The N.C. Wildlife Resource Commission now has plans to dredge Lake Adger at the marina this fiscal year.

The Polk County Board of Commissioners met July 18 and heard from county manager Marche Pittman who made the announcement.

Pittman said he had a meeting recently with wildlife officials who told him they plan to complete the dredging of the marina between now and the end of the fiscal year, which is June 30, 2017.

“That means there’s an end in sight,” Pittman told commissioners. “Their (wildlife’s) obligation is to keep the channel cleared.”

Pittman also said some area sportsmen sent letters to wildlife regarding the marina’s condition, saying, “everyone’s voice helped.”

Commissioner chair Michael Gage said that is great news.

Commissioners have been discussing the need of the marina area of the lake to be dredged for quite some time.

In an agreement between Polk County, the Lake Adger Homeowners Association and N.C. Wildlife there is a clause that places the dredging of the marina area channel responsibility on the agency.

About a year ago, in June 2015, commissioners heard a report from Altamont Engineering, which had reviewed the results of a feasibility study done on the dredging of the entire lake.

Complaints have been made over the last couple of years that sedimentation is filling the lake and makes it difficult, particularly at the marina where the Green River enters the lake, for boaters to navigate the area.

Commissioners heard last year that to dredge the entire lake it would cost between $2.5 and $5.1 million. Polk County owns Lake Adger.

Altamont Engineering showed the county aerial photos of the lake near the marina in 2010 compared to the same view in 2013, with a noticeable difference in the amount of sedimentation. At the time of the study, some sections of the lake near the river were less than six inches deep, according to Altamont, with other areas less than one foot deep and the portion of the lake furthest from the marina went to 10 feet deep.

Altamont also told commissioners last year that the sediment is going to continue to accumulate into the lake unless something is done on the Green River to remove sedimentation before it reaches the lake. Altamont recommended last year that the county facilitate a sand and gravel dredging operation on the Green River for ongoing removal of sediment. There used to be a company that removed sediment from the river but that operation stopped many years ago and the sediment has been filling the lake since.