04/15/24 - 66 New Stories - REAL Environmental & Conservation Leadership In PA: http://tinyurl.com/msuwtctm
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PA Dirt & Gravel Road Program Looking To Create Stream-Friendly Corridors
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By Sara Kaplaniak, Chesapeake Bay Journal
As the Bradford County Conservation District Manager, Mike Lovegreen has the distinction of conducting a significant portion of his work along the largest county network of dirt and gravel roads in Pennsylvania.
During one day on the job, Lovegreen's team noticed an excessive amount of water collecting in a roadside ditch, a situation they knew would likely send a large volume of sediment to a nearby stream. To remedy the problem, the district worked with the municipality that owned the road and an adjacent landowner to explore solutions that might use funding from the state's Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance Program.
The reluctant landowner, an outdoor enthusiast, eventually agreed to redirect water away from the road and stream, and to create a pond and wetland area on part of his cornfield. Now a cheerleader for the program, the landowner feels good about the role he played in solving a local pollution problem. He even hosts picnics and scout meetings at his private wildlife sanctuary.
"Pennsylvania's Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance Program has been positive for Bradford County, which represents a local economy that depends on these transportation corridors to support businesses like farming and forestry and to maintain a rural way of life," Lovegreen said.
In rural areas like Bradford County and other parts of Pennsylvania, dirt and gravel roads serve as a preferable option to paved roads, which can be more costly to build and maintain and less resilient to heavy loads like farm equipment or logging trucks. Interspersed with Pennsylvania's unpaved roads is the largest network of streams in the United States after Alaska.
Before there were roads of any kind, thick stands of trees and an array of shrubs and lush vegetation dominated Pennsylvania's landscape. These absorbed rainfall and snowmelt before gradually releasing it into streams. The result was cool, clean water.
Without an adequate buffer - which is usually the case where development occurs - streams become vulnerable to high water flow, sediment and other pollutants resulting from storms and general erosion. This type of nonpoint source pollution - which is less regulated than pollution coming from a specific location - alters natural flow patterns, compromises water quality, increases the spread of nonnative plant and animal species, and threatens aquatic wildlife such as trout and other fish that require clean water and a healthy habitat for their life cycle.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, nonpoint source pollution is responsible for 88 percent of all impaired stream miles in Pennsylvania.
In fact, it was local anglers who took the initiative and sought assistance from the commonwealth to maintain and monitor the state's dirt and gravel roads to ensure they can support working landscapes without harming wildlife habitat.
"A few Trout Unlimited members pursued the issue after noticing an excessively muddy stream," says Mike Klimkos, a Pennsylvania Trout Unlimited member and former coordinator of Pennsylvania's Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance Program.
Worried about the deteriorating quality of Pennsylvania's streams, it didn't take long for Trout Unlimited to mobilize volunteers to drive thousands of miles around the state to identify sites affected by pollution and excessive water coming from Pennsylvania's dirt and gravel roads. At each location - primarily drinking water reservoirs, high quality and exceptional-value coldwater fisheries and other priority watersheds - volunteers conducted surveys based on specific criteria. The effort, which stretched over the summers of 1996-98, resulted in the identification and assessment of more than 900 sites statewide.
What began as a volunteer-driven Trout Unlimited initiative gained steam and support, culminating in 1997 when Pennsylvania enacted into law the Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance Program. Administered by the State Conservation Commission, the program funds local projects that reduce stream pollution caused by runoff and sediment from the state's more than 20,000 miles of unpaved public roads.
As outlined in the law establishing the program, each year the State Conservation Commission allocates $4 million to 64 of the state's 67 County Conservation Districts for grants to fix pollution problems using environmentally sound maintenance practices. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Forestry also administers $1 million annually under the program to fund projects on State Forest roads.
According to Karen Books, a water program specialist who administers the Dirt and Gravel Road Maintenance Program, "The program is only allowed 10 percent of the funds for administration, which means that the bulk of the money goes into projects on the ground."
Books also noted that while the program does not require any in-kind services, grant recipients usually contribute labor and equipment, leveraging grants equal to at least 50 cents on the dollar.
"We also see grant recipients use the techniques taught through the program on roads that aren't receiving funding, illustrating how relevant this program has become across the state," Books added.
Klimkos, who coordinated the program from 2003-09, would agree, "In my more than 30 years working in state government, I've never seen a program where funding is spent so effectively."
To be eligible for funding, local governments must attend a free, two-day training workshop on environmentally sensitive maintenance for unpaved roads conducted by Pennsylvania State University's Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies, which has played a major role in the program's success since 2001. In addition to the training, the center serves as a clearinghouse for information and technical assistance for specific projects and as a central location for ranking, assessing and tracking sites funded by the program.
"As a result of customized GIS technology available to every local practitioner, we continue to survey, manage and monitor sites," said Tim Ziegler, field operations specialist at Penn State's Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies. "Thanks to these advancements, the original 900 priorities identified by the Trout Unlimited volunteers more than a decade ago have grown to more 16,000 sites identified as pollution sources eligible for program funding."
Information collected by the center assists the program with charting its direction. The center also reaches places beyond Pennsylvania interested in benefiting from the state's unique collaborative approach to assessing, maintaining and monitoring its system of unpaved roads.
"In our thinking, we've moved from being considered as a road program that works with streams - to being recognized as a water quality program that works with roads," Ziegler added. "We've also expanded geographically to help organizations and landowners in other states duplicate our success. Most recently that has involved meeting with The Nature Conservancy's Maryland chapter about reducing the effects of unpaved roads on the Chesapeake Bay."
In Pennsylvania, the Dirt & Gravel Program is an important part of its pollution reduction strategy to meet the goals of the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load, or pollution diet.
Now, a new era of pared-down government budgets and increasing threats to the landscape threaten the program's mission.
During 2011, increased erosion and sediment resulting from record rainfalls and historic flooding in Pennsylvania took a toll on unpaved roads and local waterways. Marcellus Shale drilling also contributes to increased erosion and pollution reaching local streams from dirt and gravel roads.
"While well-intentioned, some industry practices run counter to the program's philosophies of drainage disconnection, encouraging infiltration and reducing sediment pollution," said Ziegler, who is pursuing a cooperative approach to addressing this issue with the natural gas industry.
In a 12-county region of Pennsylvania - encompassing nearly 500 townships, boroughs and cities - Marcellus Shale drilling activities have led to thousands of trucks transporting equipment for wells and compressor stations in the area. The increased traffic and heavy loads takes a toll on a dirt and gravel infrastructure, which evolved to accommodate a rural economy and way of life.
"The additional stress degrades and compacts the state's rural road network, which has already been compromised after such a wet year," Ziegler said. "It's a situation that makes our work more critical than ever as the drilling gains momentum and likely becomes part of the landscape for decades to come."
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(Written By: Sara Kaplaniak and Reprinted from the November issue of the Chesapeake Bay Journal.)
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11/14/2011 |
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