Since its early beginning, Little Rock District has provided professional expertise to help this region and the nation meet water resources development, military construction, environmental and other engineering needs.
Working with local communities
We can help local communities through flood reduction programs, planning assistance, emergency stream bank protection, flood plain mapping and environmental restoration. We are able to put our planning, design and construction expertise to work for our surrounding communities. Many times, the cost of the project is cost-shared with the communities or a local sponsor. Our Planning and Environmental Office is happy to put our expertise to work for the local communities.
Want to learn how the Corps can help your community or organization? View and print this brochure!
Putting our experience to work for others
The same services we have used to accomplish our missions are available to assist other federal, state and local agencies. We have an excellent record of providing a variety of services to other agencies.
Satisfied customers include the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Department of Energy, Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and others. Our dedication to quality and economy has gained us a reputation of professionalism and integrity.
Bringing the great outdoors to America’s families
Our central location and the region’s natural beauty draws visitors from Chicago, St. Louis, Memphis, Dallas, Tulsa and more. Our parks log 27 to 30 million visits a year, and we continue to be the fourth most visited Corps district in the nation.
We operate and maintain 178 recreation areas on lakes and rivers in southern Missouri and most of Arkansas. Recreation and tourism in Arkansas and Missouri is big business, and our projects are vacation destinations for many. If you add our parks and the parks managed by Vicksburg District that are located in Arkansas together, they log more visits than Corps parks in any other state.
The district manages nearly 750,000 acres of public land and water to benefit fish and wildlife and to serve present and future generations. This includes leasing about 300 concessions to commercial businesses which generate almost three-quarters of a million dollar a year for the Corps. We return 75 percent of this money to the counties where it is collected to be used for schools and other needs.
Fast and effective contracting
We award and manage a regional indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity Job Order Contract that can be used by state or federal agencies or military organizations to do work in Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
The contract enables governmental agencies to get construction services with an assurance of quality, dependability and timeliness at reasonable prices. Task orders can be awarded 20 to 30 days from receipt of the scope of work and funding. Immediate responses are available for emergencies. This contract is great for repair and maintenance tasks and jobs that don’t require a lot of design work.
Keeping America moving
We manage a water resources infrastructure worth $6.5 billion. Our most notable accomplishment is the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System. We operate the Arkansas portion, to include 13 locks and dams and two hydroelectric power plants.
Billions of dollars have been invested in counties along the waterway, and more than 50,000 jobs have been created. More than 11 million tons of commodities a year ply the waters, including coal, grain, petroleum products, chemicals, iron, steel and more.
Powering the country
We power the country, literally. Little Rock District has seven plants that generate enough electricity each year to power up to 400,000 households. Clean, renewable hydropower, a large percentage of which is generated during peak demand hours, is important to the electricity supply system. District plants meant 2 million barrels of oil were not used, and 1.5 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions were prevented.
We’re there when you need us
A main purpose of our 12 high-head dams is flood damage reduction. Working with federal levees, the dams have prevented more than $2.6 billion in damages. Unfortunately not all floods can be prevented. So when flooding does occur, we work around the clock to save lives and to help minimize damage to property.
We have helped the people of Arkansas and the nation clean up and put their lives back together following the Arkansas floods in 2008 and 2011, Hurricane Katrina after it hit New Orleans in 2005 and the Tulsa tornadoes of 1999. Our employees volunteer to deploy to locations across the country when disaster hits and help is needed.
Building a strong military
We assist the military services with construction, real estate, environmental cleanup and other needs.
We’ve designed and built facilities at Little Rock Air Force Base ranging from hangars to housing to operations centers. We are the center of expertise for the design and construction of air traffic control towers for the Air Force’s Air Education and Training Command.
At Pine Bluff Arsenal we have built chemical plants and updated sanitary sewer facilities. We provide utilities, roads and other items for facilities that will destroy the arsenal’s aging chemical munitions stockpile.
We help the military by managing thousands of acres of military land to include leases for oil and gas drilling, farming and utility rights-of-way. We handle the military construction work for the Army Reserve and help recruiters from all branches of the service with real estate acquisitions and leases.
Cleaning up former military sites
In Arkansas, 82 sites were confirmed as Formerly Used Defense Sites and were investigated to determine whether environmental or safety hazards remain from Department of Defense occupancy. No hazards were found at the majority of the sites, but underground storage tanks, unexploded ordnance or Hazardous, Toxic and Radioactive Waste (HTRW) remained at some of the sites. The majority of the sites were used for Prisoner of War camps and airfields during World War II. Few if any artifacts remain from the majority of these sites.
The removal of MEC <http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/projmgt/fuds.html> has taken place at the former Southwestern Proving Ground, and additional measures for making the site safer for the long term have begun. A contract is available to provide standby support and/or subsurface clearance for construction activities at the former Southwestern Proving Ground. The Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis is underway at Camp Chaffee. Military Munitions Response Program Site Investigations are underway for the former Maumelle Ordnance Works and Arkansas Ordnance Plant.