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In an effort to determine the availability of organic carbon, <br />a grasp of the hydrologic character of the river, the type and <br />extent of the flood-plain vegetation, and the productivity of <br />species and/or whole communities that Ile within the floodplain <br />of the Missouri River is necessary. <br />The Missouri-River drains 135.5 million ha of mountains, <br />highlands, and plains. The nature of the soils in this regign <br />enabled the Missouri River to meander across its valley creating <br />and destroying new channels each year. Quncanson (19fl9) noted <br />that a section of the river channel near Rulo, Nebraska moved. <br />laterally from 15 to-152 m per year depending on seasonal <br />conditions, shifting tremendous amounts of soil from one site to <br />another. Such movement created large bends in the river, many of <br />which were noteworthy for early travelers. Audubon (1897) <br />described the Missouri- as pcrooked and tortuous„ and <br />°circuitous.° He described a walk across the °6reat Bend„ to be <br />°4 miles distant„ while the route by water was estimated at 26 <br />miles°. Steamboats moving between the mouth of the Missouri and <br />Fort Benton, Montana traveled 4,960 km. The Corps of Engineers <br />measured the same reach in 1915, excluding ma]or bends in the <br />river, and estimated the total distance to be 3,680 km (Lass <br />1962). Roughly 576 km of Nebraska was bordered by the Missouri <br />River but when bends were included the distance approached 800 km <br />(Weaver 1960). In summary almost one-third of the river's length <br />was the result of natural meandering.' <br />- 8 - <br />