Dredging funds vital, ports say.Byline: LARRY BACON The Register-Guard Russ Crabtree doesn't blink when you ask him about the importance of annual dredging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to keep the Chetco River The Chetco River is a river in southwestern Oregon in the United States, approximately 55 mi (88 km) long. It drains a rugged isolated coastal region in the extreme southwestern corner of the state near the California border, descending steeply from 3700 ft (1130 m) to the Pacific entrance at its authorized depth of 14 feet. Miss one year, the harbor manager for the Port of Brookings says, and you lose half the depth and 252 jobs because the entrance channel would become impassable to commercial fishing boats and other large vessels. Miss a second year, Crabtree adds, and the channel would be completely plugged. Then, he says, the job loss rises to more than 550 as a variety of marine-related businesses shut down - including the port's 900-slip marina - and nonmarine businesses lose the money that's generated by harbor activities. "We would close the front door to this rural county that only has a population of 20,000 people," he says, referring to Curry County Curry County is the name of several counties in the United States:
Crabtree's opinions are being echoed in three other Oregon Coast The Oregon Coast is a geographical term that is used to describe the coast of Oregon along the Pacific Ocean. Stretching 362 miles from Astoria to the California border, the Oregon Coast is unique in that the whole coastline is public land. communities that are also facing the loss of federal dredging support in the 2003 fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. The other communities are Gold Beach, Bandon and Depoe Bay. Annual dredging, considered vital to the harbors in all four communities, has been "zeroed out" in the Corps of Engineers' budget, on order from the Bush administration. The order, which will affect the four Oregon ports and dredging projects for 431 other small ports and waterways around the country, specifies that maintenance dredging is to end for "shallow-draft" channels of 14 feet or less. Doris McKillip, chief of the Waterways Maintenance Section in the corps' Portland District Office, said Bush decided to put increased emphasis on national security and to support maintenance dredging only for deeper waterway projects that provide national and not just regional benefits. Part of the problem faced by the Oregon communities is that the corps traditionally has discounted the benefits of recreational boating and fishing and associated tourism and commercial fishing when assessing the value of harbor improvement projects and dredging. The corps' main criterion for deciding where to dredge has been shipping. That benefited many small local ports when timber was the foundation of local economies and ships and outbound barges carried logs and lumber on a regular basis. But things are different now. Crabtree argues that federal analysts need to consider studies such as a recent one in his port that estimated that annual dredging costing less than $400,000 generated $10 million in Curry County, most of it in recreation-related business. Coastal officials, along with Oregon's congressional delegation, are working to restore dredging for the four coastal ports, budgeted this fiscal year to cost about $1.3 million. But U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio Peter Anthony DeFazio (born May 27, 1947) is an American politician. He serves as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Oregon, representing the 4th Congressional District and is currently serving his 11th term. , whose district includes the southern half of Oregon's coast, expects it to be a tough fight. "I'm very worried about this," DeFazio said. "It's going to be a very difficult budget year with the (Bush administration's) insistence on locking in and fully funding the (federal income) tax cuts. That means there will dramatic cuts in everything outside of the Pentagon." Another bad omen, DeFazio said, was the administration's firing two weeks ago of Assistant Secretary of the Army Mike Parker Michael Parker (b. October 31, 1949) is a politician from the state of Mississippi. Parker was born in Laurel, Mississippi and he graduated from William Carey College with a BA in English in 1970. , who headed the Corps of Engineers, because of his resistance to budget cuts. The good news, he said, is that because so many small ports and waterways around the country are affected, the Oregon delegation is likely to have plenty of support in seeking to restore the money. The challenge, he said, will be to make others in Congress understand the lost economic benefits and boater safety problems that will result if dredging is eliminated and sandy shoals begin causing rough waters at the small ports' entrances. DeFazio said he hopes the dredging crisis can be resolved before Oct. 1 but added he's not sure Congress will be done sorting out the federal budget by then. "This may take until after the (November) election," he said. Crabtree will be among a delegation of officials from Brookings, Gold Beach and Crescent City Crescent City is the name of the following places:
Mike Nielson, manager for the Port of Gold Beach, will also be part of that delegation and said that in addition to money to dredge his port, he will seek a $500,000 one-time allocation for a suction dredge A suction dredge can be:-
A river, about 322 km (200 mi) long, rising in the Cascade Range of southwest Oregon and flowing generally south and southwest to the Pacific Ocean. entrance channel. Sand from the huge shoal sloughs into the channel and makes it difficult to keep clear, Nielson said, causing chronic rough-water problems. Last year, that resulted in two capsizings that caused one death and nearly claimed three other people, he said. The fight to get dredging funds reinstated for his port is so important, Nielson said, that it's one he can't even think of losing. Long-time Port of Bandon manager Alex Linke fears that if the entrance to the Coquille River The Coquille River is a river 100 mi (160 km) long, in southwestern Oregon in the United States. It drains a mountainous area of approximately 1058 sq mi (2750 km²) of the Coastal Range into Pacific Ocean. at Bandon goes undredged one or two years it will plug up between the narrow jetties and flood the waterfront. Loss of dredging would not only be disastrous for Bandon, Linke said, but also a likely precursor for taking dredging away from other small coastal ports such as those in Port Orford and Florence. Depoe Bay doesn't have a port district so its small harbor is operated by the city. Boats enter and leave the harbor through a channel under a Highway 101 bridge. The channel requires dredging every three years, Mayor John Steen John Steen (July 28, 1874 - August 21, 1959) was a North Dakota public servant and politician with the Republican Party. He served as the North Dakota State Treasurer from 1915 to 1918 and from 1921 to 1924, since Treasurers were only allowed to serve two consecutive terms. said. Without dredging, he said, the channel would fill and the city's small harbor and boat basin Boat Basin is located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Boat Basin has the most trendy restaurants and considered one of the main Food Street in Karachi. The Boat Basin is a section of Clifton beach. See also
in·op·er·a·ble adj. Unsuitable for a surgical procedure. . Recreational and commercial fishing, crabbing and whale watching Whale watching is the practice of observing whales and other cetaceans in their natural habitat. Whales are watched most commonly for recreation (cf. bird watching) but the activity can also be for scientific or educational reasons. excursions would come to an end, Steen said, as would much of the boat-related business that is the lifeblood of his coastal town of 1,190 people. Steen and others in the Oregon communities targeted for the dredging cuts also wonder about the future of the U.S. Coast Guard in their ports. Bandon and Gold Beach now have only a Coast Guard detachment during the summer and last summer shoaling problems and lack of depth at the Rogue River entrance prevented a standard 47-foot motor lifeboat from getting into port. A Coast Guard crew assigned to Gold Beach had to make do with a smaller boat. But Cmdr. Russ Kenin, deputy commander at Coast Guard Group North Bend North Bend is the name of several places in the United States of America:
Kenin said a halt in dredging might complicate Coast Guard operations - particularly if the ports silt shut and the Coast Guard can't get its boats in and out. "But we consider these critical summer environments," he said. "And we need to stay there as long as we can." DREDGING BUDGET FOR OREGON COASTAL PORTS Chetco River (Brookings Harbor) 2002: $402,000 2003: None Columbia River Columbia River River, southwestern Canada and northwestern U.S. Rising in the Canadian Rockies, it flows through Washington state, entering the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Ore.; it has a total length of 1,240 mi (2,000 km). mouth 2002: $7,818,000 2003: $6,632,000 Coos Bay Coos Bay (k  s), city (1990 pop. 15,076), Coos co., SW Oreg., a port of entry on Coos Bay; founded 1854 as Marshfield, inc. 1874, renamed 1944.
2002: $4,692,000 2003: $5,494,000 Coquille River (Bandon) 2002: $193,000 2003: None Depoe Bay 2002: $3,000 2003: None Port Orford 2002: $631,000 2003: $606,000 Rogue River (Gold Beach) 2002: $674,000 2003: None Siuslaw River The Siuslaw River (pronounced sigh YOU slaw) is a river, approximately 110 mi (177 km) long, along the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of approximately 4560 sq mi (11900 km²) in the Central Oregon Coast Range southwest of the Willamette (Florence) 2002: $781,000 2003: $466,000 Umpqua River The Umpqua River (UHMP-kwah) is a river on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States, approximately 111 mi (179 km) long. One of the prinicipal rivers of the Oregon coast, it drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west of the Cascade Range and south of the (Winchester Bay) 2002: $834,000 2003: $963,000 Yaquina Bay Yaquina Bay (pronounced ya kwin na or, rarely, ya keen ah) is a small bay partially within Newport, Oregon, United States, located where the Yaquina River flows into the Pacific Ocean. Its area is about 8 km² (3.2 mi²). (Newport) 2002: $2,354,000 2003: $1,450,000 - U.S. Army Corps of Engineers |
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