The Big Wood River just won't stay put in Bellevue. Spring runoff alters the river's course each year, sometimes bringing big surprises for those living on its banks. This year the city hopes to gather opinions on what should be done about where to control the river, with the goal of protecting both city and private property.
"The Big Wood River in Bellevue is the dumping ground for gravel and debris from upstream," Planning Director Craig Eckles said. "We are looking for a plan to direct water away from its banks and protect property."
Opinions on what needs to be done to control the Big Wood vary depending on where one lives and how one views the river. Living close by its banks can be scenic but dangerous. Those responsible for an irrigation canal on its banks or a bridge over its channel must monitor it annually for changes in its course.
Eckles was instructed by the City Council last week to pursue a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to protect sections of the east bank of the river from erosion.
One of the sections, running about 200 feet on city property, supported a public walking trail beside the Howard Preserve until it was washed away during the past two springs. As the city moved the trail eastward away from the sloughing bank, a trespassing complaint was raised by adjacent property owner David Harris. Harris called for the city to reclaim its own property, rather than use his for a trail.
And so it goes with the Big Wood River in Bellevue—numerous property owners, including the city, own the land along its banks. When it shifts course, a lot can be at stake.
In 2006 the city saw the worst flooding in recent history. Mayor Jon Anderson drew fire at that time for constructing an emergency dike of logs and boulders to protect city property and private landowners on Riverside Drive. City sewer lines and a lift station are located under and beside the drive.
Nearby landowners claimed the dikes built to protect the upscale neighborhood caused increased flooding elsewhere along the river and that the homes had been unwisely built in the floodplain to begin with.
The Big Wood Flood Control District is charged with maintaining a series of conventional dikes and levees along the Big Wood River, but there are areas in Bellevue where they are absent.
Don Benson, who lives on Riverside Drive on the south side of town, found that out in 2006 when high water blew out the Chantrelle dike to the north, threatening his subdivision, and city infrastructure to the south.
"I've been in the investment business long enough to know that persuasive arguments can be made on different sides of any issue," Benson said. "This is also true with ideas about controlling the Big Wood River."
He believes the city's eroding trail problem, about a quarter of a mile north of Riverside Drive, could eventually endanger his neighborhood once more if it is not handled appropriately.
He hopes the city gathers more expert advice before managing the river in ways that can cause trouble downstream. He knows that work to save land on the east bank can send water rushing across the channel to hit property on the other side.
Across the river from Benson lives Archie Bouttier. Since he bought his 80-acre ranch in the 1970s, he has seen the main channel of the Big Wood shift 100 yards or more in the course of a few years. A very big flood put much of his ranch under water in 1981, causing him to build a 300-yard-long, $250,000 dike of rock and logs to protect his property.
Bouttier says his dike was built to repel water sent by a District 45 canal gate and by a dike that was built on the opposite bank several years before.
"The city can't afford to do what needs to be done with the river," Bouttier said. "It meanders. It needs to be constantly maintained. And you need to get all that junk out of the river."
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The junk he refers to are large logs and limbs left after spring flows, as well as gravel bars that form from sediment brought from miles upstream.
Boutttier advised the City Council to reopen a primary river channel parallel to his dike that was full of water until the big flood three years ago. But such a stream alteration needs permits from a number of entities, and may not please the guy across the river.
City Administrator Craig Eckles said property owners are allowed to remove woody debris from the river channel in anticipation of rising waters and bring it to the river's edge by hand.
"They can cable it out and carry it out, but if they want to use heavy equipment in the river channel they have to make a joint application to the Army Corps of Engineers, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the city of Bellevue for a permit," he said.
In addressing proposed changes to the river, wildlife advocates urge people to abide by a Department of Fish and Game recommendation against removing vegetation from the riverbed because it provides fish and animal habitat. These logs eventually turn into islands with trees that provide cover for animals and increase biodiversity in the river.
Wood River Land Trust Executive Director Scott Boettger said hardening the banks of the Big Wood with dikes is a less-than-ideal scenario for the wildlife that call it home.
"A straightened river system lacks the riffles, pools and other natural variations that make for good habitat, " he said. "Undercut banks provide escape routes for fish from birds, for instance."
But Boettger realizes that compromises must be made, especially to protect private property.
"In an ideal world we would not have development in the floodplain," he said. "The challenge now is to strike a balance with all of the entities involved."
Last month Councilman Larry Plott brought to the City Council's attention an immediate concern, an ever-rising mound of gravel upstream of the Broadford Road bridge. He and City Administrator Tom Blanchard agree that the gravel buildup could eventually cause the river to flow around the bridge, cutting off Broadford Road.
Bellevue's shoring up of the banks of the Big Wood, and removing gravel from its center, will have to wait until the Blaine County Disaster Mitigation Plan is completed and signed off on by the Department of Homeland Security, perhaps by the end of summer.
The city will then apply for an unspecified amount of federal money from the Department of Homeland Security, which will pay 75 percent of the grant.
The question remains: Who will pay for the rest?
In coming weeks Eckles will be polling all concerned entities, including the City Council, property owners, the District 45 Canal Co., Blaine County, the Idaho Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get a plan together.
"We will see who is willing to pony up," Eckles said.
Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com
Archie Bouttier stands atop a dike he built in the early 1980s to keep floodwaters from his 80-acre ranch. He is pointing toward the Riverside subdivision that was threatened by the 2006 flood. Photo by Willy Cook
