Lower Columbia River
Channel Maintenance Plan
The Columbia River is the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest.
Overview
The Columbia River is the lifeblood of the Pacific Northwest. Stretching from the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia to Astoria, Oregon, the river provides endless benefits to our region and nation.
The Lower Columbia River – the 102-mile-long section from Vancouver, Washington, to Astoria – is a critical connection for international commerce. Here the river features a 43-foot-deep, federally maintained shipping channel. The channel allows the river and the region to accommodate oceangoing vessels carrying grain, fertilizer, logs, automobiles, wind energy components, and other products from source to market. This activity supports more than 40,000 jobs in our communities.
Maintaining the channel
In 2010 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a project to deepen the Lower Columbia River channel to 43 feet. Today the Corps maintains the channel at this federally authorized depth and ensures navigation features like jetties and pile dikes are maintained. Clean sand dredged from the channel is placed in strategic, permitted areas both in the river and on land. After years of maintenance, existing placement sites are reaching capacity and space is needed for the estimated 6 to 8 million cubic yards of material that’s expected to be dredged each year.
The Corps and five lower Columbia River ports are developing a joint environmental impact statement (EIS) and a long-term maintenance plan for the channel. The plan, known as the Lower Columbia River Channel Maintenance Plan, will ensure the channel is maintained and operational at its 43-foot depth for another 20 years.
