Navigating the Channel Islands Harbor will continue to be safe and downcoast beaches will receive an influx of much-needed sand thanks to a dredging project that will soon be underway.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is on schedule to start dredging the Channel Islands Harbor in late November 2018. The dredging project will be complete in February 2019.

The hydraulic dredge “H.R. Morris” will be staging and conducting maintenance dredging of the Channel Islands Harbor entrance on a 24-hour basis. The dredging activity will be taking place in various locations in and around the harbor entrance and sand trap area.

The Army Corps typically dredges every two years under legislation that authorized the small craft harbor and sand trap to be built in the early 1960s. The harbor was designed to trap sand to prevent loss to the submarine canyon off of Port Hueneme and to provide dredged material for beach replenishment for downcoast beaches.

It is estimated more than 1.5 million cubic yards of sand will be pumped from the harbor down to the beach at Port Hueneme, which erodes over time due to normal sand migration along the coast. The last time the harbor was dredged was December 2016 to February 2017.

Dredging Project Made Possible with Federal Funds

Congress allocated $12.3 million in federal funding to the Army Corps June 2018 to complete dredging projects in Ventura County at Channel Islands Harbor, Ventura Harbor, and the Port of Hueneme.

Ventura County Harbor Department Director Mark Sandoval said funding for the dredging projects couldn’t have been made possible without the support of Congresswoman Julia Brownley, whose district includes the Channel Islands Harbor.

“The Harbor Department would like to thank Congresswoman Brownley, who fought alongside local leaders to secure funding for these critical projects in Ventura County,” Director Sandoval said. “This project is vital to maintaining safe navigation in and out of the Channel Islands Harbor and to maintaining the downcoast beaches that would otherwise be lost to erosion.”