Posted on February 6, 2023
The removal of sediment from shallow water surrounding two Port of Clarkston docks is anticipated to make it easier for captains to navigate cruise boats.
In recent weeks, an estimated 10,500 cubic yards have been dredged from the port’s cruise boat dock near the Holiday Inn as well as another 1,420 cubic yards from a dock at 14th Street, said Chris Rasmussen, executive director of the Port of Clarkston.
“They’re on schedule,” he said. “It’s a successful project.”
Deepening the waterway around those docks is an important way to support the cruise boat industry, a form of tourism that brought about 16,000 travelers to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley in 2022, Rassmussen said.
Passengers typically board the boats in Clarkston or in the area of Portland, Ore., and see attractions on the Snake and Columbia rivers during their journeys.
Dredging at Port of Clarkston as well as the Port of Lewiston and Lewis Clark Terminal is happening in conjunction with an Army Corps of Engineers project that started in January and is expected to wrap up this month.
The corps has a $5.8 million contract with HME Construction from Vancouver, Wash., to remove about 258,000 cubic yards from the navigation channel in the lower Snake and Clearwater rivers.
The company is also removing sediment below the navigation lock of Ice Harbor dam near Tri-Cities. All of the sediment is being barged to a spot 20 miles downstream from Lewiston near Blyton Landing, where the river is almost 70 feet deep.
The corps is authorized by Congress to maintain the channel at 14 feet deep and 250 feet wide. But according to an environmental assessment by the Corps, the channel at the confluence of the two rivers is only 9 feet deep in places, and some areas in front of the ports are about 4 feet deep.
The waterways are a primary transportation route for grain raised in north central Idaho and southeastern Washington that is shipped to Portland, before it’s transferred to vessels that ship it to overseas customers.
The ports and Lewis Clark Terminal are paying for the portions of the work at their operations.
The Port of Clarkston’s share is $308,112, which includes the work at the cruise boat dock, 14th Street dock and dredging of 2,200 cubic yards of sediment near a recreation dock at Granite Lake Park.
Lewis Clark Terminal is paying $158,000 to have 7,330 cubic yards of sediment removed from its Clarkston site.
The water was so shallow at the Clarkston facility that crews could only fill grain barges to a third of their capacity. The barges would then be moved to Lewiston to receive the rest of their cargo, something that added hours to the process.
The Port of Lewiston and the Lewis Clark Terminal are paying about $55,000 each to have 4,380 cubic yards of sediment dredged from an area that’s about 50 feet wide, including the waterfront where its dock is, said Scott Corbitt, general manager of the Port of Clarkston.
Day-to-day activities have continued at the ports during the dredging.
Once the dredging is done, river navigation to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley will be closed from March 4 to March 25 for annual maintenance on dam locks, Corbitt said.
