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The Buffalo District traces its roots to the Corps of Engineer officer, Capt. Theodore Maurice, first assigned to the territory in 1824 to supervise federal engineer operations on Lake Erie.

The Corps improved several ports following the first Rivers and Harbors Act in 1824 with Erie Harbor in Pennsylvania the first to benefit. Before the end of the decade the ports of Buffalo, Dunkirk, Fairport, Huron and Lorain on Lake Erie and the ports of Rochester, Great Sodus Bay and Oswego on Lake Ontario were improved.

During the early years, the engineer officers assigned to the Great Lakes were supervised from West Point. The first permanent Corps office opened in Buffalo in 1857. The Oswego District was consolidated with the Buffalo District in 1911, and was followed in 1920 by the Cleveland District, and in 1942 by the Syracuse District. In 1978 responsibility for northwestern Ohio was transferred to the Buffalo District.

Today the Buffalo District covers 38,000 square miles ranging from Massena, New York, to Toledo, Ohio, encompassing the U.S. Drainage Basins for both lower Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. It comprises a significant portion of the Nation’s industrial heartland. There are approximately 300 employees in the six offices and district headquarters.

The district program totals approximately $80 to $100 million annually, with half going toward the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Plan (FUSRAP). This program was initiated in 1974 to identify, investigate and clean-up or control sites throughout the country that were contaminated as a result of the nation’s early atomic energy program. A significant portion of the district’s budget, approximately 25 percent, is used for maintenance of Great Lakes ports, including 100 miles of federal navigation channels and 38 miles of dikes and breakwaters. Buffalo District was also responsible for the design and construction of the U.S. portion of the St. Lawrence Seaway, including the Eisenhower and Snell locks.

District engineers assist the water resources effort by planning, designing, constructing and maintaining navigation, flood damage reduction and public erosion controls projects. Its substantial expertise in water resource management involves it in ongoing programs related to water quality and water supply. It also enforces regulatory authority over shoreline and wetland development. A normally dry dam at Mount Morris, built in 1952 by the district, protects the Rochester, N.Y. area and has already prevented damage of more than $1.26 billion. The Black Rock Lock on the Niagara River is another facility built and operated by the district.  

The Buffalo District is a popular resource for other federal agencies. The district has agreements with the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Energy, Economic Development Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Fish and Wildlife Service, Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, National Park Service, National Space and Aeronautical Administration and the Rural Development and Farm Service Agency.

Civil Works Program

The Buffalo District's civil works missions include: flood damage reduction; commercial and recreational navigation; beach erosion and shoreline protection; fish and wildlife mitigation; and miscellaneous environmental programs. The district has a large harbor operation and maintenance (O&M) program and supports the treaty-established water control functions of the International Joint Commission for the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River System. In addition, the district has a strong Continuing Authorities Program which develops projects under the flood damage reduction, streambank protection, and navigation authorities.

The district has constructed 28 commercial and recreational navigation projects, 21 flood damage reduction projects and 6 erosion control projects. It operates and maintains the harbor projects and also has constructed confined disposal facilities at several of the major harbors to contain polluted sediments. It also operates and maintains the Mt. Morris Dam, which protects the city of Rochester from flooding on the Genesee River, and the Black Rock Lock which permits navigation around the rapids in the Upper Niagara River. The commercial harbors within the district support the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Seaway System which is the Nation's fourth seacoast. In 1992 alone approximately $125 million in flood damages were prevented by district projects. The district's Shoreline Erosion Control Project at Presque Isle, Pennsylvania won two Outstanding Engineering Achievement Awards in 1993 from the Michigan Society of Professional Engineers and the National Society of Professional Engineers.

A wide range of studies/projects are underway in the district including: a large Continuing Authorities Section 205 study at Cross Lake, NY; a flooding/water quality study for the Buffalo, NY combined sewage system; a lake cleanup study/project at Onondaga Lake near Syracuse, NY; several environmentally- oriented studies for new Corps authorities/programs; and the development of several new confined disposal facilities at major commercial harbors. The district is also developing a Long Term Management Strategy for dredged material disposal at Toledo Harbor, OH at the direction of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works.  

International Joint Commission

The International Joint Commission is a joint U.S.-Canadian Commission that oversees matters concerning the boundary waters of the two nations. The Buffalo District Commander is U.S. chairman of the Working Committees of two IJC boards -- the International Niagara Board of Control and the International St. Lawrence River Board of Control, for which he is also the U.S. Regulation Representative. The District Commander is also the On-Site Representative of the International Niagara Committee (INC), an entity which is not under the authority of the IJC, but rather the U.S. Department of State and the Canadian Department of External Affairs.

It is the responsibility of the INC to monitor flows over Niagara Falls to assure adherence to the requirements of the Niagara Treaty of 1950. Work of the Niagara Board is primarily related to monitoring the operation of the control structure which apportions flow between the Falls and the hydro intakes; conducting studies on matters affecting levels and flows in the Niagara River; and advising the IJC.

The St. Lawrence Board is responsible for setting the Lake Ontario outflows; conducting studies requested by the IJC on matters affecting levels and flows; and is continually responding to citizen's groups who blame the Board's regulation plan for the high lake levels and their erosion problems and low lake and river levels which impact on recreational boating.  

Environmental Mission

We have conducted over 30 site investigations at Defense Environmental Restoration Program-Formerly Used Defense Sites (DERP-FUDS) sites and are also involved in 3 Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Studies.

The district has been heavily involved in USEPAs Assessment and Remediation of Contaminate Sediments (ARCS) program. The district has conducted a pilot demonstration of a thermal desorption unit for removal of Polycylic Aeromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) at Buffalo and PCBs at Ashtabula, Ohio, and has performed an environmental dredging demonstration in the Buffalo River and looked at sediment and pollutant loss from conventional clam shell dredge, a closed bucket and a hydraulic dredge.

The district assists USEPA in the Superfund by providing technical assistance and design oversight at 5 sites. The district is working with Waterways Experiment Station (WES) on a major sediment and PCB transport model study in the Ashtabula River. 

To find out more about the History of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, visit our Headquarters Office of History.