Engineered Log Jam

Day 361: You have to wonder if there is a "Goldilocks point" where catastrophic flooding never occurs. Rivers flood flat plains, tidal surges flood lowlands, runoff tears hillsides apart as it fills streams, and particularly those where logging has occurred on slopes above and there are no trees to spread out the absorption of rain into the soil. Here in my narrow valley, the latter is one of the major contributing factors to erosion in the form of floodwater. Even small streams, when swollen by heavy rain, can inflict heavy damage, washing out roads and creating landslides. As we enter into flood season, I always think back on one year when I found myself living on an island for several weeks. Roads above me and below me were covered with water and, while I was in no particular danger myself, I was approaching the point at which I might have gone berserk because of the two houseguests who were trapped with me. A friend and I rescued my mother when her river rose to the level of her front door, and shortly after we got back to my place, the roads went out and we were isolated for the duration. In an effort to mitigate streamflow, many of our creeks now contain engineered log jams. These structures slow and spread out runoff from the hills. While they still don't prevent flooding, at least they help. Twenty feet of this trail in a local park was washed out by the tiny intermittent stream crossing it. Now there is an engineered log jam both above and below the culvert.