Environmental Protection & Ecosystem Restoration

The Corps of Engineers is the leading Ecosystem Restoration organization in the world. The Corps's Civil Works Program makes an important contribution towards meeting the Nation's environmental goals by constructing projects for restoration of fish and wildlife habitat, by including mitigation in the design of all its projects, by protecting environmental values such as wetlands through its regulatory program, by its program of environmental compliance at Civil Works project sites, and by supporting other Federal agencies on a reimbursable basis in meeting important environmental objectives, such as the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund and Department of Energy cleanup at nuclear production facilities.

Restoration

The Corps may incorporate ecosystem restoration in plans for new projects, as a modification of existing projects, when determining placement of dredged material from authorized navigation projects, and in planning projects designed to restore ecosystems where a Corps project contributed to the degradation. Example projects include the restoration of the South Florida Ecosystem Restoration, Lake Tahoe, and the Upper Mississippi River.

Regulation

The Corps operates a comprehensive regulatory program which, through extensive public interest preview protects navigation and regulates the deposit of dredged and fill materials into the Nation's waters. Since 1993, the Corps has achieved the goal of no net loss of wetlands in its permit program.Corps Regulatory Program.

Compliance

The Corps operates the Environmental Review Guide for Operations program to locate and correct environmental compliance deficiencies. District elements, regulatory agencies, and private contractors offer support to trained managers. Many environmental benefits have been obtained by modifying the operation of Corps projects.