The New U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Ecosystem Management and Restoration Research Program: Introduction and Overview

In 1997, in response to a national shift in environmental R&D, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CE) initiated a new research program, the Ecosystem Management and Restoration Research Program (EMRRP). The EMRRP is sponsored by Headquarters, USACE, with program management and research conducted through the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Wetlands Research and Technology Center. The EMRRP is funded through the General Investigations fund of the CE. The program is designed to provide state-of-the-science methods and procedures to predict and analyze environmental impacts of Corps projects and activities with application toward ecosystem management and restoration. Ecosystem is defined by CE regulation as the dynamic and interrelating complex of plant and animal communities and their associated non-living environment. The EMRRP provides both short- and long-range solutions to problems in the following Corps mission areas: Environment, Navigation, Recreation, Regulatory, Support for Others, and Water Supply. Five specific stand-alone, yet interrelated, research work units within the program focus on the following research technology areas: (1) develop capabilities to predict ecosystem impacts, (2) develop ecosystem management and decision support systems, (3) develop rapid quantification and assessment methods, (4) investigate basic ecosystem processes, and (5) restore threatened and endangered species habitat.