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SAN FRANCISCO BAY
DREDGING OVERVIEW

Historically, dredged material from navigation channels in San Francisco Bay was disposed of throughout the Bay. Beginning in the early 1970's, disposal was limited to a few state and federally designated sites, with most material taken to a site near Alcatraz Island. In 1982 a large mound of undispersed dredged material was discovered at the site. Mounding continued despite attempts to improve site management, thereby posing potential navigation hazards and demonstrating the site's limited capacity. Concurrently, the fishing, scientific, and environmental communities expressed concern regarding the materials' impacts on the Bay's fisheries and other ecological resources.

In 1990, a cooperative of federal, state, and regional agencies, along with navigation interests, fishing groups, environmental organizations, and other interested parties banded together to form the Long-Term Management Strategy (LTMS) program for dredged material from the San Francisco Bay Area. The agencies involved are: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA); U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE); San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (SFBRWQCB); San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC); State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB).

The goals of the LTMS are:

Managing dredging and disposal in an economically and environmentally sound manner

Maximizing the beneficial use of dredged material

Developing a coordinated permit application review process for dredging and disposal projects

The Environmental Work Windows were developed to streamline the permitting process and to minimize the impacts to species of concern.

For more information about the Long Term Management Strategy see the LTMS website: