STRICTLY BUSINESS: A MEETING OF MINDS AND A NEW USE FOR TREES

At a bend in the Mississippi River, just above the confluence with the Ohio River, the stream flows in a broad sweeping reverse curve. This large meander has created an agriculturally rich 10,000-acre peninsula-like area known as Dry Bayou/Thompson Bend.

The area includes Graveyard Ridge, Lower Dry Bayou, Original Dry Bayou and Hillhouse Breaks. In the middle of the Mississippi River is Brown's Bar.

At first glance, this bend -- call it Thompson Bend -- wouldn't appear to present any problems. But in the mid-1980s, severe erosion started scouring a new channel across the peninsula.

At the narrowest point of the peninsula, it was only a mile and quarter wide. If destroyed, a navigation crisis would occur. A new channel across the peninsula could not support even the smallest tows, and the existing channel would be too shallow for navigation most of the time. Southbound traffic would halt above the bend, and northbound traffic from New Orleans could not progress north of Cairo, Ill.

Erosion was so severe that it also threatened the Commerce to Birds Point Federal Levee, which protects thousands of square miles of property, between Cairo and Helena, Ark.

"It took a meeting of a lot of people to discover a solution," says Lester Goodin, a Mississippi County native who has been concerned about the river, and erosion most of his life. He spent 21 years as a a Mississippi County farmer.

"Something had to be done," said Goodin.

And it has. A big meeting brought together a group of men determined to develop a solution to the Dry Bayou/Thompson Bend erosion problem.

Representatives of the Memphis Corp of Engineers, delegates from the St. Louis Corps of Engineers -- including Jerry Rapp, an engineer with the St. Louis Corps of Engineers -- soil conservationists, interested farmers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Westvaco Lumber Co., and many more showed up for the meeting.

Everybody rolled up their sleeves.

"That was the start of 15 years of trial and error and numerous experiments," said Goodin.

Toss in the great Flood of 1993, the major floor of 1995 and a few other high-water events, and "we encountered our share of setbacks," Goodin admitted.

But these setbacks also provided valuable opportunities to collect information about what was being done.

The years of work have created a tree-screen/riparian corridor (a buffer strip of trees planted between the riverbank and the floodplain) now called the Dry Bayou/Thompson Bend Riparian Corridor Project.

The project includes cottonwood trees, hackberry, pecan and other hardwoods specifically bred for fast growth and water-resistant attributes, and strategic placement of various other vegetation. The trees will be selectively harvested in an innovative arrangement with the landowners and local levee board so their shade does not prevent undergrowth. (A major side benefit is that it also provides timber as a cash crop for the landowners).

Consistent, continuing application, including ongoing tree planting, has maintained the river in its original channel, and navigation has been sustained.

"We planted as many as 150 acres of trees to start," said Goodin. "We've added 200 acres and are probably eventually looking at a total of 600 acres."

Goodin and Rapp were recently honored by the International Erosion Control Association (IECA), receiving the 2001 Environmental Achievement Award of Distinction. They received awards during the IECA 2001 Conference & Expo in Las Vegas.

"No one realized, when we started, that a 100-foot tree screen would cut flood velocities in half," said Goodin. He and Rapp measured flows with a global positioning system and acoustic Doppler current profiler. Flows measured about eight feet per second going into the screens, and about four feet per second coming out. This led to far less erosion, increased deposition of sediment and eventual healing.

Lester Goodin is no stranger to awards for agriculture, land management, flood-control and conservation awards. Following college, he served with the Peace Corp in Nepal. A graduate of the University of Chicago, Goodin returned the family farm and farmed 21 years before moving to Cape Girardeau in 1993.

Goodin has long been involved in community service. He has received several awards during the past quarter-century in agriculture, land management, flood-control work and conservation -- a Missouri Farm Family of the Year in 1978, U.S. Corps of Engineers Commander's Award for Civilian Service in 1986, Missouri Conservation Commission's Soil Conservationist of the Year in 1986, Corps of Engineers Certificate of Commendation in 1989 and the Theodore Roosevelt National Conservation Award, from President Bush in 1991.