Contact: Hiram Arden (206) 764-3401 or Casondra Brewster (206) 764-6958

April 4, 2008

            SEATTLE – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District announces that annual maintenance dredging at the outer entrance to Grays Harbor is scheduled to begin on or about April 7.  The area of initial dredging includes the Entrance / Point Chehalis and Outer Crossover channel reaches.

            Great Lakes Dredge & Dock of Oak Brook, Ill., will be removing approximately 450,000 cubic yards of material from the Federal channel to promote safe navigation. Maintenance dredging in this area is done annually.

Great Lakes Dredge and Dock will be using their medium-size, hopper dredge Terrapin Island, and the work will take approximately two weeks. The dredged material will be placed in the Point Chehalis open water disposal site managed by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources.

The annual government hopper dredge Yaquina, is scheduled at Grays Harbor for 28 days to continue dredging of the Entrance /Point Chehalis reach about April 26 with nearshore placement of dredged material at Half Moon Bay and / or disposal at the Point Chehalis open water site.

One of the Seattle District’s primary missions is to maintain existing deep-draft navigation channels and harbors in the Pacific Northwest.  These areas consistently shoal with sandy marine sediments. Therefore, dredging is performed to maintain the depths needed to promote safe, reliable navigation.  A significant component of Washington’s economy depends on navigation and commerce, which in turn depends on dredging the state’s waterways, such as Grays Harbor.

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