Assistant project manager among staff changes at Wappapello

James Gracey grew up on the banks of the St. Francis River, on a farm in Arkansas. His father used to talk about the big dam up north, that protected the local farmland from flooding.

The elder Gracey didn’t know it’s name, and had never been there, but it was a presence in their family’s lives.

Carlos Lopez grew up in New York City and Long Island. Camping trips as a child made Lopez decide he would live, and raise his family, as far away from that as he could.

Despite childhoods that couldn’t have been more different, a love of the outdoors brought both men to Wappapello Dam and the same job.

Lopez took over from Gracey as assistant project manager in August 2018.

Gracey is now happily retired, one of several members of longtime senior leadership for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to do so in recent months.

Lopez has settled into his new role, and will help with the introduction of a new project manager.

Project manager Cindy Jackson retires next week, after 38 years with the Corps. A drop-in reception will be held from 2-5 p.m. Thursday for Jackson at The Camp.

She has been working recently to help new project manager Bart Dearborn prepare to take over, after helping Lopez make the transition.

“There are a lot of good folks here and very experienced,” Lopez said of the transition period for the Wappapello project. “I’m coming in at a time where there’s just a lot of change happening.

“It’s kind of an exciting time to come in and see where the future takes us, to celebrate what we’ve done in the past. I see a lot of great accomplishments here and seeing what we can build on from here.”

Both Jackson and Gracey had been with the Wappapello project since 2000.

They have seen three historic crests for the lake during that time, as new records were set and Wappapello twice topped the emergency spillway.

Major renovations have been undertaken, including at the Redman and Greenville campgrounds.

Many miles of roadbeds have also been raised above flood level through the use of Corps funding, including portions of Highway 67 and county roads.

Wappapello Lake was also ground zero for the first sighting of the invasive Emerald Ash borer west of the Mississippi, and Corps personnel fought to slow the tide on its spread.

“I always say this, you don’t ever replace a person, you replace a position,” Jackson said in the late fall, of Gracey’s retirement. “How James did things left handed versus how Carlos is going to do them right handed, but there are a lot of similarities because of the way the Corps is.”

Gracey came to Wappapello from Little Rock, Arkansas and a job with the Corps that had turned into more of an office position than he was comfortable with.

Through the Wappapello project, he found the opportunity he was looking for to be in the field, as well as a welcoming community.

“The place itself, it’s so pretty and it’s rural,” said Gracey, 60, who settled in the Piedmont and Patterson areas, where his wife, Melannie, has family. “(The community) was really accepting of me. They were easy to get along with. As long as you were straight up and honest with them, that’s all they wanted you to be.”

Gracey and his wife have three children, Keegan, 14, and 5-year-old twins, Keeley and Chayt, that have been raised enjoying the outdoors that their father has helped preserve at Wappapello.

“One day I was coming across the St. Francis River bridge and … all of a sudden it hit me, I’m working at that big dam in Missouri that protected that water that came by my dad’s house,” said Gracey, who has taught forestry classes at Three Rivers College and spent more time with his family since retiring. “I always found what a complete circle that was.

“I made basically my career with the government, working on that big dam that protected him, that we all talked about when I was growing up.”

Lopez is also now able to share his love of the outdoors at Wappapello with his family. He and wife, Dena, have four children, Christian, 24, Stephen, 12, Caleb, 5 and Elizabeth, 4.

“After camping as a kid, I decided I wasn’t going to live in New York City. I was going to live as far away from it as I could,” he said. “After spending a little bit of time volunteering for the park service when I was in high school, I decided that was a career I wanted to pursue.”

Both the people he works with and those the Corps engages with were also part of what has kept Lopez in this field.

“The relationships that you build with people, I think that’s the big thing, and then the natural beauty of the area, and the rural way of life,” he said, adding all of his past projects have been in rural areas, and the antithesis of where he grew up.

His family came to Missouri from the Louisville, Kentucky district, after 29 years with the Corps. At those projects, Lopez has also seen recreation area construction and renovation, dam repairs, flooding and many of the same types of tasks undertaken at the Wappapello project.

“Coming here, it really excites me because I’m involved in some things I haven’t been involved in in the past, especially the natural resources management program,” Lopez said. “Where I came from, the natural resources program was basically run by the state of Kentucky.”

As assistant project manager, he provides guidance for personnel and budget management. Lopez is also interested in being involved in the feral hog and the pollinator programs, as well as improvements at the Greenville campgrounds.

Wappapello has seen the recent retirements of Doug Nichols, Dan Camden and Donna Adams, who oversaw leadership roles in visitor assistance, recreation facilities and within the project office.

Change always adds layers, Jackson said, and while their work was left in good hands, they took with them years of experience and knowledge.

“With Carlos being here, he has new ideas or new methods that help smooth over some of that transition,” Jackson said.