Posted on May 21, 2025
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District awarded a $2 million contract to Michigan-based Dean Marine & Excavating on May 13 to conduct dredging of the federal navigation channels in Great Sodus Bay and Oak Orchard Harbor on Lake Ontario.
Dredging of these harbors ensures accessible depths for vessels traveling the Great Lakes and enables recreational boating which supports more than $24 million in business revenue and labor income to the transportation sector combined.
Dredging will focus on the mouth of Oak Orchard Harbor first, followed by the inside of Great Sodus Bay past its piers. Work is scheduled to take place from mid-June 2025 through the end of August 2025.
A total of approximately 15,000 cubic yards of material from Oak Orchard, and 20,000 from Great Sodus is contracted to be dredged and placed in designated open lake sites.
Dredging of both harbors is conducted by USACE on an infrequent basis, based on need and the availability of funding. Oak Orchard Harbor was last dredged in 2014, with 9,000 cubic yards of sediments removed. Great Sodus Bay was last dredged in 2017, with 56,000 cubic yards of sediments removed.
Great Sodus Bay is a shallow-draft harbor on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Recreational boating facilitated by the harbor supports $9.3 million in business revenue, 142 direct, indirect, and induced jobs, and $8.7 million in labor income to the nation.
Oak Orchard Harbor is a shallow-draft harbor on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Recreational boating facilitated by the harbor supports $6.8 million in business revenue, 94 direct, indirect, and induced jobs, and $6 million in labor income to the nation.
Operation, maintenance and dredging of harbors like these by USACE is critical to the economy of New York, the Great Lakes region, and the United States.
The Buffalo District delivers world class engineering solutions to the Great Lakes Region, the Army and the Nation in order to ensure national security, environmental sustainability, water resource management, and emergency assistance during peace and war.
