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New Corps of Engineers' Approaches - A Carmen Group Specialty

Responding to wetlands loss and providing flood protection while creating recreation opportunities, today's Corps of Engineers as well as the Bureau of Reclamation and the Environmental Protection Agency are working to develop multiple-purpose projects to meet the needs of today's society. Carmen Group has been on the forefront in working with local communities to understand needs, and then help develop and shepherd the leading multiple-purpose projects through the Congress, the Corps of Engineers and other federal agencies approval and construction processes.

Carmen Group water experts helped break through the bureaucratic barriers in the late 1980's with one of the first urban, environmentally sensitive projects, the Guadalupe River Project in San Jose, California, the heart of Silicon Valley. Carmen Group worked to force changes within the agencies in how land costs are valued and in making the river accessible to the public, while still providing 100-year flood protection. Providing 24 years of Washington representation to one of the California bay area's most progressive water resources agencies who sponsors the Guadalupe River Project, has allowed Carmen Group to develop enduring and innovative solutions to the water resources needs of Silicon Valley. Carmen Group has teamed with this local agency to develop water supply, water reclamation and recycling projects, and environmental restoration projects, including fish barrier removal, fish ladders and stream restoration.

More recently and one of the foremost examples nationwide of this multi-purpose approach, is the Napa River Flood Management Project, for which Carmen Group helped develop policies, secure approvals, and garner significant federal construction funding. Carmen Group worked with the community in helping to transform a concrete channel into a geomorphically-sound natural river, which reclaims its floodplain by providing 100-year flood protection, while creating over 900 acres of tidal wetlands. This is the new paradigm for the Corps and the type of investment communities need to turn a recurring problem into a community asset. No longer will concrete channels suffice. We understand the regulations and can help transform these flood control problems into environmentally-sensitive flood management projects. In many cases, recreation is a key part of the resolution for the community. Carmen Group is the leading advocate and practitioner of this type of project and has a series of successes around the country to prove it.  What has been tremendous is the economic benefit the communities are seeing as a result of these investments.  These efforts we are helping to shape and manage are changing the landscape of the Country.

The path to success with Corps projects is always evolving, and Carmen Group stays on the forefront of that evolution, often guiding it through our high-level project management expertise.  Please see current environment for more information.