Little River shifts to new channel
A shift of the Little River due to flash flooding is a natural occurrence, and the park superintendent says there are no plans to reroute it back towards a day use area.
Severe storms on April 12 resulted in a flash flood at the Little River Canyon Mouth Day Use Area. The area is near the downstream end of the canyon preserve where the Little River exits the canyon and makes its way to Weiss Lake a few miles downstream.
The extreme high flows in the river that night were the fourth highest on record, dating back to 1929, according to park officials. The USGS stream gauge at Canyon Mouth showed the volume of water in the river exceeded 36,000 cubic feet per second.
“Average flows there are on the order of two to three hundred cubic feet per second. This was an extreme storm event,” Steve Black, the park superintendent, said.
The flood did significant damage to park facilities and caused the river to move its channel to an older channel farther south. At low flows, the previous channel near the day use area is now mostly bypassed for approximately a mile, the river choosing to flow in the southern channel until the two merge farther downstream.
“At higher flows, above approximately 600 cubic feet per second, the previous channel still flows,” says Black.
Although clean up and repairs at the Canyon Mouth Day Use Area have already been completed, the park has no plans of trying to move the channel back to its previous alignment.
“From the National Park Service’s perspective, this was a natural event. Our policy and indeed the park’s enabling legislation make it illegal for us to alter what mother nature has done on her own accord,” Black said.
Park staff have reached out to experts within the agency, both with the regional office in Atlanta and with the agency’s Water Resources Division in Ft Collins, Colorado.
“Rivers are naturally dynamic particularly in delta areas, and Canyon Mouth is essentially a delta.” “All agree that this was a natural event. Our mandate is crystal clear. That river must be left to choose its own path.”