OUR IMPACT
Americans love recreating on the water, and when they do – it’s most likely on a lake or waterway managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the largest provider of water-based recreation in the country! The Corps Foundation is the only nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to supporting our nation’s lakes, rivers and the lands surrounding them. The Corps Foundation works to connect contributors, businesses, communities and “Friends” organizations to benefit visitors and help ensure healthy lakes and waterways for current and future generations.
The Corps Foundation is excited to share their 2025 Annual Report. Select the link to read about our accomplishments in the last year. Your membership enables the work we do and we hope you’ll continue to support us and follow our work in the years ahead. Thank you for your support! Click here for the full report.
User Fees Returned to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Recreation Projects
Support from the Corps Foundation helped advance legislation and funding authority that now allow recreation user fees to be reinvested in USACE-managed recreation areas.
What do infrastructure improvements at public outdoor recreation facilities look like to you? Renovated boat ramps? New restrooms and sanitation systems? Better roads and parking areas? Upgraded campgrounds? For the 260 million visitors who use U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recreation areas each year, improvements like these directly enhance safety, access, and visitor experience.
The Corps Foundation is proud to mark a major milestone for USACE recreation. Authorized in Section 1154 of the Water Resources Development Act of 2024 and supported by funding authority in the Energy and Water Development Act of 2026, USACE can now reinvest recreation user fees back into the projects where they are collected.
This long-sought change brings USACE more in line with other federal land management agencies and provides an important source of support for priority repairs and improvements. USACE manages more than 400 recreation projects nationwide and nearly 12 million acres of land and water, yet for years lacked similar authority to retain and return recreation fees to project sites.
On September 2, 2026, the first installment of retained recreation user fees was transferred to project sites across twenty-five USACE districts. These funds will help address deferred maintenance, sustain public access, and support critical infrastructure repairs in heavily used recreation areas.
What This Will Accomplish
- Sustain public access by helping prevent service reductions and facility closures.
- Reduce deferred maintenance through targeted repairs and infrastructure upgrades.
- Demonstrate accountability by putting recreation fees back to work where visitors can see the benefit.
The Corps Foundation is especially proud of the role it played in helping advance this effort. Working alongside congressional champions, partners in the outdoor recreation and tourism sectors, public lands organizations, and its own members, the Foundation helped advocate for passage of the legislative and funding authorities that made this milestone possible.
The Foundation also thanks key congressional sponsors, including Senator Martin Heinrich, Senator Kevin Cramer, and Representatives Jared Huffman, Bruce Westerman and Steve Womack for their leadership in advancing this important effort.
By putting user fees back into USACE recreation areas, this milestone will help improve facilities, strengthen visitor services, and support long-term stewardship of the public lands and waters that communities across the country rely on.
HOW WE ARE HELPING
Supporting Recreation
Did you know that USACE operates and manages over 430 recreation sites and 12 million acres of land and waters in 42 states? Over 270 million visitors annually enjoy the recreation activities at these sites, and their tourism dollars support local, mostly rural, gateway communities. Federal funding for boating and fishing facilities and management has declined in spite of increased public demand. LEARN MORE…
Donations and memberships to the Corps Foundation provide financial support to improve programs and facilities that directly benefit the public.
Stewarding Public Lands
We partner with agencies, organizations and local community efforts to sustain operations, improve recreational facilities, preserve natural and cultural resources and enhance the visitor experience. The Corps Foundation pursues a variety of fundraising, and grant opportunities to help keep USACE public lands open to the public, support the outdoor recreation economy and leverage public-private resources.
Education and Advocacy
The Corps Foundation supports USACE and the efforts of their employees and volunteers to educate the visiting public in ways that promote safe and sustainable use of lands and waters managed by USACE. The Corps Foundation was instrumental in developing and promoting the award-winning Life Jackets Worn…Nobody Mourns campaign. Free campaign materials are available for at PleaseWearIt.com and by following Please Wear It on Facebook and Instagram.
Water Safety
The Corps Foundation educates and supports the visiting public and volunteers to promote safe and sustainable use of Corps lands and waters. Visitor safety is the #1 goal when using lakes and waterways managed by USACE. The Corps Foundation supported the award-winning “Life Jackets Worn…Nobody Mourns” campaign for water safety with over $1.7 Million in grant funds from 2014-2025. Free campaign materials and resources can be found at PleaseWearIt.com.
PLEASE SUPPORT OUR WORK
The Corps Foundation advocates for increased funding to address operational needs, unfunded maintenance and infrastructure restoration. We advocate for policy changes to increase opportunities for partnering, and leverage public-private resources. We work to build a case for stakeholder support by communicating the limitations of Federal Funding and the importance of partnerships to help meet public demand.
Why Join
People join the Corps Foundation to help keep access available to their favorite lake or waterway. Your financial support benefits the parks, and the volunteers who dedicate their service to maintaining water recreation for everyone. JOIN US…
HOW YOU CAN HELP
The Corps Foundation uses 100% of your membership and donation funds to directly support education programs, stewardship projects and contribute toward partnership opportunities. Americans are enjoying their public lands more than ever before. In fact, outdoor recreation now comprises over 2% of the American economy. Despite this demand, public lands agencies, including the US Army Corps of Engineers, continue to face reduced Federal funding that could impact your access to lands and waters of the US.
Your financial support helps Corps projects and their friends groups connect, grow, and increase their capacity to fulfill the Corps’ natural resource education mission on lakes and waterways across America.
Advocate for America’s Waterways!
Advocacy Toolkit PDF
Advocacy Toolkit XLSX
See our latest advocacy efforts here.
Water Water Everywhere
Thanks to the Corps, there are countless parks at the many lakes and waterways. Click on the map to find your favorite.
The Corps Foundation was given a free full-page advertisement in the 2026 USA TODAY CORPS OF ENGINEERS SPECIAL EDITION publication honoring 250 years of service to the nation. Read more here
User Fees Returned to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Recreation Projects!
Support from the Corps Foundation helped advance legislation and funding authority that now allow recreation user fees to be reinvested in USACE-managed recreation areas. Read all about it in the link below!
corpsfoundation.org/news/
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Throwback Thursday: this week we switched to Friday because today is September 11th. If you're not aware, the USACE Baltimore District supervised the design competition of the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon in 2002. While USACE personnel and active-duty Army engineers heavily assisted with structural stabilization, debris assessment, and recovery operations immediately following the September 11, 2001 attack, their role in the memorial itself was administrative and project-management-focused during the creation phase.
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en.wikipedia.org
The National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, or simply the Pentagon Memorial, located just southwest of the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is a permane…1 CommentsComment on Facebook
Please join us in recognizing project volunteer Jim Mount who has been honored with being awarded the Volunteer Excellence Coin by USACE Staff at Hickory Creek Park.
Jim is more than a volunteer at Hickory Creek Park. While the job description mentions greeting campers and light maintenance, Jim goes above and beyond his duties assisting campers and maintaining the park. He is often a helping hand more times than anyone knows. He keeps his designated sites immaculate while helping other hosts when they need assistance. Jim is always keeping an eye on the park looking for any maintenance issues and reporting them immediately. Skilled on the tractor, Jim uses it to clear unwanted brush and keep the park looking good for the campers to enjoy. Not only is he a host, but also an environmental steward for the park. Noticing some shoreline erosion, he submitted an erosion control plan to the volunteer coordinator to prevent any loss of precious shoreline. While still in the works, Jim's plan will help the future of the park and preserve space for campers to recreate. We appreciate all of his hard work throughout the years!
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Throwback Thursday! Corps of Engineers park rangers operated boats to transport approximately 30 children to and from their school bus when flood waters impounded by Buckhorn Dam stranded their family homes from 8 to 19 May 1984. In the photo, Park Ranger Bonnie Bryson operates one of the John boats. (Photo by Faye Sams, published in the Thousandsticks News May 17, 1984).
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Throwback Thursday: Remembering what she learned during a water safety class, a ten-year-old saved her eight-year-old cousin after he fell off a fishing dock into Lake Leon in Texas. She remembered what she learned from Park Ranger Tim Horn when he visited her school. He taught the children to "reach or throw but don't go."
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