Flooded Streams Need Work State Official Found Damage From Natural Forces And Landowners

The turnout was sparse at a meeting called by the state to discuss renovating streams damaged by the winter floods, but officials say there’s a lot of work to be done.

“My overall impression is they need a lot of help,” said Ervin Ballou, the state’s stream protection coordinator. “A lot of these streams are blown out, to use the technical term.

“That means their vegetation is completely stripped away and they’ve carved out multiple channels.”

The session was called at Myrtle, on U.S. Highway 12 a few miles east of Lewiston, in hopes of drawing homeowners who need help in renovating flood-damaged streams.

In earlier trips, Ballou said he found stream damage both from natural forces and landowners and governmental agencies responding to emergency flood conditions.

In many cases, he said the emergency work could create conditions for more damage when water rises again. The Department of Water Resources waived the normal paperwork for stream protection permits during the flooding.

Ballou said the state is trying to form an emergency response team, so experts will be sent to flooded areas while the damage is occurring.