Dock Installation near the Remington Nature Center. pic.twitter.com/BogNDChQgP

— stjoemoparks (@stjoemoparks) March 28, 2017

The City of St. Joseph installed a floating dock on the Missouri River near Remington Nature Center Tuesday.

Assistant Parks Dir. Jeff Atkins said they try to have the dock on the river as close April 1 as possible.  He said barring flooding the dock will remain there until around Oct. 30.

“Once the river reaches an elevation of about 17 feet we have to go down and restrict access to the dock,” Atkins said. “If the river is projected to reach a level of 21 foot or greater for an extended period of time we go down and remove the dock from the river to prevent damage to the dock.”

The city purchased the dock in 2009 with a grant from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

“It does get a lot of use.  We don’t allow overnight motoring to the dock, we don’t allow fishing from the dock, we don’t allow sunbathing on the dock.  It’s basically there for people to use when they are putting the boats in and out at the boat ramp.  It gives them some place to park their boat,” Atkins said. “For the entire season it does get used on a fairly regular basis.”

Atkins said a crane aids in the installation and removal process.  He said within three hours the dock can be placed or removed.