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  • September

    Mark Rankin

    Booth becomes 61st commander of Jacksonville District

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – (Sept. 9, 2021) – U.S. Army Col. James L. Booth took command of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District today during a change of command ceremony at the at the Terry Theater, Times Union Center, Jacksonville. He becomes the 61st commander of the district.

  • August

    Col. Andrew Kelly, commander of the Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, joined Captains For Clean Water director of outreach and engagement, Capt. Chris Wittman, and Executive Director Capt. Daniel Andrews for a live streamed interview during a visit to Fort Myers on July 26 to discuss the Lake Okeechobee System Operating Manual.

    Jacksonville District Takes LOSOM Show on the Road

    For two weeks, Jacksonville District leaders have traveled around South Florida, spreading the news about the preliminary preferred model for the future management of Lake Okeechobee.

  • July

    Photo by Mark Rankin

    USACE celebrates completion of Kissimmee River Restoration Project

    LORIDA, Fla. - July 29, 2021 --The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District celebrated a ribbon-cutting event to commemorate the completion of the construction for the Kissimmee River Restoration Project. The Kissimmee River Restoration Project restores more than 40 square miles of the river floodplain ecosystem, 20,000 acres of wetlands, and 44 miles of the historic river channel.
  • Contractors work to build a cutoff wall deep in the Herbert Hoover Dike, improving the safety of the people who live and work near Lake Okeechobee.

    HHD Rehabilitation project improves community safety

    It's the safety benefits that make the Herbert Hoover Dike cutoff wall so important to those living around Lake Okeechobee, even if they never actually see it.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District manages and operates several lock and dams on its waterways. Pictured (left) is Glenn Huston, one lock operator pulling the rock for a small boat to lock into the chamber for 20 minutes as water is released from the Caloosahatchee River in Alva, Florida on April 25, 2021.

    W.P. Franklin lock operator grants all-access tour

    You don’t have to be a pirate to know that safety lock and dam operators have the pleasure of monitoring the nation’s most precious treasure; delicate blue waterways. The communications team got an inside look into the day-to-day operations from W.P. Franklin lock operator Glenn Hutson.

  • June

    USACE photo by David Ruderman

    Sarasota celebrates completion of Corps re-nourishment project at Lido Beach

    SARASOTA, Fla. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District, Sarasota City officials and local beach lovers gathered to celebrate the completion of the district’s Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction project at Lido Beach May 27, 2021.
  • Applied Aquatics, project manager, Keith Mangus demonstrates how to use a wind meter. The wind plays an important role when managing invasive aquatic plants with chemical sprays. The Portable Series Wind Meter is used to indicate wind speed and direction. Licensed applicators use this device along with guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency to determine whether or not to spray invasive aquatic plants.

    A Simple Device manages the Eco-scape

    Many of these whirling watercraft operators are piloting a new device that promises efficiency, efficacy, and most importantly accountability. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, biologist Jessica Fair and Keith Mangus, project manager at Applied Aquatic Management, took me out on the lake to explain how this small, inconspicuous device will revolutionize the management of invasive plants.

  • April

    USACE photo

    Jacksonville District hosts media day

    CLEWISTON, Fla. (April 14, 2021)—The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District hosted its first-ever media day by inviting media from across the region to learn about projects, mission, and completion dates for south Florida projects including the rehabilitation of Herbert Hoover Dike and Lake Okeechobee.

  • March

    SAD command sergeant major visits Jacksonville District

    SAD command sergeant major visits Jacksonville District

    JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 3, 2021) - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' South Atlantic Division senior enlisted adviser Command Sgt. Maj. Chad C. Blansett recently visited the Jacksonville District.

  • February

    The ocean shoreline of St. Johns County is approximately 42 miles long.

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District mitigates storm risk along Florida’s coastline

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers received disaster funds provided in Public Law 115-123, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. The act provides nearly $17.4 billion to the Corps for disaster recovery. Jacksonville District received $3.348 billion for long-term recovery investments in its area of responsibility, which includes Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
  • Colonel Andrew Kelly is the Commander and District Engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District. Colonel Kelly assumed command on August 24, 2018.

    Memory, flexibility drive Lake Okeechobee dry season strategy

    When we developed the dry season water management strategy for Lake Okeechobee this year, we incorporated crucial flexibility to respond to the potential threat of algal blooms while also remembering the events over the last several years. We use these two concepts, memory and flexibility, to guide our strategy development.
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District Survey Vessel Florida II sits docked at the Fernandina Beach Marina before conducting a routine hydrographic survey off-shore. The crew of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District Survey Vessel Florida II, assisted the U.S. Coast Guard in the rescue of a distressed small boat off the coast of Florida recently. (USACE photo by Mark Rankin

    Army Corps survey vessel crew assist with rescue offshore Florida

    The crew of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District Survey Vessel Florida II, assisted the U.S. Coast Guard in the rescue of a small distressed boat off the coast of Florida recently.

  • January

    Buoy deployed at Port Everglades currently being used for monitoring water quality and oceanographic data in near real-time. The buoy is a loan from NOAA’s AOML. (Courtesy photo by Dr. Anthony Priestas, ERDC-CHL)

    U.S. Army Corps of Engineers tests artificial-intelligence tool for monitoring water quality and oceanographic conditions at Port Everglades

    Large-scale coastal dredging projects have the potential to add stress to coral reef communities in surrounding areas, especially if impacts are undetected or fail to be detected in time.
  • Jacksonville District hiring senior-level engineers to fill critical positions

    Jacksonville District hiring senior-level engineers to fill critical positions

    Federal government hiring has a reputation for being challenging. Not this time. The Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is cutting through all of that bureaucracy to fill up to 35 critical engineering positions, and plans to do the hiring by the end of March.

  • December

    Pictured is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District construction worksite of the C-44 Indian River Lagoon South Reservoir taken on Wednesday, Nov. 20. U.S. Army Photo by Maya Jordan

    Indian River Lagoon South restoration project on track for June 2021 completion

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District’s multi-billion dollar Indian River Lagoon South (IRL-S) construction of the C-44 component is due for completion June 2021.

  • October

    Federal and state partners shovel ceremonial sand to kick-off the official start of the Jacksonville District's Central Everglades Planning Project South at a groundbreaking ceremony.in Miami today. (USACE photo by Mark Rankin)

    Corps groundbreaking ceremony kicks off Everglades restoration construction projects

    MIAMI, Fla. (Oct. 23, 2020) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Jacksonville District hosted a groundbreaking ceremony today for the Central Everglades Planning Project South, a project designed to restore more natural flows through the heart of the Everglades and improve water flows south to Everglades National Park.

  • August

    The Corps team arrives on site before sunrise to begin dewatering the Ortona Lock.

    Lock steps: Dewatering is the first step before lock repairs can begin

    Did you ever wonder why it takes so long to repair a lock? Check out the dewatering process for the Ortona Lock and Dam maintenance repairs through a series of photos of the event in 2018. It's a LOT more involved than just closing the lock and doing repairs!

  • June

    Colonel Andrew Kelly is the Commander and District Engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District. Colonel Kelly assumed command on August 24, 2018.

    Col. Kelly on Lake Okeechobee: balancing project purposes

    One of the challenges we face at the Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is balancing all of the purposes of managing Lake Okeechobee given to us by Congress – flood control, water supply, navigation, recreation, and preservation of fish and wildlife resources. As we enter rainy season, we will keep focusing on balancing the purposes of lake water management and setting favorable conditions.
  • Afternoon clouds on Lake Okeechobee

    Lake Okeechobee Update for 2020 Rainy Season

    After a drier than normal dry season, Lake Okeechobee operations transition to rainy season without plans for imminent large releases to estuaries.

  • April

    Col. Andrew Kelly, commander of the Jacksonville District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, hands a letter certifying the completion of the Alternate Care Facility the district built in the Miami Convention Center to Kevin Guthrie, Deputy Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. The facility provides 450 beds, 50 of them intensive care unit beds, gives the state of Florida medical providers and state emergency managers flexibility as they prepare for a COVID-19 based surge at local and regional medical facilities. Initially, the facility was to be completed by April 27, but the deadline was moved to April 20 after a meeting with the Florida governor identified an expedited need. Even with the shortened deadline, the Corps of Engineers delivered the site early, with the contractor completing construction April 18 and the Corps signing over the facility to the state on April 19.

    Jacksonville District Completes Miami Beach Convention Center Alternate Care Facility Ahead of Schedule

    Two months ago, the Miami Beach Convention Center was hosting 80,000 fans for the NFL Experience as part of Super Bowl festivities. The Jacksonville District just finished transforming the center into a 450-bed alternate care facility to treat COVID-19 patients, and did it ahead of schedule.