| Abstract: | The purpose of this study was to develop a method for evaluating the optimum use or uses of river oxbows that are created from the straightening of a river's natural course for navigation. An in-depth investigation into existing navigation projects in the United States revealed that relatively few river meanders in past projects had been severed strictly for navigation purposes. Although meander cutoffs shorten the distance between two given points, the decision to sever a bend was usually based on improving flood control rather than enhancing navigation. With the exception of isolated instances, whereby a severed bend may serve as a port, there is little evidence that serious consideration was given to the usefulness of these cutoff parcels of land and river channels until the Arkansas Waterway was developed. A portion of the Trinity River Navigation Project was selected to serve as a case study area to develop a computer program that would assist in formulating a systematic approach to determine the optimum use or uses of those man-made oxbows. A detailed analysis of the case study area was made via helicopter flights, on the ground observations, and various remote sensing techniques. The Trinity River Project, as authorized by Congress, would create 34 cutoffs of various sizes in the study a rea. A computer program was developed to determine the optimum use or uses a portion of these 34 parcels of land would fulfill. The major uses to which these lands might be subjected, i.e., industrial park and/or port site, natural area, park land or residential area, were listed and the characteristics a given oxbow would need to fulfill one or more of these uses was determined. Of the thirty- four potential cutoffs in the study area, sixteen were selected as suitable for one or more of the designated uses. Of these sixteen, only one site was determined to be suitable for all four of the major land uses in the program. There were two sites that were suitable for three uses and seven were deemed suitable for two uses. Six of the sites were categorized as being suitable of only one use. The program is very flexible, in that it allows modifications to be made in the program to allow for future changes in land use philosophies and for this reason is adaptable to other rivers. |
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