30 Jul 2012

Dredge Currituck: the little Corps vessel with a huge maritime mission

From Florida to Maine, one unique vessel in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ maritime fleet earns its “indispensable” reputation 363 days a year by dredging dangerous shoaling in shallow draft federal channel inlets: hopper dredge Currituck. The Currituck recently spent three days dredging the federal channel at Rudee Inlet in Virginia Beach, Va., and removed more than 7,700 cubic yards of shoaling sand. The Currituck hopper dredge then transported the fine sand, offloading it along the Virginia Beach coastline to replenish the city’s beachfront erosion.

4 Apr 2012

'Paradise Found' turns out to be a nature park in Portsmouth, Va.

It began with four folks, sitting around a kitchen table, discussing ways to clean-up their beloved river. That was 1993. On March 29, the Elizabeth River Project – the grassroots non-profit organization that morphed into a multi-million dollar public-private venture – broke ground on its largest public restoration site: Paradise Creek Nature Park in Portsmouth, Va.