In this morning’s email:
BK: There is concern over starting again in the spring because of the walleye (and other) fish spawning time. I recall last spring, the projects weren’t to start until after the spawn.
Also, I’ve been asked why the website hasn’t been updated.
I was on an email list that was receiving updates. Those have stopped completely. Have they stopped or did I just get bumped off the list somehow?
How far along are we on the LEP? I know there’s pilings in place on the WI side of the Y, but I haven’t been up there for a while.
As a reminder, unless clearly noted, your response will be reposted on the fishing website http://www.IdoFishing.com
Thank you!
Brian
GREG: Let’s see if I can get you up to date with the information.
First, I am getting paid to update the website when I do work on it, just as I am going to charge Kraemer for answering your e-mail request.
I do have a fiscal responsibility to keep my hours down and the focus of my work has been to get information to the River users.
As this season wound down, I spent most of my time coordinating an extended period of keeping the lock open past the official COE contract closing date of 11/22/10.
The commercial barge industry lost over 2 1/2 weeks of schedule, when the MSP/St. Paul Harbor closed because of high water in October. My time was spent coordinating with Industry and the COE to facilitate and pay for the extension.
It was easier for me to do my work during this almost month long process using my normal e-mail. Proprietary and schedule information was moving swiftly and using the website e-mail was not very efficient.
I apologize for the gap, but as the Project had been suspended, I did spend almost all of my allotted time on this.
This high water also caused the cessation of work at the project. I have spent almost 40 years on the River and have never seen anything like this. as a point of reference, the Minnesota reached its’ third highest stage in history in October. The Project and the lower end of the Upper Miss are still feeling the impact of abnormal high flows. The flow/cfs is about 4 times higher than normal for this time of the year.
This whole season has wrecked havoc on all aspects of the Project. Except for the work on the wall extension almost no work has been done on the cut and fill dredging project for the Navigation improvements. Until last week, there had only been two days of dredging since August 1 because of the high water. The dredging contractor has a piece of work that entails dredging out of the River and building an embankment from the end of the new long wall to the existing COE dock upriver. The efficiency of dredging and placing wet sand in extreme weather conditions and the potential for continuing on will be determined in the next week or so.
If they cannot work this winter, that operation may not resume until July or August of next year. The Lower Embankment has fared no better. On that project, the work limits are controlled by the water elevation. They were only able to set up a minimal docking area in front of Gantenbein Lake and the undertake the work in Red Wing to compensate for use of City property for the Project. The work in Red Wing consisted of setting up a permanent dredge disposal site for the COE and a temporary dock at the Upper Harbor.
You are correct in your summarizing that the Lower Embankment will not get an early start next year.
Thank you for your interest.
Greg Genz
I knew it was at the secret spot u always talk about, i could hear a train whistle blowing 
I thought we were in a budget crunch.