Debris / Merwin ?

[Fourteen]

I was wondering why there is so much debris on Merwin off and on through the months of May / June when it hasn 't rained for a while . I can understand that it is caused by erosion throughout Yale , Swift and Merwin lakes because of the rain storms , especially with the hard ones . But during dry periods where are all the logs and stuff coming from ? I would make a guess that that the debris starts moving through the lakes early in the season with the spring run off . The dams play a part in regulating the amount of trees and sticks that move through , depending upon how much water is released together with the wind pushing the stuff along . From time to time you will see debris at Merwin , then it will be gone for a while and return again until late spring when most of it has passed through the system . Does anyone have any other theories on this ?

[sucker]

During the late winter the lakes are lowered quite a bit in anticipation of the spring runoff. Erosion, wind, rain, and ice causes limbs, dead trees and other debris to roll down the banks. When the snow melts the lakes come up and the debris float out onto the lake. Swift is the worst sometimes it is down 50 feet durning the winter. Pacific Power has crews that capture much of the debries; they have been working at Yale Park for a month now. Last year they spent the whole summer pulling debris from Swift because the lake had been unusually low. It is hard to belive the amount they pull out of these lakes; huge piles of large logs and small drift wood.

[jzell]

Those debris fields makes a guy with a pump a little nervous. I've had a day come to an unfortunate end when I sucked a little stick. This time of year I wouldn't even think of running around without good daylight to see the stuff.

[nobrownline]

Everytime the water comes up it picks up debris deposited last time it dropped. Also the wind blows it around. After several days of a good east wind the debris will be pushed to the western end of the lake and then a west wind will come up and push it back.