05-17-2011, 11:10 AM
About a dozen navigation light structures in place along Lake Sakakawea's shoreline for decades are scheduled for removal over the next 12-18 months as they become inoperable.
Designed to serve as navigational aids, these beacons no longer serve their original purpose. Wave and ice action have greatly eroded many of the foundations of the light beacons, and proper operation and maintenance is difficult to justify, given the electronic aids that most boaters have in cellular phones and global positioning systems.<br />
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, local U.S. Army Corp of Engineers officials and the U.S. Coast Guard agree the time has come for their eventual removal.<br />
Over the next two summers Game and Fish staff will remove the lights and their bolted concrete bases at Mallard Island, Fort Stevenson State Park, Sakakawea Bay, Beulah Bay, Nishu Bay, Red Butte Bay, Little Missouri, Independence Point, Bear Den Bay, Little Knife Bay, Tobacco Garden Bay and Lewis and Clark State Park.
Designed to serve as navigational aids, these beacons no longer serve their original purpose. Wave and ice action have greatly eroded many of the foundations of the light beacons, and proper operation and maintenance is difficult to justify, given the electronic aids that most boaters have in cellular phones and global positioning systems.<br />
The North Dakota Game and Fish Department, local U.S. Army Corp of Engineers officials and the U.S. Coast Guard agree the time has come for their eventual removal.<br />
Over the next two summers Game and Fish staff will remove the lights and their bolted concrete bases at Mallard Island, Fort Stevenson State Park, Sakakawea Bay, Beulah Bay, Nishu Bay, Red Butte Bay, Little Missouri, Independence Point, Bear Den Bay, Little Knife Bay, Tobacco Garden Bay and Lewis and Clark State Park.