NORTHWESTERN DIVISION

NORTHWESTERN DIVISION

The Northwestern Division is affectionately known as the “Lewis and Clark Division” in recognition of the famous expedition that traveled through the region in 1805-06 during its storied trek across the continent.

The territory explored by Lewis and Clark remains awesome in its geographical breadth and its economic, political, and cultural diversity. Nearly 2,000 miles wide, the present-day Northwestern Division touches all or parts of 14 states, 48 congressional districts, and more than 90 sovereign tribal nations, making it the largest of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) nine division offices. Two of the country’s longest rivers – the Missouri and Columbia – drain nearly 1 million square miles within its boundaries that stretch from Seattle, Washington, to St. Louis, Missouri. Its civil works, military, and environmental programs surpass $3 billion annually. The formation of the new Northwestern Division was a long time coming. In the early 1990s, USACE began to take a hard look at its missions, capabilities, customers, workforce, and funding projections. After lengthy study and review, Congress passed legislation reducing the number of division offices.

For purposes of geographical balance, regional interface, and similarity of issues, the North Pacific and Missouri River divisions were officially realigned and combined into one division in April 1997. Division headquarters offices were located in Portland, Oregon, with a regional office in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Northwestern Division commander directs all USACE activities in this area by providing direction and guidance for five subordinate district offices, each headed by a military officer and military deputy, located in Kansas City, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle and Walla Walla, Washington. The division office also oversees the upward coordination of technical policy and budgetary issues that

cross district boundaries and interfaces with other federal and state agencies, congressional leaders, key stakeholders, and international commissions.

The Northwestern Division, like all other USACE divisions, manages its districts’ civil works activities based on river basins rather than state boundaries. Its primary civil works missions encompass flood damage reduction, navigation, hydropower, fish and wildlife, water quality, irrigation, recreation, and disaster response. Within its jurisdiction are 77 dams and reservoirs, 29 hydropower plants, and 1,600 miles of navigable channels.

Military boundaries, in contrast, are organized along state lines. Major military programs include providing design and construction support to 55 major Army and Air Force installations and dozens of smaller ones. The Northwestern Division also manages more than 2 million acres of military real estate for the Department of Defense.

An Interagency and International Services-Environmental Program provides environmental restoration and cleanup of hazardous, toxic, and radioactive sites for the military, Environmental Protection Agency, and other federal agencies. In recent years, Northwestern Division volunteers have stepped to the forefront in support of military units in Iraq and Afghanistan, lending their skills to the reconstruction efforts.

While USACE districts have civil works and military missions, they are frequently distinguished by the nature and amount of civil or military work they perform. In the Northwestern Division, the districts that have a preponderance of military and environmental work are Kansas City, Omaha, and Seattle. The Portland and Walla Walla districts tend to have larger civil works programs. In all cases and from all quarters, the five Northwestern Division districts consistently achieve top marks for mission execution, customer satisfaction, and quality products.

NORTHWESTERN DIVISION P.O. Box 2870 Portland, OR 97208-2870 cenwd-pa@usace.army.mil (503) 808-3800 www.nwd.usace.army.mil www.facebook.com/NWDUSACE www.twitter.com/NWDUSACE www.dvidshub.net/unit/usace-nwd

KANSAS CITY DISTRICT 601 E. 12th St. Kansas City, MO 64106-2896 dll-nwk-pa@usace.army.mil (816) 389-2000 www.nwk.usace.army.mil www.facebook.com/usace.kcd www.twitter.com/kc_usace

OMAHA DISTRICT 1616 Capitol Ave., Ste. 946 Omaha, NE 68102 Omaha.USACE-PA@usace.army.mil (402) 995-2417 www.nwo.usace.army.mil www.facebook.com/OmahaUSACE www.twitter.com/OmahaUSACE www.youtube.com/OmahaUSACE www.flickr.com/OmahaUSACE

PORTLAND DISTRICT P.O. Box 2946 Portland, OR 97208-2946 cenwp-pa@usace.army.mil (503) 808-4510 www.nwp.usace.army.mil www.facebook.com/PortlandCorps www.twitter.com/PortlandCorps www.dvidshub.net/unit/USACE-NWP

SEATTLE DISTRICT P.O. Box 3755 Seattle, WA 98124 paoteam@nws02.usace.army.mil (206) 764-3750 www.nws.usace.army.mil www.facebook.com/USACENWS/ www.twitter.com/seattledistrict

WALLA WALLA DISTRICT 201 N. Third Ave. Walla Walla, WA 99362-1876 cenww-pa@usace.army.mil (509) 527-7020 www.nww.usace.army.mil www.facebook.com/WallaWallaUSACE www.twitter.com/WallaWallaUSACE www.youtube.com/wallawallausace