Lake Sakakawea Beacons to be removed

 About a dozen navigation light structures along Lake Sakakawea’s shoreline have been there for decades but are to be removed over the next year to year and a half as they become inoperable, according to the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

Designed to serve as navigational aids, these beacons no longer serve their purpose, according to NDGF.

Wave and ice action have greatly eroded many of the foundations of the light beacons, and proper operation and maintenance is difficult to justify, given the electronic aids that most boaters have in cell phones and global positioning systems, according to the department.

Over the next two summers Game and Fish staff will remove the lights and their bolted concrete bases at Mallard Island, Fort Stevenson State Park, Sakakawea Bay, Beulah Bay, Nishu Bay, Red Butte Bay, Little Missouri, Independence Point, Bear Den Bay, Little Knife Bay, Tobacco Garden Bay and Lewis and Clark State Park.

http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/event/article/id/48015/group/Outdoors%20/