Gulf State Park officials seek to dredge lakes, sink reefs

GULF SHORES — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is seeking public input on proposals from state officials to dredge parts of Shelby and Middle lakes as well as to turn Gulf State Park's old fishing pier into artificial reefs.

The dredge project, according to a Corps of Engineers public notice, is aimed not only at clearing out sand that blew into the lakes during hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, but also at rebuilding Gulf-front dunes.

To achieve these twin goals, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has applied to dredge 44,528 cubic yards of sand — nearly 2,800 dump trucks worth — from a 13.8-acre area in the southern part of Lake Shelby. The sand would then be pumped through an existing culvert beneath Alabama 182 to a 10.2-acre site just west of the park's fishing pier.

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