Maintenance dredging underway at St. Joseph Harbor

The U.S. Corps of Engineers, Detroit District will today (May 13) start dredging outer St. Joseph Harbor to keep the federal channel open.

The purpose of dredging is to remove shoaling and to perform preventative maintenance at the harbor mouth to avoid interruptions to the commercial shipping season.

Hydraulic dredging, pumping sediment through a temporary pipeline, will be used to clear the shoal at St. Joseph Harbor.

The sediment will then be beneficially reused and placed at depth of about four feet deep along the shoreline south of the harbor starting at Park Street. About 22,000 cubic yards of sediment is scheduled to be dredged.

King Co. Inc., based in Holland, Michigan, is dredging St. Joseph Harbor as part of a $1.5 million three-harbor contract that also includes outer Holland and Grand Haven Harbors. Work in Holland concluded last week.

“St. Joseph Harbor is an important commercial harbor for shipping in West Michigan that historically has seen seasonal shoaling from weather events,” said Liz Newell Wilkinson, the operations manager at the Grand Haven Office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District. “Luckily, our early surveys show the harbor is in relatively good conduction following the winter months and should be ready for a busy 2025 season.”

Dredging operations are expected to conclude in St. Joseph Harbor May 23, unless weather impacts the schedule.

In addition to dredging St. Joseph Harbor, the Army Corps Engineer Research and Development Center will monitor the dredging and placement in 2025 and 2026 to help identify ways to improve beach nourishment.

The monitoring includes looking at turbidity, the cloudiness of the water, using several small orange buoys along the harbor. An underwater autonomous vehicle submarine drone (UAS) will measure conditions in the water and an aerial drone will take photos of the work.