Approximately 40 years ago, when Diane Houser first moved to the City of Gooding, Idaho, she noted deteriorating channel walls along the Little Wood River, a tributary of the Big Wood River in Idaho’s Magic Valley, which cuts through the small city. On March 28, representatives from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Walla Walla District, joined city officials to sign a project partnership agreement defining shared responsibilities and commitments for the joint rehabilitation efforts of the channel walls.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District reopened navigation locks on the Columbia and Snake rivers on March 29 after an eleven-week outage. This extended outage allowed the district to perform routine maintenance and to replace aged equipment to reduce the risk of asset failure.

Every day, Gabrielle Marucci sits down at her desk and logs into her computer, checking her email and meeting schedule. Her desk sits next to a window and, outside, one might expect to see scenery indicative of the Pacific Northwest. Marucci, after all, works for the Walla Walla District, located in the state of Washington.

“What does being a leader mean to you?” This was a question posed by Lt. Col. ShaiLin KingSlack, Commander of the Walla Walla District, when she spoke to tribal students at schools in Pendleton, Oregon.

The Walla Walla District constructs, operates, maintains, and secures multipurpose infrastructure to energize the economy, reduce flood risk, and serve as stewards of water resources for the Snake River Basin and the Nation.