Public Meeting Scheduled for Upcoming MPS Installation at Moore Haven Lock

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District has scheduled a public meeting Wednesday, Feb. 16 to discuss installation of the Manatee Protection System (MPS) at the Moore Haven Lock on the Okeechobee Waterway as part of the Manatee Pass Gates project. The meeting will be held in the South Florida Operations Office conference room, 525 Ridgelawn Rd., Clewiston, Fla. An open house will be held at 6:00 p.m., followed by a formal presentation at 6:30. Technical experts will be available before and after the formal presentation to provide information and answer questions about the Manatee Pass Gates project. The primary goal of the Manatee Pass Gates project is to safeguard Florida's endangered manatees from serious injury or death at water control structures and navigation locks by modifying these structures with a MPS. Using a set of acoustic transmitters and receivers, the MPS detects the West Indian manatee and prevents the gates from closing and harming the protected animal. Work is tentatively scheduled to begin April 2 at the Moore Haven Lock, when traffic conditions and water levels are low, and will take approximately two months to complete. The remaining work consists of dewatering the lock, installing the MPS to the lock gates and performing qualitative testing to ensure the system is in expected operational order. During this time the lock will be temporarily closed. Additional information will be provided at the upcoming public meeting and will be available on the Jacksonville District's website: www.saj.usace.army.mil and choosing Operations Division tab and selecting Notices to Navigation from the pull down menu. If you have any questions, please contact Alan Bruns, USACE Project Manager at (904) 232-2084 or Alan.C.Bruns@usace.army.mil

Thank you for your time and interest in this project.

Sincerely,

Jenn Domashevich

Public Affairs Specialist Corporate

Communications Office

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District

Phone: (904) 232-1613

Cell: (904) 322-0846

jennifer.s.domashevich@usace.army.mil

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