K-Bob: The channeling would have been not only to remove logs and other obstructions but to reshape the channel, making it straighter and steeper, thereby theoretically better at passing high flows. Bed load material would have been removed from the channel and placed in a berm on the side of the stream, in this case, along the left descending bank (the floodplain side). Your ground photo seems to indicate such a berm, though there are trees now growing upon it due to its age (about 45 years old if in response to Agnes).
When you come across such a straight, wide channel, look for the tell-tale berm of cobbles and boulders along the stream, often-times covered with vegetation. It may be immediately adjacent to the channel or some few yards beyond (however far the bucket could reach.) There are a lot of these old berms in NEPA, all of the same age (45 y.o.) It is impossible to over-estimate the amount of stream channelization which occurred in the wake of Agnes.
When you come across such a straight, wide channel, look for the tell-tale berm of cobbles and boulders along the stream, often-times covered with vegetation. It may be immediately adjacent to the channel or some few yards beyond (however far the bucket could reach.) There are a lot of these old berms in NEPA, all of the same age (45 y.o.) It is impossible to over-estimate the amount of stream channelization which occurred in the wake of Agnes.