Living
with a River
by Jean Cutler Prior
Among Iowa's geologic deposits are sandstone beds
recording the position of ancient river channels that
flooded Iowa lowlands millions of years ago. Many large
river valleys existing today are partially filled with
sands and gravels left by surging floodwaters released by
glacial melting thousands of years ago. The energy of
flooding rivers is responsible for shaping Iowa's
valleys, the features of their bottomlands, and the
distribution of their soils. While rivers and their
floodplains have been around for a long time, people are
relatively new to the landscape and tend to be rather
short-sighted when it comes to sharing the Earth's
surface with on-going geologic processes. Iowans live with numerous rivers, and most of the time it is a peaceful coexistence. The Flood of '93, however, held our anxious attention as many rivers reclaimed lands that were part of their geologic territory. Failing levees reminded us of the problems of trying to engineer a natural system to accommodate people -- and of the fact that in manipulating the landscape, humans themselves become geologic agents, influencing the course of natural processes in unintended ways. We need to rethink our relationships with rivers. We need to recognize that we often live too close to them, that they need their own space, and that we need to expand our perceptions of them and broaden our understanding of how they function through time. |
