Posted on August 24, 2021
DEPOE BAY — Several areas at the Depoe Bay City Park will close for two weeks starting Sept. 10 as the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and its contractors begin a project to dredge the Depoe Bay check dam and harbor boat basin.
The dredging will begin Sept. 13 and last at least two weeks, concluding sometime toward the end of September. During that time, the footbridge, playground area, gazebo and nature trail at the park will be closed and coned off as a safety precaution.
According to a USACE press release, the project will affect both the boat basin and an upland site located on private property about two miles from the main work area. Contractors will be staging equipment in the south harbor area during the project.
The dredging is expected to remove roughly 2,000 cubic yards of silt material as it cleans out the harbor’s sediment catch boat basin. The basin functions like a grease trap, catching sediment that is washed down the river over the course of a decade.
Dredgings are generally done every 10 years depending on funding available, and the last time Depoe Bay’s catch basin was cleared was in 2005.
The USACE used the National Environmental Policy Act to complete a Supplemental Environmental Assessment for the project and partnered with the Environmental Protection Agency, National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to minimize the effect the project will have on the local environment.
The release states that the Depoe Bay harbor has 85,000 pounds in fish landings valued at $72,323 per year as of 2010, as well as 16,000 commercial and 15,000 recreational crossings per year. It is also home to a U.S. Coast Guard Station and is considered a critical harbor of refuge.
For more information about the project, visit: www.nwp.usace.army.mil/Locations/Oregon-Coast/Depoe-Bay
