The Pierce County Parks Committee approved seeking bids to dredge Nugget Lake after reviewing engineering plans at the panel’s Sept. 27 meeting.

After Corporation Counsel Brad Lawrence signs off on bidding documents, the county Parks Department will request proposals from potential contractors, which would have until Oct. 28 to submit bids.

To prepare for the project, the county is lowering the 117-acre lake’s level. Park Superintendent Travis Campbell said the lake should reach a target level in “less than a month.” Currently, the lake is too shallow for boats, but canoes and kayaks can still get in, he said.

Dredging will take place after the ground has frozen, with a goal of completion during the first quarter of next year, according to bidding materials submitted to the county by Geosyntec Consultants, a Milwaukee engineering firm. The contractor would be paid to dredge up to 100,000 cubic yards of material.

The contractor would be responsible for preventing damage to Flint Hills Resources’ nearby petroleum products pipeline. In addition, the contractor would be responsible for protecting snow trillium on the project site. The snow trillium is a plant on the state threatened species list. Campbell said, adding the Department of Natural Resources has given the county an incidental take permit to accommodate the dredging project.

Supervisor Mel Pittman said the bidding documents should give the selected contractor the option of building in advance a 3,000-foot haul road for carrying away dredge spoils to a 120-acre spreading area west of the lake.

“I think it would be easier to get the haul road done before winter cold,” Pittman said.

Nugget Lake was last dredged in 2007, when about 30,000 cubic yards of material were removed. A 1993 study estimated that 2,840 cubic yards of sediment enter the lake each year, and “based on the 1993 assessment, the capacity gained by the previous (dredging) effort is likely gone, which has been further supported by bathymetric data collected by Pierce County and provided in the analysis and design of this dredging project,” the Geosyntec report said.

Sediment buildup interferes with navigability at the boat ramp and northern parts of the lake and stimulates "algal blooms along with nuisance macrophyte growth, which can have a detrimental effect on consumer use,” the report added.