Norfolk District Clears Vegetation in Preparation for Creek Dredging in Virginia

In late January, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Norfolk District Water Resources Division team completed a site-management project supporting a dredging project at Fort Eustis Third Port of Embarkation. An overgrowth of phragmites had to be removed at the dredged material placement site at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia.

The support team devegetated about 10 acres of the Fort Eustis levee to prepare for dredging.

“We’re upgrading this (dredged-material) placement site and clearing it so the survey team can come in and conduct topographic surveys,” said Dennis Barnes, a Norfolk District master crane operator and site lead. “The surveys can assess quantity and volumes available here, as well as any upgrades that may need to be done.”

Eventually, dredging will take place at Skiffes Creek, a tributary of the James River, but first, six-wheeled all-terrain vehicles will crush the vegetation and machetes will slash.

“It’s a very involved process to get to the part where we’re actually removing the material out of the water,” said Scott Titus, Corps Norfolk District, a naval architect in Norfolk District’s Water Resources Division.

The perpetrator, phragmites, is a perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate environments. Growing inches per day, the reed-like species is considered highly invasive, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In the levee zone, it rises to 14 feet and directly impedes the work of Norfolk District surveyors.

Previously a robust beaver population made a home at the placement site and had to be trapped and released before the site could be used again.