The Kankakee River Basin and Yellow River Basin Development Commission began reconstruction of an entire mile of failing Yellow River banks in Starke County last week.
According to Commission Executive Director Scott Pelath, the $1.6 million project is expected to continue through November. He added that the mitigation of severe Yellow River erosion upstream of Knox is a top priority for the Commission. Since the straightening of the Kankakee River over a century ago, the Yellow River continues to release major sediment deposits into both rivers. These mounting accumulations in turn reduce the rivers’ water capacity during both major and minor flood events.
The entire initiative will take several years.
In September 2021, the current project began a half-mile upstream of the Marshall County line, and was completed within three months. The 2022 effort resumes where previous work ended, and continues downstream though Starke County. Project tasks include reducing bank grades, using stone and repurposed wood to direct water velocities away from the banks, increasing channel capacity, and reseeding banks with native erosion-control vegetation.
Another stretch of Yellow River reconstruction is currently in the design phase, with work slated to take place in 2023. Earlier this year in Bremen, the Commission completed a separate bank reconstruction in partnership with the Marshall County Soil and Water Conservation District.
