A large yellow mechanical arm scoops sediment out of a drainage ditch against the quivering carpet of vibrant soybeans in the Mississippi River Valley, near East Prairie, Mo.

 

Here, the New Madrid Floodway is painted forest green to neon yellow across the patterned farmland. Low-lying areas suffering from saturated soil conditions and lack of available nitrogen cause the discoloration.

 

"Drainage is essential here," said Robin Sitzes, Soil Conservationist for Mississippi County, Mo.

Saturated soil, lack of nitrogen and other problems were left behind this spring after the opening of the floodway, inundating130,000 acres of farmland. 

 

Swampy State. Not far away, Big Oak Tree State Park occupies 416 acres of the floodway. The park preserves a droplet of the hardwood bottomland swamp forest that covered this floodway 150 years ago.

 

Farmers came to this area for the same reason that six state champion trees are found here. This is one of the most fertile and productive soil basins in the United States, said Rose Marie Muzika, forest ecologist at the University of Missouri.

 

Historically the Mississippi River was wide and meandering, flowing across the river valley. The soil was formed by alluvial deposits of sediment over hundreds of thousands of years along with the decomposition of swamp vegetation.

 

The land became arable in 1909 after a government decree to drain southeast Missouri. The system of drainage, canals and levees, displaced more soil than the construction of the Panama Canal, according to The Little River Drainage District of Southeast Missouri.

Fast Forward and Rewind. A historic flood swept through the area in 1927, which provoked the Flood Control Act of 1928. The act federalized the levee system, creating interstate coordination for flood relief and protection for residents. As part of the flood control system, the New-Madrid Floodway was created.

 

At 5 a.m. on Monday, May 2, the first of three levee sections was blown away in the floodway, relieving pressure from the Mississippi River, which was swelling from heavy rainfall and snowmelt.

 

Digging Out. Twenty-five acres of farmland had six or more feet of sand deposited on them.

Two hundred twenty acres had between two and three feet of sand deposited.

 

Hundreds of miles of drainage ways were filled with silt.

 

Down to Dirt. Soil is comprised of six components: sand, silt, clay, air, water and organic material.

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