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  • October

    Debris is tangled around a navigation aid near Thunderbolt.

    Savannah District teams up to keep commerce flowing

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – While many Savannah residents clogged roads returning home following Hurricane Matthew last week, a small group worked to ensure a major artery into the city — the Savannah River – remained clear.

  • USACE Chief of Engineers tracks Savannah Harbor Expansion Project

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief of Engineers Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite visited the Savannah District Oct. 13 to track progress of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, one of 15 most significant projects across USACE.
  • A temporary emergency power team tracks critical facilities awaiting assessments during a regional power mission exercise conducted July 20 at the Federal Emergency Management Agency Distribution Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The team replicated a temporary emergency power deployment in response to a simulated natural disaster. The three-day training and exercise tested the team's ability to execute temporary emergency power operations.

    Check our Social Media pages for Hurricane Recovery Updates

    Employees of the Savannah District are encouraged to monitor the district's Facebook page

  • September

    Fuel Island at Hunter Army Airfield pictured Sept. 27, 2016 during a final inspection. The site now hosts the 21st century standard for fuel systems after about $13 million in infrastructure improvements and construction work.

    Hunter Army Airfield’s Fuel Island goes ‘green’

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – Fuel Island at Hunter Army Airfield now hosts the 21st century standard for fuel systems after about $13 million in infrastructure improvements and construction work which began in 2014.

  • SHEP mitigation projects trucking along

    Nearly two decades in the making, the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, or SHEP, continues to gain momentum with more contracts awarded and new ground broken.

  • SHEP's water impoundment nearly 30% complete

    Now almost 30 percent complete, the raw-water storage impoundment dike walls are currently four feet above ground level. With a circumference of two-thirds of a mile, they will be 29 feet high, encircle 17 acres and hold 97 million gallons of water when complete.

  • August

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District staff participate in a celebration of the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary at Fort Pulaski National Monument near Savannah, Georgia Aug. 25, 2016. The centennial celebrated the achievements of the past 100 years and ushers in a new century of stewardship for America’s national parks.

    Corps celebrates National Park Service's centennial

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Savannah District staff participate in a celebration of the National Park Service’s 100th anniversary at Fort Pulaski National Monument near Savannah, Georgia Aug. 25, 2016. The centennial celebrated the achievements of the past 100 years and ushers in a new century of stewardship for America’s national parks
  • Dissolved Oxygen Injection System progress.

    Major SHEP mitigation feature progresses

    SAVANNAH, Ga. -- A panoramic view into the cofferdam at the down river dissolved oxygen injection system construction site, Aug. 17, 2016. Workers are pouring concrete for the foundation this week.
  • Col. Marvin Griffin, commander of the Savannah District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (left) and Spencer Davis, a project manager for the Savannah District, update Undersecretary of the Army Patrick Murphy (right) on the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project. The SHEP will deepen the harbor an additional 5 feet to better accommodate larger, post-Panamax container ships.

    Undersecretary of the Army visits Savannah District

    SAVANNAH, Ga. -- Undersecretary of the Army Patrick Murphy met with Savannah District leaders to tour significant projects Aug. 11, 2016. Murphy took an aerial tour of the Savannah Harbor as part of his visit to Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia. The Savannah District is responsible for maintaining the Savannah harbor and is in the process of deepening it an additional 5 feet to better accommodate larger, post-Panamax container ships, as part of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP).
  • Jennifer Murphy-Mason, a Savannah District contracting officer, wins the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 2015 Procurement Contracting Officer of the Year for major contributions to two features of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project. Murphy-Mason is pictured Aug. 8 with her award, symbolizing the culmination of managing more than 1,249 contract actions valuing $674 million during the nominating period. Murphy-Mason accepted the award July 26 at the National Contract Management Association World Congress held in Orlando, Florida. Her 14-year Corps career began as a student in the district's Contracting Division in 2002. In 2010, she received a contracting officer warrant, which allows contracting staff to obligate the government for contracting actions. 2015 was a breakout year for Murphy-Mason, who won her first national awards for PCO of the Year and Project Development Team of the Year, the latter received for her contributions to a collective effort.

    Top contracting officer wins prestigious USACE award

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – Besting more than 400 eligible procurement contracting officers across the Corps of Engineers, Jennifer Murphy-Mason was recognized nationally as the Procurement Contracting Officer of the Year for fiscal year 2015.
  • Operator Trainee Les Rice poses before Thurmond Dam's spillway gates July 6. Rice is a 4th-year operator trainee in the Savannah District's Operator Training Program. The competitive program accepts only an elite crop of qualified candidates who must endure 4-5 years of demanding requirements surrounding dam operations.

    Demanding management program sets great expectations

    AUGUSTA, Ga. – J. Strom Thurmond Dam currently operates at 98 percent proficiency but its operators are expected to perform above this percentage.

  • July

    Nanson Petit-Homme, a logistics coordinator, and Nancy Church, a logistic subject matter expert, track generators in a staging area established for a regional power mission exercise conducted July 20 at the Federal Emergency Management Agency Distribution Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

    Temporary emergency power team readies for hurricane season

    ATLANTA, Ga. – With fair skies all over the Southeast, inside an emergency operations center (EOC) Hurricane “Noree” pummels coastal and inland Georgia. She displaces more than 30,000 individuals and leaves the state’s most-populated, economic hub crippled in the dark.
  • Maintenance workers at the Hartwell Power Plant perform repairs on Unit 5 during a scheduled biennial inspection in June 2016. The team improves operational efficiency by rehabilitating deficient generators in-house, cutting losses of up to $12,000 per day. Losses are calculated on the basis of imminent failure if issues aren't identified and addressed immediately, according to Ryan Hanna, a Hartwell Power Plant hydropower manager.

    Hartwell power plant repairs increase efficiency, cuts costs

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – A maintenance team is improving operational efficiency and cutting costs at the Hartwell Dam Power Plant by rehabilitating deficient generators. Recently, staff thwarted the imminent failure of unit 4 when several burnt coils were discovered during scheduled biennial outages. The timely discovery resulted in an economical response that returned the unit online within its established biennial outage.

  • A new resource for USACE: How to identify and engage socially vulnerable populations

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – Deliberately focusing on people from lower socio-economic backgrounds clustered near civil works projects eases the job of gaining public approval, according to Corps experts’ recent study.
  • An endangered wood stork comes in for a landing at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge in South Carolina.

    Listening to the pulse of the Savannah River

    A soft breeze rustled the marsh grasses as James “Jim” Rothnie carefully placed a fresh canvas on his easel. Morning light sparkled on the waters of the ACE Basin nearby. Quietly, he crept closer to the dozen lounging birds, their elegant snow-white plumage contrasting sharply with leathery, bald heads. Wood storks were one of his favorite sightings.

  • June

    A capture of Aaron Wahus, park operations manager at J. Strom Thurmond Project, capturing the sunrise while assigned as Thurmond's chief ranger of recreation in 2005. The photo was taken at the first morning launch of the 2005 Bass Masters Tournament hosted at Thurmond Lake.

    Illustrious career keeps growing and growing

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – Aaron Wahus’ 23-year Corps career matured into a park operations manager assignment at J. Strom Thurmond Project but his insatiable craving for new challenges made room for another career growth spurt. For four months, Wahus strengthened his functional muscle during a grooming assignment as head of the Baltimore District’s Tioga-Hammond and Cowanesque projects from Feb. 21 – June 19.
  • Mark Hiscox, a student in Auburn University's Construction Management Program and contracting specialist at the Savannah District, displays contracting and construction tools of the trade at district headquarters June 15, 2016. Hiscox is one of more than 60 district employees who've enrolled in the degree-awarding program promoted to mend information and communication gaps between construction and contracting specialists. The program blends practical and professional construction education principles for working professionals. It also focuses on holistic communities of practice for students who need to understand interdisciplinary concepts in dynamic team environments.

    Auburn program helps contracting staff redefine business as usual

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – A few hard-charging Savannah District professionals looking to rattle business as usual enrolled in Auburn University’s Construction Management Program, a degree-awarding program promoted to mend information and communication gaps between construction and contracting specialists.
  • Metro Savannah-area teachers join marine archaeologists, Civil War re-enactors and other specialists to learn how to integrate science, technology, engineer and math (STEM) lessons from the recovery of the ironclad CSS Georgia into their classrooms. As part of the four-day institute delivered by Georgia Tech University in Savannah, the educators visit Old Fort Jackson, the location where the under-powered warship was anchored in the early 1860s. The visit to Old Fort Jackson allowed them to learn how evolving technology impacted the soldiers and sailors at the fort and aboard the CSS Georgia. Through hands-on demonstrations, the teachers employed several basic engineering and technology actions which can be adapted to classroom instruction. They also observed underwater archaeology techniques used to locate the CSS Georgia wreck on the bottom of the Savannah River. The teachers saw first-hand the methods used to pinpoint thousands of artifacts recovered from the scuttled vessel during 2015. Leading marine archaeologist Stephen James demonstrated the sophisticated equipment used to guide divers through the zero-visibility waters of the Savannah River. The Teachers’ Institute ran from May 31 through June 3, 2016, and was funded through the community involvement portion of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project (SHEP). The SHEP will deepen the Savannah harbor from 42 feet to 47 feet.

    Educators turn lessons learned into lesson plans

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – The school year continued for 15 educators who returned to the classroom to unearth ways to bring curriculum to life during the CSS Georgia Teacher’s Institute held May 31 – June 3 at Georgia Tech Savannah.

  • May

    Laying the pre-foundation

    SAVANNAH, Ga. — Construction continued on the dissolved oxygen injection system at two sites along the Savannah River last week. This time-lapse video shows workers installing a cofferdam as part of what will become the foundation for a series of Speece cones.
  • A few Diamond Elementary School students view the makings of an outdoor amphitheater at the construction site of the new school May 3. Thirteen contest winners of Archer Western Contractor’s poster contest toured the site currently under construction at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Diamond students from kindergarten through sixth-grade submitted posters emphasizing safety themes in recognition of Safety Week celebrated May 2-6. The winning submissions were printed on the firm’s calendar that will be available throughout the Fort Stewart community.

    Lucky 13 tour new Diamond Elementary School site

    SAVANNAH, Ga. – Excavators, bulldozers and dump trucks garnished the construction site of the new Diamond Elementary School where 13 wide-eyed students discovered diamonds aren’t forever but they can be your best friend.