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RDMMP Public Meetings

LATEST MEETING

June 2, 2023, Charrette - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) San Francisco District invites you to participate in the San Francisco Bay Regional Dredged Material Management Plan (RDMMP) Charrette on Friday, June 2nd, from 9 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time. The objectives of the RDMMP planning process are to ensure San Francisco Bay’s federally dredged navigation channels have placement site capacity over 20 years, to identify the array of dredged material placement alternative plans, and to determine the federal standard base plan for USACE maintenance dredging projects. As part of the planning process, USACE staff and partners are currently considering:  

  1. dredged material supply (i.e., maintenance dredging volumes from 11 federal navigation projects in and adjacent to San Francisco Bay);
  2. dredged material placement sites, including beneficial uses of dredged material (i.e., placement site opportunities, capacity, and timing); and
  3. dredged material placement equipment, methods, and strategies (e.g., direct placement, water column seeding, strategic placement, marsh spraying).

This interactive event will consist of presentations on the San Francisco Bay RDMMP planning process to date, as well as group discussion and brainstorming (e.g., measures and alternative plans). We will send read-ahead materials prior to the charrette and look forward to your participation. Please register here: https://usace1.webex.com/weblink/register/r17800aa1cf8c755f8e33c11db701204d 

 

 

 

 

 

What is a Regional Dredge Material Management Plan?

The Corps of Engineers' mission to maintain safe and efficient navigation in the San Francisco Bay has been complicated by a budget that has not kept pace with the rising costs of dredging.   A key mission component is to develop a long-range plan for the placement of dredged material or what is known as a Dredge Material Management Plan or DMMP.  The San Francisco District has begun a regional approach to this that encompasses the 12 federally authorized channels in the Bay Area.

Draft Final Project Management Plan - 5.17.2021 

Background

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), San Francisco District (SPN) is responsible for the Operations and Maintenance (O&M) dredging program in San Francisco Bay that includes a network of federal navigation projects. The execution of this O&M dredging program requires a strategic and regional, systems-level approach that addresses multiple sediment management challenges, including limited dredged sediment placement capacity and the best approaches for the beneficial reuse of dredged sediment. SPN recently began developing a Regional Dredged Material Management Plan (RDMMP) for the O&M dredging program that will outline the approach and identify specific measures necessary to manage the volume of dredged sediment over the next 20 years. Phase 1 of RDMMP development includes completion of a Gaps Analysis that addresses key knowledge gaps with respect to dredged sediment management, and the development of scopes of work for studies that address those knowledge gaps. Phase 2 focuses on execution of the studies for addressing knowledge gaps and developing the plan for dredged sediment management based on the findings from the studies.

Current Update:  In partnership with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) has been contracted to coordinate the Interagency Working Group (IWG) for RDMMP development. The primary role of the IWG is to provide expert advice and review of work products associated with the RDMMP Gap Analysis (identified in July 2020 charrettes). Gap Analysis efforts are underway, including a Regional Analysis Report (SFEI), Sediment Transport Modeling (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District and ERDC), and Ecological Modeling (ERDC). Upon report completion and monitoring being established, a Sediment Monitoring Framework will be produced. An additional effort was identified by the project delivery team (PDT) has also begun - Benefits Analysis-Decision Support (ERDC-Institute for Water Resources). Concurrently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District has begun the plan formulation process to identify and compare the Regional Dredged Material Management Plan’s alternatives to include stakeholder, resource agency, interested parties, and public input. These efforts will inform the PDT’s efforts as they analyze placement site alternatives and ultimately recommend a plan for all maintenance dredging of federal navigation projects in San Francisco Bay. A National Environmental Policy Act analysis will be conducted for the 2025-2034 dredging projects and placement sites proposed by the RDMMP.

RDMMP PAST MEETINGS

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District hosted a series of virtual charrettes to discuss comments  submitted on the draft Project Management Plan (PMP) for the San Francisco Bay Regional Dredge Material Management Plan (RDMMP). The charrettes were organized into four comment categories (agenda, and notes linked below):

1: Toxicology - July 7, 2020 (Agenda / Slides / Minutes) 
2: Climate Change and Other Environmental Issues - July 9, 2020 (Agenda / Slides / Minutes)
3: Physical Processes -- sediment transport, sea walls, erosion controls, etc. (Agenda / Slides / Minutes) 
4: Economics, Social Studies, and Policies - July 16, 2020 (Agenda / Slides / Minutes)
5: Summary and Next Steps - July 21, 2020 (Agenda / Slides / Minutes)
(2020 South Atlantic Regional Biological Opinion Update Slides)
(Please review the meeting protocols and combined comments.)

These charrettes helped scope supporting products and studies to frame sustainable dredging and placement solutions.

*The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers San Francisco District held a public meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019, to present an overview of the District's Navigation Program. The meeting was part of an effort by the Corps to evaluate the agency's San Francisco Bay navigation program in order to best position the program for success over the next several decades. It took place from 6-8 p.m., at the Pinole Library located at 2935 Pinole Valley Rd, Pinole, Calif., 94585.

MEETING SLIDES (11/13/19)

* The San Francisco District held a public meeting Friday, July 19, 2019, from 10 a.m. to noon at the Federal Building located at 90, 7th Street in San Francisco to provide additional details about the process for completing a Dredge Material Management Plan and to provide a forum for public comment and recommendations about the scope of this effort. The Corps sought public input for development of the Project Management Plan for the San Francisco RDMMP.

AGENDA (7/19/19)
MEETING SLIDES (7/19/19)

FACT SHEETS