September 14, 2004

N.P. Dodge Park Marina receives unexpected surprise

By NANCY NEUROHR

hose of you who dock your boats at the city owned N.P. Dodge Park Marina will probably never forget just how frustrated you felt last August when low water levels on the Missouri River forced the city into installing a temporary earthen dam to protect the floating docks from being destroyed.

Hundreds of boaters were basically in a lock-down facility for 3 weeks while they watched other

	An earthen dam was used to coffer water in Omaha's N.P. Dodge Park marina during mid-summer low Missouri river water levels in 2003.

boats travel leisurely up and down the river. The annual River Thunder Poker Run, which is based out of Dodge Park, had to be canceled although the party still continued at the pavilion.

The good news is - this may never have to happen again, thanks to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who recently approved a $930,692 grant to help fund projects at the marina.

The money will be used to help the marina provide docking facilities for up to 40 transient boats and construct a system of locks that will allow access to and from the marina during low water conditions. Boats will go into a holding area in which the water level can be raised for those entering the marina or lowered for those going out into the river.

Apparently, the grant money came as quite a surprise to the Omaha Parks and Recreation Department. A grant proposal was written last year by Gene Zuerlein from the Nebraska Game

	The annual River Thunder Poker Run, which is based out of Dodge Park, had to be canceled although the party still continued at the pavilion.

and Parks Commission and W. Don Nelson, a staff member of U.S. Senator Ben Nelson. The Fish and Wildlife Service ended its Boating Infrastructure Grants program after it could only fund one project last year, then suddenly congress authorized additional funds.

With so many projects left uncompleted, the Fish and Wildlife Service decided to re-evaluate and prioritize each of them, choosing to fund only four around the entire country. Dodge Park Marina was one of them.

The grant money will be given to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission who will then turn the money over to the city of Omaha to be used for improvements at the marina. More funds will be needed to complete the project, although it is not known exactly how much yet.

A lot of engineering will need to done before the lock system can be put into place but this will be something so unique that people will travel from all over just to see it work. Hopefully boaters will never find themselves dry-docked again during what is already a very short boating season here in the Midwest.