Erosion Control May 2018 by Forester Media

VEGETATION MANAGEMENT

GABIONS

BUILDING OVER A STREAM

THE JOURNAL FOR EROSION & SEDIMENT CONTROL PROFESSIONALS

EROSIONCONTROL.COM MAY 2018

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CONTENTS

May 2018 Vol. 25, No. 3

FEATURES

A Little Off the Top and Sides

Controlling vegetation and trimming erosion By David C. Richardson page 24

18 24

32 38

Gabions and Channel Stabilization By Carol Brzozowski

A Showcase of Innovation

page 18

Developing a challenging site for VMI’s new physical training facility By Barbara Hesselgrave

Essentials for Working in Water

Cofferdams and turbidity curtains By Margaret Buranen

It’s in the Wind

Options for dust control By Linda Robinson

DEPARTMENTS 6 44 50 54

page 32

Editor’s Comments Project Profile: Hawaii ShowCase Spotlight

56 57 57 58

Products & Services Directory Marketplace Advertiser’s Index Reader Profile

Cover photo: Prometheus Entertainment

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Editor Managing Production Editor

Janice Kaspersen jkaspersen@forester.net Jessica Reed

Web Editor

David Rachford

Webmaster

Nadia English nenglish@forester.net

Managing Editor Director of Online Media & IT Group Editor Brand Managers

Arturo Santiago

Senior Brand Managers Sales & Marketing Coordinator Senior Designer Production Manager Art Director

Henry Waldman, GJ Lusich, Adi Tejada, Dylan Flanagan

Renee Vargas Deja Hsu Doug Mlyn Steven Wayner swayner@forester.net

Marketing Communications Manager

William Adams wadams@forester.net

Product Marketing Manager, Education & Training

Conference Director

Brigette Burich

Accountant / Chair, Love and Happiness Committee

Courtney Keele

AR / AP Chief Operating Officer

Judith Geiger

Audience Development Director

John Richardson John Trotti jtrotti@forester.net

Mark Gersten, Geoﬀ Solo, Eileen Duarte

Publisher

Keith Rodgers John Pasini jpasini@forester.net Daniel Waldman dw@forester.net

Emily Shine eshine@forester.net

EROSION CONTROL (ISSN 1073-7227) is published seven times a year by Forester Media Inc., 2946 De la Vina Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, 805-682-1300, fax 805-682-0200, email address: publisher@forester.net, website: www.foresternetwork.com. Periodical postage paid at Santa Barbara, CA, and additional mailing offices. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Entire contents ©2018 by Forester Media Inc. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Erosion Control, 440 Quadrangle Drive Ste E, Bolingbrook, IL 60440. Change of address notices also may be completed online at www.cdsreportnow.com/renew/now?ecm or mailed to 440 Quadrangle Drive Ste E, Bolingbrook, IL 60440; provide old mailing label as well as new address, include zip code or postal code. Allow two months for change. Editorial contributions are welcome. All material must be accompanied by stamped return envelopes and will be handled with reasonable care. However, publishers assume no responsibility for safety of art work, photographs, or manuscripts. Every precaution is taken to ensure accuracy, but the publishers cannot accept responsibility for the correctness or accuracy of information supplied herein or for any opinion expressed. Subscription Rates: seven issues of Erosion Control are $76 per year in US ($95 in Canada, $160 elsewhere). Send the completed subscription card with a check to Erosion Control, 440 Quadrangle Drive Ste E, Bolingbrook, IL 60440, or fax with credit card info to 616-891-5669. Reprints: All editorial material in Erosion Control is available for reprints. Call 805-679-7604 or email reprints@forester.net for additional information. List Rentals: 1-800-529-9020 ext. 5003, dfoster@inforefinery.com. Articles appearing in this journal are indexed in Environmental Periodicals Bibliography. Back issues may be ordered (depending on available inventory) for $15 per copy in US ($20 in Canada, $35 elsewhere). Send written requests for back issues along with check or money order in US funds payable to Erosion Control, PO Box 3100, Santa Barbara, CA 93130, USA. Provide address for where the copies should be shipped. Allow six weeks for delivery.

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Editor’s Comments Janice Kaspersen EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD ISTOCK/HAGGY_RACCOON

Underground Movement The water’s rising. We’ve had time, by

now, to get used to the idea of sea level rise and its potential effects on coastal regions, and to think about how we can prepare for the various possible scenarios. The rise is estimated at between 18 inches and more than 5 feet in this century, depending where you are and what the coming decades bring. But a recent study shows the situation is more complicated than we thought. Yes, the water is still rising, but in some places the ground is also sinking, and for coastal cities like San Francisco, that means more flooding sooner than expected. In a paper recently published in Science Advances, Manoochehr Shirzaei of Arizona State University and Roland Bürgmann of the University of California, Berkeley, describe using satellite-based synthetic aperture radar to make detailed measurements of land movements. In the region around the San Francisco Bay, most land is sinking at a rate between 2 and 10 millimeters per year. It might not sound like much, but it means, for example, that by 2100, half the runways at the San Francisco International Airport will be underwater. Scientists had already warned, based solely on estimates of sea level rise, that large parts of the region would be flooded and that greater areas would be vulnerable during storms and high tides, but the new study shows that subsidence is compounding the problem. The movement of the ground (and just to complicate things further, in some places it’s rising) depends on several factors. Settlement over time is the main cause, but pumping groundwater—as is happening in many parts of California during the drought—accelerates the process; similarly, replenishing groundwater can slightly increase elevations. In deltas where rivers once emptied into the bay, lower flows and drying of the silt deposits can also cause subsidence. Portions of San Francisco, like those of many other coastal cities, are built on land fill—sometimes called infill or reclaimed land. 6 EROSION CONTROL

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Beginning in the mid-1800s, residents began creating more space by piling up dredged sand, quarried rock, and even debris from shipwrecks, then building on top of it. After the 1906 earthquake, much of the building rubble was dumped into marshy areas offshore and later covered over with sand. Parts of the city’s Mission Bay, North Beach, and almost all of Treasure Island—which was built in the 1930s for the World’s Fair—were created in this way. Today’s coastal planners have commented that it would have been handy if the earlier settlers had thought to increase the land’s elevation by a foot or two, but of course they would not have anticipated the need for it. Other cities have been created in the same manner. The area that’s now Mumbai, a city of more than 18 million people on India’s west coast, was once a series of small islands separated by shallow swamps. Beginning in the early 1700s, the swamps were filled in with dredged material. Large parts of the Netherlands, half of the tiny country of Monaco, a good portion of Rio de Janeiro, and sections of dozens of other cities on every inhabited continent are built on land fill. Cities often place airports on such land. The problem is that land created in this way tends to settle faster than its surroundings. It’s also less stable during earthquakes—a real problem in seismically active areas like San Francisco. Shirzaei, one of the study’s authors, notes that if the ice caps melt more slowly than expected and sea level rise is less, the subsidence of the land will make more of a difference than in the worst-case scenarios, where it will be essentially lost in the noise. But in either case, subsidence speeds up the process of saltwater intrusion into groundwater supplies. If you’re in a coastal area, are you aware of specific predictions for your region—and the preparations to deal with them? How have these changed over time? Share your thoughts by emailing eceditor@forester.net or leave a comment on our website. EC

BOB ADAIR Managing Partner Construction EcoServices LLC Houston, TX JERALD S. FIFIELD, PH.D., CPESC, CISEC President HydroDynamics Inc. Parker, CO DONALD GRAY, PH.D. Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI MICHAEL HARDING, CPESC Geosyntec Consultants Inc. San Diego, CA RICK LIPCSEI Project Engineer, Environmental and Land Services Georgia Transmission Corp. Tucker, GA JETT MCFALLS Hydraulic, Sedimentation and Erosion Control Laboratory Manager Texas Transportation Institute College Station, TX MICHAEL B. MCINTYRE, CPESC Construction Inspector City of Virginia Beach, VA CURT M. MILLWARD Environmental & Safety Compliance Officer Centex Homes DFW Metro Dallas, TX EDWARD B. PERRY, PH.D. Research Civil Engineer Vicksburg, MS J. ERIC SCHERER, CPESC (retired), CPSWQ (retired), CESSWI (retired) Scherer Consulting Services LLC Kingston, RI ROBBIN SOTIR President Robbin B. Sotir & Associates Marietta, GA GILBERTO E. URROZ, PH.D., P.E. Assoc. Professor, Civil/ Environmental Engineering Utah State University Utah Water Research Laboratory Logan, UT WILLIAM YOUNG Wetland Scientist USA Environment Edison, NJ

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A Little Off the Top and Sides Controlling vegetation and trimming erosion BY DAVID C. RICHARDSON

A Close Shave for a Highway Mile nyone who does much cross-country driving can appreciate how verdant hillsides and varied terrain can add a bit of spice to the journey. But aside from providing a convenient passage between Savannah, GA, and neighboring communities, the highway stretch known as I-516 had come to be known for two things: its monotony and its many outcroppings of dense stands of trees. The highway, coursing over the coastal plain outside of Savannah, was completed during the mid-1980s, serving as a bypass to relieve traffic congestion in the city. Soon after its construction in this hospitable climate, however, lush 10 EROSION CONTROL

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vegetation took hold along the median strip and adjacent to the right of way, edging its way right up to the shoulder. Andrew Dial of Ground Cover Clearing and Final Grade LLC explains that the highway had never been mowed, and trees obstructed visibility from several freeway ramps. Local authorities had attributed a number of serious wrecks to blocked sight lines resulting from the vegetation. In several instances, drivers are believed to have lost control of their vehicles and crashed into woods abutting the travel lanes. During tropical storm emergencies, numerous felled trees blocked the roadway, which is a major hurricane evacuation and re-entry route, thereby threatening both escape and recovery efforts. WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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Although local papers reported that many people familiar with the locale felt the wooded areas gave the stretch of road a park-like aesthetic appeal, the Georgia Department of Transportation determined that, for the sake of public safety, the trees had to go. They would need to be clear-cut, and measures would need to be taken to ensure uncontrolled vegetation would not reemerge. Andrew Dial, who joined the project as a subcontractor, says that clearing the trees was not a typical clear-cutting project such as those familiar with the logging industry. The traditional way of clear-cutting a woodland, using hand saws and harvesting the resulting timber for market, would not have been practical Amphi-King for much of the acreage here. Although the track-driven trees ranged in size from saplings to masamphibious vehicle sive hardwoods with trunks 40 inches or more in diameter, which could potentially be marketable, there were several constraints. Harvesting any potentially valuable timber would require not just felling the trees but also extracting them from the woods and moving them to market. The need to keep freeway traffic going would have made loading and securing timbers onto a carrier in many areas quite challenging. At any rate, the Department of Transportation’s goal was clear sight lines and removal of road hazards. The timbers would have to be disposed of somehow. Dial says he’s faced a similar dilemma elsewhere in the state

MAY 2018

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when the question has arisen of how to get rid of unwanted biomass from a necessary clear-cutting operation. In the Atlanta region, where he has performed numerous clear-cutting projects, it has become particularly difficult to dispose of unwanted timber. There, he notes, stringent air quality standards prohibit burning, and landfills are closing as well, reducing the options for getting rid of waste. Onsite mulching, however, can satisfy multiple goals, and this is the method he chose to use on his section of the bypass vegetation control project. “Mulching gives the opportunity to get rid of vegetation, it doesn’t take space in a landfill, and it provides instant erosion control,” he says. “No permit is required to start clearing, because there is no going below grade.” He says when using a mulching method, clearing can begin while permits are still being sought for future phases of the project. Dial brought in a fleet of grinders and carriers to perform his section of the I-516 operation, with each of his key cutting machines outfitted with Denis Cimaf attachments. Denis Cimaf manufactures mowing head attachments that can create customized solutions for any clear-cutting challenge. “The neat thing about it is the way it is engineered,” says Dial. “You’ve got a sharp edge compared to the carbide head that a lot of other manufacturers use. On other smooth drum rotors, the distance from the smooth surface to the tip of the tooth is seven to eight inches; on the Denis, it’s two inches. It’s not going to overbite into the tree, and that keeps

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your head turning and keeps your production up.” Dial’s fleet of Denis Cimaf-equipped mowers includes a Caterpillar 323 carrier with a 161-HP motor split between the head and the carrier. The company also manufactures an optional power pack that can serve as dedicated power drive to the mulching head. “The heads plug straight in to the back of the hydraulics,” he notes. He says the company “sent down a technician from Denis Cimaf in Canada to make sure everything is going to work. They’ll train you in how to set it up and sharpen the teeth. That’s one of the most important services they can provide. They can help you problem-solve.” Unlike the methods used by some of his colleagues in the industry, who need several pieces of gear to complete a cutand-mulch procedure, he says, “We eliminate the need for a chipper. The carriers allow us to get into different areas. We can work in standing water where a hand crew would not be able to work. We can work extreme slopes.” Dial believes that among the several subcontractors converged on the I-516 project in Savannah, each using a different method for clearing, “we’re outperforming all of them. We don’t get the number of callbacks that they do to fix erosion issues.” The technology is also a labor saver. “It’s difficult to find people to do this kind of work. With Denis Cimaf, we can assign one man per machine,” he says. “A 30-inch tree takes longer to grind up than an 8-inch tree, but you can take down any tree that you have time to

grind. If we’re taking down a 40-inch tree, it could take 20 minutes.” But he said the result is a clear-cut covered with 10 to 12 inches of mulch, a highly effective hedge against erosion, and that same dense layer of mulch inhibits regrowth from stumps or remnants buried underneath. Cutting a Shortcut Through the Woods Mark Lee, owner and operator of ML Hydrocut, recently completed a project as a subcontractor for a four-lane bypass freeway around Greenville, NC. He does a fair amount of work in the Greenville area, and while working on projects in the coastal plain he frequently encounters environmentally sensitive areas. “When you go through wet areas, you need to use low-ground-pressure equipment,” he says. The project started with a simple walk in the woods. “I was a subcontractor, and we went down and walked a lot of it. You’ve got to go into the woods. It’s flagged for clearing limits, and you go in there and walk it to determine what kind of terrain you have, what size trees, and the time you think it will take to mow it and mulch it. You come back and run your numbers and give them a price per acre. Once the job is done, you have your GPS and we can tell them exactly how many acres we cut.” Not having the proper equipment can cause multiple problems. “It’s not like there’s a given set of rules on what to use. It’s like a mechanic working on a car, like tools in a toolbox. Where it’s very wet, you use something like an excavator

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with a mulching head or a low-ground-pressure tractor; you wouldn’t use the rubber tire machine, even though we have flotation tires. The rubber tires are for more high-ground, big production, high-horsepower type machines and large

material. The Tigercat M822C we have is a high-horsepower machine—it’s like an excavator with a mulching head. It mulches trees from the top down. My mulchers include a Tigercat M726E and the Fecon FTX 250, a super-low-groundpressure machine for going in real wet areas or a place you don’t want to disturb the ground—places where they don’t want the ground torn up, such as golf courses. There are a lot of low-lying areas in golf courses, particularly in the woods.” On the Greenville freeway project, he says, “They did not want to take the stumps out for the four-lane bypass. We mowed four miles 200 feet wide, and they were going to fill that with dirt in a 20-foot-deep field. They didn’t want to disturb any more than they had to; they didn’t want to go in there with bulldozers and excavators to get the stumps out and tear it all to pieces. They wanted it mulched up so that it was environmentally friendly without a lot of erosion problems.” He notes, “It’s very hard to get permitting when you’re crossing these wet areas. We do power line right-of-way clearing. Power lines cross hills and swamps and creeks —they cross all kinds of terrain. Even though they come behind us and put in silt fence, we have very little erosion problem in any case because we’re leaving five or six inches of mulch everywhere on the ground.” Lee says he deployed a variety of machines geared to the topography depending on how wet the various areas were and the size of the trees to be mulched. “We used the M726E

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with 44-inch-wide flotation tires. And we used the Fecon FTX 250 and the Cat dozer for smaller material, because it’s a low-ground-pressure machine. We had to mulch some of the larger trees from the top down. With trees 18 inches and up, we’d use the M822 to cut some of those. It’s not a given. They are just like tools in a toolbox; different tools work better in different applications.” Lee believes having a wide range of tools at hand is an advantage in the land-clearing business. He says most companies probably start out with a larger machine and a smaller skid steer. “There are a lot of skid steers. They are more affordable, and I guess it’s easier for somebody to get into business with one of those. We’ve been doing this for 24 or 25 years.” For the heavy jobs, he turns to the Tigercat M822 track machine, a purpose-built mulcher that he says “is kind of like an excavator, but it’s actually a feller buncher that cuts a tree down for logging. But they put a mulching head on it, and it’s custom-built to have

the hydraulic horsepower to be able to mulch up a tree.” To help the operators find their way through the woods, Lee says, “We

Mulching tractor

have Trimble GPS on about half of our fleet. Each machine has a laptop so each driver can see where he is. You have a surveyor create your file, and that’s emailed and downloaded into the computer, and as they are cutting and driving they know exactly where they are.” Occasionally, the GPS leads the driver directly into an obstacle. “If there’s a tree, we usually just grind it up, but if there’s a creek or something you can’t cross, you have to backtrack and get back in line on the other side,” he says. “But most of the time the center line they want mowed clear so they can go back with their surveying equipment.” He notes that the Greenville region is a wet area. “It would be like cutting out close to the coast, maybe—not marsh, but a very wet area. When we walked it, we found some wet areas even though it was a dry time of year. In that particular area, you could get a tractor very stuck, and it would be very hard to get out of. And that could mean a visit from a very unhappy inspector,” he says.

For related articles: www.erosioncontrol.com

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“The inspectors, although they weren’t with us all the time, they were always on the site, because there were a lot of different things going on and they do check on you at different times during the day. We’ve been doing it so long we pretty much know what’s the right thing to do.” He adds, “We beat the time frame that we thought we’d make. Most of the time we had good weather and experienced operators keeping the equipment up to shape. We have pretty state-of-the-art equipment.” In addition to Tigercat and Fecon, the company also has equipment from AWHI, Seppi, Denis Cimaf, FAE, and Caterpillar. Clearing the Waters “We’re an aquatic weed harvesting company,” says Mike Bauer, owner of Huron Lakes Weed Control. “We don’t just do weed harvesting. We can pump decayed vegetation from the bottom of the lake. We can rotovate and get the weeds out. We have an auger that looks like a snow blower with a pump on it, and that’s what we use to pump the black muck out from around swim areas.” For each of these tasks, Bauer relies heavily on Berky aquatic weed harvesters. “We got the first Amphi-King (amphibious boat model 6450) that was MAY 2018

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sold in the US,” he notes. “We’ve got various attachments including the rotovator, the auger, and the sicklecutter, and we adapted a claw for the front of it

to go around the shoreline and pick up logs that have fallen. “We also have four aquatic weed harvesters that we can use to cut weeds

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down six feet deep. Last year they built us a transporter, so if we are out there in the middle of the lake with the harvesters, I can send the transporter over there and we can take the weeds from the harvester and shuttle them to shore, and [the

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crew] can keep on working.” Huron Lakes Weed Control performs most of its work for municipalities and lake associations. “All the lakes are not the same—there are different types of weeds, different depths. We have a workboat with a sonar system on it, and we go out and mark prior to even sending our equipment out,” he says. One recent job involved a section of the Huron River near a dam where aquatic weeds had become a problem. “They contacted us because there is a section out there where the current is so strong that they couldn’t use herbicides on it. They hired us to cut the weeds out of the river to keep the river flowing.” Bauer’s crews worked for about six days with three Berky machines and removed 300,000 pounds of aquatic weeds from the river. “We would cut into the flow, so any weeds that went astray would flow back into the heads, and anything we cut we’d take out of the lake,” he notes. What happens to the vegetation that’s removed? “The weeds that we take out of the lake, the nurseries love them—they use them for fertilizer, because there is so much phosphorous and nitrogen in them. We use our trucks and haul it to them at no cost.” Bauer says he has tried other harvesters as well. “We really like the Berky machines. They have hydraulic thrusters in the back.” He contrasts them to other makes of harvesters that use paddle wheels: “If you’re going through a weed bed, the paddle wheels disturb the weeds at the surface. With the Berky, the thrusters are on the back, so they don’t disturb the weed bed and that is very advantageous to us with the milfoil that we have here in Michigan. Milfoil is a very aggressive plant; if you disturb it, it spreads. If you get floaters that settle up along the shoreline, they’ll start spreading.” He says the equipment has applications on the shore as well. “We have two machines that we built a rotary brush WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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for—like a street sweeper. We can use them on the beaches to sweep up debris. We can also go in and mow the side of the shoreline, and if we have logs that have fallen, we can change the attachment and move them out of the way.” EC

David C. Richardson is an award-winning science writer and a frequent contributor to Forester Media publications. He is based in Baltimore, MD.

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Gabions and Channel Stabilization BY CAROL BRZOZOWSKI

IECS

Articulated concrete blocks at the Fort Carson railroad bridge

erhaps nothing tests the stabilization of a channel or streambank like a significant flood event, such as Hurricane Harvey delivered in 2017. Such events highlight whether a long-established gabion installation has withstood the test of time. Buﬀalo Bayou “We’ve had no gabion failures anywhere on any bayous in Houston from any of the storm events we’ve had since the 1995 installation of the Piney Point

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project,” notes Maury Shepherd, president of C.E. Shepherd (Modular Gabion Systems), of a project for which his company had provided a solution. “They’re doing their job very inconspicuously, but they haven’t suffered any damage at all from any of the weather events that have happened,” he adds. In a 1995 erosion control mitigation effort in Houston, both gabions and gabion mattresses were put in place on the Buffalo Bayou Channel, with a gabion toe wall and mattress on the

project’s slope, notes George Ragazzo, general manager and erosion and flood control specialist for Modular Gabion Systems. Aside from stabilizing the bank of the channel, the approach resulted in vegetation being well-established on the slope, says Ragazzo, adding that “trees even grew through the gabion mattress.” Modular Gabion Systems teamed with Regency Construction on the privately owned land at the request of the US Army Corps of Engineers. While WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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the waterway provides a pleasant retreat for residents, it also collects runoff from a watershed encompassing more than 500 square miles in a city that receives more than 40 inches of rainfall annually, notes Ragazzo. The rain frequently comes in torrential downpours, causing the bayou to rapidly swell with floodwaters that had scoured away banks and vegetation. Previous efforts to control flooding and erosion along Buffalo Bayou were at best temporarily successful. Erosion had posed a threat to homes, and in particular, the erosion at Farnham Park threatened residences in Piney Point Village. The Corps of Engineers sought a solution that would be pervious and flexible, designing a streambank erosion control structure using Modular Gabion Systems’ gabion baskets and mattresses. The streambank protection began with a toe wall of gabion baskets topped by a bank of mattresses. The structures are able to conform to changes in the underlying terrain and are self-draining to alleviate hydrostatic pressure that could otherwise lead to project failure. Soon after construction was completed, silt and dirt settled in the

The rain frequently comes in torrential downpours, causing the bayou to rapidly swell with ﬂoodwaters that had scoured away banks and vegetation.

spaces of the rock fill, which provided a soil base for natural revegetation. Roots, rocks, and mesh eventually formed a web that prevents fastmoving water from pulling up tender vegetation. The company has since executed a half-dozen projects on Buffalo Bayou and other bayous in Houston, says Shepherd. The Piney Point project remains unscathed through the myriad weather events that have

occurred since 1995. “You don’t even know it’s there,” he says. “It is so completely revegetated, except for the upper edges of the project where the residents keep the brush down so they can see through the trees down to the bayou and across to the other side.” “It is completely revegetated with indigenous species and things that have washed down and taken root,” he says. “From the bayou, it looks like a natural

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bank. You can’t tell there are gabions there because it’s got low vegetation—grass—and then it has trees that are eight to ten inches in diameter growing up through it. This kind of revegetation dramatically improves the performance of gabions, but they’ve got to last long enough for that to happen.” Little Creek The Little Creek is a channel that crosses along all neigh-

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borhoods between Deaver Park and Parliament Drive in Arlington, TX, receiving stormwater runoff. The flows that pound the slope located immediately in front of the culvert on Parliament Drive are typically strong with heavy turbulence, causing erosion and threatening the stability of the slope and the building on top of it. Parliament Drive was the site of the second part of the two-phase drainage improvement project for the city,

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Trees and other vegetation have grown on the reinforced slopes at Piney Point since 1995.

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with the first being the Kee Branch water and sanitary sewer improvements. The project, completed in April 2017, consisted of improvements to both water and sanitary sewer lines and a culvert located in the neighborhood of Parliament Drive. For this project, the city of Arlington considered a Maccaferri mass gravity retaining gabion wall to be the most appropriate solution.

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Maccaferri gabions are cages engineered from doubletwisted hexagonal woven steel wire mesh, assembled and filled at the project site. Davide Invernizzi of Maccaferri notes that the mass gravity retaining wall was needed because the high flow and high volume of water coming from the creek necessitated a robust structure. The solution needed to maintain the integrity of the slope

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PHOTOS: IECS

ACBs in the channel beneath the bridge

ing Maccaferri PVC-coated gabion baskets, stainless steel hog rings, and MacTex N, a nonwoven geotextile. S. J. Louis Construction served as the general contractor. A year after the installation, Invernizzi says new vegetation is established and the gabions are performing successfully, even through storms and rains that occurred shortly after construction. Building a Bigger Block A combination of a high-velocity flows and an unusual amount of heavy debris such as large trees were factors of concern in a channel stabilization project connected with and protect a private home located above it while at the same railroad bridge repairs in Fort Carson, CO. time dissipating energy from the high flows and volumes of Charlie Chase, president of US sales for International water in the creek. Erosion Control Systems (IECS), explains that the projectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The gabion wall, 9 feet high with a 9-foot base and 3-foot focus was to protect the footings of the railroad bridge from steps, has enough mass and porosity to erosion caused by the creek. The project reduce the velocity of the water. Bernall designers wanted protection with a For related articles: www.erosioncontrol.com Construction installed the wall, includheavy footprint. 22 EROSION CONTROL

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The Omaha District of the US Army Corps of Engineers came up with an idea of stacking two of the same type of articulated concrete blocks on top of each other in an eﬀort to double the pounds per square foot, adding more stability to the channel. The Omaha District of the US Army Corps of Engineers came up with an idea of stacking two of the same type of articulated concrete blocks (ACBs) from IECS on top of each other in an effort to double the pounds per square foot, adding more stability to the channel, notes Chase. However, believing the blocks would work better as a single unit rather than two blocks stacked and connected together, IECS developed a novel way to pour a new block that was twice the thickness of the company’s old blocks to accommodate the Corps’ request. The 3-foot-square and 16-inch-high blocks are believed to have the largest footprint of any ACB within the industry. To the best of his knowledge, “this is the thickest block that has ever been manufactured in Canada or the US,” says Chase. He adds, “This is a channel that requires a special block due to super-critical flows and large debris being flushed

down it. It also is going under a train trestle with large concrete columns holding it up, and the flow increases in these areas.” Production of the new blocks began in summer 2017, with IECS producing the mats onsite, saving considerable amounts of freight for the government. Matt Olbrantz, quality control manager for MASS Service and Supply, the general contractor on the project, says the installation of the specially fabricated IECS ACB was relatively easy. “Our installing contractor hadn’t done anything like this before, and while there was a little bit of a learning curve in the beginning, once they got going, everything moved pretty quickly and easily.” The solution has the potential to open a new market for articulated concrete mats, Chase adds. EC Carol Brzozowski writes on erosion and technology. AP-8469 R1

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A Showcase of Innovation Developing a challenging site for VMIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s new physical training facility BY BARBARA HESSELGRAVE

VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE

hile the British were bemoaning their failed attempt to retake America in 1812, the Commonwealth of Virginia was busy preparing to avert any future invasions. The small town of Lexington, VA, located in a geographically well-protected southwestern corner of the state in the Shenandoah Valley, was deemed a perfect location to store weapons for just that purpose. However, it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t long before a group of enterprising individuals belonging to the Franklin Society, an intellectual debate organization, had other ideas. They asserted that the Lexington weapons arsenal location would be better suited as a school to provide military training as well as a standard educational curriculum.

Above: The detention structure during a rainstorm; Below: The VMI campus with the training facility at lower right

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After much outreach to convince local civic and business leaders of the school concept, they were able to marshal the needed support. The Virginia legislature passed a bill authorizing the project, and in 1836 the governor signed the bill into law. Claudius Crozet, chief engineer of Virginia and former soldier under Napoleon Bonaparte, became the first president of the school, which was named the Virginia Military Institute, or VMI. VMI was officially founded on November 11, 1839, and Major General Francis Henney Smith (an 1833 graduate of the US Military Academy) was appointed its first superintendent. History recounts the founders’ objective to create a school that was unlike other military academies. This institution would bring the best principles and qualities of the British Royal Military Academy and the US Military Academy under their banner to create educated, model citizens suited for military or public life. However, according to Colonel Keith Jarvis (US Army Ret.), who is now

VMI’s director of construction, the facts may have a slightly more interesting facet. “The original military arsenal brought quite a few young soldiers to Lexington to support the operations, but there wasn’t much to do in the middle of nowhere. So it’s likely the city fathers were probably motivated to find something for these guys to do to curb unruly behavior. A school was a perfect solution—it would provide learning and military training, with a side benefit of bringing some needed order to the town,” surmises Jarvis. Today, as in the very beginning, “all students enrolled at VMI are called cadets, not students,” says Jarvis, and the goal of creating a unique educational institution offering physical and intellectual training continues today with a broad curriculum. Because of its origins, VMI is called a “post,” similar to other US Army installations, rather than a university, although it is an environment of both learning and military training.

“The vast majority of the staff wear a military uniform, and the uniformed cadets are required to salute the faculty; this is to put them in a military frame of mind. However, not all of the cadets do enter active military service. Many go on to graduate school to enter either public life occupations or areas where they can also serve the active military at home or abroad—in medicine or engineering, for example,” explains Jarvis. He says the overarching mission of the post is to create an environment where cadets learn to be socially, physically, and intellectually prepared as responsible citizens who make meaningful contributions to society. And while the curriculum of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and liberal arts offers cadets a broad view of learning, Jarvis adds that physical training is a significant and important feature of the post. The new Corps Physical Training Facility (CPTF) provides a state-of-the-art indoor facility where cadets can engage and excel in physical challenges that,

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“The site we had chosen, which was really the only option for the size we had in mind, had a stream called Town Branch Creek running through it.” he says, “contribute to honing physical abilities and build personal confidence and leadership skills.” Landlocked But Undaunted It was nearly a decade in the making and posed incredible challenges, as Jarvis explains, but in November 2016, after two and a half years of construction, exceptional engineering, and design creativity, the CPTF received its certificate of occupancy. “The post had been planning to create a new physical training facility, but we are in a location that is very restrictive,” says Jarvis. “Basically, we are landlocked in the Shenandoah Valley with very little property to expand our facilities. However, the site we

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had chosen, which was really the only option for the size we had in mind, had a stream called Town Branch Creek running through it.” Jarvis says that although the stream is not a huge body of water—“Maybe at the driest season you can walk through it”—it can be deceiving. “It looks just like a harmless little trickle most days, about five feet wide and a foot deep. But since it collects stormwater from the city of Lexington at the top of the hill, I’ve seen it transform into a massive roaring whitewater system, even in a normal rainstorm,” he says. “So building over this creek posed very significant engineering and permitting challenges.” Jarvis says the project went forward

in 2014 once the Commonwealth of Virginia approved the $80 million funding. “VMI is a state-supported school, and the planned facility was not deemed to be a sports or athletic center but rather one that supports the overall mission of VMI.” Not only was the facility being built over an active waterway, but adding to project complexity was the confinement of the 2-acre site itself. “Basically, the building was the site. Usually, you have land alongside your construction area to store machinery, to pile up spoils or supplies, but not in this case. Our footprint of the building was the entire landmass available, so to speak. This made the planning of the project very detailed, with much thought given to how we would control erosion and manage sediment as we broke ground, and then how further impacts to the ground affected stormwater management. “Since we knew that without proper stormwater and erosion management strategies, we would see the stream flooding out the building in heavy rains, it was quite a feat to coordinate and manage all this,” says Jarvis. To tackle the multiple issues posed by an active waterway, VMI engaged Blacksburg, VA-based Draper Aden Associates, an environmental engineering firm, which had a memorandum of agreement to work with the Army Corps of Engineers. Although the Army Corps is not typically involved with this type of project, Jarvis says, “Anything that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay is of concern to the Corps, and since this stream feeds to the Maury River, to the James River, and then to the bay, they were naturally concerned how this building project would impact the quality of stream water and its output to the bay.” Carolyn Howard, P.E., LEED AP, WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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Draper Aden’s vice president and regional manager of the company’s site development and infrastructure development division, describes the project strategy: “For one thing, Virginia was about to implement new stormwater regulations. We were able to get our project plans approved under the wire before that took place, which otherwise would have posed additional complications.” Citing the company’s long-time association with the post, Howard says Draper Aden had already created a stormwater master plan for all VMI facilities in 2007 and 2008, which included the nearly 200 acres of post as well as other properties it owned. “It became clear that VMI wanted to develop over the Town Branch Creek, which, while it is consistently flowing and is not in a regulated FEMA floodplain, does carry a significant drainage. What we didn’t want to do is place a building on top of this creek and have it flood out the building,” she says. “When the project got funded by the state, we were on the architect and engineering team to do the work, but when you are building on an active creek, there’s a lot more than just putting up a silt fence and some storm drains,” she adds. She says that having done the stormwater plan earlier on, Draper Aden already knew they were going to be in a tight box and would have to come up with some creative solutions. “One of the biggest challenges all collaborators faced on this project was the need to balance all the erosion and stormwater controls with regulatory compliance and to integrate these with the building design and the access to sanitary sewer, and to optimize green solutions as well, wherever possible.” It was truly a case of thinking outside the box and coming up with multifaceted solutions that met all needs. Howard says the initial plan was to achieve LEED Silver certification. “We had to do this work from a permitting standpoint, and when we talked upfront we established a flooded elevation, and that model demonstrated how in pre- and post-flooding we were MAY 2018

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not impacting the upstream properties. It took several iterations of planning and collaboration to meet the permitting requirements for the stormwater management.” And while “most projects do one or two stormwater solutions, in this case, there were more than a dozen,” she says. “When taken individually, they are not particularly innovative, but how they were integrated together holistically to achieve our end goals of

capturing and controlling water—that effort can be considered a groundbreaking approach.” Howard says that the facility has five manufactured BMPs, three bioretention basins, a green roof with vegetation, permeable pavers, and an underground cistern to collect runoff for future use. More than 14,000 cubic yards of concrete were used to create the 100,000-square-foot structure with

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VIRGINIA MILITARY INSTITUTE

VMI’s physical training facility

205,000 square feet of usage space, including 1,000 linear feet of retaining walls, site walls, planter walls, ramps, cast-in-place stairs, and the structural beams spanning the creek bed. The project also required undercut excavations up to 18 feet in depth, as well as 300 cubic yards of lean concrete backfill prior to installation. No Floating Boulders Architect Mike Miller, vice president and director of construction services with the Richmond-based office of HKS, a global design firm, says the original streambed of the Town Branch Creek was pumped out and the stream rerouted around the site, leaving it dammed for almost a year while construction crews worked. Jarvis says that after first diverting the stream, crews put a pump upstream, which had “a device on the unit so if the pump failed for some reason, it would send a text message to alert a failure.” Then, while the work area was sur28 EROSION CONTROL

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rounded with silt fence and other BMPs, “the original stream bed was mucked out and huge riprap boulders were installed under the entire building site.” Miller adds that after diverting the stream, crews created a bed that would allow the stream to spread out to 150 feet wide, “but only just under the building,” where it would act as a temporary detention structure. “We laid down some geotextile, then a large layer of this huge boulder riprap where it comes in on the upstream side. We had to use very large loaders to get these boulders in; they are massive,” he says. “What this does is act as a huge underground system that not only controls water velocity, but also acts as a macro filter, so the final water exiting to the Maury River is really very clean and sediment-free.” The boulders also had to be large because they needed to stay in place when water would pond underneath the building. “We can’t risk having floating stones underground,” he says. Jarvis reports that these “pseudo-

detention ponds underground are working perfectly,” as several heavy rainfalls have occurred since building completion. Collecting Water, Perfectly Jarvis says that everyone was very impressed with the installation of the underground precast concrete cistern. It is located under the building and fed by the roof water through the downspouts. The cistern was fabricated by Permatile Concrete Products Company, a precast concrete manufacturer in Bristol, VA. “Permatile is conscientious about the quality of our precast concrete, and product quality control helps ensure our components fit together properly,” says company spokesperson Mimi Coles. “When you’re on a job site and joining two large sections of precast product together, the last thing you need is to find out they don’t fit together well, and then have to patch and fill in spaces. “Another factor in our quality WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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assurance is that we batch and test our own concrete, ensuring consistency in the mix design and strength requirements for each independent product and project.” Coles says the components for this project were built to specifications provided by VMI. The south underground detention structure comprises seven pieces of single 6-foot-span by 5-foot-rise precast box culvert and 14 pieces of monolithic double 6-foot-span by 5-foot-rise precast box culvert. The north underground detention and rainwater harvesting structure is made up of 21 pieces of single 5-foot, 10-inch-span by 8-foot-rise single box culvert. All box culverts include steel reinforced walls and top and bottom slabs. Although the company often provides its own designs, she says, in this case “the project engineer provided the design, including structural and hydraulic requirements, and we manufactured a product that met those needs.” Cisterns similar to those on the VMI project would typically be grouted or go together with gasketed joints, she says. “It depends what the project design requirements indicate.” To ensure that the product arrives at the site in perfect condition, Coles says, Permatile oversees product loading, transportation, and delivery to the job site. Once the precast units arrived at VMI, the contractor unloaded the boxes and used a crane to set them in place with lifting devices designed by Permatile for proper handling. Jarvis recalls how expertly the concrete was fabricated, which made installation a quick and seamless process. Coles says installation can often take between 15 to 30 minutes per section depending on site access, foundation preparation, and “how well the joints fit together.” Graywater From Green Strategies Making every inch count in the restricted footprint of the building was at the top of everyone’s list from start to finish, but managing all the issues with water, sewer, and regulations in a framework of exceptional aesthetics was a huge challenge, as Howard explains. MAY 2018

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“This wasn’t a case of ‘just put in a few detention pond collection sites for water and you’re done’—the building was the site. So, keeping in mind the history of the water runoff from Lexington, and the potential for flooding of the stream in severe rains, we had to amplify every potential exposed space as an opportunity to perform a water management function, while engineered to meet sanitary sewer requirements.” This posed both design and technical challenges, but the project succeeded because of very creative thinking on everyone’s part. For example, Howard explains that the sidewalks made extensive use of permeable pavers, which not only add to the appearance of the building but also control runoff and keep walkways clear for pedestrian safety. Miller describes how another solution to water management is saving VMI money on its municipal water bill. A green roof was installed on the two-story structure that follows the

For related articles: www.erosioncontrol.com

perimeter of the main building and serves as administrative and office spaces. The vegetative system retains rainwater, thus preventing it from contributing additional water to the stormwater system. “This roof surface has all kinds of low-growing plants, and the runoff transported to the downspouts helps feed the cisterns. That water in turn is a source for graywater plumbing systems, plus landscape irrigation of the grounds, as well as makeup water for the HVAC system,” he says. Miller says the large indoor track area is cooled by a passive downdraft system, which can also provide limited supplemental heat. “This area is in constant use. Our indoor area, for example, has multiple features such as climbing walls, a banked track for running, and athletic equipment. Not a day passes when a group is not using this, so it has to be maintained year-round

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“Building a large facility like this over a body of water is very uncommon, largely because of the many complex considerations, regulatory issues, and permitting, which are daunting at best.” sanitary sewer, which allows easy access for city maintenance or replacement of the lines. Jarvis describes additional techniques to address the issues of space restricted by a steep slope on one side and primary main highway on the other. Building out could only mean going in one direction, and that meant cutting into the slope. “This site was cut into an existing hillside, which is nearly vertical—a 30-foot-high slope that collects a lot of stormwater at the top of it, where several residential houses and a road were sited, also bringing potential runoff through our property,” he says. “We cut off the top of it and stabilized it with a soil nail retention system. There is a V-ditch on top of the retaining wall. Water in this ditch goes in two directions, each emptying into stormwater manholes. Finally, we faced the wall with a spray concrete product.” He reports these techniques as “value engineering that saved $750,000 over using typical retaining wall techniques.” The sloped grass area adjacent to the building includes three L-shaped retaining walls that act as stormwater filtering devices. As the water travels down the bank, it encounters several filtration devices. Behind the retaining walls, additional organic media were installed, and these further filter the water before it daylights into the existing PERMATILE CONCRETE PRODUCTS CO.

for comfort.” He describes the system: “There are four shafts, one on each side of the building, and we have spray nozzles in these shafts, like the kind groceries use to deliver a fine mist on vegetables. The shaft pulls in outside air; the spray cools it and saturates the air. Using convection, the cool air is collected at the bottom of the shaft. Reheat coils then heat the cool air enough to get it moving through a plenum space below the main floor. At this point, the air is about 64 degrees, and it moves horizontally through the plenum until it rises as cool air through floor vents, thus cooling the space without the use of ducts, dampers, and fans. Then as warm air rises from the floor, there are vents in the roof window system that can open and close to keep heat in or let heat out. The space is heated by a perimeter hot water fin tube system. So we have a cooling and heating system that leverages our collected water to that purpose. It’s a totally unique system, and we are continuing to fine-tune it to manage the temperature set points.” The facility design also required managing the access to the sanitary sewer system, which, because of the limited space, had to run under the CPTF’s attached parking structure. But this made access difficult. To solve the dilemma, Draper Aden proposed large manhole boxes on each side of the facility with carrier pipes under the building for the

Installing the cistern

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Town Branch Creek. However, says Howard, this wasn’t enough to meet regulations “so we had to think outside the box to treat this water. Basically, we were designing to a permitting standpoint but doing this in a tight box.” She says, “By setting the finishing floor 20 feet above the creek, with a sub-level service elevator at seven feet above elevation, any overflow will be well above harm’s way. Another strategy was installing the backflow preventer inline check valve at the outlet of our underground retention system. This check valve closes when the stream water level rises, such that the storm sewer system serving the building and the project site does not surcharge.” Howard says this clever solution “helps maintain the effectiveness and integrity of this particular stormwater control,” and is one more example demonstrating how the multiple water management controls work well as an integrated system. But 205,000 square feet is nonetheless a big place to heat, cool, and keep consistently supplied, despite the 100,000-gallon cistern. “We can and do have drought here, or low rainfall, so there is a float in the cistern that triggers city water to enter if we have low volume in those units,” says Jarvis. Howard affirms that Draper Aden’s role was the crucial linchpin that held together the collaborations of myriad contractors, designers, and subs, the VMI administration, and

Commonwealth and local governmental environment and permitting agencies. “This facility likely wouldn’t have been permitted if the stormwater and environmental concerns had not been addressed early and holistically. Building a large facility like this over a body of water is very uncommon, largely because of the many complex considerations, regulatory issues, and permitting, which are daunting at best. Our approach to really think outside the box and bring VMI’s vision to reality was a challenging goal. But collaboration across the board and the willingness to revise, rethink, and keep coming up with workable solutions has now resulted in our being eligible for LEED Gold certification, when at the outset we were just going for Silver,” she says. The project began in 2014 and was completed at the end of 2016. Project team members cite the VMI Corps Physical Training Center as a highlight of their career. Jarvis says the facility will extend the legacy of VMI’s mission and support staff and cadet activities for many decades to come. “I am thrilled that not only is this a centerpiece facility of the post supporting cadet development, but that we support the Earth and reduce our carbon footprint through all the innovations implemented. It’s a good feeling to know you’ve done a good thing and it is efficient.” EC Barbara Hesselgrave is a frequent Forester contributor specializing in environmental topics.

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DAVID JUNEK, CITY OF BASTROP

Essentials for Working in Water Coﬀerdams and turbidity curtains BY MARGARET BURANEN

offerdams and turbidity curtains may be neither high tech in performance nor especially exciting in appearance. If they’re made carefully and function the way they are supposed to, they seem, in fact, rather routine. But the work that they make possible is far from routine. They make possible high-tech projects in energy, construction, and other fields. They protect endangered flora and fauna and help companies stay in compliance with federal, state, and local environmental regulations. Treasure Hunt Cofferdams are usually deployed to make construction or repair projects possible by temporarily holding back bod32 EROSION CONTROL

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ies of water so that work sites are accessible. Such projects typically involve pipelines, bridges, roads, marinas, and other structures—not buried treasure. But cofferdams played an important role in one particular hunt for buried treasure. And since this treasure hunt has been turned into a reality television series, millions of people around the world who had never heard of cofferdams now know what they are and how they work. When they were boys, brothers Marty and Rick Lagina of Kingsford, MI, read an article about buried treasure in the January 1965 issue of Reader’s Digest. They were fascinated by the story of previous attempts to find this treasure that many people thought was real, and their WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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i nterest continued as they became adults. The Lagina brothers became convinced from historical evidence that the treasure was buried on Oak Island, off the coast of Nova Scotia. They had been quietly searching for the treasure there for several years when Prometheus Entertainment learned of their quest. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Prometheus is the production company responsible for such popular television productions as Ancient Aliens, The Girls Next Door, and Star Wars: The Legacy. A series that let viewers follow along with real treasure hunters was different for Prometheus, but the concept had built-in suspense and it fit the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall approach to selecting entertainment. Prometheus Entertainmentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Joe Lessard says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re always looking for a good story.â&#x20AC;? The Lagina brothers owned the search operation on Smith Island. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We were begging them to meet with us, but they were reluctant to be on TV,â&#x20AC;? says Lessard. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Finally we came to a cooperative agreement. They realized that being on TV would connect them to resources, financial and otherwise.â&#x20AC;? The resulting collaboration between the Lagina brothers and Prometheus is the series The Curse of Oak Island, for which Lessard serves as executive producer. Now in its fifth season on cable televisionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The History Channel, the popular series attracts viewers in many countries. The first episode aired on January 5, 2014, and ratings were strong from the beginning.

Viewers were immediately drawn into the story by the little twists and turns within each episode and the overall tantalizing theme of getting closer and closer to the buried treasure. Each episode might be the one that showed the Lagina brothers finding the treasure at last, after years of hard work. Because some previous treasure hunters had died in a tragic accident, the possibility that a curse had been placed on the treasure to protect it was another part of the puzzle for viewers of the series to ponder. The series includes interviews with historians and others who have developed theories about the buried treasure. Assorted theories and possible connections include North African gold, a French map dated 1347, visits from ancient mariners, codes hidden in Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s writings, Sir Francis Bacon and the Rosicrucians, the Aztec Empire, and the Knights Templar. As the exploration continued and episodes were filmed and aired, various clues suggested that it would be worthwhile to examine the area of Oak Island that curved around a section known as Smithâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cove. But to either find the treasure there or rule out the location definitively, a thorough digging operation with machines was essential. Before the digging could begin, Smithâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Cove had to be dewatered. Dam-It Dams of Brighton, MI, was tasked with supplying and installing the cofferdam to dewater the area and keep it dry enough for digging 6 to 10 feet down.

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Two cofferdams were connected to make a barrier around the cove. Each cofferdam was 200 feet long. The installation took place in August 2016. After the water was pumped out, the team could then excavate the rocky cove. The search area was about 9,000 square feet. Lessard says the cofferdam “went up really quickly, and it worked really well. Day in and day out, as the tide came in, the pump worked and the dam held the water out.” The cofferdam was about 8 feet above the deepest spot in the cove. The weather was good, with cool temperatures during the excavation. One man operated the excavator, digging down 6 to 10 feet. Five to ten people observed the work and took notes. One observer was the show’s consulting archaeologist. Lessard says the biggest challenge to the excavation in Smith’s Cove was that the ground was “muddy, hard, and rocky.” Clues from previous excavations and research led the Lagina brothers to suspect that they would unearth five ancient box drains buried in Smith’s Cove. The box drains were shaped like a hand converging on the shoreline and leading to a big pit that flooded with seawater. Lessard says although they did not find the box drains, they did find French drains. Those drains might lead to another, even more specific, clue—or not—but it was one more piece of what has proven to be a big puzzle. Each object unearthed

has to be logged and its history verified. “The cofferdam helped make this search possible,” he says, adding that using a Dam-It Dams cofferdam again on the show “is a possibility. It is a useful resource for searching other parts of the island. We have explored about 60% of the island, and no area of it can be ruled out [without checking it thoroughly].” The episode featuring the cofferdam at work on Smith’s Cove aired in the fourth season (November 16, 2016, to February 21, 2017). Druid Hill Park Druid Hill Park is to the city of Baltimore what Central Park

Dewatering Smith’s Cove on Oak Island

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walkers and joggers; and a new path by the lake’s edge for pedestrians and cyclists. A restaurant may also be added to this section of the park. The project will also benefit Baltimore’s citizens by making more water recreation activities, such as kayaking and fishing, available. This is important because Baltimore’s citizens don’t have easy access to clean water for recreation. Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and other nearby waterways are polluted. When the project is finished, the lake and surrounding area will also provide better wildlife habitat. An aeration system will be installed in the lake to enhance water quality. Similar projects have been carried out at other reservoirs in the Baltimore area, in Montebello, Towson, and Pikesville. They were, however, on a smaller scale. The project on Druid Lake is much larger and more complicated. “It’s a challenge,” says John Marcantoni, area manager for Oscar Renda Contracting (part of Southland Holdings), of the multiphase, multiyear project his company is working on. “We work year-round. We started April 10, 2017, and we are scheduled to finish sometime in the spring of 2022.” Marcantoni says the project involves building a cofferdam, dewatering the area where the tanks will be placed, excavating 40 feet down, getting the tanks built and installed, backfilling the area, and then finishing it to meet the city’s specifications. “We are constructing a cofferdam into an operational drinking water reservoir. [While the work is going on] we

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is to New York City. It has been the iconic park for generations of Baltimore residents. At one end of Druid Hill Park is a reservoir called Druid Lake. This reservoir has been the main source of Baltimore’s drinking water since its creation more than 100 years ago. The reservoir had at the time the largest earthen dam in the country: 119 feet high and designed to hold back one billion gallons of water. EPA regulations affect how a community cares for its drinking water—specifically, the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 and the subsequent Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule of 2006. These regulations stipulate that a community’s finished drinking water must either be treated with more chemicals than Baltimore was using at the time or must be covered. Baltimore’s city officials chose the covering option. The original plan called for burying two prestressed concrete water storage tanks beneath part of the existing park. The Friends of Druid Hill Park and other groups objected to the location because excavation would disrupt the historic landscape. The location beneath the reservoir was then chosen. The two tanks will be installed under the west end of the lake. When the $140 million project is completed, the lake will be smaller, but the park will gain about 14 acres of ground that will cover the tanks. This land will be used for additional recreational space. The new green space will include an amphitheater; wider, better-lit walkways to benefit

ture d in

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have to be very careful.” He adds, “The logistics are challenging. We have up to 50 trucks a day running five to six loads of material. We’ll have up to 200,000 pounds of excavated earth.” Summing up the Druid Lake Reservoir job, Marcantoni says, “It’s a different type of project. It’s complex and very intensive. We’re proud to be providing a good clean source of drinking water.” Rescuing a Boat Ramp Bastrop, TX (2010 population 7,218), is part of the Austin metropolitan area. The city lies on both sides of the lower Colorado River, which is approximately 100 yards wide. DAVID JUNEK, CITY OF BASTROP

have to maintain the quality of the drinking water,” he says. Working in and around water that must be kept clean requires the installation of good-quality turbidity curtains. On this project, Oscar Renda Construction is using turbidity curtains from Elastec of Carmi, IL. “Elastec is our main source for turbidity curtains,” says Marcantoni. “We’re using Type 1, custom made. They are NSF 61, safe-for-drinking-water double turbidity curtains and with an oil boom around them.” Marcantoni says the custom-made curtains range in depth from 4 feet to 36 feet. They are made in separate sections, each 100 feet by 50 feet. Installation took about a week. “One section—about 2,000 linear feet—was for the cofferdam. Another section was for an area where we had to remove a 72-inch influent pipe. It was about 500 linear feet,” he says. Working around water that is used for drinking water requires careful monitoring of turbidity levels. Marcantoni says that his crew members perform daily monitoring of turbidity and chlorine levels. As the project continues, more turbidity curtains will be installed as needed. The cofferdam measures 900 feet in length and varies from 10 to 40 feet in height. Its widest point is 120 feet across. It is constructed of 100,000 tons of riprap and surge stone. The earthen dam that created the reservoir was constructed in the late 1800s. To mitigate any vibration from the excavation stage, the cofferdam includes a geotextile liner for extra stability. “The lake is 340 million gallons. We will take 30% of the lake out of service to build the new tanks,” explains Marcantoni. The concrete tanks, made by DN Tanks, are 40 feet deep. One is 550 feet and the other is 400 feet in diameter. Combined, the tanks will hold 54 million gallons of drinking water. New pipes will connect these storage tanks to Baltimore’s existing water distribution system. “We’ll install 6,000 feet of 72-inch pipe,” says Marcantoni. Old storm drains will be redirected into storm drains outside of the project area. Tie-ins will be made to detention basins. Other erosion control measures used in the project include about 4,000 feet of diversion fence, which is similar to super silt fencing. It meets the state of Maryland’s specific requirements. “Revised catch basins carry the rest of the drainage out. We’ll pump them to keep drainage out of the work area,” says Marcantoni. “It’s a daily event to check containment. We’re in a high-profile area. The lake is inside an 800-acre park, and we’re in the lower area. Lots of drainage from the park heads toward us.” Crews assigned to the project vary in size from 50 to 100 employees, depending on the work on a particular day. They put in mostly 40-hour weeks. However, “We work six days if we lose a day to weather,” says Marcantoni. What’s most impressive about the project, he says, is “the scale of it. It’s very large-scale, and the amount of equipment is huge. The staging area is limited, though, so we

With such close proximity to the river, boating is a popular recreational activity with Bastrop’s residents. One of the most convenient ramps for launching boats in Bastrop was built several years ago in the city’s Fisherman’s Park. “Different floods deposited large amounts of sand around this boat ramp,” says David Junek, superintendent of parks WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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and recreation for the city’s Public Works River Authority permits, funding, and For related articles: Department. “An existing sandbar nearby plans in place, work on the project www.erosioncontrol.com was also encroaching the ramp.” started on November 6, 2017. The work The sand lowered the level of the was finished and the boat ramp ready river around the ramp, making it too shallow to launch a for use about three weeks later. boat without scraping its bottom. Bastrop’s Public Works An essential part of the project was dewatering the Department members knew that the sand would have to be area around the boat ramp so that the workers and their removed and the area surrounding the ramp dug out so that machines would have clear access to the site. The dewaterthe river was back to its normal depth. ing was done by installing a cofferdam made by Aqua Dam Junek says city workers “pumped out the water, scraped of Scotia, CA. off the sand covering the boat ramp, and dug out the sand The cofferdam was 345 feet long and six feet wide. “The about four feet around the three sides of the ramp to make six-foot-tall dam was good for the four-foot depth of the river,” the river there deep enough to put in a boat.” says Junek. The cofferdam was deployed in about 12 hours. Aqua Dam sent company employees to Bastrop to teach the city’s crew members how to install and maintain the cofferdam. “All of the work was done by Aqua Dam with our city employees. This was a brand new project for us. The boat ramp had been cleaned some years before, but it was new work for all of the current employees,” says Junek. “The company was very helpful, pointing us in the right direction all the way. I can’t praise them enough. There is some pressure when you’re spending city money. You want to make sure you get it done right the first time.” He says the major challenge on the project was “keeping the water pumped out. The sand is very porous, so water can seep back in quickly.” The crew had two options to keep the work area dry. They could either leave the pumps running constantly, or turn them off at the end of their shift and pump out the water that accumulated overnight. To save energy costs, “We chose to come in early every morning and re-pump the water out,” says Junek. “It took only about an hour and a half.” The weather was good while the work was going on. “We got a little bit of rain, but it wasn’t a problem,” he recalls. The project attracted an interested audience of local residents. “We had several people park and watch the work. They were traveling on a bridge that goes over the Colorado River, a major thoroughfare that connects major highways, when they saw the crew at work. They parked and came back to check it.” The work required excavators, front-end loaders, and other machines. All of that heavy equipment attracted kids, too, and when they saw the cofferdam, some of them asked if they could go over and jump on it. The project involved a lot of digging. Junek says he was surprised, though, at how quickly it was done. “I thought it would take us a month,” he says. Excavating around the In a few years, the Colorado River will redeposit sand Fisherman’s Park boat ramp around the boat ramp. The project to remove the sand and allow the water around the ramp to flow freely will have to be repeated. The Bastrop crew is prepared for that future The major required permit, which was good for five years, work and expects it to go faster the next time. was obtained in 2015. The project had been planned for 2016, “We purchased the cofferdam, so we can reuse it,” but had to be delayed a year. Junek says the citizens were says Junek. EC patient because they knew the city employees would get the boat ramp back into service as soon as possible. Margaret Buranen writes on the environment and business for With the necessary federal, state, and Lower Colorado several national publications. MAY 2018

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It’s in the Wind Options for dust control

ISTOCK/KATELEIGH

BY LINDA ROBINSON

PA has a commonly accepted statement on dust: “One car making one pass on one mile of dirt or gravel road one time each day for one year creates one ton of dust.” It doesn’t have a comparable statement regarding horses, but a similar calculation might be possible. Tara Gandomcar-Hieb is the owner and manager of Cottonwood Riding Club, home of the Denver Polo Club. The club is a 100-acre equestrian facility that caters to riding disciplines including English and Western and from children’s instruction to horse shows. The club has four outdoor arenas, including one which is lighted for night riding, along with a well-lit 270-foot by

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80-foot indoor arena. The club also includes four regulation lunging pens, a cross-country course, a pro shop, and a clubhouse that sits adjacent to Chatfield State Park just south of Denver. The riding club took its name from the 100-year old cottonwood trees that line the scenic riding trails. In all, says Gandomcar-Hieb, there may be up to 40 horses riding in the club’s arenas over the course of a day. One outdoor arena at Cottonwood is 30,000 square feet with 2 to 3 inches of footing and soil. With horses coming through eight to ten at a time, there tends to be a lot of dust kicked up. “We have a sand footing,” she says. “The horse hooves pulverize the sand, and it becomes airborne. After so many WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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COTTONWOOD RIDING CLUB

horses, it just turns into fine dust.” the soil depth. “We treat in the range There are a variety of benefits of of 600 gallons per acre, and that would having a good dust control program, be doubled for a two-inch soil depth. including prolonging the life of the So, for $5,000, that gives them 12 to 18 footing and having less particulate months, about a year, of dust control. matter in the air. Other benefits include Eighteen months for sure, on the less equipment maintenance and fewer indoor arena.” respiratory problems for ridArenaKleen and DustLess (another ers and horses alike. GES product) are intended for treating A Pennsylvania State Unithe deeper soils, says Staples. “They versity study found that dust seek out the dry material—the dust— poses another kind of safety quickly. With that sand dust, consider hazard: It decreases visibilthat a construction worker who’s workity for motorists. A similar ing in it all day is required to wear a problem exists in the arenas. dust mask. So we need to think about “Dust isn’t good for health,” our kids riding in it.” she says, “but on a smaller In terms of dust control options, scale, the instructors can’t the most commonly used in arenas see the riders. So there could include water and chlorides. Water be a safety problem there.” acts by “floating” the soil particles, She continues, “We separating them from each other. wanted something that would control dust well but Water fills the void once the soil reaches the optimum would be sensitive to our horses and the riders, too. moisture content. The problem is that once it passes that We wanted no adverse effects on the horse hooves. optimum moisture level, it just becomes mud. We were using magnesium chloride, but it only Chlorides work by drawing moisture from the air. Sodium lasted about a month. And our footing deteriorated chloride, also used as de-icing salt, absorbs water at 76% after a while. It was so fluffy—like fine powder.” relative humidity, reduces the rate of water evaporation by a Steve Staples, owner of Nox Blending Co. factor of 1.3, and lowers the freezing point of water. Calcium in Littleton, CO, and distributor for Global and magnesium chlorides are effective dust suppressants. Environmental Solutions, contacted Tara about However, calcium chloride absorbs moisture at 29% relative GES products. He presented a product that was humidity—just when dust control is needed the most. Magspecifically formulated for dust control in horse nesium chloride is similar, but absorbs water at 32% relative arenas—ArenaKleen. humidity and reduces water evaporation by 3.1 times. When ArenaKleen is manufactured by Global chlorides dry out, they create their own dust as well, notes Environmental Solutions, originally Dirt Glue Chris Rider, chief technical officer with GES. Enterprises. GES, makers of high-tech soil ArenaKleen works differently from water or chlorides. stabilization products for both water and wind It’s formulated to absorb “into” soil and dust particles erosion control, has corporate headquarters in Salem, NH, and warehouse locations throughout the US. ArenaKleen works without water, so it never dries out or evaporates and doesn’t wash away with rain. It eliminates dust in all types of arena footings, including sand, sand dust, finely screened gravel, and blends of rubber, wood, leather, and other footing blends. “We did the two outdoor arenas first, around July 17. Then the last week of July we did the indoor arena. Each arena took upward of 900 gallons,” says Staples. “And they haven’t had to water since we put it down.” Application rates, he says, are figured on a “per inch” rate according to The Cottonwood Riding Club EROSION CONTROL 39

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ENVIROTECH SERVICES

rather than surrounding the dust particles as water does. This direct contact of the soil particles, one to another, creates more stability in the soil or arena footing material. It increases density and keeps the surface firm. This offers better traction, fewer shears, and no stickiness or tracking. It’s neither acidic or alkaline, and unlike chlorides it’s non-corrosive. It’s not hazardous and doesn’t require water. This also allows sprinklers or rainwater to fall on it without diluting it or washing it away. As horses work or perform, they use up to 3,000% more air than when resting. Idaho veterinarian Melinda Roche of Roche Equine, an exclusively equine clinic, explains that the problem is worse in the colder winter months because there’s less ventilation in the arenas. The dust has to be suppressed somehow, or watered. “If the horses are breathing in the dust, it causes respiratory problems specific to

horses. It’s called inflammatory airway disease, or IAD. And it’s very costly for vets to treat. Plus, it limits their ability to perform, no matter what they’re doing.” Gandomcar-Hieb was impressed with Nox Blending and the dust suppressant applications. “I had no prep work to do at all,” she says. “The ArenaKleen application was sprayed right on the footing, and will last for 12 to 18 months. It was applied early summer,

and it looks the same as when we first put down the original footing.” Staples offers some advice on the challenges of dust control in horse arenas. “A lot of what’s added into the footing materials, like sawdust, sand, wood chips, rubber, and old carpet fibers, makes it break down faster. It will need more maintenance and upkeep because all that stuff floats in the air. And there’s dust that drifts in from other places. So the more of that stuff that’s in the footings, the more maintenance they’ll have.” Bald Mountain Mine When Marc Fonger says he gives the guys a ride to work, it’s a total understatement. Fonger, superintendent of roads for KG Mining (Bald Mountain) Inc., says the company has four buses that meet in Elko, NV, to shuttle workers to and from the mine. Altogether, about 550 people a day work in 12 1/2 hour shifts, he says. And on top of that, the company runs about 40 trucks on the roads each day as well. All of this vehicle movement creates a lot of dust for him to try to get under control. “There’s 50 miles of dirt access roads at the mine,” says Fonger. “There are trucks to haul crews to and from the mine, fuel delivery trucks, and also some light vehicles.” These “heap leach” gold mines are water dependent, so any measures operators can find to keep the dust down and off the roads—and vehicles—without using a lot of water are a bonus, in Fonger’s book. Dan Nordyke, sales manager for Top: Dozens of trucks travel the treated roads each day; Left: Applying Durablend

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EnviroTech Services in Nevada, says the company previously used magnesium chloride before switching to Durablend at the open-pit Humboldt County mine. “The road is first graded for preparation and watered,” explains Nordyke. “They come by and spray Durablend at .35 gallons per square yard. Just one shot and they’re okay for the summer —no maintenance or anything.” The Kinross Gold Corporation, parent company of KG Mining (Bald Mountain), acquired its newest mine in 2016. The mine itself has been in operation since the 1980s. “There’s a leach pad, an earthen pad lined with plastic,” says Fonger. “They leach the ore with cyanide. The gold ore stays at the mine.

These “heap leach” gold mines are water dependent, so any measures operators can ﬁnd to keep the dust down and oﬀ the roads—and vehicles—without using a lot of water are a bonus.

For related articles: www.erosioncontrol.com

Round and Bald Mountains in Nevada; and northwestern Mauritania. KG Mining (Bald Mountain) is conscientious about its water efficiency and operational costs at the Elko site. “Using the computerized truck system, over about a mile a crew can deliver 4,500 gallons of product. That’s

one load,” says Nordyke. “Water brings Durablend into the soil that’s been graded. Previously, the road was bug dust, just like finely milled powder. The Durablend packed the fines down so well that the trucks were driving like they were on a regular highway. They had to put up road signs saying 50 miles per hour. One truck was clocked at 70 miles per hour since the road was packed using the Durablend.” EnviroTech Services Inc., a Greeley,

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But the gold, after it’s leached out, is made into the gold bars and sold on the open market.” Cyanide may sound scary for the environment in the northern Nevada desert, but Kinross is diligent about its environmental responsibilities. It has been awarded the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) National Hardrock Mineral Environmental Award three times since 2003 for its reclamation work. Kinross has operations in Fort Knox, KY; Kupol-Dvoinoye, Russia; MAY 2018

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PHOTOS: GLOBAL STABILIZATION

CO-based manufacturer and national distributor of dust control and de-icing products, developed the Durablend line of products to offer a variety of options for dust control on roads where regular chlorides are an undesirable choice due to environmental concerns. By using Durablend on the access roads, the mine was able to achieve the same performance as with previous treatments with chloride products, but with additional savings on product. Using a compaction aid offered greater water resistance on the road surface, better erosion control, and better trapping of fines to the road surface. Nordyke notes that rolling the surface after grading helps push the product and water into the top half-inch of the road, where compaction is important. Continued driving on the road actually reduces the loss of any road base. The Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources teamed up with KG Mining (Bald Mountain) in 2017 to set aside 10,000 acres for sage grouse habitat conservation. The mine will accumulate conservation credits with the state of Nevada for its participation in the agreement. Kinross will implement BMPs for grazing, maintain fences, and preserve the sage grouse habitat for 30 years. “In the spirit of responsible mining, we have committed to a variety of voluntary environmental protection and mitigation measures,” says Randy Burggraff, vice president

After treatment with Earthbind

Mixing it Up to Stop Dust Koenig’s Custom Application provides dust suppression for vineyards, forestry operations, and agricultural side roads in Oregon. Robin Koenig has used Earthbind products in various climates for the past 17 years. In western Oregon, the Willamette Valley might see from 36 to 80 inches of rain annually, depending on the elevation. “When the roads get wet, water clings to particles on the road,” explains Koenig. “Then the cars and trucks come through and make holes. Eventually, that hole becomes like a piston, with the side edges hardened. More vehicles come along and just keep making the hole deeper.” Earthbind 100 and Earthbind Stabilizer, dust Repairing a road control palliative and soil stabilizer, respectively, are manufactured by EnviRoad LLC in Portland, OR. Earthbind works as a soil stabilizer by binding road aggregates together. An added benefit in a rainy climate is Earthbind’s ability to add water resistance to the treated soil matrix. It will not resolubilize in rainwater or wash off the road after curing. “There’s no wash-boarding in the drier season,” says Koenig. “And in the wet season, it holds better so you don’t have the potholes and rutting to deal with.” When he’s on a typical dust suppression job, he applies Earthbind 100 when temperatures are between 70 and 75°F. He notes, however, that if he waits until the temperatures are between 80 and 85°F, he doesn’t get plugged nozzles on his equipment. And while he says that 0.10 gallon per inch of depth is the standard minimum used, he finds that and general manager at Bald Mountain. “So there is a net 0.15 gallon per inch works even better. conservation gain to the sage grouse.” While Koenig agrees that damage to equipment from airThe use of Durablend on the roads close by also helped borne dust is an important reason to maintain the roads, he the Bald Mountain mine achieve the Nevada Excellence in also finds himself listening to his agricultural customers who Mine Reclamation Community Award after the Nevada are getting older. “Dust is more than just a nuisance to some Department of Wildlife nominated the site in two categoof them,” he says. “It can mean the difference in whether or ries. KG Mining (Bald Mountain) was praised for setting not they can go outside just to sit on their front porch.” EC aside some 1,100 acres for mule deer migration. This allows safe movement for the deer during ongoing 24-hour mining Linda Robinson is a journalist specializing in agriculture and operations. land-use planning. 42 EROSION CONTROL

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Preserving Hawaiian Coastline with a Low-Impact Sediment Barrier

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EARTHWORKS PACIFIC INC. IS a heavy civil and underground utility contractor based in Lihue, HI. Founded in 2003, the company has a reputation for excellent work in both the public and private sectors throughout the Hawaiian Islands. EPI was contracted to start work on the new Makahuena Estates Subdivision in Poipu, on the island of Kauai, in October of 2016. The future neighborhood of custom homes was planned along the shoreline, with a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean. Alyssa Carveiro, project engineer, prepared the initial stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP) for the project. Bryan Davidson, project manager and superintendent at EPI, made modifications to the SWPPP based on field conditions. He then purchased and installed BMPs and oversaw inspection, along with Brandon Ezaki and Jordan Wilson, both project engineers with EPI, for the project until its completion in July of 2017.

DuraWattle can be installed on soil or rock surfaces.

The Challenge

The Makahuena Estates Subdivision was to be built on a pristine shoreline property, and the natural landscape

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needed to be preserved at all costs. The property had several different types of ground conditions that varied from silt to solid basalt rock. The BMP chosen

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Project Profile

Top: Crews operated equipment near the rock walls and perimeter Bottom: Uneven terrain

for the project needed to be installed on these different ground surfaces while still providing a continuous barrier to keep sediment-laden water trapped onsite. EPI did not want to use silt fence or similar trenched-in products for the project. Installing silt fence on the solid basalt rock would have required special equipment and more labor hours for installation, and it would have caused irreparable damage to the existing ground along the shoreline. The project drawings called for straw wattles or a silt fence alternative. However, if the alternative barrier chosen was trenched into the rock per the details, then the removal of the product would have undoubtedly permanently damaged the landscape. The project needed a BMP that could be installed on hard surfaces without damaging the ground surface when removed. 46 EROSION CONTROL

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Additionally, substantial grouted rock walls up to 13 feet tall were to be built less than 10 feet from the perimeter of the project by the subcontractor, T. Masaniai Contractors. The perimeter control BMP would need to withstand traffic and heavy construction activity without compromising its overall sediment retention effectiveness.

The Solution

Davidson first learned about DuraWattle in Erosion Control magazine. After doing his own research, he purchased one pallet of the product from Exacta Sales in Honolulu, HI. According to his research, DuraWattle was the best alternative to silt fence that could provide a continuous sediment control barrier across multiple surface types. The product also solved the issue of a low-impact installation; the recommended hard surface installation of DuraWattle would keep the basalt rock shoreline intact while keeping sediment trapped onsite. DuraWattle is also designed to be driven over by heavy traffic. Subcontractors would be operating excavators near the perimeter when constructing the grouted rock walls. The product would be able to bounce back and remain effective during heavy rain events even after being driven over by excavators.

The Installation

When 1,800 feet of the product arrived compressed on one pallet at the site,

man team in 15 hours. He says that installing DuraWattle on soil took longer than installing silt fence on soil; however, the overall installation cost less than if he had installed the BMPs that the plans originally specified. “The DuraWattle was 60% cheaper than trenching into the solid rock to install the silt fence alternative,” he notes. The installation team used the provided pins and washers to install the

product on soil and powder-actuated fasteners with lath when installing on the solid basalt rock. For hardsurface installation, the product is usually secured to the ground using wood planks or steel beams. However, the basalt rock was too uneven, and Davidson had to secure the fasteners directly into the tail section and “backfill” over the tail section with 3- to 6-inch gravel. This project was being carried out

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the lightweight bundles were moved and distributed by hand around the job site. According to Davidson, 1,650 feet of the product was installed at the Makahuena subdivision by a threeMAY 2018

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EROSION CONTROL 47

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Project Profile during Kauai’s rainy season, and large rain events could be expected at any time. Augmenting the DuraWattle with gravel over the tail section was necessary to keep sediment onsite. Without The walls near the tail section sealed completion securely to the ground, any heavy concentrated flow would have undermined the DuraWattle at the uneven sections of rock and caused a massive BMP failure, especially given the project’s proximity to the ocean.

The Outcome

The project experienced two large rain events in a nine-month period. Both events saw over 5 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. The heavy rain could have been catastrophic for EPI’s team, as well as the adjacent Pacific Ocean, but the company’s good housekeeping practices kept the site secure during both events. The gravel helped to dissipate the

stormwater flow enough to allow the DuraWattle’s high-flow filter medium to retain sediment and create sheet

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flow offsite. Davidson’s team needed to re-backfill the tail section in a few locations and remove the built-up silt in other areas. However, Davidson was very impressed with the performance of the BMP combination. Although the DuraWattle saw little traffic from heavy machinery, Davidson still had to replace a few 12-foot sections after they had been torn by large excavators that turned their steel tracks while on top of the DuraWattle. After the rock walls were installed and the site was stabilized, Wilson removed the DuraWattle with little difficulty or damage to the product. The basalt rock and pristine shoreline were preserved. “It was difficult to tell where DuraWattle had been installed after we finished removing it,” says Davidson. EPI plans to reuse the DuraWattle on future sites. After removing the product, the team bundled it with rope and stored it in a pile. Despite heavy rain events and heavy construction activity near the perimeter of the site, EPI created an innovative combination of BMPs that worked. The team kept the site in compliance while preserving the beautiful Hawaiian shoreline for both the future residents and the public to enjoy. EC WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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SHOWCASE IS BASED ON INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY MANUFACTURERS. SOME MANUFACTURERS DID NOT RESPOND TO REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION. PUBLICATION OF MATERIALS RECEIVED IS SUBJECT TO EDITING AND SPACE AVAILABILITY.

EC SHOWCASE Epic Manufacturing With its hydraulic mulch grinder, aggressive paddle agitation system, vortex slurry pump, full flow plumbing, and integral fresh water flush tank, the Epic C330HO and C400HO can handle the thickest slurries of the most difficult mulches on the market. Call us to schedule a demo or check it out at our website listed below. www.epicmanufacturing.com

SOX Erosion Solutions Soxfence Silt/Sediment Control is the superior choice for protective project fencing that reduces water encroachment, retains sediments, and serves as a containment barrier. Unlike other project fencing, installers do not need to dig a trench to installâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;the patented design eliminates this labor task. Soxfence requires less staking due to its special design, and yet has more strength and durability. Our fencing comes in natural colors, is reusable, and requires less maintenance than traditional project fencing, which contributes to overall lower cost. www.soxerosion.com

Keystone Retaining Wall Systems The Keystone Compac segmental retaining walls system is a zeroslump concrete masonry product developed specifically for use in earth retaining wall structures. Employing the Keystone fiberglass pin connection system, it is designed for use as structural retaining walls, or those exceeding 4 feet in height and supporting structures or highway loading. The Compac-Regency has a scored face for distinctive aesthetic effects. It is also used for smaller landscape applications. Visit our website for the installation and specification guide and view our full line of wall systems, patio stones, pavers, and outdoor living designs. www.keystonewalls.com

L&M Supply For over three decades, industry professionals have turned to L&M Supply. With locations nationwide, L&M Supply is the nation's largest manufacturer and distributor of quality geotextile fabrics, silt fence, metal t-post, wood oak stakes, weed control fabrics, and erosion control blankets and wattles. To learn more, visit our website. www.landmsupplyco.com 50 EROSION CONTROL

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Bowie Industries Since Bowie Industries has a full manufacturing facility, full turnkey solutions can be provided. Sheet metal operations, welding, painting, and assembly are all done in-house. Custom mountings on customers’ trucks with integrated toolboxes can be done onsite for a complete turnkey finished product. From our smallest units to the largest truck-mounted units, all significant operations are done internally; therefore, there is no reliance on subcontractors. Quality has always been a goal of Bowie Industries and there is no better way to control quality than to do it yourself. www.bowieindustries.com

FINN The Titan HydroSeeder is THE premium power package specially designed and fitted to FINN’s largest, most robust HydroSeeder models. Gallon tank sizes range: 3000–4000. The Titan is the most powerful HydroSeeder in the industry with more horsepower and a high-efficiency hydraulic system. It’s FINN’s answer to contractors wanting more power, speed, and more HydroSeeder. Conquers tougher jobs in harder-to-reach areas. For 80+ years, FINN has been the worldwide leader in providing quality equipment to landscape and erosion control industries. With nearly 200 dealer locations in North America and representation internationally, only FINN provides the support you need at a local level. www.finncorp.com

Williams Form Williams Grade 150 KSI All-Thread Bars, Grade 75 All-Thread Bars, Geo-Drill Injection Anchors, and 270 KSI low-relaxation strand have been successfully used as prestressed ground anchors for a wide variety of civil engineering applications. Bonded deep into the ground using cementitious grout, these anchors transfer the necessary forces to prevent walls from overturning, water tanks from uplift, towers from uplift, and dams from rotating, and to resist other naturally or phenomenally occurring forces applied to structures. www.williamsform.com

Silt Sock Silt Sock manufactures a variety of products for controlling erosion and sediment. This line includes tube-based products known as silt socks, filter socks, or sediment socks. This product features fabric filled with compost, wood chips, or other organic filtering material to help keep soil in place by reducing stormwater runoff and trapping sediment. In addition to the finished product, the company also supplies fabric and equipment to produce socks. This process minimizes expense on transporting a ready-to-install sock. www.siltsock.net

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EC SHOWCASE TenCate Geosynthetics Unlike typical HPTRM systems in the marketplace that exhibit a uniform pyramidal shaped pattern, the unique design of Mirafi TM13C and TM14S allows for a lighter weight geosynthetic, which lowers the overall carbon footprint by reducing the volume of raw material required, as well as decreasing material handling effort in the field. They are able to accomplish comparable or superior performance results to that of typical pyramidal shaped HPTRM systems. The random pattern assists with the dissipation of flowing water, and the increased roughness coefficient, combined with greater light penetration, creates a nurturing environment in which the grass root system is allowed to grow. www.tencategeosynthetics.com

Spilldam SILTDAM turbidity barriers are designed to prevent the migration of silt and turbidity from exiting a work area. Typical uses include dredging, shoreline revetments, sheet wall or pile driving, aquatic weed control/harvesting, and marine construction activities. SILTDAM turbidity barriers are designed to accommodate a variety of wind, sea, and current conditions. Our standard barriers offer the additional benefit of debris and oil containment at the water line. The flotation compartment is completely heat sealed and each flotation element is additionally heat sealed on each end to create a completely watertight compartment and prevent the floats from shifting. www.spilldam.com

Ecologel Enhance germination rates and seedling survival! Use Hydretain as part of your hydroseeding routine to provide more plant-usable water in between scheduled waterings or rainfall. Applied with your seed, Hydretain attracts and collects individual water molecules, converting unavailable moisture vapor into plant-usable water droplets. This process protects seeds from drying out and reduces drought stress for improved establishment. www.ecologel.com

Heavyweight Sediment Control Solutions DuraWattle is a synthetic sediment control barrier that directly replaces silt fence or straw wattle. Last year, DuraWattle was used as perimeter control for a custom home development on the beautiful shoreline of Kauai. The construction team needed a durable alternative that could be installed on solid rock without disturbing the pristine landscape. DuraWattle provided a solution that could maintain the scenery while handling the 5-inch storm events experienced during the project. Stay in compliance and innovate with DuraWattle. www.DuraWattle.com 52 EROSION CONTROL

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Ernst Seeds At Ernst Conservation Seeds, we grow, process, and sell hundreds of species of native and naturalized seeds and live plant materials for ecological restoration, sustainable landscaping, reclamation, wetlands, and natural resources conservation. Native plants are vitally important to ecological restoration, and are increasingly seen as the best choice for use in almost every scenario. Our steadfast commitment to understanding our customers’ needs and advising them on the best solutions has been at the heart of our mission for over 50 years. www.ernstseed.com

Berky USA Thousands of municipalities and subcontractors can totally rely on the integral quality and reliability of the successfully time-tested Berky side and front mowers, slope mowers, ditch cleaners, trench diggers, mowing boats, weed harvesters, and dredgers, plus a wide selection of specialty machinery and equipment. And they can rely on the prompt service and performance of the Berky staff, of course. www.berkyusa.com

3rd Edition

Correction: In the article “Interception and Filtration” in our March/April 2018 issue, the top and bottom images on pages 40–41 should be credited to Oldcastle Precast.

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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 FINN Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.finncorp.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Genesis Nursery Inc .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.genesisnurseryinc.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 Granite Seed Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.graniteseed.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Gripple Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.gripple.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Heavyweight Sediment Control Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.durawattle.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 HydroStraw LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.hydrostraw.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Invisible Structures Inc .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.invisiblestructures.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 J.W. Faircloth & Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.fairclothskimmer.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Keystone Retaining Wall Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.keystonewalls.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 King-Hughes Fasteners Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.hogrings.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14 Kuhn North America. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.kuhnnorthamerica.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Lee Supply Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.leesupply.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Maccaferri Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.maccaferri.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Mat Inc .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .www.matinc.biz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 Peterson Pacific Corporation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.petersoncorp.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 4 Plastatech Engineering Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.plastatech.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 Plastic Solutions Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.plastic-solution.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Presto Geosystems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.prestogeo.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Roundstone Native Seed LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.roundstoneseed.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56 Silt Sock Erosion Control Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.siltsock.net . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Sox LLC Erosion Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.soxerosion.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Watershed Geo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.watershedgeo.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Page 3 Willacoochee Industrial Fabrics (WIN Fab) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.willacoocheeindustrialfabrics.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 Williams Form Engineering Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.williamsform.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

MAY 2018

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Reader Profile

By Carol Brzozowski

JOHN WHITTINGHAM

ills and gullies on disturbed landscapes are as intriguing as they are destructive, notes John Whittingham. Accelerated soil loss resulting from human activities has always captivated Whittingham’s interest. Growing up in Colorado Springs, CO, during the 1960s and 1970s, Whittingham was often found hiking through deep ravines caused by construction-site stormwater runoff or exploring abandoned mines in the neighboring foothills. As co-founder of Basic Biological Services (BBS), in Dillon, MT, Whittingham now provides his expertise in soil and water resources for a company that offers vegetation management to agriculture, mining, forestry, construction, and recreation industries. Since 1999, BBS has employed biologists, botanists, reclamation specialists, skilled laborers, and himself, the company hydrologist. The company offers consultation, project design, permitting, and installation. BBS originally focused on providing revegetation and erosion control on pond and stream construction projects and now emphasizes vegetation management for highly disturbed landscapes regardless of cause. BBS works with large ranches on range and riparian management strategies, on annual mine reclamation requirements, and on stream and wetland habitat restoration projects. The company installs and maintains drainage structures on county and mine haul roads. Company crews also assess and work to eradicate destructive noxious and nuisance plants, followed up with a long-term revegetation strategy. Slopes and streambanks are the most common geographic features where BBS and Whittingham focus revegetation expertise.

What He Does Day to Day

Doing business in a remote rural community offers unique opportunities, notes Whittingham, who not only spends his time providing technical expertise to ranching and mining entities, but also operates heavy equipment. He designs, installs, and inspects stormwater discharge BMPs for international mining operations and prescribes and applies unique seed mixes with specialized equipment.

What Led Him to This Line of Work

Interests in wildland hydrology and surficial geomorphic processes in mountain landscapes led Whittingham to earn a B.A. in geology and geography from the University of Montana in Missoula. His M.S. in earth sciences from Montana State University enabled him to research shallow aquifers, springs, and wetlands in surficial glacial deposits. Whittingham spent 10 years employed as a hydrologist in southwestern Montana with the 58 EROSION CONTROL

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state’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the US Forest Service, and the US Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management. “The best part was working with ranchers on the rehabilitation of impaired riparian habitats and engaging in active and abandoned mine reclamation projects,” notes Whittingham. “Stabilizing soils, slopes, and streambanks with appropriate vegetation was always emphasized, but federal planning activities seldom resulted in actual project implementation.” That led him to work in the private sector in 1999 for a company providing environmental field services and consulting. Whittingham is a Certified Professional in Erosion and Sediment Control and a professional wetland scientist, and he holds four Montana Department of Agriculture licenses. He is Mine Safety and Health Administration- and HAZWOPER-certified. He is currently the International Erosion Control Association’s Montana representative.

What He Likes Most About His Work

Since joining BBS, working directly with mine and construction engineers, ranch owners and managers, and Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks personnel has provided Whittingham with nearly two decades of frontline, in-the-trenches, “getter-done” project experience, he notes. “The variety of clientele and project objectives are constantly changing,” he points out. “Much of the field work is performed in remote and rugged locations in one of the least populated parts of the United States. Access to project sites often requires complex logistics. Performing environmental field services with BBS is adventurous work and presents daily adversities and risks. Adapting to new challenges and uncertainties is the best part of business.”

His Greatest Challenge

Doing business in a sparsely populated region presents unique challenges, he points out. “From active mine sites to trophy ranches, timber sales to highway construction, the work requires weekly equipment change-ups and use of different skill sets,” he says. “Southwest Montana and southeast Idaho offer five-inch precipitation zones in a cold desert setting, 20 feet of snow in alpine watersheds, 40 degrees below zero to 110 degrees above, and less than 100-day growing seasons. BBS is requested to perform difficult and obscure tasks, and is often requested to oversee personnel and labor crews from different companies. Adaptation is paramount.” EC Carol Brzozowski writes on erosion control and technology. WWW.EROSIONCONTROL.COM

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Anyone who disturbs or restores the soil should read this book.

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