ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Ryan Fisher, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, visited the District, March 28, 2019. While in the SPA area of responsibility, he met with employees, and stakeholders, on the Middle Rio Grande Bernalillo to Belen Project.
A question and answer-style forum, with the Corporate Board, and employees from civil works and regulatory, started the full day. Fisher then had a “virtual flyover,” and overview, of the District’s Middle Rio Grande Bernalillo to Belen project. Over lunch, Fisher met with representatives of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, including Mike Hamman, chief engineer, and Jason Casuga, project manager. MRGCD is the District’s partner on the Bernalillo to Belen project.
After lunch, Fisher visited a number of the Bernalillo to Belen Project sites, in order to get a first-hand look at areas where engineered levees could replace non-engineered “spoil bank” levees, which are currently in place, along portions of the Rio Grande. Hamman, Casuga, Lt. Col. Larry Caswell, District Commander; John Drake, Deputy District Engineer for Programs and Project Management; Bruce Jordan, geotechnical engineer, SPA; and Ryan Gronewold, Planning Chief, pointed out various features, and issues, of the project, at the Isleta Diversion Dam, and other stops along the Mountain View Unit of the project.