Keweenaw Stamp Sands Dredging Update

The Keweenaw Stamp Sands Dredging Project in Lake Superior is scheduled to complete this summer season, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District, reports.

Peterson Companies, Inc. and their subcontractor, Newt Marine, re-mobilized equipment to the project site and began dredging in April.

“Dredging will buy time for the Buffalo Reef Task Force to develop a long-term, adaptive management plan to deal with the estimated 15 million cubic yards of stamp sands that continue to threaten the reef through littoral drift,” said Steve Check, project manager, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Detroit District.

Newt plans to dredge 24/7, weather permitting, said USACE.

This project is being executed in cooperation between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality to save the 2,200 acre Buffalo Reef in Lake Superior from the encroaching stamp sands.