The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be dredging in St. Joseph and South Haven in June. Elizabeth Wilkinson is an engineer with the Army Corps in Grand Haven and tells WSJM News the dredging is intended to clear waterways for boat traffic, but that’s not all.
“The funding was appropriated for the purposes of beach nourishment,” Wilkinson said. “We were able to figure out that it’s actually more cost effective for us to dredge the sand from the harbor to nourish the beaches rather than truck it in, so that’s how we will be nourishing those beaches.”
King Company of Holland will be dredging in St. Joseph June 6 through June 14, while the South Haven dredging will be June 15 through June 24. Wilkinson says with high water levels in Lake Michigan, many beaches along its coast need some replenishment.
“We started by looking at the areas that were shown to be the most impacted by the harbor structures and picked some areas that needed some nourishment, and then from there, we figured out that we could also dredge and place some sand in those areas.”
Wilkinson says 18,000 cubic feet of sand will be pulled from each area and dumped back on the beach. In St. Joseph, the sand will be taken to Lions Park Beach, while in South Haven, it will be placed along South Beach. The current plan also calls for dredging in Grand Haven and Holland.
