The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District has scheduled a
public meeting Thursday, Feb. 16 to discuss installation of the Manatee
Protection System (MPS) at the Moore Haven Lock on the Okeechobee Waterway
as part of the Manatee Pass Gates project.

The meeting will be held in the South Florida Operations Office conference
room, 525 Ridgelawn Rd., Clewiston, Fla. An open house will be held at 6:00
p.m., followed by a formal presentation at 6:30. Technical experts will be
available before and after the formal presentation to provide information
and answer questions about the Manatee Pass Gates project.

The primary goal of the Manatee Pass Gates project is to safeguard Florida's
endangered manatees from serious injury or death at water control structures
and navigation locks by modifying these structures with a MPS. Using a set
of acoustic transmitters and receivers, the MPS detects the West Indian
manatee and prevents the gates from closing and harming the protected
animal.

Work is tentatively scheduled to begin April 2 at the Moore Haven Lock, when
traffic conditions and water levels are low, and will take approximately two
months to complete. The remaining work consists of dewatering the lock,
installing the MPS to the lock gates and performing qualitative testing to
ensure the system is in expected operational order. During this time the
lock will be temporarily closed.

Additional information will be provided at the upcoming public meeting and
will be available on the Jacksonville District's website:
www.saj.usace.army.mil and choosing Operations Division tab and selecting
Notices to Navigation from the pull down menu.

If you have any questions, please contact Alan Bruns, USACE Project Manager
at (904) 232-2084 or Alan.C.Bruns@usace.army.mil.

Thank you for your time and interest in this project.

Sincerely,

Jenn Domashevich
Public Affairs Specialist
Corporate Communications Office
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Jacksonville District

Phone: (904) 232-1613
Cell:  (904) 322-0846
jennifer.s.domashevich@usace.army.mil

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