To keep Great Lakes ports open for business, millions of cubic yards of sediment are dredged from shipping channels each year. Rather than sending this material to disposal sites that are nearing capacity, it can be reused to build wetlands, nourish beaches, and in support of local construction.
Minnesota Sea Grant is leading a 2026 study to understand how western Lake Superior communities, natural resource managers, and industries perceive the use of dredged material and identify opportunities and challenges for future dredged material management in our ports.
Project Details
Project description
This qualitative research study explores the environmental, economic, and social perceptions of dredged material management in Western Lake Superior. Specifically focusing on the ports of Duluth-Superior, Two Harbors, and Silver Bay, the project team is conducting a series of focus groups that seek to gather a diversity of perspectives. By listening to those who manage the water, those who live near it, and those who could potentially use the sediment, the project team aims to identify barriers to beneficial uses of dredged material and provide actionable recommendations to inform the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' efforts toward their goal of beneficially using 70% of dredged material by 2030.
Why Minnesota Sea Grant?
The Understanding Perceptions of Dredged Material in Western Lake Superior project supports Minnesota Sea Grant’s Resilient Communities and Economies and Healthy Coastal Ecosystems focus areas. Project goals include exploring how potential dredged material users, local community members, environmental program managers, and the maritime industry in western Lake Superior perceive the environmental, economic, and social impacts of beneficial use, and identifying barriers that may limit the development of long-term solutions for beneficial use of dredged material in western Lake Superior.
What have we done lately?
- February 2026 - April 2026: Data for this project will be gathered through focus groups.
- January 2026 - February 2026: Since the start of the spring semester in January 2026, the project team has been working with students in an Environmental Sustainability Seminar course to teach them about the Great Lakes maritime transportation system, dredged material management, and how to conduct focus groups in preparation for facilitating a series of six focus groups.
- December 2025 - January 2026: Participants for the project's focus groups were recruited.
Participants & audience
Project team:
- Co-principal investigator: Kelsey Prihoda, Minnesota Sea Grant Great Lakes Transportation Extension Educator
- Co-principal investigator: Joseph (Joe) Lane, University of Minnesota Duluth Department of Geography and Philosophy Assistant Professor
- Project advisor: Katie Williams, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division Researcher
Project participants:
- Dredged material users, which may include:
- Local landscaping businesses
- Construction and engineering firms
- Mining operations
- Waste management and recycling companies
- Solid waste reuse facilities and wastewater treatment plant operators
- Landfill owners/managers
- Academic researchers
- Local communities, which may include:
- Residents of Duluth and Lake Superior’s north shore
- Nonprofit and advocacy groups
- Citizen representatives
- Recreation and fishing organizations
- Community associations
- Small business owners
- Environmental program managers, who may include:
- Municipal and regional officials
- Staff from state and federal environmental agencies
- Tribal natural resource departments
- Nonprofit conservation organizations involved in ecological restoration or habitat management
- Maritime industry, which may include:
- Port authority representatives
- Commercial vessel owner/operators
- Dredging contractors
