fishinglth,
I am guessing that the dam bank is eroded. My opinion is that laying a row of bags in this eroded area would do a lot of good. Guess it gets a little ugly while the paper is weathering off.
The paper should last long enough for the bags to set up. If they will stay where you want when you lay them in I wouldn't think they would need to be staked down.

Make it look easy,
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