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  • December

    Kristen Donofrio, a biological scientist with the Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since 2009. Her passion is ecology - the study of environmental systems, or as it is sometimes called, the economy of nature. According to Donofrio, environmental usually means relating to the natural, versus human-made world, and by its very nature, not just the components of nature but how the parts interact.

    Careers don’t always STEM from childhood dreams

    On sunny days, Kristen Donofrio’s long strides carry her toward her beloved sport bike. The biologist reaches the parking spot and swings a leg over her cobalt blue motorcycle, slides a slick, made-for-speed helmet over her dark brown bob, and turns the engine over. Her pianist fingers play over the bike’s grips, and she launches herself into Norfolk’s afternoon traffic. On the ride home, shorelines and wetlands churning with life blur past her – ecosystems that, as a biologist, she is committed to saving.

  • NAO-2008-3065

    The proposed mitigation bank site is located on approximately 18 acres of agricultural land. The site is located approximately 6 miles northwest of Remington in Culpeper, Virginia. The purpose of the mitigation bank is to provide off-site compensatory mitigation for projects that result in unavoidable impacts to streams and other waters of the United States in the Rapidan-Upper Rappahannock Drainage basin.

  • NAO-2009-1851

    Loudon County and Virginia Department of Transportation, or VDOT, propose to improve traffic flow and alleviate traffic delays at the intersection of Route 7 and Route 659. This project would support the County’s goal of widening Route 7 to eight lanes and includes a single-point urban interchange, which would carry Route 659 over Route 7. A single traffic signal would be installed above the single-point interchange on the bridge deck, and all turning movements would be adequately accommodated by the interchange. Route 659 is proposed to include a four-lane divided roadway with a wide median to accommodate future widening to six lanes in the median. The need for an interchange at the existing intersection is evident from existing travel patterns, peak hour delays, and backups (queues) at the existing signal. The proposed work will permanently impact 0.397 ac. of nontidal forested wetlands, 0.156 ac. of nontidal emergent wetlands, 0.013 ac. of nontidal open water wetlands, 1994 linear feet of streams. In addition, the proposed work will result in temporary impacts to 0.012 ac. of nontidal emergent wetlands, 0.007 ac. of nontidal open water wetlands and 275 linear feet of streams.

  • NAO-2013-100

    The proposed mitigation bank site is located on approximately 322.6 acres of mixed forested and pastured land. The site is located along Ravenscroft Road in Henry County, Va., (Lat N36.769312, Long W -79.783202). The proposed bank site is in the headwaters of Leatherwood Creek, which drains to the Smith River, a tributary of the Dan River. The bank sponsor proposes to establish, design, construct, and operate a compensatory wetland and stream mitigation bank to be known as Ravenscroft Stream Mitigation Bank. The goal of the bank is to protect and enhance water quality, as well as provide compensatory mitigation for authorized impacts within the authorized service area. The geographic service area of this mitigation bank would include the Roanoke River sub‐basin (HUC: 03010103). This proposed service area would include Henry, Patrick, Franklin, Pittsylvania, Halifax, Bedford, Roanoke, and Montgomery Counties and their associated Cities. The bank will consist of preservation of 4,941 linear feet (LF) of perennial streams, enhancement of 662 LF of perennial streams, and restoration of 8,347 LF of perennial streams. 681 SMU’s (4.4% of total credits) are generated from preservation and 14,878 SMU’s (95.6% of total credits) are generated from restoration and enhancement.

  • NAO-2009-00949

    The Norfolk District Corps of Engineers has established a temporary danger zone from Dec. 17-22 around the NASA Wallops Flight Center in Accomack, Va., for the Antares ORB-1 launch.

  • Final 2013 FNOD Restoration Advisory Board meets Dec. 5

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host its final 2013 quarterly meeting of the Former Nansemond Ordnance Depot Restoration Advisory Board Dec. 5.

  • November

    A wide-angle view of an inert Minotaur V launch vehicle is erected on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport's pad 0B at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during a pathfinder exercise for NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Mission.

    BOEM, NASA and Corps team up to protect coastal launch assets

    The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announces an agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Norfolk District, authorizing the dredging of up to one million cubic yards of sand from the outer continental shelf to restore the shoreline at NASA's Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia.
  • Great Bridge Bridge in Chesapeake is now open.

    Great Bridge Lock reopens

    CHESAPEAKE, Va. – The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, reopened the Great Bridge Locks, on the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, for normal operations here Nov. 23.

  • NAO-2012-1145/12-V0796/13-V1444

    Port Messick LLC proposes to construct a breakwater consisting of two 160 foot long sections of soldier piles within Front Cove, a tributary to Back River, in Poquoson, Virginia. The Public Notice comment period ends on December 15, 2013.

  • NAO-13-01819

    The applicant proposes to develop 12 residential lots along Sandbridge Road in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The project, as proposed, will impact 2.657 acres of non-tidal emergent wetlands, 0.394 acres of non-tidal forested wetlands, 0.030 acres of non-tidal forested open water and waters of the United States, and 0.291 acres of non-tidal emergent isolated wetlands. As compensation, the applicant proposes to purchase 3.475 credits from The Great Dismal Swamp Restoration Bank, LLC. In addition, 0.510 acres of on-site forested wetlands and 0.169 acres of on-site emergent wetlands will be avoided and the applicant proposes to protect the avoided wetlands via recordation of a restricted instrument on the property’s chain of title.

  • NAO-2012-02423/VMRC 13-V0834

    Whitely Manor, LLC is proposing to enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the US Army Corps of Engineers and Virginia Department of Historic Resources under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The proposed Whitely Manor subdivision is located within the boundary of the Sunray Agricultural Historic District (DHR ID# 131-5325) in Chesapeake, Virginia. In compliance with the NHPA, the Norfolk District is interested in identifying “consulting parties” with whom to coordinate the effects of the project on historic properties, and possible means of avoiding or mitigating adverse effects on such properties. Public comment period ends Dec. 3, 2013.

  • NAO-2012-1145/12-V0796/13-V1444

    Port Messick LLC proposes to construct a breakwater consisting of two 160 foot long sections of soldier piles within Front Cove, a tributary to Back River, in Poquoson, Virginia. The Public Notice comment period ends on December 15, 2013.
  • Great Bridge Lock, Chesapeake, Va.

    Norfolk District awards contract to isolate, identify damage to Great Bridge Lock

    Norfolk District has awarded U.S. Facilities, Inc. a contract modification to isolate and inspect the damaged valve at the Great Bridge Lock in Chesapeake, Va.

  • NAO-2009-00949

    The Norfolk District Corps of Engineers has established a temporary danger zone from Nov. 19-26, around the NASA Wallops Flight Center in Accomack, Va., for the NASA ORS-3 launch.

  • NAO-2005-05265/13-V1650

    Navy Region Mid-Atlantic proposes to upgrade a section of the existing tactical vehicle trail located along the southern boundary of the Small Arms Testing and Evaluation Compound (SATEC) at Joint Expeditionary Base Fort Story in Virginia Beach to create an approximately 2,000-foot roadway section that replicates an improved road surface. The purpose of the project is to upgrade the straightway section of the trail network to replicate an improved roadway layout and surface to develop more realistic scenarios that work in concert with the existing SATEC facilities. The project would impact approximately 2.25 acres of historically disturbed nontidal, emergent wetlands. The applicant proposes to provide compensatory mitigation by purchasing credits at a 1:1 ratio from the Middle Peninsula Environmental Properties Inc.’s Wetland Mitigation Bank. The comment period ends on December 13, 2013.
  • Great Bridge Lock, Chesapeake, Va.

    Great Bridge Lock down; repairs underway

    The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is working to repair the Great Bridge Lock after an underwater valve failed Tuesday.
  • Great Bridge Lock, Chesapeake, Va.

    Great Bridge Lock down; Corps divers on the scene

    The Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers closed the Great Bridge Lock in Chesapeake, Va., at approximately 7:30 a.m., today to repair inoperative valve.

  • NAO-2013-1979/13-V1596

    The City of Virginia Beach proposes to mechanically dredge subaqueous bottom and non-vegetated intertidal wetlands in order to re-establish navigational access and attenuate siltation for the Bayville Creek neighborhood in Virginia Beach, Va. Public comment period ends Dec. 6, 2013.

  • NAO-2001-1717

    The City of Chesapeake Public Works proposes roadway and drainage improvements to Elbow Road between Bethel Baptist Church and the Virginia Beach City Line within the City of Chesapeake. Public comment period ends Dec. 5, 2013

  • NAO-2005-4861

    Lamberts Point proposes to deepen the berth on each side of their Pier N at Lambert Point Docks to -34 ft MLW in Norfolk Virginia. The applicant proposes to dredge 945,000 square feet and remove 104,000 cubic yards of material twice in the next ten years, and is proposing to dredge mechanically and use the Rehandling Basin at Craney Island, or use a hydraulic dredge and direct discharge into Craney Island.