E-mails and Memos View All E-mails and Memos Subscribe to Correspondence Feed E-mails and Memos from the past 3 months December 22, 2008 Association of Partnerships for Public Lands National Convention - March 2009 Please ensure that this information is shared with your field offices. This is an excellent opportunity to take advantage of this groups expertise and to attend a partnership skills workshop designed specifically for our needs. If you cannot send someone to attend the entire conference, please consider the USACE Partnership Workshop (5-6 March 2009 till noon) dealing with specific Corps partnering authorities, issues and opportunities. This is an excellent opportunity to further the emphasis on partnerships and friend-raising. Please note the early registration cutoff date and the fact that lodging is going fast. If you have any questions, please give Christanne Gallagher a call at 415-289-3009. Rachel Garren December 22, 2008 Annual Pass and National Water Safety Product Updates The following should provide you with updates on the annual pass and water safety products availability. Even though we strive each year to get these items to you in a timely manner, it seems that we continue to experience delays. This year, the changes in ACE-IT processes had a definite effect. The good news is that we are making progress and products will be coming to you shortly. ANNUAL PASSES: The passes are due to be delivered to the Publications Depot on 22 or 23 December. The Depot staff has been alerted to be ready to start distribution immediately upon receipt of the forms. HOWEVER, we are still waiting on ACE-IT to provide us a list of their newly designated Accountable Forms personnel in all districts as the old list is now obsolete. Without that information, we cannot get the passes to you. If you know who the designated person is in your district (please verify names before forwarding), please provide me with that information ASAP - that would enable me to at least get your forms sent in the event that the ACE-IT generated list doesn't arrive by that date. I have tried to get permission to send these directly to our NRM field offices, but have been advised that they MUST go through the district accountable forms person. The distribution list should contain: office symbols, phone numbers, POC names and full street address, this will prevent delays in the shipping, delivering and receiving process, or you can provide me with the POC names and phone numbers and we will get the address from them by contacting them by phone for their mailing address. NEW HANGTAGS: We are still waiting on the expected delivery date of the new hangtags, which are being printed by a separate contractor. The previous version of hangtag becomes obsolete in the '09 season; however they can still be used while waiting on the new version hangtag if the line "Pass is valid for one year from above issue date" is doctored to remove the word "above". The new annual pass will have a '10' expiration year tag so that the hangtags actually depict expiration month and year, versus the issue date used in previous years. See sample "Sample Old Hangtag"; the new version of hangtag is illustrated in the "Revised Hangtag" file. WATER SAFETY PRODUCTS: Some time ago, I asked the division reps on the national water safety team to let their field Corps customers know that water safety catalog products were also held up. In addition to the printing delays, we've temporarily lost our catalog ordering system while we're transitioning it to the Gateway. Products should become available, along with the catalog, sometime shortly after the New Year. We'll be sending out a notice once all that is in place. I'm available to answer any questions you might have on these issues. Please don't hesitate to contact me. Lynda Nutt December 15, 2008 New Department of Interior Firearm Regulation Is Not Applicable at USACE Projects and Facilities 1. The Department of the Interior (DOI) announced on 5 December that it has updated existing DOI regulations governing the possession of firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. This rule change will take effect in early January and will allow an individual to carry a concealed, loaded and operable weapon in most national parks and wildlife refuges, provided that the person is authorized by state law to carry a concealed weapon in the state in which the national park or refuge is located. 2. DOI regulations do not apply to Corps projects or facilities. This change does not affect application of the Corps Title 36 regulations (36 C.F.R., Chapter III, Part 327, Rules and Regulations Governing Public Use of COE Water Resources Development Projects). 36 C.F.R. § 327.13(a) prohibits the possession of loaded firearms or ammunition on lands and waters administered by the Corps unless one of the exceptions in 36 C.F.R. § 327.13(a)(1)-(4) apply. The full text of 36 C.F.R. § 327.13 is attached and a copy of the complete Title 36 can be viewed on the NRM Gateway at: http://corpslakes.usace.army.mil/employees/visitassist/pdfs/title36.pdf 3. 36 C.F.R. § 327.13 remains in full force and will continue to prohibit loaded concealed weapons on Corps properties regardless of the new DOI regulation and notwithstanding any contrary provisions of State law. It remains Corps policy that we will not honor state issued concealed weapon permits on our facilities and that District Commanders do not have the discretion under 36 C.F.R. § 327.13(a)(4) to create blanket exceptions to this policy. A change of this nature to the Corps regulations in 36 C.F.R. Part 327, would require following the formal rulemaking procedures under the Administrative Procedures Act (5 U.S.C. §§ 551-706). 4. It is incumbent upon us to communicate and reinforce our firearm regulation with our visitors and partners which may include posting park entrances with No Firearms signs IAW Corps sign manual and taking other actions as deemed necessary by the Operations Project Manager. Additional public information about this restriction will be posted on the NRM Gateway website at http://CorpsLakes.us in the near future. 5. The POCs for this action are Stephen Austin, Natural Resources Manager, Operations (for Visitor Assistance policy and program administration information), 202-761-4489, stephen.b.austin@usace.army.mil; and Milt Boyd, Assistant Counsel, Office of Chief Counsel (for regulatory questions on federal lands) at 202-761-8546 Milton.W.Boyd@usace.army.mil. December 10, 2008 Sign Standards Program - Approval of New Warning Sign December 10, 2008 Nominations for Chief of Engineers Annual Natural Resources Management Awards - Suspense 3 April 2009 "Project of the Year," "Recreation Employee of the Year," Stewardship Employee of the Year," Environmental Compliance Employee of the Year," and "Hiram M. Chitten Award for Interpretive Excellence" December 8, 2008 Omaha District - Chief of Natural Resources Section Omaha District's Operations Division, Natural Resources and Recreation Branch is looking for a highly motivated individual with an interest in recreation and natural resources. This individual would have the responsibility to lead a section responsible for execution of the natural resources management program, which includes all aspects of natural resources conservation, preservation, restoration and use; environmental compliance with laws supporting natural resources management; and outdoor recreation planning, policy and administration. Working collaboratively and in coordination with multiple Operation project managers, Lake managers, recreation and natural resource staff, and stakeholders within the basin, region, and division, this individual will have the opportunity to implement a large program within the Missouri River Basin. The duty station is Omaha, NE. This position (advertisement number WTHI08163638, Supervisory Natural Resources Specialist, Payband 2) is currently advertised on http://www.usajobs.gov/ and http://acpol.army.mil/employment/, since there are both an external and internal announcement. The Internal announcement is attached for your reference. Resumes must be submitted by COB 19 December 2008. December 8, 2008 Challenge Partnership Handshake Program 2009 Recipients memo was signed 21 Nov 2008 by Steve Stockton, Director of Civil Works announcing the recipients of the 2009 Challenge Partnership Handshake Program funding. It is forwarded by e-mail and posted to the NRM Gateway to expedite distribution. The Handshake Program provides an incentive to Corps projects to use partnering initiatives to their fullest potential. This is the sixth year that the program has offered an additional funding source (i.e., seed money) to Corps installations for worthwhile challenge partnership projects. The funding is intended to encourage local organizations to become a partner with the Corps. The program also demonstrates our recognition that partnerships flow in both directions (i.e., partnerships are a handshake, not a handout). The Corps is committed to creating a partnership culture within the organization and has demonstrated its commitment by establishing this program. Mr. Michael Hosey, SAD representative on the Partnership Advisory Committee, is the POC for this effort. He will be contacting the projects with further information. If you have any questions, please contact him at (919) 542-4501, x26. December 3, 2008 National Youth Marine Alliance's "Preserve America's Waterways" Initiative Mary Coulombe reminds you to enter your service projects for this great initiative. While some great projects have been already been entered, only 5 Corps sites have participated to date. You can enter your projects or view those previously submitted by visiting this link for Preserve America's Waterways, www.pawaterways.org. Original E-mail Message MOU Program Information Flyer November 25, 2008 Selections for the FY 09 HQ Career Assignment Program - Operations Natural Resources Management CoP November 21, 2008 Chief Regulatory HQUSACE Selected I'm pleased to announce the selection of Ms. Margaret (Meg) Gaffney-Smith as the Chief of Regulatory Branch, Operations Community of Practice, Directorate of Civil Works, HQUSACE. Meg was selected from a highly qualified field of candidates and will be coming to the Headquarters from her current position as Chief of Regulatory, Baltimore District. Prior to Baltimore, Meg served as Acting Chief of Regulatory in Jacksonville, as a Senior Regulatory Program Manager on the Headquarters Regulatory staff, and as an Environmental Planner at the Institute for Water Resources (IWR). Meg will be coming on board 18 January 2009 bringing her current real-world field experiences to the job with a very strong passion and vision for the Corps Regulatory Program. Im confident she will provide outstanding leadership for this dynamic and challenging national program. Please join me in congratulating Meg on her selection and welcoming her to the Headquarters team! Jim Hannon Acting Chief Operations and Regulatory November 17, 2008 National GIS Day, 19 November 2008 We are having a USACE Corps-Wide Virtual GIS Day - you can participate from your desk via a web site to view the slides and call into a toll free number to hear each of the speakers. Item is restricted to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and will open in a new window.

Back to CECW-ON Home Employees Visitors Lake Discovery Recreation Env Compliance Env Stewardship Calendar Glossary Learning Tools GETS Partners New Postings Index/Search Ideas ??? Technical Problems Updated January 2009