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  • September

    Engineers Talk Football

    Engineers from Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, discuss football.

  • July

    Col. Aaron L. Dorf, Portland District incoming commander, holds the District’s colors during a change of command ceremony, July 28 at the Sentinel Hotel, Portland. Dorf was most recently a student at the National Security Program at the Canadian Forces College in Toronto, Canada.

    New commander takes charge

    Col. Aaron L. Dorf became commander of the Portland District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during a ceremony, July 28. Dorf took command from Col. Jose L. Aguilar, who served as commander of Portland District since April 15, 2014. Aguilar had high praise for his staff.
  • Th e 1973-1975 version of The Dalles Dam Tour Train consisted of a 25-ton General Electric locomotive and partially-enclosed passenger car painted a matching green and yellow.

    Memories of Les Dalles Portage Railroad

    The Dalles Lock & Dam had a railroad that ferried visitors from the parking lot at what is now Seufert Park to the dam from 1973 - 2005.

  • June

    Roger Schlough, Bonneville Lock and Dam crane operator, navigates a canoe down the Long Tom River in the Willamette Valley, June 13. Schlough floated the river with about 20 others from the Portland District, the Long Tom Watershed Council and a private citizen to get a better understanding of the challenges and issues of maintaining the channel.

    Float trip conveys canoers, concerns on Corps-altered river

    After the alterations, the Long Tom River was straighter, deeper, wider and, combined with an upstream dam, reduced flood risks to the downstream communities. In the years that followed, the Corps managed the river by balancing flood risk and environmental stewardship with less and less funding for maintenance.
  • An aerial view of flooding along the Willamette River during the Flood of 1996. The Eugene and Springfield area could look like this if Cougar Dam completely failed.

    Living with dams: deluge an ever-present possibility

    If Cougar were to completely fail, that water would rush 60 miles down the McKenzie River, washing away everything in its path, until it reached the Eugene and Springfield area. The deluge could make Eugene and Springfield look like Corvallis, Oregon City and Portland after the Flood of 1996; although no dams failed during that event. That image, and the desire to do everything possible to keep it from becoming reality, was the backdrop for a recent inspection at Cougar Dam, May 24.
  • Water from spring runoff fills Green Peter Reservoir near Sweet Home, Oregon, Apr. 12. Portland District reservoirs don’t depend on snowpack to fill. Instead, the reservoirs depend on spring and early summer rain. (Corps of Engineers photo)

    Good snowpack doesn’t ensure good water levels

    This past winter, Oregon received plenty of precipitation and snowpack was more than 170 percent of its average in some areas, according to the National Resources Conservation Service. Many people may believe this is cause for celebration in a state that has seen drought conditions during much of the past few years. And although it is good news, snowpack doesn’t mean Portland District’s reservoirs will be full throughout the summer.
  • Portland District natural resource management staff attends 2017 Natural Resources Management (NRM) Workshop.

    Rangers Join Colleagues to Ready for the Recreation Season

    In preparation for the recreation seasons, more than 350 park rangers, natural resource managers and environmental compliance coordinators gathered in Norman, Okl. For the first time in seven years, they had the opportunity to engage colleagues from across the Corps to strengthen and develop technical competencies, foster learning opportunities, and build strong communities of practice.

  • May

    Richard Benoit, Portland District dive team proponent and program manager, has been deployed for more than a year, first to Afghanistan and now to Iraq to inspect underwater tunnels and steel structures at Mosul Dam. (Corps of Engineers Photo)

    ISIS, potential dam collapse make deployment memorable

    Richard Benoit, Portland District dive team proponent and program manager, has been deployed for more than a year, first to Afghanistan and now to Iraq. This is his seventh overseas deployment, but his first to the Middle East, where he is serving as the Corps’ dive safety officer and dive safety inspector for the Mosul Dam rehabilitation and repair project.

  • February

    The Dredge Yaquina facing seaward in Vigor Shipyard’s dry dock.

    Maintaining the ships that maintain Western and Pacific shipping channels

    The Corps' dredges Essayons and Yaquina go into dry dock every winter for maintenance so they are ready when spring comes to dredge vital shipping channels in Oregon, California, Washington, Alaska and Hawaii.

  • June

    KGW-TV reporter Drew Carney "interviews" Bobber the Water Safety Dog about life jackets and water safety on May 19 as part of Carney's Out & About segment on KGW’s Sunrise program.

    Dramatic plunge helps Corps focus viewers on water safety

    Representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Portland District and Oregon State Marine Board appeared live on Portland's KGW-TV to talk about water safety, explain how life jackets save lives and demonstrate different life jacket styles. One heroic team member was pushed into the Willamette River to show the effects of cold water immersion and confirm the critical job of a life jacket.