Rising sea levels are a threat to bird habitats and ecosystems as a whole. At the Seven Mile Island Innovation Laboratory in New Jersey, ERDC scientists are using dredge material to restore the wetlands these birds call home and combat climate change.

Researchers from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), the U.S. Geological Service, Marda Science and James Madison University are working with citizen scientists through SandSnap, an initiative to create a nationwide beach grain-size database.

As firefighters worked diligently to extinguish a notable number of wildfires this season, researchers with U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s post-wildfire flood risk management team took a step back to evaluate how they could improve their efforts in assisting with the devastating effects of the fires. As a result, the team began broadening the scope of their mission to include not only flood risk management, but also emergency management applications and environmental concerns.

Since 2015, scientists and engineers at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Construction Engineer Research Laboratory (CERL) have been exploring expeditionary additive construction technology, also known as construction scale 3D printing. The first research project, Automated Construction of Expeditionary Structures (ACES), has since developed into the Additive Construction (AC) program. The program focuses on a wide range of technological developments, including printers, deployment exercises, printable concrete materials, functional construction and reinforcement practices, materials testing methods and structural testing.

Along the Florida coastline, forests of trees with a dense tangle of prop roots appear to be standing on stilts above the water. These trees, or mangroves, are not only magnificent to see, but are a key element in protecting coastlines and communities during coastal storms. Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) have partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Jacksonville District and the U.S. Naval Academy to explore the engineering value of Florida’s mangrove forests.

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) has announced a three-year research collaboration with the University of Southern Mississippi to create oyster reef habitat in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The primary objectives of the project are to investigate methods for optimizing oyster habitat restoration in the area ― which would ultimately lead to oyster population recovery — and enhancement of ecosystem services in coastal waters; a secondary objective is to evaluate whether the oyster reefs have any impacts on the use of critical habitat by Gulf sturgeon, a federally protected species.

The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center is actively following COVID-19 developments. Please review the information at the associated link for current U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and ERDC information in regards to the pandemic.