FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:    Steve Boutelle, Lee County Division of Natural Resources, (941) 479-8128 or
                Jacquelyn Griffin, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, (904) 232-1650

FORT MYERS, Fla. (April 4, 2001) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has started the process of dredging the federal channel at Fort Myers Beach, a project that will last until mid-May.

The channel – adjacent to Bowditch Point Regional Park – is the only deep-water access to Matanzas Harbor, home of the shrimping fleet and the U.S. Coast Guard’s Fort Myers Beach Station. The project has been in the planning stages for several years, and recently became critical with the realization that shallow channel conditions could begin to impede Coast Guard search and rescue operations.

The project includes dredging 187,800 cubic yards of sand and maintenance at the Coast Guard Station. The sand will be placed on the Fort Myers Beach shoreline, where it will become the base for an $8.5-million beach renourishment project planned to begin later this summer. The county is coordinating the beach restoration project.