“Serious problems cannot be dealt with at the level of thinking that created them.” Albert Einstein
Phone: 405-620-2004
E-mail: russ@riverman-engineering.com
Echota Bend, Illinois River — Part 3
“But I also know that in places, the river still runs deep, and though I've floated it in these places, it hasn't revealed itself in such obvious ways. I know that it might be months -- years, even -- before I understand what it has to teach me. I still need to give myself over to the flow and pattern and rhythm of it to learn its lessons and hear its messages. The river is inside me now, I know, and I need only wait and see where the current takes me, and what lies beneath it.”
Jeff Wallach, What the River Says
Address:
1504 Ann Arbor Drive
Norman, Oklahoma 73069-5363
Contact Us:
Phone: 405-620-2004
E-mail: russ@riverman-engineering.com
“The song of the river ends not at her banks but in the hearts of those who have loved her.”
Buffalo Joe
Echota 1
Echota 2
Echota 3
On July 4, 2004 the site experienced yet another flood with a peak flow of near 18,000 cfs. The pictures shown below were taken on July 14, 2004.
Hydrograph of gauge at HWY 62.
Functioning vane 7 years after installation
(July, 2004).
Root wads, vanes and sparse vegetation
(July, 2004).
Looking downstream (July, 2004).
Looking upstream (July, 2004).
A couple of bare spots remain (July, 2004).
Mowed peninsula (foreground) and unmowed island (background) (July, 2004).
Picnic table at downstream point
(July, 2004).
Looking upstream from downstream point
(July, 2004).
Vegetation on previously eroding bank
(July, 2004).
One bares pot still remains
(July, 2004).
Panorama of site from previously eroding bank
(July, 2004).
Over all, I would say that this has been a very successful project. The high bank that was eroding at the rate of 10 feet per year has not eroded since the project was completed 7 years ago and the vanes combined with the altered radius have been very effective. Fish studies (not reported here) have shown very high numbers of fish in the restored reach.
In every project, there seem to be things that I discover that I wish I would have done differently. First, I would have installed rock vanes instead of root wads at the onset, but that is fairly obvious. Second, I would have had Troy re-build the third vane as the angle from the bank is too steep. This causes a backwater and a back eddy that are resulting in the only scour observed anywhere on the sight. Other than that the only other thing I would like to see is less mowing (or weed eating) of the site, at least along and down the bank.