Work Begun on Removing Huge Logjam

                                                                                                                    Photo by Rachel Jenkins
                    Employees of CRI Construction of Larwell, IN, pose beside a pile of logs removed from Wildcat Creek.  Left to right: Ron Schug, Brian Gibson, Moke Wallen, Pete Lampkins, Jeremiah Wittwer, Jeff Campbell

Submitted by Garry Hill,
local river paddler
   Contractors hired by the Indiana Dept of Transportation (INDOT) are working to remove a huge Logjam in Wildcat Creek near the Village of Jerome.   This Logjam has been blocking the flow of the Creek for many years, growing larger with every flood.
   The Logjam creates a huge danger for anyone traveling the Creek by Canoe or Kayak.  The impoundment above the Jam also creates unnatural conditions for streambank vegetation, killing trees and causing erosion for at least a mile upstream.  Floods are also creating new Creek channels that by-pass the jam.  One new channel is attempting to by-pass the Jerome Bridge, and dig thru the County Road.
   The process of removing the logs is muddy, wet, and ugly.  In addition, INDOT's plan includes stabilizing the Streambanks and remodeling the channels to protect the bridge and roadway.  When finished, the area below the Jerome Bridge will look like a battlefield for a while.  But Nature will return quickly, and in a few years very little of the work will still be visible.