Historic clearcutting practices by some of the early western settlers and farmers to the area caused massive, massive soil erosion into rivers like the Current and Jacks Fork of Ozark National Scenic Riverways. These river channels were once described as deep, fast-flowing, and routinely scoured by flooding.
Now, they are choked with gravel, cobble and other coarse fragments dozens of feet thick in places. This sediment is then locked in place by vigorously growing early successional species that reduce the ability of flooding to flush these clogs downstream.
Many millennia from now, the erosion will all finally be blasted out to sea and the Current & Jacks Fork will flow rapid, cold and deep once again long after we’re gone.