EAGLESTAR.NET LAND AND PROPERTY REVIEW
http://www.eaglestar.net
Issue #22
June 23, 2008

IN THIS ISSUE:
Properties of the Week: Recreate in the Mountain West
Waterworks: Levees and 100-Year Floods
Sponsor's Corner: NC Estate with Historic Cabins
Buyer's List Update
Landterms.com Term of the Week: Code of ethics


"In no other country in the world is the love of property keener or more alert
than in the United States, and nowhere else does the majority display less
inclination toward doctrines which in any way threaten the way property is
owned." - from "Democracy in America" (1835 and 1840)
- Alexis de Tocqueville (French political philosopher, writer, and
historian; b. 1805 - d. 1859)


PROPERTIES OF THE WEEK: Recreate in the Mountain West
Hunting, fishing, kayaking, horseback riding, skiing, mountain biking, fishing
- these properties have it all.

Nevada City, California Recreation Paradise / Patented Gold Mine Claim
In addition to having a patented gold mine claim, this 20 acre+/- parcel in the
Sierra Nevada Mountains has a small cabin and offers year-round recreational
opportunities, including prime fishing spots at the many nearby lakes, rivers,
and streams. In the summer, enjoy hiking, kayaking, canoeing, and mountain
biking, or take your horse out on some of the many miles of equestrian trails.
In the winter, try your hand at the nearby cross-country and down-hill skiing
facilities. Property is at an elevation of approximately 4,000 feet and
accessed via 6 miles of good-quality gravel road. These photos are a must-see!
http://www.eaglestar.net/stn.html

Medicine Bow, Wyoming Wilderness Log Home / Hunting Lodge
6-year old, 1 1/2 story, off-grid log home/hunting lodge on 33+/- acres: 3
bedrooms, 2 baths, great room, wet bar, vaulted ceilings, modern kitchen with
fabulous view, and huge wrap-around porch and veranda. Huge garage/workshop.
Offered completely furnished with all utilities in place. Very strong well,
high pressure water system, 1,000 gallon reservoir and 30 gallon hot water
heater. Propane gas for heating and cooking, solar electricity. Property
affords access to more than 3,000 acres of desolate and wild territory.
Nestled in a canyon against the foothills of the Medicine Bow Mountains.
Discount for cash available. Gorgeous interior, exterior, and scenic photos at
http://www.eaglestar.net/stffr3-.html.


WATERWORKS:
LEVEES AND 100-YEAR FLOODS
June 20, 2008 - Flood waters continue to ravage the Midwest, including portions
of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri that lie adjacent to the Mississippi River.
Houses, vehicles, even entire neighborhoods and towns have been swallowed by
flood waters 10 feet high - or higher. These losses have been compounded by
the devastation of thousands of acres of prime farming and ranch land. The
destruction is widespread, and already several billions of dollars in damage
has been done. In Iowa alone, 80 of 99 counties have been declared disaster
areas.

Nearly every news story about the flooding in the Upper Mississippi Basin has
mentioned "levees" and "100-year floods", often without explaining exactly what
these things are. Many regions of the country have had the misfortune of
learning the meanings of these terms all too well, but they are not as commonly
used in others. A passing understanding of levees and hundred-year floods and,
perhaps even more importantly, the relationship between them can shed a fair
amount of light on the issues of disaster prevention and preparedness.

Levees and Flooding
A levee, also known as a dike or flood-wall, is a natural or man-made mound of
earth that generally runs parallel to a river or other drainage channel. This
wall helps to contain floods within the channel by raising the height of the
riverbank, thereby allowing the channel to hold a greater volume of water
before flooding begins. Man-made levees are used in all sorts of situations,
and are not limited to areas adjacent to streams or rivers. For example, water
in low-lying areas that have been dredged is often held back by a series or
system of levees, as in coastal Louisiana.

In one sense, levees have been extremely important to the economy of the United
States. They have allowed for the agricultural development of floodplains,
which are the flatter areas adjacent to drainage channels (streams, rivers,
brooks, etc.) that historically flooded every so often prior to levee
construction. Floodplains are often characterized by rich, productive soil and
a high water table (shallow, easily accessible groundwater). Surface water is
also relatively close at hand. The result is some of nature's very finest
farmland. But levees and flood-walls do more than create and maintain land for
farming. Thousands of towns and cities lie within historic floodplains and
millions of citizens depend on these sorts of flood-control structures to keep
them safe and dry.

100-Year Floods
Since it is called a 100-year flood, it makes sense that such an event would
occur approximately every hundred years or so. However, this is not
necessarily the case. A 100-year flood actually has the same chance of
occurring every year, and can even occur several years in a row. This is
because the probability of a flood occurring in any given year is not dependent
on whether or not such an event has happened previously. In other words, a
100-year flood in one year does not decrease the chance that a similar event
will occur again the following year.

The time period of a flood (1 year, 100 years, 500 years, etc.), called its
"return interval", is really nothing more than a number used by engineers to
aid in the design of flood-control structures and by insurance underwriters to
help determine the likelihood of flooding and the cost of insurance. A return
interval refers to the probability that a flood of a certain magnitude will
occur in any given year. You can easily calculate the yearly probability or
likelihood of flooding, which is equal to 1 divided by the return interval.
For example, a 100-year flood has a 1% chance (1/100=.01=1%) of occurring in
any given year, and a 500-year flood has a 0.2% (1/500=0.002=0.2%) of occurring
in any given year. There are any number of return intervals: 10-year, 25-year,
1000-year, etc.; each return interval is associated with a specific amount of
flood discharge (streamflow) for a particular location, based on historic
hydrologic information. For example, a 1-year flood is smaller and less
destructive than a 5-year flood, which is smaller and less destructive than a
150-year flood, and so on. The actual amount of water in a 100-year flood
depends on where it happens; a 100-year flood on the Mississippi River carries
a lot more water at a much faster rate than a 100-year flood on the much
smaller Colorado River.

Why Do Levees Fail?
Return intervals are really nothing more than educated guesses about when a
flood is going to occur, how fast it will flow, and how large and destructive
it will be. These numbers are used by engineers to determine how strong a
structure like a levee must be to withstand a certain size flood. Levees and
other flood-control structures sometimes fail because of mistakes made in the
assumptions used when calculating flood probabilities for a certain location.
Errors in levee design can also be introduced because historic flood data only
goes back 125 years or so - a much shorter period than the duration of most
long-term weather patterns or flood cycles. As an example, what we assume to
be a 500-year flood may in reality be a 100-year flood that hasn't yet
occurred. In other words, we may be assuming that floods are smaller and less
frequent in a particular location than they actually are, because precipitation
and streamflow data are incomplete and have not been collected for a long
enough period of time.

This means that we cannot be completely sure that the flood and storm patterns
in a given area are as we assume them to be based on the past 125 years of
records. Even in cases where the predictions prove to be accurate, the
adoption of a 100-year flood design standard may not be enough to provide
adequate protection, simply because some storms may produce a 200-year or
500-year flood, as has been the case this summer in the Midwest. In addition,
most levees in the U.S. are built to withstand something between a 2-year flood
and a 50-year flood. This is not to suggest that these structures are unsafe
or inadequate; most levees in the U.S. have been in service for decades without
incident.

Levees can also fail because, in an ironic twist, they sometimes create
conditions that can damage them. One example is channelization. Levees and
other structures designed to direct and contain large flows of water can
actually confine the flow to a straighter, deeper channel, which causes the
water velocity to increase dramatically. This results in an increase in the
energy the water is carrying - until the flow smacks up against a dam or levee
and the energy is instantly transferred from the water. The flood structure
must be able to withstand and absorb this impact, or it can weaken or even
fail.

The mechanics of levee failure are different in every situation, but there are
two primary ways that it happens. The volume of water the levee is holding
back can be so large that the water overtops the levee and runs over while the
levee itself remains intact. Or the levee may be breached, either after being
overtopped or without being overtopped at all. A breach is basically a hole in
a levee, which occurs following weakening on the side of its wall. This
weakening may be due to the force of the water hitting the levee, or it may
happen after the levee has been overtopped, as the water swirls and erodes the
bottom of the flood wall. Activities meant to shore up a levee, such as
sandbagging, may actually create additional problems by causing weak spots as
people climb up and down the wall. Flooding due to an overtopped levee tends
to be slower and more gradual than flooding from one that has been breached.

Most levees that fail actually meet accepted design, construction, and
maintenance standards. They fail not because of mistakes in probability
calculations, faulty construction, or improper maintenance. Most levees that
fail do so because the standards to which they were built were perhaps not
appropriate for that area or flood situation - or simply because the area was
hit with a particularly rare and large storm. The National Flood Insurance
Program provides insurance coverage for land, structures and other property
within floodplains that are behind levees designed for 100-year floods (or
100-year storms, a precipitation probability scheme similar to flood return
intervals). The result is that the 100-year standard has been widely adopted
and implemented. The problem with this is that many existing 100-year
structures are in danger of failing in the face of 500-year storms or 1000-year
floods.

If 100-year levees may not provide adequate protection, why are people allowed
to live and work behind them? The reason for this is simple economics - it
would be extremely, if not prohibitively, expensive to build all flood-control
structures to withstand extremely large storms that may or may not ever happen.
Even instituting a comprehensive maintenance program for existing levees would
cost billions of dollars. In fact, levee maintenance is usually left to local
governments, which must find a way to protect their citizens from natural
disasters to the greatest degree possible while providing all the other
services they are obligated to provide, and often with limited funds available
to do so. For the most part, they have done a great job. After all, most
levees in the U.S. have historically provided the protection from flooding for
which they were intended, and continue to do so today.

For more information on levees in the United States, visit the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers National Flood Risk Management Program at
http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/nfrmp.

For information on levees in your area, contact your local levee or flood
control district. If you are having trouble finding local levee information, a
good place to start is by contacting your county, parish, or provincial
government.


SPONSOR'S CORNER
The Land and Property review would like to thank this week's sponsor:

North Carolina Luxury Country Estate and Cabins
Imagine the tranquility of a 42+/- acre country home and estate. Main home,
glass chapel, sharecropper's house, and three historic cabins. Walking trails
meander peacefully throughout. It is a bed and breakfast; a center for
weddings, receptions and parties; a retreat; a personal home - it can be
anything you choose. It is not just a property, it is an experience. Located
in western North Carolina, about 25 miles from Lake Lure, 45 miles from
Asheville, and 60 miles from Charlotte.

Main Home: 6,700+/- square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths. Overlooks lotus
ponds and a small stream.
Glass Chapel: Beautiful glass chapel in serene setting adjacent to main home.
Cathedral ceiling, seats about 85 people.
Cabin #1: Original log cabin built in 1749, with covered front porch and open
decks.
Cabin #2: Original log cabin with wrap-around deck overlooking stream and
field. Completely updated with central heating and cooling.
Cabin #3: Original log cabin that was a stable in the early 1800's. Has been
completely renovated.
Sharecropper's House: Private setting with easy access. 900+/- square feet, 1
bedroom, 1 full bath, living room, and eat-in kitchen.
Photos and additional information available at
http://www.eaglestar.net/hrs7-.html.


BUYER'S LIST UPDATE
http://www.eaglestar.net/Land_Buyers_List/index.html
Place unlimited free buyer's ads on Eaglestar.net. Go to
http://www.eaglestar.net/pages/buyers.html to begin.

Looking in: Northeast Iowa. Outskirts of Cedar Falls/Waterloo/Waverly/Hudson
would be best, but will consider other areas. Looking for 5+ acres with
farmhouse and outbuilding, trees a must. Please refer to buyer #20764.

Wanted: Near Mankato, MN. Would consider any good hunting land within an hour.
I would like hunting/recreational land near Mankato, MN, with possible build
site. Anywhere from 25 to 60 acres. A river, stream, or pond would be great
to have on land. Please refer to buyer #18924.

Looking in: Kentucky, preferably Hancock, Henderson, McLean, western
Breckinridge or northern Ohio Counties. Private party wants 90-300 acres in
Kentucky, with the majority in hardwood forest with water (creek, stream,
river, pond, lake). Good hunting land with a pole barn or out-buildings a plus.
Please refer to buyer #18931.

New Mexico: Seeking raw land or mountain land. Please refer to buyer #18903.

Tennessee: Looking for country home with more than 5 acres. Please refer to
buyer #18890.


LANDTERMS.COM TERM OF THE WEEK
http://landterms.com
Each issue we feature a real estate, forestry, natural sciences or other
land-related term from our partner site, Landterms.com.

This week's term: Code of ethics
1. A written system of standards of ethical conduct voluntarily adopted by
members of a professional society, association, or organization.
2. The Code of Ethics of the National Association of Realtors, developed in
1913, which establishes standards of professional conduct and practice for its
members. Also known as the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.

Browse all categories of terms, definitions, and concepts at
http://landterms.com/categories.html.


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