Posted on December 13, 2023
The latest dredging program for the Wicomico River is underway, the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. USACE just released this amazing photo from the Deal Island dredging area, an important part of the Baltimore District’s maintenance dredging effort for the Federal Ship Canal in Wicomico County, Maryland.
“When the Wicomico River’s dredged material is hydraulically pumped directly from the dredge to Deal Island, it helps restore eroding wetlands, supports one of the largest concentrations of egrets, egrets, and ibises in the state, and also supports one of Maryland’s only breeding populations of black-necked ibises Stiltssaid USACE.
Maintenance work on the Lower Wicomico River began in October and is expected to continue through December.
This project will help protect environmental habitat, improve water quality, and expand public access within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
The operations and maintenance project calls for a channel 14 feet deep and 150 feet wide from the Chesapeake Bay to Salisbury, including 100-foot-wide channels with turning basins, all 14 feet deep at the north and south prongs, and a 60 foot wide channel – foot wide channel with a depth of 6 feet from the deep water of the river to Webster Cove; a T-shaped basin in a bay that is 100 feet wide and 400 feet long, and an extension of a basin that is 200 feet long and 100 feet wide on each side.
