Missouri River Regional Headquarters Mission
Since its creation in October 1933, the Missouri River Division has been a significant force in the modern development of the heartland of the United States.
The Corps started its work on the Missouri River in 1833, pulling snags to facilitate commercial navigation and open the West to settlers. A hundred years later the division was formed in Kansas City with a charter to improve the Missouri and its tributaries from Herman, Mo. to the headwaters. It had three districts - Kansas City, Omaha and Fort Peck.
Since that beginning, the Missouri River Division has grown to an organization with 3,000 civilians and 25 Corps officers handling water resources management, emergency operations, and military construction for the 33 major and 210 minor Army and Air Force installations in 11 midwestern states as well as the cleanup of hazardous, toxic and radioactive waste (HTRW) around the nation. It is also the home for the Centers of Expertise for Transportation Systems and Protective Design.
The Missouri River Division has built 45 dams, ranging in size from the giants on the main stem to local flood damage reduction projects such as those in Denver, Sioux Falls, Lincoln, Omaha, Kansas City and Topeka. There are 700 miles of levees, thousands of river control structures and 735 miles of navigation channel. The eight hydropower plants produce an average of more than 10 billion kilowatts of electrical energy each year.
Major military construction projects have included the command post for the North American Air Defense Command inside Cheyenne Mountain; Atlas, Minuteman and Peacekeeper missile silos; Air Launched Cruise Missile sites; Consolidated Space Operations Center; SDI National Test Facility; Space Command Headquarters; B-1 and B-2 facilities; the Army Engineer School and hospitals, commissaries, maintenance shops, dormitories, hangars and family housing throughout the midwest.
The HTRW mission has grown from a limited contracting effort for the Environmental Protection Agency into a Corps-wide multi-billion dollar effort. The Missouri River Division is now the HTRW Center of Expertise for the Corps with a client list that includes the Department of Defense; Army, Air Force, and Navy; Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy and Transportation; Environmental Protection Agency; and National Aeronautics and Space, Farmers Home, General Services, and Federal Aviation Administrations.
Despite the uncertainties caused by smaller budgets and fewer people, the men and women of the Missouri River Division will continue to provide essential services to the Nation.