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Survey screens river�s new channel Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Frank Schnitzer, a reclamationist with the Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, takes a look at some of the erosion occurring on the Rogue River near Lower Table Rock as a result of the 1997 flood. Geologists, landowners and businesses are surveying the area to determine what can be done to prevent further damage should floodwaters return. Potential flood impact part of study on Rogue changes By John Darling During the big 1997 flood, scientists, government officials and landowners watched in awe as the mighty Rogue River jumped channel by Lower Table Rock and started flowing through an old gravel pit. The mined-out pit was no big loss. But in its new channel, the Rogue is now aimed like a loaded gun at surrounding farmlands, Bear Creek Orchards, Rogue Aggregate gravel mining operations and riparian areas owned by the Nature Conservancy. What to do? Under the guidance of the state Department of Geology and Mineral Industries (DOGAMI), all affected agencies, businesses and residents are surveying the new channel this week to make sure it's friendly to fish � and to see if they can stop it from clobbering the humans who live and work there should floodwaters return. The team is surveying 10 sections of the new river channel, doing aerial mapping of the floodplain and installing water temperature recorders, said Frank Schnitzer, DOGAMI reclamationist from Albany. No one wants to "channelize" the Rogue, such as was done with disastrous results on the Mississippi, he said. However, it's likely they'll install large rock "hard points" to prevent the Rogue from shifting course into orchards, riparian zones and gravel lodes to the southwest of the new channel. "Something has to be done," said area resident Bob Mace, who Wednesday was taxiing survey members around in his motorboat, "but Mother Nature and the Rogue are going to decide finally what happens. This is a partial fix, though." Inserting any material into a waterway requires a biological assessment. So the Oregon Department of Transportation, which used to mine the captured pit for highway materials, has applied with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Division of State Lands for a permit to nudge the river's course with hard points. Agencies are trying to create a "stable hydrologic system" that supports human activity and still works in harmony with the river's need to access its own floodplain and the fish's need for good habitat, said Chris Lidstone, a hydrogeologist from Fort Collins, Colo., who is retained by Rogue Aggregate. "The old philosophy was to try and keep the river as far away from its floodplain as possible," Lidstone said. "Now the philosophy is you look at everything from an environmental standpoint, you support the needs of fish and you try to connect the river to its plain." This doesn't mean total surrender to nature's "events," as they call flooding. However, Lidstone must assess the option of doing nothing. "If we do nothing, the river would back up (during the next flood), then go through Kelly Slough," an old oxbow left from a previous river channel, then have its way with neighboring orchards and gravel miners, he said. Many water-filled gravel pits flank the Rogue and other rivers. Some are in use and some "reclaimed," which means gravel operators have sloped the sides, replanted the area and left it to nature. Agencies are trying to make these pits part of the natural fish habitat by installing rock-lined spillways between pit and river, Schnitzer said. These prevent erosion and allow fish to pass back and forth to the river. "We've found that the pits benefit juvenile fish and help them grow faster. They seek calmer water out of the mainstream to forage. And the spillways have to be at a level that allows any fish to escape back into the river by June 1." Water thermometers will tell if temperatures before and after the pit detour are stable and healthy for fish, especially heat-sensitive salmon, Lidstone said. Participating in the survey are Jackson County Planning, Bureau of Land Management, Bear Creek Orchards, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Division of State Lands, Oregon Department of Transportation, Rogue Aggregates, Nature Conservancy and area landowners. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA