Portland District News

The simply written stories of the complicated Bonneville Dam safety classification: Bonneville Dam is really complicated

Andria Allmond — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 19:01:04 GMT

Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of news commentaries on the Bonneville Dam safety reclassification. In this edition, the author will explain the basis of the reclassification, with future articles addressing specific aspects influencing the reclassification and evaluation. 

Erosion moves mountains: USACE’s relentless reply to the Mount St. Helens eruption

Andria Allmond — Wed, 01 Jul 2026 21:17:00 GMT

After more than a century of quiet brooding, Mount St. Helens, known to the Cowlitz as Lawetlat’la, or The Smoking Mountain, began to announce its impending wrath. In the end, the mountain’s eruption would prove to not be singular event, but the beginning of a decades-long geological and engineering challenge.

People, Peril and Perseverance: The Enduring Legacy of the Coos Bay North Jetty

Pentagon News — Fri, 15 May 2026 15:39:00 GMT

The early 1800s heralded a period of immense change for the Coos Bay area with the arrival of its first non-Indigenous people: fur traders seeking fortune and military expeditions charting the new frontier. The discovery of gold and coal along Oregon’s southern coast in the 1850s intensified the rush of land speculation that followed.

Gold Beach gets a rockin' repair at the Rogue

Pentagon News — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 20:16:00 GMT

After months of pre-construction planning, last week the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Portland District, began a critical $3,021,620 repair of the Rogue River South Jetty. The project, awarded to contractor Suulutaqq Inc., will ensure the long-term reliability of the vital navigation channel at Gold Beach.

USACE joins OMSI event commemorating 30th anniversary of ’96 floods

Pentagon News — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 01:12:47 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Portland District, is proud to announce its participation in the Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) event, "30th Anniversary of the February '96 Floods."

Corps of Engineers vs. Pineapple Express: Looking back on the 1996 Oregon Floods

Pentagon News — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 23:17:00 GMT

In early February 1996, a jet stream steered a warm pineapple express into a snow-covered Pacific Northwest.

USACE completes South Jetty repairs, concludes decade-long Mouth of Columbia River project

Portland District — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 13:00:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Portland District, has completed major rehabilitation to the South Jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River, marking the end of a decade-plus effort to restore the three jetties that protect one of the nation’s busiest trade corridors.

45 Years Later, the Engineers Who Faced the Volcano Remember

Emilia Foster — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 13:45:00 GMT

When a volcano erupts hurling millions of cubic yards of sediment onto the surrounding area and into local rivers, how does a community deal with it, and where does all that sediment go?

Corps of Engineers aids community in flood fight

Emilia Foster and Kerry Solan — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 20:09:00 GMT

A confluence of forces – early spring snowmelt, rogue rodent holes, and a compromised levee – brought forth a deluge that escalated into an intense, ongoing flood fight in March in the high desert town of Burns, Oregon.

From Villain to Victor: History of the Bald Eagle Watch

Amber Tilton — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 19:15:00 GMT

Bald eagle watches are a popular winter event in many states with wintering eagle populations. Watches began after eagle populations crashed in the 1960s to share information about challenges threatening the birds’ survival.

‘Man Overboard’: Dredge vessel crew saves woman swept away by Columbia River

Kerry Solan — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:38:00 GMT

It was the sound – something like a scream – that first caught their attention.

Lyle Wold: 50 years of public service, would he ever retire?

Amber Tilton — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 16:18:00 GMT

Army veteran and civil servant Lyle Wold is retiring and explains his commitment to the nation after over 50 years of combined federal service.

Corps trains for ‘Super Bowl of disasters’

Chris Gaylord — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 22:05:00 GMT

The Corps of Engineers' Northwestern Division led a regional exercise June 14-16 to prepare its teams of emergency planners, operators, and engineers for the possibility of a severe earthquake from the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

Corps bracing for another challenging water year in Willamette Basin

Pentagon News — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 16:51:48 GMT

Despite substantial help from recent rain and snow events, Army water managers are bracing for another challenging year as they work to refill 13 Willamette Valley reservoirs for the upcoming conservation season.

Climbers inspect Bonneville Lock's miter gate

Tom Conning, Public Affairs Office — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 22:37:00 GMT

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers maintains and assesses the locks along the Columbia and Snake rivers on an annual basis to keep an estimated $23 billion dollars’ worth of commerce flowing.

That sounds fishy: demonized trash fish finally gets some respect

Tom Conning, Public Affairs Office — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 17:30:00 GMT

Leaves are changing, the weather is cooling and getting wetter, and Fred Meyer is stocking its shelves with Christmas decorations, which means it’s October. Instead of skipping ahead to winter holidays, let’s fall back and celebrate autumn and Halloween by highlighting a fish that has been demonized in the past, partly for its looks, and partly for our past perceptions of it as a blood-sucking, bottom-feeding trash fish*: the Pacific lamprey.

Mother Nature can be comforting but has scolded (scalded) us this year

Tom Conning, Public Affairs Office — Wed, 01 Sep 2021 20:35:04 GMT

Mother Nature can be comforting and calm but this year it seems like she used our first, middle and last name as she scolded (or scalded) us … “Pacific North [emphasis added] West, what in the world were you thinking?!” … for punching our hypothetical little sister (California). Our punishment has been drought, record-breaking temperatures, wildfires and extremely dry conditions throughout the region. Even though the early part of this summer was a scorching hot nightmare, north western Oregon is fortunate to have a consistent flow of water – thanks to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ system of dams and reservoirs in the Willamette Valley.

That sounds fishy: fish ladders at high-head dams impractical, largely unneeded

Tom Conning, Public Affairs Office — Mon, 19 Jul 2021 15:55:32 GMT

Humans. What other sentient being designs a tool requiring hands and feet and expects animals without limbs to use it? Alas, the answer is humans. Humans created a ladder for fish, which is quite effective in certain situations – but isn’t a blanket solution to every fish passage problem. And while most humans would agree that ladders can be useful for climbing short distances, perhaps 20-50 feet– another tool – like an elevator or truck – may be a better option to climb hundreds of feet. Otherwise, there would need to be more infrastructure to support that ladder, or perhaps it would need to be a staircase at that point. This is similar for fish when moving them up and downstream.

Big Bertha heads to Benson Beach, battles erosion

Kerry Solan — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 23:00:08 GMT

Off the coast of Oregon, Big Bertha moves in the water, inching toward land. Bertha, as her government creators to refer to it, is the result of three years of inter-agency planning. Her architects; some of whom work for the Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; conscripted half of Portland District’s dredge fleet to scrape the river bottom and collect what was to become Bertha: a migrating mound of sand.

That sounds fishy: twisting traps troll tributaries in the Willamette

Tom Conning, Public Affairs Office — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 19:13:29 GMT

The bulky contraptions float listlessly downstream of three dams in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. The buoyant, metal devices hold large screws that the water flow turns. This twist of the screw – creating a creaking, rasping, scraping sound – generates enough hydraulics to keep small fish from escaping the slowly spinning, cone-shaped collectors – or, screw traps.