A $500,000 study recommended to the Kansas Legislature would look at the needs of the Neosho River basin, including the stretch at Jacobs Creek near Hartford.
Logjams in that part of the Neosho have been a perpetual problem for nearby residents. Since 2004, the jam has extended for at least a mile and a half.
Joe Fund, chief fiscal officer for the Kansas Water Office, said the study would be a big-picture look at issues relating to the Neosho basin and John Redmond Reservoir. The Jacobs Creek area would be a small piece of it, he said, but not the main focus.
“We want to address some overall issues, such as water quality and algae blooms,” Fund said.
For Rep. Peggy Mast, R-Emporia, it’s a start. The logjam, she said, has needed attention for some time.
“When I first saw it, it looked like a giant graveyard of dead trees,” she said. “Within three to four weeks, it looked totally different. It was mossed over, with vegetation.”
According to a 2005 Army Corps of Engineers study, debris began building up around the early 1970s in the upper reach of John Redmond Reservoir in the Neosho. By 1991, it was no longer possible to boat between the river and the reservoir. By the beginning of 2004, the logjam stretched for three-eighths of a mile, growing to 1.5 miles after the spring rains.
A Gazette article in August 2004 reported that the logjam had grown to two miles.
The jam left the Jacobs Creek boat ramp unusable, meaning fishermen had to launch their boats from Hartford, 10 miles upstream.
The last time Mast visited the site, a couple of months ago, she found that nearby residents had begun trying to drag logs on to the riverbank and burn them.
“Those are, and probably remain, some very frustrated people,” she said.