end Dec. 15.
Employees are given quite a bit of freedomwh en it comes to choosing w hich charities they w ishto supp ort, providing a personal touch should th at al-lows them to focus their d onations on areas of inter-est such as cancer research, helping the homeless orcombating world hunger.
CFC isn’t a program that requ ires major cashdon ations in order for someone to make an imp act.
For instance, contributing $1 per pay period
New York District kicks off Combined Federal Campaign
for an entire year can help p rovide in-novative, patient-focused cancer re-
search or hot nutritious meals everyday for a week for a senior citizen w ho
otherw ise might go to bed h un gry. Fig-uring out h ow to give is also easy.
A volunteer from each office will en-sure th at all employees receive a catalogue listing theinternational, national and local charities that are eli-gible for the CFC.
The volunteer will also provide a pledge cardthat asks that you specify the amou nt of your gift andthe organization to receive his or her su pp ort. The CFCcatalogue includes a brief statement written by eachparticipating group describing its work, a p hone nu m-ber, web site ad dress to learn m ore about the charity
and a percentage figure stating what portion of thegroup’s total income is spent on management andfundraising activity.
Mary Gauker, deputy for the program and
project managem ent comm un ity of practice facilitatedan information session at New York District in Julyfor project managers. It was held to increase aware-ness of the program an d th e importan ce of becomingcertified, an d to p rovide information resources avail-able throu gh the PPM CoP. Also covered w ere the his-tory, functions and activities of the PPM CoP.
Gauker has been performing the “PPM CoPRoad Show,” as she refers to it, since last year, and hergoal it to take the road show to every Corps d ivisionand district.
She gave an up date of initiatives with an em-phasis on career development and efforts to profes-sionalize the USACE project manager disciplinethrough a formalized certification process.
PMP certification show s that the p roject man-
ager is comm itted to their profession, and the creden-tial lends credibility to the discipline of projectmanagement.
“Project managers who are interested in be-
coming certified now have clear priorities for their
Mary Gauker, P.E.
CoP Road Show paves path for PM successBy JoAnne Castagna, Ed.D., PPMD
By Kenneth Wells
New York District contributed
over $2.8 million in 2005-2006.
Photo:JoAnne
Castagna
training and developm ent. By
following the new career de-velopment plan they will be-come more effective projectmanagers and their w ork willenhance the effectiveness of the Corps as an organization,”said Gau ker.
“PM certification is a clear demonstration ofan individuals’ professional competency that is rec-ognized not only in the project management arena,but a lso the entire ind ustry,” said Anthony Levesanos,
Depu ty Chief, Programs and Project Management.“I found out the pu rpose of the PPM CoP and
how it can ben efit us – it’s a large netw ork ou t therefor u s to obtain an d share information. I learned aboutthe Army Corps Career Development Program andthat the Corps is encouraging project managers toenhance their careers and obtain PM Certification,”said att end ee Rifat Salim, project manager, PPMD.
Corps project managers seeking additional information
should visit: https://eko.usace.army.mil/usacecop/ppm
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers • New York District16
A reminder for all employees
Personnel accountability procedures in the event of an emergency:
In the event of an emergency, New York District personnel should first make every effort to contact theirsupervisor in accordance with locally established plans.
For some reason, if personnel are unable to follow local personnel accountability procedures, employ-ees should then use the USACE toll-free phone number or alternatively use the e-mail address within 72hours of an emergency or an evacuation. Toll free phone number: 1-877-HI-USACE 1-877-448-7223