our changing river>gives life to everything

 the tanana river changes are much more than just the norm.  with it's heavy silt there are some crossings where the channel can move completely across the river in a day and night. that's the nature of the tanana. occasionally makes for some difficult barge navigation with the eb and flow of the season.

provides  the river pilot, the challenge and excitement of work.

and nenana Riverrats, the opportunity to explore new sloughs and by-ways.

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on a trip from fairbanks to tanana and return in 2003 i followed the usual channel wth my small fiber glass boat, I've named the miss behavin'.  going down, nothing was noteworthy in a spot called devil's elbow, just above the mouth of the wood river.

i have been going through this narrow sharp bend for as long as i can remember.  always there's plenty of water, at least 20 feet deep and 100 yards wide.

on the return 3 days later i came around the bend and the entire channel was shut off with not just a silt bar but with heavy gravel.   i could of walked across the old channel.

this told me that there had been a heavy runoff from the alaska range and many changes from delta junction on down.  having to have to now go around the island. i stopped at the head of the bend and was astonished to find this new bar higher than the cabin on my boat!  amazed at the power in the river to move so much material in such a short period of time.

i returned to the same place a year later.~~~ 

devils elbow is no more.  from the signs i see, this has happened before. part of the normal movement of the river as it whips back and forth across the tanana valley floor.  while i initially thought of global warming and changes in the mountains, i do not think the larger questions are not what happened to devil's elbow.  part of it? yes. cause of it? no.
fly over the tanana valley and it's pretty obvious the river has made hundreds of lakes and sloughs. we've always called, these dead bends.  someday the river will return there. a cycle of life.

water finding it's path of least resistance, gives birth to cut banks, when in a heavy flow  can be read like the water.

heavy caving of the banks adds more silt,drift, and makes foam sail boats.  see lots of foam comming down is the clue that changes can be found above.

the Tanana River walking back and forth across the valley giving life to our lakes and sloughs are not the only changes in constant motion in our homeland.

at one time there was no parks highway. 
the village of minto was 30-40 miles closer.
the railroad made nenana one of it's scheduled stops.

while the river takes it's good ol' time~~~

~~~~we here in nenana have sped up.  where a trip to fairbanks was an entire one day affair, now it's an hour away.  run to town, then get the heck out is how most people talk of city errands.

in time, river commerce and barging will be a primary reason to dredge the area in front of our dock.  the river has always been trying to reclaim or fill it in over the years.  such work will bring more change to our town.

people will welcome new opportunities and yes the river will keep filling it back in. and nenana will adapt as a community.

tough people we are, external and internal pressure to keep what we have...tradition!, the rivers of change eroding the banks of our culture are unknowns, only thing for sure is change. a familiar consistant struggle to keep our culture. there will be new channels to find. new sweepers and snags to remember.

it's always the same challenge for us. same big questions posed to a culture that have survived for thousands of years....
we'll cut a new channel. but why are we always the ones having to have to change?

the familiarity gives me comfort,  been there, done that!  i'm especially encouraged when i see young people talk openingly about carrying on.

i think we will survive. 
changed for sure.
but still here................ like our river.