[KenM]

Please stop re-channelling the Mahoning River.

There is yet another posting on the FB group about some paddlers(?) that are altering the flow of the Mahoning River. They have excavated a trench at the Marshall St rapid that lowered the pool so that paddling the true course on river-right is too low to navigate through the rocks. The new trench now shoots you thru an artificial channel that directs you right into a bridge column.

Now there is another posting where they are starting another trench to ease getting around a log jam.

These same people also appear to do river clean-ups and other good work to help the Mahoning. Wonderful. But then they turn around and damage it with mid-guided efforts to re-channel it.

These are man-made constructs that are (in my opinion) directly in conflict with the idea of restoring / reclaiming the Mahoning River. What's next? A channel thru all the rapids so we don't bump rocks?

While I recognize the inconvenience of portaging a rapid or log jam, that's part of paddling! I can see the benefit (safety) of taking a saw to a log jam. But that does NOT alter the river flow.

So how do we stop these channelling efforts? Are these people members of Friends of the Mahoning? Do they have any knowledgible river experts that could explain the damage that altering the flow of the river causes?

Comments please. --KenM