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Logjam puts officials, landowners in a jam
A sweltering hot, non-descript spot on a dusty road in Virgil Township was the meeting place for Vernon County Commissioners, representatives of the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers, the Missouri Department of Conservation and landowners concerned with a massive logjam that has been diverting the flow of water in Clear Creek.
The group met just east of the Clear Creek bridge on Oldtown Road in eastern Vernon County on Tuesday morning to assess the damage to Donald Swaggerty's property and discuss possible solutions. Since just about all governmental agencies and most private citizens all seem to be in a financial jam these days, there were no clear-cut answers to the problem.
The logjam, about 200 feet long and 80 feet wide, has accumulated in the creek. No one is sure what started the pileup, but it's certain that it is causing problems. In places, the logjam appears to be about 15 feet deep and the creek is so clogged with debris that the water has sought a path around the obstruction.
That path of least resistance is cutting into the bank and eating away at part of Swaggerty's field. Everyone present agreed that the giant obstruction needs to be removed, but no one can pay for the manpower or machinery to properly do so. Even though the logjam is near the dirt road, it is too far from the road and bridge for the county to justify the expense. Southern Commissioner Kennon Shaw said, "we can't use taxpayer money to do this, this far from the road."
The creek channel is actually in the jurisdiction of the Corps of Engineers, but they can't do anything about the logjam and were only on hand in an advisory capacity. "We're here to listen," said Corps representative Sean Beyke.
Several different methods for removal were discussed. Ideally, a track hoe with a clamshell bucket would be used to reach out into the creek and pull the logs and other debris from the channel and pile it on the bank. Northern Commissioner Neal Gerster said the county crew could do the job, but "we don't have anything in the budget to do anything like thism even if we wanted to," he said. Shaw added, "We could do it if we had the money."
According to Randy Swaggerty, his father would like the logjam removed and the bank returned to its natural state. For that to happen all of the material has to be transported to an "upland area" where there is no chance of its getting back into the creek or damaging the land along the creek, which is classified as a "wetland type soil" according to Tom Priesendorf of the Missouri Department of Conservation.
Removing and hauling it away to a different area would be a time consuming and costly undertaking, and would damage the bottomland soil along the creek. Burning the material was discussed, but much of the material is wet, so it would take a major effort to get it to burn -- then all of the ash would have to be removed.
Priesendorf said. "I've seen a lot of attempts to burn," he said, "but I've never seen one successful." According to Priesendorf, the material is so wet under the surface of the jamb that a hot enough fire cannot be created to get the whole pile burning without moving it.
An accellerant like diesel fuel cannot be used because of the damage to the environment.
Adding bales of straw might make it burn a little better than using nothing, but burning the pile in the creek has a different problem attached to it, so does using an industrial propane torch as an igniter.
Ash depositing in the creek from burning the wood in the channel would change pH levels, in Clear Creek could lead to a fish kill and legal ramifications. "We're trying to balance economics and the environment," said Beyke. And then there is the chance that the remainder of the logjam would break free and drift downstream, where it could damage or destroy the county bridge. The discussion netting no answers, everyone at the site shuffled their feet and wiped their brows.
Similar incidents in other areas of the state were discussed and it was noted that one of those, even though it was much larger 15 years ago, cost about $300,000 to remove. Priesendorf said there was a big one in the Marmaton River a few years ago that broke free on its own and drifted downstream harmlessly. When asked who would be responsible if it broke free and took out the county bridge in the process it was decided that it would be considered a natural event.
More feet shuffling and brow mopping took place, and still no agreeable solution was reached. The Corps of Engineers refused to be anything but neutral in the issue. "Right now, we're neither for or against this," Beyke said. When you do get a plan of action "we will help you with permits," he said. He made it clear that the Corps would not "help you develop a plan."
In the end, Priesendorf recommended that Swaggerty place a reliable means of measuring bank erosion on the property ‚ something of a known and specific distance. Monitoring that may show a rapid rate of erosion and that may be a way to find a grant or some other funding to remove the logjam.
Gerster thought the meeting turned out the way he anticipated. "We got just what I thought we'd get," he said. And Swaggerty felt the same way. "It's a little bit sad," he said, "you pay taxes, kind of like an insurance policy, to take care of the things bigger than you." He's stymied with the whole situation. "It's frustrating not to have help when you need it," he said.