The two approached the Wise County Water Control and Improvement District board Tuesday, Nov. 3, requesting help from severe erosion that has cropped up along the creek banks recently.
WCID directors inspected the property Wednesday, after seeing photos of the gouges the creek has washed out - primarily during recent rains. They put the Courseys in touch with Beavers Construction in Bowie to get a contract to remove sand bars from the creek.
The sand bars formed from erosion precipitated by recent drought conditions, which caused swirling eddies in the creek, which gouged out the banks, no longer adequately protected by vegetation.
Director Mike Overton said it is a snowball effect, as more sand washes into the creek, causing more sand bars, leading to more erosion.
The Courseys described four places along the creek bank washed out up to 12 feet deep, cutting 15 feet into the bank along swaths 40 and 50 feet long.
Removing the sand bars from the creek bed is expected to slow or halt the erosion.
The WCID offers a 60-40 cost share program for such projects.
The Coursey family has lived along the creek for many years, and the pair said they had not seen such a problem until recent years.
