2zzz day

 19 Apr 2011 11:33:57 pm

Our project last week was working around a large wetland restoration that was put in place last year. This was a rather large project that involved a lot of planning by the natural resource conservation service (NRCS), with some help from my boss. We contracted two bull dozer operators to fill two ditches, which in turn created two large basins that gradually filled with water. This water flows to an outlet, which is slowed by a weir. The weir is a series of large steel pieces that are welded together, and set to a certain level so the desired level is reached in the holding pool.
Here’s what the weir looks like with water flowing over the top. The rocks are there to help hold the soil from the bank in place.

From here the water flows down a runway of sorts, and off the property rejoining a still intact ditch system that parallels a major highway north of our property boundary.
Here are a few more pictures to help with the visualization





Now for what we were doing this past week… The runway is a natural low spot that was an area in between two agricultural fields before we took over the land. No equipment could make it down to this area, so it is full of weeds. Plants that are of little use to us. We are attempting to improve the quality and diversity of plants along the run way. So one day I took our Kubota and pulled a furrow around the adjacent land to the runway. This was to remove some of the top layer of dead vegetation, and expose the black dirt.
Then we headed up the next day to plant. The big bags are full of seed from a wet site, so it was a good fit for this area. We made it down the runway using only about ¾ of the seed we had available, so we improvised our dispersal method for the last batch. One of us rode in the seed bag while it was being drug by the Kubota. It reminded me of tubing behind a boat, ok that might be a stretch… but you get the idea.







After the bag was mostly emptied we had a little bit of fun. I sat back and held on for the ride.




All was going well until I found my way into a puddle that was a bit too deep. Here’s the results of that.



Good thing that the day was almost over

Just wanted to share...

Category : General | Posted By : paul | Comments [2] | Trackbacks [0]