The Roanoke River's banks have long been a tangle of trees and brush, but since last fall, one section has been stripped clean as if an army of locusts and loggers passed through.

Even the flood-floated trash hanging in the mighty sycamores -- a symbol of the river's neglect -- is gone.

After nearly 40 years of planning, Roanoke's $65 million flood control project got under way in October. The massive effort, which saw the completion of its first section in Southeast last week, will reshape the river's channel, appearance and environment over the next several years.

Project supporters say it will reduce flooding and create a major greenway without harming the river's habitat. They say beneath the denuded appearance of the construction zone -- the first leg of which is along Riverland Road -- the seeds of a green revolution are being sown, one that will help turn the long-abused river into a recreational, ecological and economic showpiece.

"There's no question it's a dramatic change right now -- it looks like it's been clear-cut -- but just give it time," said Phil Schirmer, the city's engineer. "The environment heals itself quite rapidly."

The project has an environmental protection plan -- a 5-inch-thick document resulting from years of public debate -- and government biologists say the project is in compliance so far with all environmental, erosion-control and endangered-species laws.

Some fear river will become 'Dead Sea'

But opponents say the project is wasting tax dollars, chopping down too many trees and jeopardizing the river. They say it could create a Dead Sea in terms of aquatic habitat, clouding the river with sediment, raising water temperatures and removing bank-side trees that provide fish, insects, snakes, birds and other wildlife with food, protection and shade.

"It's trashing a natural resource in the name of so-called progress," said Dick Vipperman, president of the Roanoke Chapter of Trout Unlimited and a member of Float Fishermen of Virginia.

Even Roanoke Valley Greenways coordinator Liz Belcher and other greenway advocates are concerned.

The flood control project includes a greenway along the entire 10 miles of the Roanoke River within the city limits. Advocates praised the start of the recreation trail but lamented the loss of mature trees in a city that's trying to restore its dwindling tree canopy. But they say they envisioned a more natural greenway, bordered by gnarled old shade trees, not a manicured city park.

Belcher said funding for the river greenway -- which is meant to anchor a Roanoke Valley-wide network of recreation trails -- might never have materialized were it not part of the flood-control project.

"This will profoundly affect the [river's] environment, she said. "We're happy the greenway is starting, but at what cost?"

River's health has improved in recent years

The Roanoke River once was pristine, providing fish and fertile farmland for American Indians. In modern times, the river has been plagued by sewage overflows, erosion, trash and toxic chemicals. Today, the river is still polluted, but its health has improved thanks to citizen groups, government efforts and other measures.

Floodwaters from the river and its tributaries have been a common thread for centuries. Once, they soaked into open fields and forests, but today they cause damage in flood zones crowded with buildings and people. Roanoke Valley communities have started clearing some structures from flood zones, but new construction is still allowed in other flood-prone areas.

The flood control project will include 6.2 miles of channel widening, plus the 10 miles of greenway along the river within city limits. The project's first phase will extend from the regional wastewater treatment plant in Southeast to Wasena Park and should be done in 2007. The second phase, scheduled for completion in 2010, will run from Wasena Park to Roanoke's border with Salem.

Construction was completed last week from the regional wastewater treatment plant up to the Ninth Street bridge. Work is expected to resume this fall. So far, nearly 9,000 tons of dirt, building rubble, vegetation, trash, industrial contaminants and other material have been removed, officials said.

Gauging impact on river environment

The biggest impact on the river's environment comes from creating bench cuts, or low-lying areas to widen the channel and help absorb floodwaters.

Excavators are digging down several feet, removing all natural and man-made obstacles -- from trees to trash -- that can impede rising and receding floodwaters.

The project is required to minimize soil disturbance and preserve as many live and dead trees, stumps and roots as possible, but nearly all vegetation was removed in the first section of work.

Project officials say engineering needs to take precedence over the environment but that they may try to save more trees in the next section, from the Ninth Street bridge to Piedmont Park in Southeast. Virtually no trees will be allowed on the bench cuts and riverbanks, however, so they don't restrict floodwaters, said Maks Hromiak, the Corps' on-site project engineer.

As soon as the ground was cleared, workers blanketed the area with low earthen dikes, siltation fencing, silt basins, soil-stabilizing mats and other erosion-control measures. More than 260 trees were replanted and grass was thickly reseeded.

That isn't enough for John Renick, a river enthusiast and greenway supporter who wants to keep the river's natural setting.

"That rough feel is what makes a river what it is," he said. "Now, it'll have more of a man-made look."

Project balances engineering, biology

Jay Roberts, water protection permit projects manager with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, called the project "one of these classic examples of balancing engineering and biology: Engineers need a smooth channel, but that roughness factor is the river's natural habitat."

The work along Riverland Road makes the riverside area look radically different: Steep, overgrown banks are now smooth slopes of green ground mesh, seeds and saplings.

On one side of the river is American Viscose's old silk mill, a battered symbol of Roanoke's industrial heyday. Across the river is the greenway site, a key feature in the city's effort to become a technology- and green-friendly community in the new economy.

Roger Holnback, executive director of the Western Virginia Land Trust, doesn't like the mature trees being bulldozed. But he said the greenway could help turn the river into an economic and ecological treasure fronted not by rusted old factories but by modern restaurants, hotels and shops.

"The flood control project is sort of a Catch-22," he said, "but it may be the only way the greenway gets built."

Phil Payonk, lead biologist for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said water quality monitors show that no significant sediment is going into the river and that industrial wastes, including polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, have been removed and disposed of properly.

A Corps study found the water's temperature likely will rise slightly because of tree removal, but that fish populations, including the endangered Roanoke logperch, should not be greatly affected.

Bud LaRoche, regional fisheries manager for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, said he doesn't like the project, but that it's too early to tell what will happen to the aquatic environment.

Project opponents aren't satisfied.

"It's not a disaster per se, but it's completely unnecessary and counterproductive," said Bill Tanger, chairman of Friends of the Rivers of Virginia, a statewide coalition group.

Greenway is way overdue, conservationists say

As part of the project, the city is buying about 200 private parcels, converting much of the riverside to community ownership, which officials hope will encourage more citizens to get involved.

Conservationists say the city could have long ago bought the land and constructed a greenway without the high price of a flood control project.

"But if the flood control project gets people down to the water and caring about the river, that's got to be good," said Bill Modica, a local environmentalist and greenway supporter. "We'll see what happens in the long run."

Kim Marbain, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, said the project differs significantly from her agency's recommendations. Among them were leaving many stumps, roots and stable trees -- live, dead and downed -- on the riverbanks and replanting some trees in the bench cuts for fish and wildlife habitat and to stabilize the soil.

The Corps rejected that recommendation, saying too many trees would restrict floodwaters.

Creating the landscape of the river's future

The Corps must monitor the project's environmental impact before, during and after construction, including the logperch population, habitat and water quality.

The project also is required to replant as many trees and shrubs within 100 feet of the river as there were before construction.

Dan Henry, the city's urban forester, said the new landscaping will be a mix of open fields with native trees, hardy grasses and attractive shrubs.

He said the new landscaping, which includes more than 3,400 trees, eventually will cool the water again, attract more diversified wildlife and provide more canopy than existed.

The replanted species, ranging from hardwood trees to ornamental bushes, were chosen based on shade canopy, appearance, flood resistance and other factors, Henry said.

Conservationists maintain that the replanted vegetation will never replace the riverside's mix of towering sycamores, wispy willows and other vegetation.