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  • October

    A robot wearing a lifejacket while boating down a river.

    From analog machines to machines learning: the Pittsburgh District’s nascent relationship with artificial intelligence

    Artificial intelligence (AI) took the world by storm in 2023 when various rapidly-improving text-language models became publicly available. Since then, the human race has delved into the wacky, wild world of AI and faced some pressing questions: how do I trust the content I find online? Is my self-driving car plotting world domination? Will my toaster have a midlife crisis?

  • August

    Pittsburgh District change of command ceremony

    New commander assumes mission responsibility of Pittsburgh District

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District welcomed a new commander with the symbolic passing of the engineer flag during a ceremony at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, Aug. 4, 2023.

  • July

    Meadville Mayor Jaime Kinder gives a speech during Woodcock Creek Lake’s golden jubilee celebration in Saegertown, Pennsylvania, July 14, 2023. Community leaders and Corps of Engineers employees gathered on a summer morning to celebrate Woodcock Creek Dam’s 50th anniversary. The corps built Woodcock Creek Dam to reduce floods along the French Creek, saving communities such as Saegertown and Meadville from catastrophic flooding year after year and has prevented more than $38 million in flood damages since its construction in 1973. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District photo by Andrew Byrne)

    Woodcock Creek Lake celebrates Golden Jubilee

    “We lived with floods, pretty much every year.” That was the reality for Saegertown Borough Manager Charles Lawrence and many others living in the wake of the frequently flooding French Creek before the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District built Woodcock Creek Lake Dam.

  • June

    A picture of the Union City Dam reservoir after a high-water event.

    Is Union City Dam broken? The dry bed reservoir functions just right

    By definition, a dam is “a barrier preventing the flow of water or of loose solid materials such as soil or snow”…so why does Union City Dam sometimes look like there’s no water in it? That contradiction is by design: Union City Dam is the only “dry” reservoir in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District.

  • May

    Dam safety team for Pittsburgh District

    Headwaters Highlights: Dam Safety Team Conducts Regular ‘Doctor Visits’ to Prevent Flooding Disasters

    The Pittsburgh District dam safety team develops and maintains emergency action plans and works with emergency managers and first responders to ensure communities are safe from potential dam risks or failures.
  • An aerial view of a lock along the Ohio River.

    Headwaters Highlights: New Cumberland Locks and Dam

    If the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed New Cumberland Locks and Dam in 1839 instead of 1961, it might have been called Vernon Locks and Dams or Cuppytown Locks and Dam, named after John Cuppy, who designed the town and named it Vernon. Instead, the earliest land buyers in Vernon requested Cuppy to name the town after Cumberland, Maryland – and a town was born. But, more importantly, a lock and dam found its name.

  • April

    Carl Nim, a biologist with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District’s Water Quality team, collects a water sample from the outflow at Kinzua Dam in Warren, Pennsylvania, March 30, 2023. The district’s Water Quality team collected water samples from the Allegheny River both before and after the spring pulse to compare the pulse’s effect along various points on the river. The collected samples are sent to the Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center to test and analyze myriad factors such as pH acidity, alkalinity, metals, nutrients, and conductivity. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District photo by Andrew Byrne)

    Pittsburgh District’s Water Quality team conducts first “spring pulse”

    Millions of gallons of water rushed out of the Kinzua Dam every minute for eight hours straight into the Allegheny River. The outflow caused the Allegheny River to rise by almost two feet. The water pushed out of the dam with massive force, resembling giant firehoses opened to full blast. This water release event was seven years in the making, a perfect storm of conditions that allowed water quality experts to replicate a spring pulse.

  • March

    Brent Kelly, a maintenance mechanic, prepares a lifting beam to lift a new gate hoist during its installation in the control tower at the Crooked Creek Dam in Ford City, Pennsylvania, Feb. 14, 2023. BCI Construction installed four new hoists – each weighing 38,000 pounds apiece and control the dam’s gates – at Crooked Creek Lake to modernize the facility’s machinery and improve usage. The new hoists make the machinery safer and more efficient to use, with digital displays that are more accurate and easier to read. The original hoists were in operation since the dam was built in 1938. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Andrew Byrne)

    New hoists at Crooked Creek Lake offer flood protection for the next 75 years

    They may just look like large hunks of metal, but the new hoists installed at Crooked Creek Lake will go hard at work to reduce the risk of floods in the greater Pittsburgh region for the next 75 years or longer. The hoists – weighing 38,000 pounds apiece – work to lift reservoir gates to control the lake’s water level and mitigate flooding downstream. Flood mitigation is one of the Corps of Engineers’ primary missions, and Crooked Creek Dam has helped prevent flooding for both the local community and downtown Pittsburgh since the dam’s construction in 1938.

  • November

    A contractor loads a temporary emergency generator onto a truck at the La Colonia II assisted living facility in Cape Coral, Florida. When a disaster occurs, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) declares an emergency, coordinates with the district to deploy teams to impacted areas, and sends temporary emergency generators for deployed teams to set up. The generators are temporarily put in place to restore power to critical infrastructure such as hospitals, water supply centers and assisted living facilities. The generators are removed after primary generators or the main power supply is restored. (U.S. Army courtesy photo by Tulsa District)

    Pittsburgh District provides power team to hurricanes Ian and Fiona relief effort

    Imagine everything in your house – furniture, family heirlooms – floating away in a flood. Then imagine your house floating away in it, too. To call it ‘bleak’ is an understatement. However, that is the terror many experienced in September when hurricanes Ian and Fiona devastated Puerto Rico and the southeastern corner of the United States.

  • September

    On Sept 14, 2022, Pittsburgh District Commander Adam Czekanski signs a $426,000 federal cost-share agreement for a Section 22 Planning Assistance to States project to develop a stormwater management plan for the Indiana County community in Pennsylvania. Section 22 projects allow the Corps of Engineers to partner with local communities to provide engineering assistance and expertise to address local challenges. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District photo by Andrew Byrne)

    A $400,000 signature: Corps signs PAS agreement with Indiana County, Pennsylvania

    With a pen stroke, Pittsburgh District Commander Adam Czekanski set the gears in motion for a $426,000 project in Indiana County, Pennsylvania.

  • February

    Delonda Ward is Pittsburgh District's Small Business Office Deputy. Every February, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District joins the nation to observe and reflect on the tremendous contributions that African Americans have made to our country and our history. (Courtesy photo)

    Celebrating Black History Month

    Every February, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District joins the nation to observe and reflect on the tremendous contributions that African Americans have made to our country and our history. As 2022’s Black History Month ends, we took time to talk with some of our people and ask them about their experiences and perspectives that both empowered and shaped them. Although only three Black voices were interviewed, Black History Month is an opportunity for the corps to share some of our employees’ perspectives on Black history and what it means to them.
  • Lenna Hawkins and her father building a backyard deck at her house. (Courtesy photo)

    If you do what you love

    “If you do what you love, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Whether it was Marc Anthony or inspired by Confucius, the quote has existed for centuries but is still true today. This Valentine’s Day, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District highlights some of our employees who do what they love while accomplishing critical roles that deliver the district’s mission to the nation. We asked them about their childhood hobbies and interests and how those passions grew into careers.
  • Duquesne University students and Crooked Creek Lake rangers use straining nets to gather stunned fish through electrofishing during the 2021 recreation season. Overall, they identified almost 2,500 fish, revealing 41 species of fish within Crooked Creek Lake’s watershed. (U.S. Army Photo by Christian Clendenning).

    Pittsburgh District joins Duquesne University to form a stunning partnership

    Every organization says they are a learning organization, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has taken its quest for innovation to a stunning level. During the 2021 recreation season, experts from the Pittsburgh District began a partnership with Duquesne University’s biology department. The goal was to test water quality within Crooked Creek Lake’s watershed called an “electrofishing survey,” which the corps had not used before.

  • January

    Meet Apollo, the peregrine falcon who stole the show. Hundreds of people attended the second-annual Eagle Fest on Saturday, Jan. 8, which was hosted by the Shenango River Watchers. The event offered visitors an opportunity to learn more about bald eagles that nest around Shenango River Lake, including the river below the dam and nearby wildlife areas (U.S. Army photo by staff).

    Hundreds attend Eagle Fest at Shenango River Lake

    As people’s schedules start calming down after the Christmas season, bird enthusiasts and nature lovers alike had the chance to come together at Shenango River Lake and learn about America’s avian rockstar: the bald eagle.
  • Col. Adam Czekanski, district commander, attended a meeting to sign a Project-Partnership Agreement with officials to kickstart the project. Signing the partnership agreement is the first step in improving the treatment plant’s efficiency while reducing inflow and infiltration within the collection system in Tyler and Wetzel counties. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District entered a partnership agreement with the city of Paden City, West Virginia, to upgrade sanitary sewer collection and treatment facilities as part of a $2 million Section 219 Environmental Infrastructure project, Thursday, Jan. 6.

    Corps upgrades Paden City’s wastewater treatment systems

    Ever had a problem with the septic tank in your yard? The cost to replace it, and consequences if you do not, can really stink – even more so when the problem is on a community-wide level. That is why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District is partnering with Paden City to upgrade the sanitary sewer collection and treatment facilities in Tyler and Wetzel counties as part of a $2 million environmental infrastructure project.

  • November

    Rose Reilly, lead aquatic biologist for Pittsburgh District’s Water Quality Unit, is recognized by Pittsburgh District Commander Col. Adam Czekanski for her service to the corps. Reilly retired after a landmark 43-year career with the Corps of Engineers and earned numerous awards, built key partnerships and innovated nationally-recognized water quality tools for biologists everywhere along the way (U.S. Army photo by Rose Reilly).

    The Little Engine That Could retires after four decades

    After 43 years, Rosemary Reilly is marking the end of an era. Reilly, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District’s Water Quality Unit lead, is closing out a landmark career that spanned more than four decades, earned numerous awards, built key partnerships, and served 18 district commanders.

  • October

    Solarizing 350 feet of soil near the Lakeview recreation area at Mosquito Creek Lake (U.S. Army photo by Jamison Conley).

    Using sunshine, plastic, and pollination to help the environment

    Can plastic help birds, bees, butterflies, and bass? It can, if the plastic is part of a process called solarization, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ staff at Mosquito Creek Lake are using it to improve the entire regional watershed.

  • July

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    Col. Czekanski takes command of Pittsburgh District

    Col. Adam J. Czekanski became the 56th commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District through a traditional Army change of command ceremony held at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh, July 29.
  • Corps personnel assessing scorched infrastructure after the October 2017 Northern California Wildfires, which covered more than 245,000 acres of land. In coordination with FEMA, corps volunteers deployed to Sonoma to support the Consolidated Debris Removal Program which removed more than 2.2 million tons of ash from the affected areas (U.S. Army photo by Carol Vernon).

    “They lost everything”: What it's like to deploy to disaster-stricken communities

    Picture a city the size of Manhattan. Now picture 10 Manhattans ablaze. Nearly everything is gone. Seared car frames line the street. People sift through the ash where their homes used to be for whatever may have survived: jewelry, wedding gifts, a vase their mother gave them. Everything smells like melted plastic and smoke.

  • December

    The hydromill used to excavate panels in the dam. (Photo by Greg Hensley)

    That’s a Wrap: Corps Concludes East Branch Dam Repair Project

    A big dam problem required a big dam solution. After seven years, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Pittsburgh District is wrapping up the East Branch Dam Cutoff Wall Rehabilitation project in Elk County, Pennsylvania.