The material will be dredged via a cutter suction dredge and hydraulically pumped through a pipeline from the dredge to the placement site. There will be no staging location or barges to move the material. The discharge end of the pipeline may be moved within the placement site to spread the dredged material.

USACE pumped the last dredging material to Clara Road in 2013. That site is now closed. A new suitable placement site for the dredged material from the Wicomico River needed to be found to ensure continued dredging and safe vessel passage.

Since 2008, USACE and its partners have been looking for new placement sites. Other considered placement sites had wetland mitigation issues, owners who did not want to sell their property, or land that would not have the space available for the appropriate dredged material. After long research and testing, USACE and its partners picked Deal Island WMA. This placement site can take sediment from the Wicomico River, while also rebuilding degraded tidal marshes that provide habitat for local species, including two threatened bird species, and filter sediment.

There are significant differences between the characteristics of the Deal Island WMA and Ellis Bay placement sites. Ellis Bay was a shoreline restoration project, in which material was placed adjacent to the shoreline in open water. Whereas, placement at Deal Island will aim to restore eroding wetlands to provide habitat and improve resiliency. The multi-agency project team incorporated different design parameters and contributed to the overall site design, to include target elevation and containment features. A USACE representative will monitor the dredged material inflow and work closely with the contractor to ensure the target elevation of 1.5 feet above the existing grade is met. The placement site area is sufficient for the estimated amount of material to be placed, but operations will be shut down if any containment failures are identified.

The sediment was sampled and tested in 2010 and fell within acceptable ranges. Necessary water quality certifications were issued for the Wicomico River project from the Maryland Department of the Environment on previous maintenance dredging cycles. In February 2021, sediment samples were collected at the previously used upland placement site for the lower portion of the Wicomico River. These sediment samples also showed contamination levels within acceptable ranges and suitable to plant and grow similar species of vegetation to be planted at the Deal Island WMA.

The diameter of the pipeline will depend on the winning contractor and the dredge and equipment they decide to use to meet the requirements of this work. Historically, this project has been dredged with equipment having a diameter between 16 - 24 inches. In coordination with our partner agencies, several environmental windows and time-of-year restrictions are set to avoid as much impact as possible to fish, other species and aquatic vegetation during both dredging and material placement. From February to June, we have listed the anadromous fish window. We will also avoid dredging during fish spawning timeframes in the Wicomico River.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Baltimore District, awarded a $13.5 million contract to Cottrell Contracting Corp., a Small Business out of Chesapeake, Virginia, in September 2022 for maintenance dredging for the Lower Wicomico River, located in both Wicomico and Somerset counties. 

• Maintenance dredging for the Lower Wicomico River began in October 2023 and is expected to continue through December 2023. Once placement of dredge material is completed winter 2023/2024, vegetation planting will take place over a two-year period.
• The project – in coordination with Wicomico County, the non-federal sponsor – consists of dredging approximately 120,000 cubic yards of material from the federal navigation channel, to its authorized depth of 14 feet.   

USACE, Baltimore District awarded has awarded a $13.5 million contract to Cottrell Contracting Corp., a Small Business out of Chesapeake, Virginia, for maintenance dredging for the Lower Wicomico River. This includes the containment, dredging, and planting portions of the project.

Maintenance dredging for the Lower Wicomico River began in October 2023 and is expected to continue through December 2023. Once placement of dredge material is completed winter 2023/2024, vegetation planting will take place over a two-year period.

Following placement, vegetation will be planted over two growing seasons and monitoring will occur for up to five years.

The work is planned to commence at the southern end of the Wicomico River. Three main sections will have visible buoys for the dredging location in the Wicomico River. Please see the below buoy locations for the general areas of dredging:

• Dredging Section 1
  • Start dredging after Green 9
  • End dredging at Green 15
• Dredging Section 2
  • Start dredging before Green 17
  • End dredging at Green 19
• Dredging Section 3
  • Start dredging before Green 23
  • End dredging before Red 22

No. 

Under normal wave conditions and habitat conditions, there should be no direct wave contact.

For the portion of work occurring on the river, the pipeline may be either submerged or floating but will be properly marked by the contractor in accordance with USACE and USCG regulations. A natural oyster bar is located near the southern end of the channel. Dredging for this section of the channel will be accomplished within the timeframe recommend by Maryland Department of Natural Resources in order to minimize potential impacts to the natural oyster bar. Additionally, USACE and its contractor will work with aquaculture leaseholders regarding the pipeline route to minimize impacts to leases near the federal channel to the maximum extent practicable.