CHATHAM — A private dredging company is now clearing the Stage Harbor entrance channel, continuing the work started by the Army Corps of Engineers' dredge Currituck in January. In light of severe shoaling, the work was essential to keep the channel open for this summer's boating traffic, but the job is costing significantly more than it would have if the Barnstable County dredge had been available. Texas-bas...

CHATHAM — Ambitious dredging operations, each with their own special challenges, are now underway at two key waterways. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge Currituck is currently clearing the bottleneck in the Stage Harbor entrance channel, and about a mile-and-a-half away, a private dredge is clearing a channel to Outermost Harbor. At Stage Harbor, crews are clearing away substantial shoaling at the harbo...

ORLEANS — Recent studies of sediment types and shellfish resources, and preliminary consultations with regulatory agencies, have not dredged up any issues that would stall efforts to improve navigation in Nauset Estuary, a stakeholder group learned Monday. Woods Hole Group senior coastal geologist Leslie Fields said core samples identified areas that were primarily sandy, which would mean dredged materials c...

CHATHAM — With shoaling at the entrance to Stage Harbor now at a critical level, the federal government is sending in the cavalry, or more precisely, the Army Corps of Engineers. The hopper dredge Currituck is expected to begin work around the second week in December. “Conditions have deteriorated substantially over the last few months, and from what I gather, even more so in the last few weeks after the serie...

CHATHAM — The owners of Outermost Harbor Marine are hoping that a special long-reach excavator owned by Plymouth County might be the best tool for dredging the entrance to Outermost Harbor. The excavator, used last year to clear portions of Allen Harbor and Wychmere Harbor in Harwich, is expected to be needed for around seven days’ work, the marina’s attorney William Riley told selectmen this week. Plymouth Co...

CHATHAM — Without discussion, the conservation voted unanimously last week to accept the town’s request to withdraw plans to dredge in Chatham Harbor near the North Cut. At least for now, that move hasn’t ended a waterfront property owner’s suit against the town. On Sept. 4, about a week after the town issued a press release announcing that it had withdrawn the North Cut area from its dredging plans for the ...

CHATHAM — When it comes to controlling shorefront erosion and maintaining navigation, Chatham Harbor poses some problems. The solution, or at least part of it, might be found on Tern Island. On Wednesday, the state announced that Chatham has received more than $50,000 from the office of Coastal Zone Management to support a study of the island. Officials want to know whether adding sand to the island from nea...

EASTHAM — Representatives of Orleans, Eastham, and Cape Cod National Seashore parsed a draft memorandum of understanding Sept. 9 at Eastham Town Hall and found ways to move forward on improving navigation and public safety in Nauset Estuary. Orleans, which is paying for a battery of environmental studies of the estuary, wants to see environmental questions related to dredging resolved and a multi-jurisdictio...

CHATHAM — At low tide, the depth of the entrance channel to Outermost Harbor is measured in inches, not feet. That’s good news for beachgoers who like to wade across without getting their knees wet, but it spells big trouble for Outermost Harbor Marine, whose customers can find their boats stuck at the dock until high tide. The owners of the marina have started an online petition seeking the town’s support...

CHATHAM – For the second year in a row, the town has been awarded a Massachusetts Dredging Program grant. The $100,000 grant will be used to dredge an estimated 14,000 cubic yards of sediment from the Aunt Lydia's Cove mooring basin and the area around the municipal fish pier. The area was last dredged in April 2017, according to Coastal Resources Director Ted Keon, and since then has shoaled due to storms and...

CHATHAM — The shifting sands off Chatham will cause North Beach Island to fold in toward the mainland by the year 2045, experts predict. That will mean more sand to protect parts of the shoreline from waves and storm surges, but more trouble for boats trying to navigate in and out of Aunt Lydia's Cove. In a recent public forum, John Ramsey of Applied Coastal Research and Engineering presented the predictions...

CHATHAM — A Minister’s Point property owner whose land is threatened by erosion is keeping up the legal fight against dredging in Chatham Harbor. Essentially denying an earlier appeal by property owner Gerald Milden, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued a superseding order of conditions late last month that would have allowed dredging to go forward in an area inside the North Inlet...

CHATHAM – There's actually some good news for boaters: The town's dynamic, shoal-ridden waterways are no more difficult to navigate this summer than last. In fact, some spots have improved. A little. But local knowledge still remains critical, and conditions are subject to change at any time, Harbormaster Stuart Smith told a capacity crowd at an informational meeting at the community center Saturday sponsored ...

CHATHAM – Despite dredging this past winter, shoals have filled in the channel between Outermost Harbor and open water, making the marina inaccessible two hours either side of low tide. The town has provided about 30 moorings in the open water off Morris Island where the marina will stage boats for its customers. During the times when the marina basin is inaccessible, customers will be shuttled to their vessel...

ORLEANS — The selectmen voted unanimously last week to move ahead with the first year of a revised scope of field investigations and permitting for a less ambitious dredging of Nauset Estuary, for now at least without the financial support of neighboring Eastham. “We've revised dredge volumes,” Woods Hole Group consultant Leslie Fields told the board May 15. “Before, the channel that started at the inlet and...

An Eastham man died while paddleboarding off Nauset Light Beach Sunday afternoon, having apparently suffered a medical emergency while in the water. Because of shoaling at Nauset Inlet, the closest rescue boats had to come from Chatham, about 12 miles to the south. And had the tide been lower, some of those rescuers might also have been prevented from responding because of shoaling in Chatham Harbor. Respon...