Prior to this assignment O'Bannon was the operations and maintenance appropriation manager at the
Mississippi Valley Division which supports district offices located in St.
Louis District, one of six districts in the
Mississippi Valley Division, is authorized by Congress to maintain a 300- by 9-foot navigation channel in the river.
27, it was clear that most members of the
Mississippi Valley Division crisis-response teams would be experiencing just such an event.
Army Corps of Engineers has two bodies dedicated to flood control, environmental issues, and engineering measures in the Mississippi valley: The
Mississippi Valley Division, which approves civil works and some military programs, and the Mississippi River Commission, created by Congress in 1876 to oversee projects and programs for river "improvements": www.mvd.usace.army.mil; USACE
Mississippi Valley Division, Public Affairs, 1400 Walnut St., Vicksburg, MS 39180; (601) 634-7110.
Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District recently selected Heather Sibley as a
Mississippi Valley Division geotechnical regional technical specialist.
Both organizations are being led by Task Force Hope, an arm of the Corps's
Mississippi Valley Division. Task Force Hope is on a tight deadline to get more than 200 designs and build storm damage risk-reduction features--to be up and running by 2011--that include hurricane barriers, floodwalls, levees, and pumping stations.
She is a graduate of the Vicksburg District's Leadership Development Program and
Mississippi Valley Division's Emerging Leaders Program.
This erosion-control method has been so successful that it is considered by the Corps of Engineers'
Mississippi Valley Division to be a prototype demonstration for the entire Corps.