Hatteras Inlet Project Report April 20, 2023

Kenneth Willson
Program/Project Manager
Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina, Inc.
COASTAL
PROTECTION
ENGINEERING
April 20, 2023
David Bernhart
NMFS —Protected Resources Division
263 13th Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Subject: Hatteras Inlet Project Report (USACE Action ID. SAW-2016-02140)
Dear Mr. Bemhart:
4038 Masonboro Loop Road
Wilmington, North Carolina
Tel: [phone]
[e-mail]
This letter serves as the project report required by special condition #24 of the above referenced permit,
which allowed Dare County to conduct maintenance dredging within the Connector Channel Corridor located
between Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island, North Carolina. Special condition #24 requires that a project
report summarizing the results of the dredging and the sea turtle take (if any) be submitted to NMFS within
30 working days of completion and that the reports shall contain information on project location, start-up
and completion dates, cubic yards of material dredged, incidental takings (include photographs, if available)
and sightings of protected species, mitigating actions taken, screening type (inflow, overflow) utilized, daily
water temperatures, name of dredge, names of endangered species observers, percent observer coverage, and
any other information the contractor deems relevant.
Project Description:
On March 8, 2023, EJE Dredging Services (EJE) operated Special Purpose Dredge Miss Katie began dredging
within two portions of the Hatteras Inlet Connector Channel, which runs between the inlet gorge and the
southern portion of Sloop Channel, in proximity to Ocracoke Island. This channel is locally referred to as
the "Hatteras Connector Channel". The two areas dredged were designated the Eastern Portion and the
Western Portion. The Dredge Miss Katie conducted 12-hour operation maintenance dredging in the channels
for approximately 13 days between March 8 and March 23. EJE reported that approximately 17,500 cy had
been removed from both channel segments during the 13 day event. Survey charts for the February 9 and
March 16/27 survey events are provided in Attachment 1. The removal of the material resulted in controlling
depths along the thalweg of the channel of approximately -9 ft. MLLW through the Connector Channel. In
several of the narrower sections of the channel, the channel width is limited to approximately 120 foot wide
channel at -9 ft. MLLW, but for the majority of the designed channel areas, the channel was established to
200-feet wide. The material dredged was placed in the nearshore disposal shown on the project drawings
included in Attachment 2.

Mitigation Actions and Observations:
In accordance with the permit, the applicant provided written notice to the USACE Regulatory Division and
the Division of Coastal Management prior to the February maintenance dredging activities. These written
notices dated February 23, anticipated dredging to occur in March.
The originally stated goal of the March 2023 maintenance event was to establish an approximately 12 ft. deep
channel with bottom width of approximately 200 ft. Based on the conditional survey conducted by EJE on
February 9, 2023, establishment of the proposed Eastern Portion channel would have required the dredging
of approximately 57,000 cy of material and the proposed Western Portion channel would have required the
dredging of approximately 48,000 cy of material. The proposed channel is shown on the project drawings
(Attachment 2), which include both plan view and cross -sectional view.
The County and its consultant (CPE) coordinated closely with both NC DCM and USACE regulatory staff
on the progress of the project. Given the project was completed outside of the April 1 through November
15 window, construction activities were not required to comply with the "Guidelines for Avoiding Impacts
to the West Indian Manatee". Given all material was placed below the MLLW elevation, the placement of
material avoided impacts to federally listed Seabeach Amaranth, Piping Plover, Red Knot, Green sea turtle,
Hawksbill sea turtle, Kemp's ridley sea turtle, Leatherback sea turtle, Loggerhead sea turtle, and their habitat.
In accordance with the permits, the contractor complied with the "Right Whale Early Warning System" to
protect North Atlantic Right Whales if whales were reported in the area.
To the knowledge of the contractor, no protected federally listed species was killed, injured, captured,
harassed, or otherwise harmed by the conduct of the maintenance activities (i.e. no incidental takings). No
protected species were observed during the conduct of the work; however, protected species observers were
not required as a condition of the permit. Furthermore, in accordance with the permit, material excavated
by the Dredge Miss Katie was placed at least 100 linear feet from known SAV resources.
Please feel free to contact me should you have any additional questions regarding this project.
Very truly yours,
COASTAL PROTECTION ENGINEERING OF NORTH CAROLINA, INC.
w
10'
t
r
den Willson
Project Manager
CC: Josh Pelletier — USACE
Fritz Rhode — NMFS-HCD
Heather Coats — NC DCM
Barton Grover — Dare County
Attachments: Attachment 1 — Pre -Construction and Post -Construction Survey Charts
Attachment 2 — Construction Drawings dated February 23, 2023