Posted on October 27, 2026
It’s a silty situation, but someone has to do it.
Vital dredge work to remove silt and maintain safe navigation of local waterways is nearing the midway point this week, with work crews set to remove more than 100,000 cubic yards — enough to fill more than 30 Olympic-sized swimming pools — before the season is complete in a couple months.
On Monday, Oct. 19, engineer Julia Keiter, of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, led a boat tour of the ongoing dredging and pile dike work, joined by Ilwaco and Chinook port officials and staff, local stakeholders and representatives for Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez.
The Ilwaco channel serves as the lifeline for the Port of Ilwaco, a vital artery connecting the port and U.S. Coast Guard Cape Disappointment with the Lower Columbia River and Pacific Ocean.
The existing project — focusing on areas in Baker Bay and the Ilwaco channel west of the marina — provides for a channel 16 feet deep and 200 feet wide from deep water in the Columbia River to mile .5 in the bay, thence a channel 16 feet deep and 150 feet side to a mooring basin 16 feet deep, 1,200 feet feet long and 650 feet wide at Ilwaco, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“The channel is dredged to 16 feet,” Keiter said. “We can only dredge easily between August and December, so getting that advanced maintenance (to 18 feet) really helps keep the channel open year around.”
Contractor J.E. McAmis is conducting the dredging, overseen by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“They’re dredging about 100,000 cubic yards this year, which is pretty significant. Normally it’s between 60,000 to 70,000, but for the last 3-4 years it’s gotten up to 100,000 cubic yards,” Keiter said.
Storms exacerbate dredging
An area of particular concern involves the U.S Coast Guard Station Cape Disappointment’s haulout area, currently overtaken by a sand spit, a situation considered one of the most dire.
“They now take all of their haulouts to the Port of Ilwaco, which is a safety concern because they have to provide extra security,” Keiter said.
Recent storms and increased sediment accumulation has exacerbated the situation.
“A lot of that is due to the sand spit; when Jetty A was put in, a sand spit got created along the jetty, which really helped protect the Coast Guard station,” Keiter said.
“In 2021, this estuary kind of switched to a flood dominated pattern, so it was pushing that sand spit, unfortunately, directly into the Coast Guard station and also encroaching on the navigation channel, which led to increased dredging. They’ve been out here for a little over a month at this point, but will be wrapping up later this week, then they’ll move to the Coast Guard station to dredge out their boat and haulout basin.”
The current dredging contract will be focused on 14 different areas, including around the Ilwaco marina and Baker Bay, before ultimately finishing the season around Chinook.
“They’ll make their way to Chinook, likely around late November,” Keiter said. “They have to finish by Dec. 15.”
