Traditionally, the Corps has conducted water resources development and subsequent stewardship as well as research and development efforts based on the needs of specific projects. As a result, useful models and methodologies were developed, but were generally designed for project level applications. While recognizing the local importance of individual projects, there is also a need for expanded knowledge in terms of broader geographic scope and longer time frames. As the Corps has become more committed to system-wide approaches to planning, engineering, operations, and management, an expanded "toolbox" is required to support defendable information collection and decision-making. |