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Ellie is a border collie that is trained to keep migratory birds away from critical infrastructure.
Migratory birds are protected by the U.S.-Canada Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
Double Breasted Cormorants defecate on structures while nesting and roosting and cause significant damage to critical infrastructure.
Bird feces causes histoplasmosis, a respiratory disease, in humans.
9/9/2020
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Ellie, a border collie assigned to Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam 15 near Sallisaw, Oklahoma, protects critical infrastructure by keeping protected birds at bay. Ellie prevents tens of thousands of pounds of bird poop from building up at Robet S. Kerr Lock and Dam 15.
9/9/2020
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Ellie, a border collie assigned to Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam 15 near Sallisaw, Oklahoma, protects critical infrastructure by keeping protected birds at bay. Ellie prevents tens of thousands of pounds of bird poop from building up at Robet S. Kerr Lock and Dam 15.
9/9/2020
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Jeremy Philpot, a lock operator at Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam 15, gives Ellie attention. Ellie, a border collie assigned to Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam 15 near Sallisaw, Oklahoma, protects critical infrastructure by keeping protected birds at bay. Ellie prevents tens of thousands of pounds of bird poop from building up at Robet S. Kerr Lock and Dam 15.
9/9/2020
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Jeremy Philpot, a lock operator at Robert S. Kerr, Lock and Dam 15 plies Ellie with attention. Ellie is a border collie and keeps migratory birds from defecating on critical infrastructure at Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam 15 near Sallisaw, Oklahoma.
9/9/2020
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Ellie is a border collie at Robert S. Kerr Lock and Dam 15. She keeps birds away from the structure. Birds poop all over the structure causing corrosion and putting the health of humans in danger. Ellie saves thousands in labor costs associated with cleaning the bird feces off the structure.
9/4/2020
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Brigadier Gen. Christopher Beck, Southwestern Division Commander and Division Engineer U.S. Army Corps of Engineers visited areas within Tulsa District August 18th and 19th. As commander, Beck oversees Tulsa District, along with Fort Worth, Galveston and Little Rock Districts whose missions include navigation, recreation, flood management and military design and construction.
8/26/2020
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David Yarbrough, port director for Port of Catoosa on the MKARNS near Tulsa Oklahoma talks to Brig. Gen. Christopher Beck during a recent visit by Beck to Tulsa District.
8/26/2020
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Port of Muskogee director Scott Robinson gives the group an overview of the importance of the MKARNS to the port during a recent visit to Tulsa District from Brig. Gen. Christopher Beck.
8/26/2020
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Beau Biffle,Tulsa District electrical engineer briefs Brig. Gen. Beck, Southwestern Division Commander and Division Engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the mechanics of hydropower plants during Becks first visit to Tulsa District.
8/26/2020
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For Tulsa District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park ranger Jeremy Harvey being a ranger is more than just a job, it is a career. Jeremy has been a park ranger for 10 years and constantly seeks ways to improve the profession through education and mentoring opportunities.
8/17/2020
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Texoma Lake Ranger Jeremy Harvey talks to a young fisherman near the fishing wall at Lake Texoma dam. Harvey has been with Tulsa District for ten years and is instrumental in many of the Corps missions carried out at the lake.
8/17/2020
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Texoma Lake Ranger Jeremy Harvey and Assistant Lake Manager Tommy Holder, discuss plans for the day during an early morning office meeting. Harvey has been with Tulsa District for ten years and is instrumental in many of the Corps missions carried out at the lake.
8/17/2020
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Tulsa District, US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is hosting an online review to provide information and receive public input to begin the process of revising the Master Plan for Council Grove, El Dorado, Elk City, & Marion Reservoirs. Normally, USACE would conduct a face-to-face public workshop to announce the start of the revision and to request comments from the public. However, precautions associated with the COVID-19 virus have made it necessary to conduct the public involvement process online instead of hosting a face-to-face workshop. Please watch the following video presentations or download the PDF copy to read the presentation. The PDF copy and video presentation provide the same information.
6/22/2020
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The Tulsa District executed training for summer rangers and new hires preparing to work at the lake offices throughout Southwestern Division.
6/19/2020
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Col. Scott S. Preston, Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Commander stands with Vistor Assistance Citation Authority Program graduates after giving them their certificates, June 19. The VACAP course provides new hire park rangers and summer rangers with skills to enforce Title 36 recreation projects.
6/19/2020
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Amidst cold, rain, and the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Tulsa District maintenance crews working on the McClellan Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) clean debris from the downstream side of the Webbers Falls powerhouse.
5/15/2020
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa District will begin a phased reopening of USACE recreation areas that were closed due to COVID-19 across Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
5/7/2020
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Kim Sorrels spent four years as an advanced math teacher at Broken Arrow High School in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and at Meridian Technology Center in Stillwater before coming to work for the Tulsa District. The structural engineer is part of the front-line effort to assess facilities identified by the State of Oklahoma under a mission assignment from FEMA.
4/3/2020
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Kimberly Sorrels, an engineer from the Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers checks the foundation and structural characteristics of a site while assessing it for potential conversion into an alternate care facility in Tulsa, March 28. Before coming to work at the Tulsa District in 2019, Sorrels was a calculus teacher, at Broken Arrow High School.
In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the Corps is supporting the State of Oklahoma under FEMA mission assignment to provide planning and site assessments for Alternate Care Site in Oklahoma. The state will determine sites for assessment and make the determination about which sites are selected. Photo by Brannen Parrish — with Tulsa
3/30/2020
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The Tulsa District USACE is evaluating sites for the State of Oklahoma and FEMA.
The district has assembled teams tasked with evaluating sites.
Nationwide the USACE has received eight FEMA mission assignments totaling more than $1.1 billion and has approximately 15,000 people engaged in the COVID-19 Response effort.
3/30/2020
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa District provides an update on boat ramp status throughout the district.
3/21/2020
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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Tulsa District announce campground closures in Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas in response to the coronavirus
3/20/2020
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The Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is constructing the KC-46 depot maintenance campus at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Once complete, 14 state-of-the-art hangar facilities will populate a 150-plus acre campus. The KC-46 is the Air Force's newest Air Refueling aircraft and was created to eventually replace the service's aging KC-135 fleet, which has been delivering fuel to aircraft since the 1950s.
1/30/2020
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U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Tulsa District is proud to 30% of our workforce are veterans and have proudly served our country. This video is a small token of our appreciation to our veterans and all who have proudly served our country.
11/8/2019
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Taft Price is a former television weatherman who was impacted by weather in high school when his family's home was struck by a tornado. Taft came to work for the Tulsa District, from local television station, KJRH, Channel 2 in Tulsa early in 2019. Taft is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and is a certified meteorologist who spent more than 20 years in the television weather industry.
10/25/2019
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The Hugo Lake Project Office added the Tulsa District’s first forester in October.
Reilly Cloud, a former Tulsa District park ranger from the Hugo Lake Project Office, and former manages the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ forested lands in the Lower Red River Area.
Cloud, who grew up around Hugo and worked for the Oklahoma State Forestry Services before joining the Corps of Engineers, coordinates and executes timber sales called blue dot thinning and salvage cut sales.
Blue dot sales occur when some trees in a forest are culled to improve the health of the area by reducing competition.
Salvage sales are necessary when trees encroach on a dam or flood risk mitigation structure or when flooding, natural disasters or diseases damage trees.
“Blue dot sales are thinnings that will occur. It just helps increase the forest health as well as the wildlife,” Cloud said. “Thinning a forest will increase the forest health because it removes the stress of having to grow and compete with all the other trees around. It reduces the risk of the trees dying from insects and disease.”
Cloud will also be a district resource in the event of timber theft.
According to Isaac Martin, Hugo Lake Manager and acting Operations Project Manager for the Lower Red River Area. The project office determined there was a need for a forester when a change to dam safety requirements set a 50 foot clearance from the toe of a dam or levee to trees.
The goal of the requirement was to ensure access to flood control structures, and to provide a root free buffer zone as trees can damage flood risk reduction structures.
“At most projects that wouldn’t be an issue but in this area [southeastern Oklahoma] we have significant old growth timber that we were going to doze and burn,” said Martin.
According to Martin the project would be missing out on an opportunity and wasting resources if they just burned the trees. They began using foresters from other Southwestern Division Districts, including the Fort Worth District, to sell the timber.
Properly managed, forestry programs allow for thinning and benefit the forest’s ecosystems by removing some of the canopy which in turn reduces competition and allows sunlight to reach the forest floor activating the seed bank to allow for new and regenerative growth, Cloud said.
New growth in the forest provides sustenance for wildlife like deer and wild turkey.
“In a crowded timber stand, all of the food, the leaves are up high in the tree. When you thin a stand, trees will then have branches lower down,” said Cloud.
Thinning and salvage cutting also reduce the fuel load in wooded areas, minimizing the risk of wildfires.
Proceeds from the sales of timber on Corps property will go to support environmental programs.
10/23/2019
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Jason Tally is a Park Ranger at the Lake Texoma Project Office in Denison Texas. The Cartwright, Oklahoma native grew up just five miles from his current workplace. After 18 years away from home, which included several years touring with a band, then touring the world as a U.S. Navy Seabee; and finally as a safety officer at various construction sites in the United States, Tally returned home to assist the community he loves. His band plays in clubs and casinos in Oklahoma on the weekends.
10/17/2019
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The Oklahoma Wildlife Expo is billed as the largest event of its kind in Oklahoma and as in past years, the Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will have a water safety booth set up and ready to go when the three-day event kicks off Friday, Sept 27 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Park rangers from project offices throughout Oklahoma and Texas will be available to answer questions about recreation and water safety. The Tulsa District encourages visitors stop by the water safety booth, test their water safety knowledge, and win some schwag.
The Wildlife Expo is hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation each year.
9/26/2019
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The Off Road Vehicle Area at Keystone Lake, Oklahoma is a popular site for dirt bike, ATV, and UTV riders.
8/29/2019
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The stream below Tenkiller Dam in Okla. is home to a popular trout fishery; however, during the 2011 drought, low dissolved oxygen levels, and high water temperatures resulted in a fish kill of both trout and other types of fish.
As a result of a multi-agency effort, a two-part mechanical solution was developed to prevent further fish kills below the dam.
6/26/2013