Posted on February 28, 2024
Nearly two months after crews and equipment began arriving, a contractor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has started dredging Barden Inlet inside and outside Cape Lookout National Seashore.
“The Cape Lookout National Seashore dredging project is currently underway with Next Generation Logistics (NGL) on site,” Carteret County Shore Protection Office Manager Ryan Davenport said Thursday. “According to NGL, dredging has begun, but progress has been impacted by recent weather conditions, including high winds and low tide cycles in the area.”
Davenport said Next Generation Logistics is prioritizing the safety of workers and closely monitoring weather conditions and adjusting its approach as needed to ensure the project’s successful completion by April 1, which is when federally protected sea turtles generally begin arriving in the area.
But Cape Lookout Superintendent Jeff West said even if the work is still incomplete at the deadline, officials are fairly confident the Army Corps could get an extension.
Dredged material will be placed to slow erosion of the beach at the Cape Lookout Lighthouse site and in other strategic areas in the national seashore.
At some point after the sand is in front of the iconic lighthouse, the National Park Service plans to put in a living shoreline to help keep it in place. A living shoreline uses rocks or shells, along with vegetation, and is an increasingly popular and often more effective erosion control method than seawalls.
The whole project is a joint venture of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office, the National Park Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
In November, Army Corps announced the more than $6 million contract had been awarded to Next Generation Logistics LLC for $6.9 million. The company is based in Metairie, Louisiana.
Fishermen and other boaters have been clamoring for the project for many years. The last time the inlet was dredged was in 1977-78, and significant shoaling has occurred since then, making passage to the seashore difficult for many years.
The federally maintained Barden Inlet includes not only the inlet, but also the “drain” and the “S turns.”
Shoaling in Barden Inlet became a serious problem in late 2017.
It was a complicated process to get to this point.
Due to the majority of the channel lying outside Cape Lookout, the National Park Service needed partners to get Barden Inlet dredged. The park service formed a cooperative management agreement with county commissioners and the Carteret County Shore Protection Office in 2019 with the purpose of establishing and maintaining waterways to various areas in the park, according to West.
County and NPS officials then negotiated with state officials and the Army Corps for the dredging effort. In the process, they found the last environmental assessment for the Barden Inlet channel was in 1975, which West said was “way out of date.”
It took a lot of time, including a public comment period, to get the environmental assessment approved.
