Working in the River

With one of the primary goals of the project to split the river and push floodwaters out into the project area, we're installing large wood log jams in the existing main channel of the White River. The last update talked about the benefit of large wood in a project like this, but an additional benefit these in-river structures provide is channel roughness.

If you think of the river like a water slide, when it's smooth and clean the water would flow fast. If you add a second equally size water slide, but don't add more water, both slides would flow slower and shallower than the first. To avoid that, we're narrowing and roughening the main water slide (river channel), so it stays just as deep when we take away part of the flow into our new channel.

In-water work comes with its own challenges. First, we have to isolate ourselves from the river so we can work in a dry area. Then we need a team of fish biologists to capture and remove any trapped fish from the isolated area. Finally, we can pump the river down and get to work.

Fish Biologists capturing fish in the work areaLog jam being created. Much if this is below the riverbedAerial view of the log jam being constructed