The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hosted congressional, federal and state officials Sept. 10 to celebrate the designation of the South Jetty near shore disposal site. The Corps’ dredge ESSAYONS placed the first materials in a new nearshore disposal site located near the South Jetty at the Mouth of the Columbia River. The nearshore disposal site joins a network of disposal sites at MCR which are part of the Corps’ Regional Sediment Management Plan. Additional nearshore sites include the Shallow Water Site, North Jetty Site, and Benson Beach Site. By using the nearshore disposal site, the Corps is able to keep dredged materials in the littoral cell. Material kept in the littoral cell will be naturally worked through the nearshore environment, and represents an opportunity for the Corps to engineer with Mother Nature. The Corps will use the nearshore site to place clean sand in an area that has been eroding over time, and help protect the root of the South Jetty. Dredged material will be moved towards the beach through natural processes and, over time, should slow the rate of erosion at the jetty root. This year, up to 300,000 cubic yards of clean sand dredged from the MCR federal navigation channel may be placed in the site. In future years the Corps plans to place between 300,000 and 500,000 cubic yards in the site annually.