River dredging project moves forward

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is planning the long-overdue project to remove mud and silt from the Petaluma River, but the actual work remains unfunded by up to $9 million.|

A long-delayed project to remove years of built-up mud impacting boat traffic along the Petaluma River could be inching closer as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers makes progress on a study that could help raise the project’s profile in Congress.

The so-called preliminary assessment will outline options for storing 20 years’ worth of new material extracted from the channel. The nutrient-rich mud has been brought to Shollenberger Park since the 1970s, where it contributes food for the local ecosystem.

The study is not considered a prerequisite for future dredging, but could send a strong signal that improves chances for federal funding, said Jessica Burton Evans, the Corps’ navigation program manager for the Petaluma River channel. Corps engineers and city staff gave an update on their progress during a public meeting in Petaluma last Thursday.

“We’re as shovel-ready as we can be without the appropriation from Congress,” Evans said.

The Army Corps of Engineers is authorized to dredge the 14-mile river - actually a tidal slough leading to San Pablo Bay - every four years. Yet without federal funding, naturally occurring silt has been allowed to build up gradually since the last dredging project in 2003. The dredging project will cost between $6.5 and $9 million, according to the Corps.

A five-mile channel that extends beyond the river into San Pablo Bay, authorized on a three-year cycle, has waited even longer, having not been dredged since 1998, Evans said.

At stake is the ability for commercial barges and private boats to travel the river without becoming mired in mud. The Federal Emergency Management Agency funded a partial dredging after massive rains in 2006, but users of the channel say the buildup of silt over nearly a decade since has had a measurable impact.

“Our barges are coming up 20 to 30 percent light. It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in costs,” said Bill Butler, a vice president overseeing regulatory issues for Lind Marine, which operates barges along the Petaluma River shipping construction materials and crushed oyster shells used in chicken feed through a sister company.

In other words, “every four barge loads, you now have to have a fifth,” he said. One barge is equivalent to around 160 round-trip truck loads, Butler added.

Speakers shared numerous anecdotes of difficulties navigating the river. Julian Honey, a member of the North Bay Rowing Club, recalled training with his team on a high-performance racing boat when the hull suddenly came to a stop, stuck in a muddy berm.

“We were joking about it at first. But we’re 35, 40 feet out,” Honey said. The crew exited the boat and slogged through waist-deep mud to shore.

Tom Corbett, a member of the Petaluma Yacht Club at the heart of downtown, described how visiting boaters unfamiliar with the river often struggle to navigate around hidden islands of mud and occasionally become stuck. The conditions lower the appeal for visiting boats, whose passengers pump money into the local economy.

“One of the big problems we’re going to have with Memorial Day - we have seven yacht clubs coming in. That’s 60 to 70 boats, many of them sail boats. They’re gonna get stuck,” he said.

Presenters said they shared frustration over the river’s worsening condition. Traffic on the Petaluma River is relatively low compared to other waterways under the Corps’ management, making it a lower priority for Congressional funding.

With hope of achieving a louder voice in budget discussions, Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, said early efforts are underway to form a coalition between stakeholders of smaller Corps-managed waterways throughout the Bay Area. While those waterways have similar challenges, Huffman was unambiguous in his assessment of conditions on the Petaluma River.

“There’s no higher priority as I look at the needs in my district. Petaluma is number one,” he said.

As it stands, President Barack Obama’s proposed budget does not include funding for dredging the Petaluma River, Huffman said, adding he is pushing for a revision to appropriate more money from the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, as well as to place the project on the Corps’ work plan in 2016.

If not approved in the current budget planning cycle, the earliest time frame for funding a dredging of the river is likely to be during the following budget period starting in October 2016.

The Petaluma River at one time was a highly popular shipping route, linking to the regional rail system by way of downtown Petaluma. The Corps was first authorized to maintain the channel in 1930, prior to the construction of Highway 101, said Evans, the project leader.

While commercial activity has waned, there was strong consensus that the waterway remains an important central fixture for Petaluma’s downtown.

“This is a town that has really come to embrace the river,” said Dana Riggs, a Petaluma resident and wetland biologist.

Shollenberger Park is estimated to have sufficient capacity for at least one more dredging cycle, according to the information from the Corps. The preliminary assessment, which was made possibly by a $500,000 federal appropriation in 2014, will determine whether other sites will need to be identified.

While a draft preliminary assessment is expected this summer, Evans emphasized that the Corps was ready to dredge as soon as funding was made available.

“I hope to be coming here next year to tell you that we’re about to start dredging,” she said.

(Contact Eric Gneckow at eric.gneckow@arguscouri er.com.)

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