Permit Received from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for 10 Year Sand Placement Program on Puget Island and Cape Horn

Here's a Thursday afternoon news release from the office of Wahkiakum County Board of Commissioners:

On Wednesday, May 15, 2019, Public Works Director Charles Beyer signed and received the final,

completed permitting package with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allow for the placement

of dredged sand upon specific sites on Puget Island and Cape Horn.

The purpose of the sand placement program is to protect eroding shorelines through beach

nourishment. Most of the shorelines have not been stabilized with dredged sand in over a decade.

This marks the end of the planning and permitting process that has been several years in the

making. The permitting process was officially started with the Corps in 2016, though discussions

on the need for bank stabilization and how to fund the project began several years prior to that.

The permitting is now in place, however, that alone is not a guarantee of sand placement on the

eroding shorelines.The actual placement of sand is still dependent upon the need for

maintenance dredging of the federal navigation channel of the Columbia River in the nearby

vicinity, as the Corps will only place sand when it is both available and cost effective for them to

do so. The Corps is still in the process of surveying the channel and developing a plan for the

upcoming dredging season. The Wahkiakum Board of County Commissioners is optimistic that

several of the sites may obtain sand during this summer’s dredging season.