Yankee Engineer - New England District, U.S. Army Corps of ...€¦ · YANKEE ENGINEER April 2008 5...

US Army Corpsof EngineersNew England DistrictVolume 42, No. 6

Yankee Engineer

Yankee Voices..................................2Commander's Column....................3Safety Award...................................3Steve DiLorenzo retires.................8NH In-Lieu Fee Agreement..........10New Wetland Rule..........................11Dredging up the Past.......................12

LynneBleakneyretiresPage 6

Hysler isHard HatnomineePage 4

New England District representa-tives joined members of the 94th Re-gional Readiness Command andWestover Air Reserve Base at a cel-ebration that will start a project that willbe beneficial to the nation.

A groundbreaking ceremony tomark the start of construction of theWestover Armed Forces Reserve Cen-ter took place at the Westover AirReserve Base, in Chicopee, Mass.,March 21.

Through the “One-Door-To-The-Corps” concept, the Louisville Districtissued the design-build contract for thereserve center project and the NewEngland District Westover ResidentOffice is performing the constructionmanagement. The new facility will be a1,000 square foot center, housing jointservices. When the new reserve cen-ter is complete and ready for occu-pancy, the McArthur Army ReserveCenter and the Windsor Locks Area

Maintenance Support Activity Shop inConnecticut will close the current fa-cilities and move in. They will be joinedby other Army Reserve, Massachu-setts Army National Guard, and Ma-rine Corps Reserve Units.

Lt. Col. Stephen Lefebvre repre-sented both the New England and Lou-isville Districts at the event. He praisedthe partnership the Corps of Engineersis sharing with the local Congressional

District, partners break ground on new Reserve Center

Lt. Col. Stephen Lefebvre (3rd from right) joins District partners in breaking the ground for the new reserve center at Westover Air Reserve Base inChicopee, Mass.

Continued on page 10

April 2008

Photo by Linda Jelanowski

District Commander ...........................................Col. Curtis L. ThalkenChief, Public Affairs ...............................................Larry B. Rosenberg

Editor ........................................................................................Ann Marie R. HarvieMedia Relations Officer...............................................................Timothy J. DuganPublic Affairs Specialist.................................................................Sally M. Rigione

YANKEE ENGINEER is an authorized unofficial Army newspaper underprovisions of AR 360-1 published monthly. Views and opinions expressedare not necessarily those of the Department of the Army. Contributionsfrom readers are solicited, but publication depends on judgment of the editor.No payment will be made for contributions. Published by the Public AffairsOffice, New England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 696 VirginiaRoad, Concord MA 01742-2751, 978-318-8777. Printed by the offsetmethod on recyclable paper by the Defense Printing Office in Boston, Mass.Circulation 1600. The YANKEE ENGINEER can be found on the WorldWide Web at http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/news/yankee.htm

2 YANKEE ENGINEERApril 2008

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New England College student does internshipat Franklin Falls and Blackwater DamsBy Amanda Lavallee, New England College Senior

In the fall of 2007, my advisorand friend, Sarah Frost, called me totell me I absolutely had to comedown to campus to meet someone— a good friend of hers and muchtalked about name at New EnglandCollege, Jennifer Rockett, ParkRanger at Franklin Falls Dam.

Jen was visiting the college torepresent the U.S. Army Corps ofEngineers at NEC’s annual Job andInternship Fair, and Sarah thought itwould be an advantageous idea tostart up a conversation about aninternship for the spring semester —my last semester before graduating.

At first I wasn’t that into it. I was looking for something where I could work withkids and be outside; a teaching position where I could laugh and lead trips. However,after talking to Jen on the phone a couple of times about all of the possibilities forinternship projects, I realized what a valuable opportunity this could be to practicesome of the skills I’d acquired throughout my education and potentially open doorsto future career paths.

This semester we’ve examined daily weather, performed snow surveys to figureout water content for spring runoff, worked with a fourth grade class in Danbury ona multi-disciplinary Iditarod unit, have gone snowshoeing at Blackwater Dam tocheck sites for wood duck vitality, performed monthly maintenance in the dam’s gatehouse, and have gone on a few property tours. We also have plans to work on re-vamping the Franklin Falls activity center.

Through all of these activities I’ve strengthened my science background, learneda great deal about the history and forestry duties of the USACE and have had noshortage of the outdoors and laughter.

… to Steve Patchkofsky, tempo-rary Project Manager at Hop BrookLake, and his wife, Nanci, on thebirth of their son, Tyler, on March23. He joins his sister, Cori, in thefamily circle.…to Lt. Michelle Stivers of theCHBCO for winning the WECommittee’s Jelly Bean Count Con-test. Her guess of 2,921 was thecloset to he actual number of 2,976jelly beans without going over...to Jay Provenzano for beingnamed the WE Committee’s Em-ployee of the Month for April. Provenzano received the awardfor his outstanding customer ser-vice when taking care of computerproblems throughout the District.…to the Lewis and Clark Dis-covery School Outreach Teamfor being named the WECommittee’s Team of the Quarter.Team members are Sally Rigione,Delia Vogel, Rick Kristoff, ViolaBramel and Joan Gardner for April-June 2008. The team presentedprograms on the Lewis and ClarkExpedition to more than 400 stu-dents and 20 teachers in four localschools within three weeks.

Congratulations

Col. Curtis Thalken, Judy Antonellis andCol. Andrew Nelson

From Left: Jennifer Rockett and Amanda Lavalleeconduct snow surveys for the Merrimack Basinwatershed.

YANKEE ENGINEERApril 2008 3

Commander's Corner:The District construction season is hereby Col. Curtis L. ThalkenDistrict Commander

Brig. Gen. Todd Semonite, North Atlantic DivisionCommander, made a trip to New England District head-quarters to present the NAD Quarterly Safety Award tothe District Safety Team, March 19.

According to the Division’s Safety Award Policy, thequarterly award recognized the District team that bestdevelops and executes the Division’s Safety ManagementSystem initiatives that promotes organizational involve-ment and achieves injury rate reduction.

Among all of the accomplishments the District achievedduring the award-winning quarter, the fact that the removalof the District from the Department of Labor's Office ofWorkers’ Compensation Programs top 40 list was thehighlighted success.

Brig. Gen. Semonite presented the main award toSafety Chief Sean Dolan, who accepted on behalf of theDistrict. The Commander also presented certificates ofappreciation and NAD Safety coins to the New EnglandDistrict’s safety champions.

New England District safety champions nab Division Award

Brig. Gen. Todd Semonite addresses the audience before presenting theNAD Safety Award.

Photo by Mark McInerney

Now that spring has finallyarrived and we are about toenter the main construction sea-son for New England, I’d like toreturn to my January YankeeEngineer topic, “stop talking—start doing” (taken from a se-ries of IBM commercials) andgive an assessment of howwe’re doing. Stated anotherway, if we are living up to our

promised milestone and execution schedules then we remain“on time and on budget.” For illustrative purpose only, I’ll usethis year’s execution of our Civil Works program as anexample, but the inferences apply to both our Military andInternational and Interagency Support (IIS) programs aswell.

First, let’s look at our Civil Works milestone execution sofar this fiscal year. At the beginning of the current fiscal year,we identified 33 milestones for completion this fiscal year: 1– Alternatives Formulation Brief (AFB), 11 – DecisionDocuments (DDs), 9 – Project Cooperation Agreements

(PCAs), and 12 – Contract Awards (CAs). To date, only theAFB has been completed. We are behind schedule on 5 (4– DDs, and 1 – PCA), with 3 more (all CAs) due in May. Soas of the end of March we are 1/5 or 20 percent complete.Many of these milestones must be completed in order toobligate funds for the remainder of the year. Or statedanother way, we can only stay “on budget” if we stay “ontime.”

Now, let’s look at our current Civil Works financialexecution for the FY to date. We are half way through thefiscal year and had scheduled to obligate $24.4 million. Wehave actually obligated $23.7 million. This is a 97 percentexecution rate, well on the way to meeting the USACEperformance metric of 95 percent obligation for the year.However, FUSRAP execution (which is accounted for in theCivil Work’s appropriation) is well ahead of schedule withonly $1.5 million scheduled for obligation by the end of Marchand actual obligations totaling about $2.6 million. If FUSRAPis excluded, the rest of our Civil Works program has only a91 percent obligation rate—below the USACE standard of95 percent and even below the district's final FY07 obligationrate of 93 percent.

Our scheduled Civil Works obligations for the entire total$74.2 million. Back of the envelope, this tells me, we’re half

Continued on page 9


Craig Hysler, North Central Resi-dent Office, has been selected as NorthAtlantic Division’s nominee for the 2007USACE Hard Hat of the Year Award.Every year the Chief of Engineerspresents this prestigious award to themost outstanding construction field of-fice employee in the Corps of Engi-neers. By his selection as the NADnominee, Hysler has stood apart fromeveryone in the entire Division.

“Mr. Hysler’s work is at the high-est level and is well respected by his co-workers, peers, supervisors, federal andnon-federal agencies,” said Col. CurtisThalken, New England District Com-mander. “He exemplifies professional-

ism, is a role model for others and is asuperb candidate for this award nomi-nation.”

Nominees for Hard Hat of theYear must meet a very strict criteria toinclude a permanent assignment to afield office and in the position for morethan one year; must not be the Area orResident Engineer or cannot exceedGS-12; the nominee’s principal dutiesmust relate to management of con-struction and his or her performancestandards or job description must ad-dress quality management.

Hysler has been cited for outstand-ing performance many times since hejoined the Corps in New England back

in the late 1970’s. But it was his “aboveexceptional” year in 2007 that nettedhim the nod for the Hard Hat of theYear nomination. The Hard Hat of theYear recipient is expected to be an-nounced in the late spring/early sum-mer.

Hysler’s year began with theCocheco River Dredging project inDover, N.H. The 8a (small business)contractor who was awarded the jobdid not have dredging experience, andthe project was considered very diffi-cult because of the river’s narrow width,shallow bends, shallow depth and highlyforested riverbanks.

“Ledge needed to be blasted. The

Hysler is Division pick for Hard Hat of the YearA New England District Construction Representative has been nominated for one

of the highest construction awards in the Corps of Engineers.

Craig Hysler at the Border Patrol Station in Calais, Maine. The Calais Station was one of three stations that Hysler worked on in 2007.Photos by Christine Johnson-Battista


river froze and required ice breakingnumerous times to continue work,” saidsupervisor James Morocco about thechallenges on the project. Moroccoand Christine Johnson-Battista bothnominated Hysler for the award. “Elec-tronic global position satellite equip-

ment for positioning and depth determi-nation was often useless because thesignal was blocked out by the trees.”

A consummate team player whowanted the contractor and the projectto succeed, Hysler was on-site every-day – even giving up leave – until the

project was successfully completed.The dredging project was just the

beginning of his very busy year. InApril 2007, Hysler was tapped to workin Van Buren, Maine to provide qualityassurance for the third Border PatrolStation being built by the District alongthe Canadian border and was also in-volved in the Calais and Jackman, MaineBorder Patrol Stations. The BorderPatrol Station in Calais received anaward from the New England Con-struction Management Association ofAmerica.

"The variety of projects you haveworked on in your career is amazing,”wrote Brig. Gen. Todd Semonite, NorthAtlantic Division Engineer in a letter toHysler. “I appreciate your dedication inensuring that your projects are com-pleted on time, on budget, and to thesatisfaction of our customers. Also,your willingness to endure personalhardship to complete each mission is aninspiration."

In Van Buren, Hysler is continuingto work with two local first-time Corpscontractors and help them through theins and outs of working for the agency.While assisting the contractors, Hysleris also working with his Border Patrolcustomers with their list of User Re-quested Changes and dealing with theday-to-day design and construction is-sues.

The Van Buren assignment, whichis expected to continue until late sum-mer/early fall, has brought other chal-lenges – temperatures in the small townof a few hundred residents dove downto minus 30 degrees during the winter,which had a record snowfall of 200inches, and a seven hour commutefrom his home in Southern Maine – butaccording to Morocco, Hysler meetsall of the challenges professionally andwithout complaint. “It is his willingnessto go anywhere that the Corps needshim to go, and his perseverance that theproject can be completed, somehow,on time, within budget and with a satis-fied customer that truly stands himapart from the others.”

Rugged terrain, sub-zero temperatures and record snow falls were only some of the many challengesof building Border Patrol Stations in Maine. Craig Hysler met the challenges with professionalismand a sense of humor.

The Calais, Maine, Border Patrol Station is an award-winning facility, thanks in part to CraigHysler.


“Welcome Aboard, Lynnie! YouRock!”

Sentiments like that one shoutedout by retiree Bruce Zawacki to LynneBleakney during her retirement partyat Hanscom Officer’s Club on March18 set the tone for the not quite rowdy,but definitely fun affair. Over 95 peopleto include family, friends, retirees andDistinguished Civilian Gallery mem-bers traveled from as far away asVirginia to celebrate with Bleakneyand wish her a happy retirement.

Steve Andon welcomed the audi-ence and introduced Bleakney’s fam-ily, retirees and special guests.

Tim Winter, Chief InformationManagement, served as Master ofCeremonies. He talked about the manythings that he and Bleakney have incommon – their age and their love ofInformation Technology and golf. Hesaid that although they had yet to playa game of golf together, he hoped hewould still get the opportunity.

Winter said that Bleakney had beena loyal employee for 40 years, most ofwhich were served at the Corps in

New England and most were servedworking in Information Technology.He gave a brief history of her distin-guished career and then talked about afield trip to the Vermont Project Officeand how they got to talk and get toknow each other better during the trip.“Lynne has a vast institutional knowl-edge, she has a pleasant personalityand is easy to work with,” he said. “Ihave many fond memories of workingwith Lynne over the years.”

Winter presented Bleakney withher 40 year certificate and a BunkerHill certificate in recognition of hermany years of dedication and profes-sionalism.

Special guest and Norfolk Districtretiree Charlayne Deckman said shehad “war stories” to share and talkedabout the adventures the two friendshad while Bleakney worked for Nor-folk District. One recollection that gotattendees laughing was the midnightruns to the local fast food joint whereDeckman would translate New En-gland speak to Southern talk so thatLynne could get a meal. “I told her, ‘it’s

a milk shake, Lynne, not a frappe!We’re not in New England, we’re inthe South!’”

Deckman also talked about thepair’s adventures riding many rollercoasters at the local amusement parks,as well as the summers Deckman spentin New England with Bleakney and herfamily. “I have wonderful memories ofthe times I’ve spent with Lynne and herfamily and I look forward to spendingmany more with them,” she said. “Youare a wonderful friend and I thank youfor the memories."

Winter thanked Bleakney for herinput, ideas, energy, hard work anddedication. He also thanked her forstaying through the A-76 process.“Many of you might not know this, butLynne could have retired a few yearsago, but she stayed to help out during avery stressful process that we are stillgoing through,” he said. “She got usthrough the worst of it and I appreciatethat.”

Winter asked everyone to raisetheir glasses as he made a toast toBleakney for a “happy, healthy, long

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Lynne Bleakney admires her retirement cake during her party. (Inset) Charlayne Deckman reveals "old war stories." (right) Pattie Price congratulatesBleakney on her retirement.

Photos by Brian Murphy


and safe retirement.”Before Col. Andrew Nelson, New

England District Deputy Commander,officially retired Bleakney, he had astory of his own to tell. He recalledbeing a Lieutenant Colonel who justarrived at the District and found him-self temporarily in charge. In the flurryof activity of getting his computer setup and getting all his passwords, hereceived a visit from Bleakney. “I lookup and here comes Lynne Bleakneymarching in with my CEFMS card, mypassword and this big, long form,” herecalled with a chuckle. “She said,‘Colonel, you need to sign here on thedotted line,’ and that included givingaway my first son, the mortgage to myhome and the future of my life should Ihappen to disclose my CEFMS pass-word. I’ve been walking around forfour years scared of Lynne that I wasgoing to mess up.”

Nelson presented Bleakney withthe Commander’s Award for CivilianService for her exemplary performancein Information Management for mostof her 40-year federal career. Bleakneyalso received the Army Certificate ofAppreciation and her retirement cer-tificate.

Pattie Price directed Bleakney’sattention to a table piled with gifts forher to open at her leisure during theparty. “I’m going to really, really missyou,” she said.

Gifts included a gift certificate to agolfer’s warehouse and cash from partyattendees, a framed photo of the CapeCod Canal from Canal employees, anda photo of the smoking hut where shewould take her breaks. The photo wasautographed by her fellow smokers.

Bleakney thanked her friends andco-workers for organizing her partyand thanked everyone for attending theevent. “I’m going to miss everybody,”she said.

Bleakney plans to attend variousannual District events and retirementparties and will continue to be a mem-ber of the NED Golf League.

Family members and special guests

that attended the party were Bleakney’smother, Gladys; brother Bob and sis-ter-in-law Ann; brother Ron and sister-in-law Peg; nephew Ron, his wife,Sabrina, and their daughter Grace; nieceAmy and husband, William; and Nor-folk District Team member MelindaWorrell.

Former Corps employees who at-tended were Tony Riccio and Frank

Waldron.Distinguished Civilian Gallery mem-

bers who attended were: Ann Dogherty,Andy Lamborghini, and RalphMallardo. Other retirees who at-tended included Bruce Zawacki, FredHardy, Henry Gatto, Jack Caffrey, JaneKotelly, Donna Craig, Bob Gauvreau,Joe Colucci, Bob Martin, Joe Bocchino,Joe McElroy, and Cathy Collins.

Lynne Bleakney received the Commander's Award for Civilian Service from Col. Andrew Nelson.

Tim Winter, Pattie Price and Steve Andon go over the agenda for Lynne Bleakney's retirement party.


Family, friends and co-workers crowded into the Con-cord Park Cafeteria to say good-bye to one of the District’smost seasoned and skilled regulators.

Steve DiLorenzo’s luncheon was held March 28. Heretired with over 42 years of federal service.

Bob DeSista served as Master of Ceremonies. Hethanked everyone for coming and introduced DiLorenzo’sfamily. DeSista told the audience that DiLorenzo likes thefiner things in life, especially nice clothing. “Now that he’llbe on a fixed income, he won’t be able to afford brand-nameclothes,” he said.

DeSista presented DiLorenzo with a solution to theproblem – “Brand Name” stickers that he can affix to furtherclothing purchases.

After the laughter died down, DeSista talked aboutDiLorenzo’s love of doing site visits and told some amusingstories of DiLorenzo’s adventures on the road. “Steve hada real knack for his travel itinerary and scheduling meetings,”he said.

DeSista presented DiLorenzo with a portable GPS sys-tem from luncheon attendees so that he can chart his travelsin his retirement with state-of-the-art accuracy.

Brian Valiton was the next speaker. He proudly told theaudience that he was a mere nine years old when DiLorenzo

started with the Corps in New England. Valiton talked aboutsome of DiLorenzo’s history in Regulatory and some of histravel “sacrifices” that he made in the early years of hiscareer to include the inspections of Maine beaches in thesummertime. Valiton also talked about DiLorenzo’s timeworking in Europe and all of the places he visited while hewas there.

On a more serious note, Valiton ended by saying thatDiLorenzo brought a professionalism to the EnforcementSection of Regulatory Division. “We’ve done a lot together,we’ve had a whole life together and I’m going to miss him,”he said.

Richard Roach also had a long working relationship withDiLorenzo, starting in 1979. He recalled a trip with DiLorenzoto Kennebunkport, Maine and was amazed at his knowledgeof the area. “He had a good handle of the territory,” saidRoach. “The Clean Water Act was new, so we got to do alot of traveling together.”

Roach wished DiLorenzo well with his retirement. “It’sbeen a privilege to work with Steve,” he said. “I hope youenjoyed your time here because we’ve enjoyed having you.”

Unlike his other co-workers, Farrell McMillan did notstart his familiarity with DiLorenzo in New England, but inGermany where they both worked for some years. Both

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Steve DiLorenzo and grandson Marcus cut the retirement cake at the luncheon.

9YANKEE ENGINEERApril 2008

became Little League coaches there because their childrenwere the same age. McMillan told a story about how theirchildren’s team won a championship, thanks to the help of anArmy major. “Thanks for the great memories in Germany,”he said.

Two private citizens traveled all the way from RhodeIsland to thank DiLorenzo personally for all his efforts tosupport dredging in their state. Michael Keyworth, GeneralManager and Vice President of Brewer Cove Haven Ma-rina, who is also a member of the Rhode Island MarineTrades Association was the first to praise DiLorenzo for hiswork. “Steve and Regulatory have been accessible andprofessional during the permitting process,” he said. “Thankyou Steve, for all you do and for your help with a lot of ourdredging issues.”

Howard McVeigh, Head of the of the Rhode IslandPilots Association voiced similar kudos. “Thanks to Steve,dredging is occurring in Rhode Island,” he said.

Col. Curtis Thalken, New England District Commander,

said that DiLorenzo had 34 years with the Corps and the restin the military where he saw combat while serving hiscountry. He thanked DiLorenzo for his service and his familyfor their service. “It’s not easy being a military wife,” he said.“It’s tougher to pack up your family and move to anothercountry. Steve, although Public Service is not monetarilyprofitable, you made a lot of friends here.”

Col. Thalken presented DiLorenzo with a Bunker Hillplaque before officially retiring him by giving him his retire-ment certificate and pin and a District coin.

DiLorenzo said he was at a loss of words. “I’m movingon to a new phase in my life,” he said. “I’m not sorry it’sending, but I’ve had a great time.”

Family members that attended the luncheon includedDiLorenzo’s wife, Jeanie; son, Bryan; daughter-in-lawKristen; daughter, Cara, and his two grandsons, Marcus andBraydon. Distinguished Civilian Gallery Member BernieManor and retiree Tom Bruha attended to welcomeDiLorenzo into the District’s retirement community.

Col. Curtis Thalken presents Steve DiLorenzo with a Bunker Hill plaque.Photos by Brian MurphyDiLorenzo's grandson, Braydon, plays with a balloon during the lun-

cheon.

way through the fiscal year with only 1/3 of our availablefunds obligated, and we’re already 9 percent behindschedule.

While not as easily defined, both our Military and IISprograms have similar challenges this year, we have acongressionally added project to award for Hanscom AirForce Base and reserve centers around New England toprocure property for and then oversee construction of.

The Border Patrol has asked us to find sites and awardconstruction contracts for several more Border PatrolStations and several Veterans’ Administration Hospitals

have asked for our assistance in the management of a longoverdue revitalization program involving several of theirfacilities.

On our side, we’re now entering our busiest monthsand we have time left. It’s time to “start doing.” As I statedin January, our total program in FY08 is larger than it hasbeen in several years, but in order to sustain this increasedfunding we must deliver. Now is the time, so please takethe time to ask: what can I do to help get us back onschedule? Thank you in advance for your efforts to pushand pull us across the finish line.

Essayons!

Continued from page 3

Commander's Corner...


State Environmental Department, District signNew Hampshire In-Lieu Fee Agreement

Program balances growth with natural resource conservationThe New Hampshire Department of Environmental

Services (NHDES) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,New England District (Corps) announced that they havesigned a joint agreement regarding the New Hampshire In-Lieu Fee Program. This program has established the NewHampshire Aquatic ResourceMitigation Fund (the ARMFund) to provide an alternativeto site-specific wetland mitiga-tion for people seeking permitsthat have impacts on wetlandsor waters of the United States.

The Agreement betweenNHDES and the Corps willboth streamline the permit pro-cessing and provide for signifi-cant environmental benefits.

Previously, site-specificmitigation that was required forsmall scale developmentprojects resulted in limited en-vironmental benefits due to the size, location, and type of themitigation activities.

Under this new program, the NHDES and the Corps arenow able to collect and pool funds contributed by these smallprojects to fund watershed improvement projects that willresult in significant improvements through watershed im-provement and protection.

“The in-lieu fee program has been in place at NHDESsince August of 2006 and provides many benefits. Theseinclude opportunities for municipalities to accomplish highpriority wetland conservation goals and an option for devel-

opers who aren’t able to provide on-site mitigation. Thisprogram provides them with the option of mitigating impactsthrough a payment to the Aquatic Resource Mitigation Fund,and an opportunity for the state to accomplish restoration andconservation projects with greater aquatic resource value,”

noted NHDES Commis-sioner Tom Burack. “After all efforts havebeen made to avoid orminimize those impacts,this program will providepermit applicants an effi-cient and workable alter-native while providing abetter outcome for ourwetland habitats,” saidColonel Curtis Thalken,commander of the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers,New England District.“The fees will be used to

restore, create, and/or preserve aquatic resources and theirassociated uplands. We are pleased that the Corps isworking with NHDES to make the ARM Fund available forfederal permit applicants.”

More information on the New Hampshire In-Lieu FeeAgreement and ARM Fund is available on the DES websiteat http://des.nh.gov/Wetlands/helpdocs.htm or on the Corpswebsite at http://www.nae.usace.army.mil. Select Regula-tory/Permitting and then Mitigation and select “New Hamp-shire In-Lieu Fee Agreement.” (Press Release. Photo byTim Dugan)

delegation, the 439th Airlift Wing and the contractor toconstruct the new facility. “We welcome continuedpartnerships of this kind to help support the vitally impor-tant military readiness of the 439th Airlift Wing WestoverAir Reserve Base, the 94th Regional Readiness Com-mand, the Marine Corps Reserve Machine Gun Platoon,the Massachusetts Army National Guard, the Common-wealth of Massachusetts and the nation,” he said.

The $31,491,408 contract was awarded to ConsigliConstruction in Milford, Mass. Work is scheduled tobegin in April and it is estimated to be completed in the fallof 2009.

District, partners break ground on new Reserve Centercontinued from page 1

Artistic rendering of the new facility.

Col. Curtis Thalken and Commissioner Tom Burack sign the N.H. In-LieuFee Agreement.

Photo by Linda Jelanowski


The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency released a new rule to clarify howto provide compensatory mitigation for unavoidable impactsto the nation’s wetlands and streams, March 31. The rule willenable the agencies to promote greater consistency, predict-ability and ecological success of mitigation projects under theClean Water Act.

“This rule greatly improves implementation, monitoring,and performance, and will help us ensure that unavoidablelosses of aquatic resources and functions are replaced for thebenefit of this nation. This is a key step in our efforts to makethe Army’s Regulatory Program a winner, and the best it canbe for the regulated community we serve and those inter-ested in both economic development and environmentalprotection,” said John Paul Woodley, Jr., Assistant Secretaryof the Army for Civil Works.

"This rule advances the President's goals of haltingoverall loss of wetlands and improving watershed healththrough sound science, market-based approaches, and coop-erative conservation,” said EPA Assistant Administrator forWater, Benjamin H. Grumbles. “The new standards willaccelerate our wetlands conservation efforts under theClean Water Act by establishing more effective, moreconsistent, and more innovative mitigation practices.”

Benefits of the compensatory mitigation rule include:♦ Fostering greater predictability, increased transparencyand improved performance of compensatory mitigationprojects♦ Establishing equivalent standards for all forms of mitiga-tion♦ Responding to recommendations of the National Re-search Council to improve the success of wetland restorationand replacementprojects♦ Setting clear sci-ence-based and results-oriented standards na-tionwide while allowingfor regional variations♦ Increasing and ex-panding public partici-pation♦ Encouraging water-shed-based decisions♦ Emphasizing the“mitigation sequence”requiring that proposedprojects avoid and mini-

mize potential impacts to wetlands and streams before pro-ceeding to compensatory mitigation.

Each year thousands of property owners undertakeprojects that affect the nation’s aquatic resources. Proposedprojects that are determined to impact jurisdictional watersare first subject to review under the Clean Water Act. TheCorps of Engineers reviews these projects to ensure environ-mental impacts to aquatic resources are avoided or minimizedas much as possible. Consistent with the administration’s goalof “no net loss of wetlands” a Corps permit may require aproperty owner to restore, establish, enhance or preserveother aquatic resources in order to replace those impacted bythe proposed project. This compensatory mitigation processseeks to replace the loss of existing aquatic resource functionsand area.

Property owners required to complete mitigation areencouraged to use a watershed approach and watershedplanning information. The new rule establishes performancestandards, sets timeframes for decision making, and to theextent possible, establishes equivalent requirements and stan-dards for the three sources of compensatory mitigation:permittee-responsible mitigation, mitigation banks and in-lieu-fee programs.

The new rule changes where and how mitigation is to becompleted, but maintains existing requirements on whenmitigation is required. The rule also preserves the requirementfor applicants to avoid or minimize impacts to aquatic re-sources before proposing compensatory mitigation projects tooffset permitted impacts. Wetlands and streams provideimportant environmental functions including protecting andimproving water quality and providing habitat to fish andwildlife. Successful compensatory mitigation projects willreplace environmental functions that are lost as a result of

permitted activities.For more informa-

tion on the compensatorymitigation rule visit: http://www.usace.army.mil/c w / c e c w o / r e g /citizen.htm or http://w w w . e p a . g o v /wetlandsmitigation. In-formation about the im-portance of wetlands isavailable at: http://www.epa.gov/owow/w e t l a n d s / . ( U S A C EPress Release)

Wetlands off of Route 495 near Harvard, Mass.

Corps of Engineers and EPA's new rulewill improve wetland stream mitigation

Photo by Ann Marie R. Harvie

1 2 YANKEE ENGINEERApril 2008

Public Affairs OfficeNew England DistrictU.S. Army Corps of Engineers696 Virginia RoadConcord, MA 01742-2751 Meter Code 40

Dredging up the past . . .

First ClassU.S. Postage

PaidConcord, MA

Permit No. 494

Dave Schafer answers a student's questions by using a Corps computer during Career Nightin Boston in celebration of Engineers Week in this March 2000 photo.

Photo by C.J. Allen

Yankee Engineer - New England District, U.S. Army Corps of ...€¦ · YANKEE ENGINEER April 2008 5...

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