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Stories about BioFence 
The following are various stories that either have been published in various environmental publications around the world, or are stories that have been submitted to publications, but have not been published as yet. On this web page, we have printed the complete version of our story, included pictures, and tried to vary the content around the field of wetlands, woodlands, and wildlife protection. In published sources such as Land and Water Magazine, Wildlife Conservation, or CountrySide Magazine and others... an abridged version may be sometimes be seen. Though we have had dozens of stories printed in the past, here we will try to keep about a dozen or so on the web for your enjoyment, and re-circulate new ones as time and energy permits. Environmental Research Corps retains full -copyrights to these stories, re-use or re-issue of the stories requires ERC's permission which may be obtained by calling 508-763-5253. We hope you enjoy this feature......
Featured Stories this Month (click on story to jump to it, click on your back button to return here)
BioFence has its roots in New Hampshire as seen in NH Good Roads Magazine
Environmental Concerns Can be Co$t Effective Journal of Wetlands Science
Leaving the Footprints of Whales Travel Holiday
Environmental Dream Team tackles tough issues Land and Water Magazine
When a Design Creates Success (Landscape Artitect & Specifier News )
The $700 Solution Countryside Magazine
Old Dog Teaches New Tricks (to be published)
Is it time to re-think Trenching? (to be published)
Planting Aids increase Replication success Land and Water Magazine
Can North Beach be saved? Lahaina News
Water, Water, Everywhere.... Land and Water Magazine
BioFence has its roots in New Hampshire
BioFence is a biodegradable siltation fencing designed to take the place of black plastic silt fences and hay bale combinations. Ironically, BioFence's development originated in New Hampshire and four years later; BioFence has returned to the scene of its development.
In the early fall of 1993, Mark Howland, chief biologist for Environmental Research Corps in E. Freetown, MA was taking his children up to Storyland in Bartlett, NH for a quick weekend escape vacation. As common on long drives to destinations, by the time Howland reached the New Hampshire/Massachusetts border, he developed that "highway daze" reached by loud kids in the back seat and miles of pavement. On Route 3 in Nashua, he noted while passing by, those miles and miles of black plastic silt fence that were torn and tattered, and most of it that was detached and fluttering loosely in the adjacent swamp and marsh wetlands to the highway.
"What a stupid way to do erosion control" he had thought. In the highway daze, he thought that there has to be a better way. And his mind started turning over ideas on just what would be a better approach than the common hay bales double staked and backed by a black plastic silt fence. By the time he reached the rest areas by Concord, he scribbled down some quick notes on a Burger King napkin on what might constitute a better way to provide erosion control.
Environmental Research Corps, commonly known as ERC, has been a wetlands consultant for over 25 years. During that time, they work on thousands of sites a year conducting wetland delineations, wildlife habitat studies, and erosion planning.
The quickly drawn notes on the napkin were brought back to ERC's main offices in E. Freetown, MA where the next year was spent in material testing and research and concept development. By the following fall of 1994, ERC released BioFence as a biodegradable alternative designed to replace plastic silt fence/hay bale combinations. BioFence was released with total biodegradability with average effective use of about 1.25 years and biodegradability in two years. It also was found that its design was more effective in trapping silt.
Some key factors made BioFence 15-20% more effective than the old method. It was first tested it on ERC's wetlands and wildlife research station in Lakeville, MA - BioMass Farms. About 14 versions initially were tested for biodegradability using various components. As the road to the research greenhouses was being constructed at the time, silt effectiveness was also tested. ERC selected the product version now used after testing and found it to be was about 10% better than hay bales/silt fence in silt catching/blockage.
ERC then wanted to get an exact timetable for the biodegradability of the aspen fibers and a test for the silt catching ability. American Excelsior Co., which provides a modified version of their erosion blanket Curlex in the form of rolled aspen wood fibers to use in replacing the hay bale part in BioFence, was contacted to assist. They directed ERC to the Texas Erosion Control Institute at Texas A&M University for the test procedure and the test data showed a 15-30% better trapping of sediment ability. The combination of materials in BioFence led to a 1 and ½ to 2 year biodegradability period - ideal for most construction projects.
ERC feels that the increased silt trapping is mainly because of the following reasons. One - if you think of a piece of straw in a hay bales, this strand has a hard, shiny, and smooth coat on the grass blade which catches no silt as an individual blade of the hay bales. The silt trapping in a hay bale comes from the intersecting pieces of straw in the bale, but not from the pieces themselves. BioFence also has the interlocking pieces of fiber provide this silting blockage in the aspen wood fiber section of the fence; but also the individual pieces of aspen come from shredded pieces of wood that result in rough edges. These rough edges in the individual pieces catch silt as well, so the result is blockage by the interlocking action, and trapping by the individual wood fibers themselves.
There is also the backing material itself. In the traditional hay bale/plastic silt fence combination, the black plastic silt fence is composed of hydrocarbon based plastic fibers that do not respond to rainfall events. They neither shrink or swell with moisture. BioFence uses a cornstarch-stiffened burlap with a dense 10 ounce weave. This material swells with storm events which makes for smaller hole opening (which means greater silt trapping), and when the storm recedes, the burlap dries out and the opening re-establishes itself. Also the burlap does not contain hydrocarbons as the oil based plastic silt fence do. This meant no hydrocarbons in wetlands when using BioFence.
Another big component worked on in the design is the way the fence is attached. Most traditional black plastic fences have the fencing attached to the stakes by stapling it on. Staples are thin flimsy attachments for the weight fill can place against a silt fence. Sewing looped seams in the fence into which we insert the wooden stakes makes BioFence. ERC uses 42 or 48" stakes rather than the traditional 36" ones. This places the stake 12-18" into the ground rather than the usual 8-10". This way in soft soils the fence cannot bend over and with the stakes imbedded into the fence, the fence cannot rip away from the stakes. Also, with the stakes installed into the BioFence as part of the assembly, the client is really getting a complete ready-to-install unit for erosion control and does not need to go out and buy stakes.
All these methods really make BioFence superior to any other means of erosion control. Mark Howland is a first cousin 5 generations removed to Ben Franklin and all this inventiveness has been in the Howland line for many years. Four years after its initial concept, BioFence is now shipped as far as California and enjoys DOT approval in 17 states. It is the product of choice by the Army Corps of Engineers and the 1999 EPA award winner and recently won a preferred product listing by the New Hampshire DOT. ERC has come out with a full line of erosion and silt control products including six versions of BioFence - one BioFence Plus! that has a wildflower gel mix embedded in the fence upon assembly so that as the fence decomposes, a line of wildflowers grow in its place where the fence used to be, BioFence with EcoGuard that has a natural cellulose and corn cob oil absorption pad built in for pollution prevention as well as erosion control, and BioFence with Skeeter Guard and Skeeter Repel that contains treatments to kill mosquito larvae or repel mosquitoes. This year, ERC released Catch Basin Guard, a shell that snaps over newly constructed catch basin to prevent silt entry, and next year is releasing TurbiTube, a cylindral trap for pumped out dirty construction waters; BioPaths, permable wooden paths for sidewalks and trail construction; and BioSacs & BioQuilts, pre-planted or pre-seeded erosion blankets and plant tubes using ERC's patented SeedGel technology. ERC has also picked up the full Curlex line of products from American Excelsior and distributes them throughout the Northeast.
And that Route 3, Nashua, NH location ? Well, once BioFence was approved for use by the NH DOT, Audley Construction of Bow, New Hampshire, like other general contractors; found that using BioFence was much easier and more cost effective than traditional silt fence/hay bale combinations. One of the first projects they bought BioFence for was the Exit 5 reconstruction on Route 3 in Nashua. Proudly ERC delivered the BioFence for placement to protect those adjacent highway wetlands in late 1998; less than 100' from where Mark Howland originally thought up the idea.
Environmental Research Corps can be reached at 1-800-7WETLAND (800-793-8526) or by fax at 508-763-8781. Our web page is www.biofence.com
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Environmental Concerns Can be Co$t Effective
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Leaving the Footprints of Whales
The following story has been written by Mark Howland examining the connections between New Bedford, Massachusetts and the historic whaling port of
Lahaina, Maui in the state of Hawaii.
At first glance, there doesn't seem to be much of a connection between modern day Hawaii, and New Bedford. Beaches, surfers, shaved ice, seaside towering skyscrapers, volcanoes do not seem to have much in common on the surface with our New Bedford region. But scratch the surface, and there is more than one expects to tie the regions together.
My family and I fly into Hawaii about every other winter. We spend part of the time on the island of Oahu, and the rest of the time on Maui. My wife, Bonnie lived in Hawaii on Oahu for eight years during the 1970s. One of her earliest recollections on visiting the nearby island of Maui were plaques down by the waterfront speaking of the heritage the New Bedford whalers had left behind.
In order to reach Hawaii today, most people fly into Honolulu Airport. In whaling days, reaching Hawaii meant sailing around Cape Horn for many months. For most of the 1700s and the early 1800s, capitals of Hawaii were on the Big Island of Hawaii, or in Ke'kaa, Maui. Whalers from New Bedford and surrounding towns began to arrive about 1819 into what was then called the Sandwich Islands. The native Hawaiians impressed with the white man's "gods" soon moved the Big Island capital to Lahaina where one of the best deep harbors existed that could handle the large whaleships. Whale masters traveled the 18,000 sea-miles from New Bedford harbor to Lahaina's harbor in Maui, docking there to get provisions for the ships for eventual travel further in pursuit of whales into the Arctic or other locales. Leaving New Bedford, the whalers would be blessed with 'greasy luck", a whaling term meaning hoping for a good catch.
1840 knew Lahaina as the "one of the breathing holes of hell" by the missionaries that accompanied some of the whaleships from New England. In search of wine, women, and song (actually grog, and woman), the crews of the whaleships were well known for looking for trouble as they descended on old Lahaina town. One captain even fired his cannons from offshore into the home of Reverend Richards in protest of his appeal to the island women not to mingle with the whaling crews. This dispute resulted in many of the whalers moving over to the island of Oahu. Here they found the main native village of Waikiki's harbor far too shallow to accommodate the deep draft whaleships drew. They consequently founded a new community for haoles, as the Westerners came to be know, using the clover shaped deeper harbor west of Waikiki as their new port for about two decades. It became known as Honolulu. On this trip, we discovered a rather interesting historic fact about Honolulu. In the Hawaiian language, Honolulu means Fairhaven. It is not unreasonable to assume that the whalers named their new harbor Honolulu after one of New Bedford's surrounding towns - Fairhaven.
But the whalers soon found Honolulu too tame for their liking. Ships would often spend as much as five months in port, waiting for correspondence from the counting houses of New Bedford relayed from San Francisco, taking on provisions for long sorties into the cold Arctic waters, finding local men willing to sail into those frigid waters to supplement the crew brought from home, and providing rest and recreation for the crew they had brought around the long dangerous journey around Cape Horn. The term "R&R" actually derived from the whale man's forays to shore. By the late 1860s, whalers were already moving back to Lahaina.
After the Civil War, whaling was only half of what it had been before the war. Almost half the whaling fleet had been lost. A few whaling families, my ancestors among them, still set sail for the Arctic in pursuit of the "greasy luck". In the twenty years that Lahaina had been abandoned in favor of Honolulu, the whale trade slowed dramatically to that port, which became a sleepy little town when the ships were not sailing in deference to the dangers of setting forth during the Civil War. When the smaller whaling fleet returned after the war, it was to Lahaina that they sailed making the port lively once again.
Lahaina today in many ways is far different than the town of 150 years ago. But what seem very remarkable are the obvious connections between New Bedford and Lahaina that are still very visible.
It is a seaside community that is listed as one of the top tourist destinations in the world. It's main drawing card? - whales. Even though the whalers had mostly left by the turn of the century, the whales stayed, still making their migratory way to the warm waters off the Lahaina Roads (the channel between the islands of Maui, Lanai, and Kahoolawe) to breed and raise their young. Sleepy town no more, Lahaina now boasts one of the highest tourism counts for any town of its size. Visitors flock to take whale watch cruises, to shop, to dine in seafood restaurants, to visit one of the four whaling museums or three whale research foundations, or even to see whales breaching the waves just offshore as they sunbathe; the whaling theme remaining as one of Lahaina's fascinating venues.
Stop in any one of the whaling museums, and you will find pictures of New Bedford residents. Captain Rotch from New Bedford, Captain Howland from Fairhaven, Captain Clark from Mattapoisett are just a few of the sea captains that grace walls in Lahaina. Artifacts collected in the 1930s by travelers back to New Bedford have resulted in a large collection of harpoons, rigging, scrimshaw, and pictures. There are copies of whaling logs, payment stubs, stamps from New Bedford, and letters from New Bedford sea captains back to their loved one watching on the widow's walks.
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Displays of whale research being conducted today by Greenpeace, the Pacific Whale Foundation, and the Hawaii Wildlife Fund can be seen in three large centers for marine research. During our last stay in Lahaina, the International Symposium for Whale Research was being held in one of the convention centers at the Ka'anapali resort centers just north of Lahaina. A pay stub from Captain John Howland, my great, great, great grandfather whose portrait adorns a New Bedford's Whaling Museum's postcard, was noted by me being made out for the sum of fifty dollars to Captain William Mullin for services rendered in delivering 50 tons of bone. (bone referred to the ribs and other parts of whale skeletons or walrus bones - highly prized for the corset trade in the 1800s) While I was amazed at the breathe and diversity of materials, my wife was astonished at how much Captain John Howland's signature was almost identical to my own 135 years later.
There are far many more connections between the two towns today as one explores further. Besides the common nautical theme in shopping plaza development, restaurant naming, and shop merchandise, there are far more connecting signs one observes looking farther. On Sundays, locals line up at storefront bakeries to get their pao doce browned in traditional Portuguese ovens. It is known in New Bedford as sweet bread. Young children will clamor for their mothers to include some sugar doughnuts in the bag as they purchase the sweet bread, and in Upcountry Maui, one can still hear them called malasadas. In the finer restaurants, and a common ingredient for the island traditional luaus, kaloa pig remains a favorite, recognized here as cacoila', or mon fieg'. Travel through Maui today, and one can get Portuguese Bean Soup made from linguica, or hear the lilting tunes of the 'ukulele descended from the Azorean mandolin.
This Portuguese influence also go back to the whalers. Stops in the Azores and the Madeiran islands was common to outfit whaleships with reliable men for the long journey to the Pacific. Five months of R&R was too much for some crews as they learn to delight in the pervasive climate and would jump ship. Others by the common names seen in Maui today of Carvalho, Soares, Mederios, Coehlo, and others were highly respected for their agricultural ability. New Bedford, one of the wealthiest cities in the world in its heyday, was sending capital back to start sugar plantations throughout the islands. Some of the crews, disappointed with a system that could result in the crew being responsible for ship costs during an unsuccessful whaling voyage, found the offers of plantation owners to serve as overseers and managers called lunas very enticing. Used to the volcanic microclimates as seen in the Azores, and their heritage creating a need to band together, many families of Azorean and Madeiran descent climbed the slopes of Maui's largest volcanic peak Haleakala. Here they founded the towns of Makawao and Kula. Attracted by the cooler climate upcountry offered, the Portuguese settled in here as ranch managers. They quickly developed a reputation as some of the world's finest handlers of horses and cows, and host a rodeo every Fourth of July. Even today, the main street of Makawao is lined with hitching posts, and it is not uncommon to see cowboys tie their horses up as they saunter into town. Poinsettias and bougainvillea outline traditional Azorean flower gardens in tidy and colorful homesteads, while the Catholic Church has prominence in both Makawao and Kula.
Still one of the favorite sights in the islands, is the brig Carthaginian sitting in Lahaina harbor.
Docked at the end of Pioneer Square, the Carthaginian runs videos daily onboard of Lahaina's whaling days, and can be easily seen from the main tourist district along Front Street bordering the ocean. If one takes away the palm trees, which are a bit scarce in New Bedford, and look down Lahaina's main street, the common look of New England architecture can be seen in the stores and buildings, as well as in the sections of cobblestone sidewalks, and the arrangement of residences on the hill overlooking the merchant district. This brings New Bedford to mind very easily.
Displays of scrimshaw, or whale and dolphin jewelry are common. Artists like Wyland, famous for his whaling walls, or Roger Lassen have galleries along Front Street. Lahaina bills itself as the whaling capital of the Pacific, and some bold shops go so far as to call it the whaling capital of the world.
With a tourist mix mostly of Californians and Japanese, it is still amusing for this Fairhaven native to see the trademarks of New Bedford used to promote a shop, or to see the artifacts of our region on sale as important tourist souvenirs of the whaling capital of the Pacific.
What strikes me as different in the connection between Lahaina and New Bedford is the direction the two towns have taken. At first glance, one could almost become jealous of how Lahaina has changed itself from the sleepy town that lost the whaling prosperity and transformed itself into a tourist destination without peer. Like New Bedford, Lahaina lost its whaling trade, and declined for many decades. Like our region turning to the textile trade or fishing to replace the lucrative whaling income, the West Maui region that has Lahaina as its center turned to pineapple (known colloquially as "pine") and sugar cane to promote agricultural enterprises. Like our fishing trade or textile manufacturers, for many years these crops supported the region.
But not unlike the threat of foreign fleets to fishing, or the move of textiles to the South, West Maui was threatened in the 1980s and beyond by competition to their crop production. Cheaper production of pineapple in the low labor cost regions of Malaysia and the Far East threatened the pineapple crops. Costs of refining and labor shortages along with foreign competition have slowed "big sugar" influence on the islands. With its advantages of waves and whaling, Lahaina turned to tourism.
In the early 1970s, Maui had already developed its first two ("tourist destination") resorts - Ka'anapali, and Kihei. A collection of Sheratons, Hiltons, Hyatts, Westins, coupled with townhouses, beaches, and condominiums formed a conclave of attractions for tourists. For most of the eighties, and the nineties, Lahaina has enjoyed the fruits and benefits of intense tourism.
In this time and age, Lahaina differs itself from New Bedford by enjoying crowded streets day and night. Attractions brought in first by the whaling connection have brought the rich and famous to Maui to soak in the sun, revel in the attractions, and to enjoy the sights. While Planet Hollywood, Hard Rock Café, and Cheese Burger in Paradise take the forefront, local favorites like Longhi's (the Freestone's of Lahaina), David Paul's (the Candleworks), and Kimos (Davy's Locker counterpart) still draw them in.
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But in so many ways, one can see the little things that form a connection. The openness of the people is a far cry from the jaded tourist resorts one finds elsewhere, more reminiscent of the friendliness one finds everywhere in New Bedford. Surrounding towns match New Bedford's in their look and composition - Ka'anapali with its plazas matches Dartmouth and its malls, Kapalua and Kahana with its affluent homes match our Mattapoisett and Marion. Fairhaven and New Bedford's historic district match what West Maui calls "in town" - Lahaina. And Maui also has many areas which look like our ethnic districts - Makawao, Kahalui, and Pai'a to correspond with our North End, South End, or Westport. Even the lifeguards on Kihei's Sugar Beach are akin to Horseneck Beach's guards when they warn of the "undertow".
Maui is not without its problems either, just like New Bedford. For many years, it had its first woman mayor - Mayor Linda Lingle, who recently has come under intense opposition for her stances protecting "special interests". This year's mayoral election should prove interesting. The decline in the Japanese "yen" has resulted in a tourism decline in the islands for the first time in many years, and many mainlanders are finding that the flight to the Caribbean is far closer than the long journey to Hawaii. Maui has made the mistake of structuring too much of its economy on tourism, and not taking care of the environment that brings those tourists in. Siltation and runoff from those old agricultural fields, now being plowed up to build new subdivisions of residences and townhouses are plugging reefs with silt, killing fish, and causing sand depletion. Beaches once sparkling white, show signs of wear and tear. Maui, like New Bedford, is at a crossroads, considering ways to balance quality of life with economic growth. They have struggled with the concept of environmental clean up and improvement, and have pondered the temptation of introducing gambling enterprises to solve their ills (rejected in the last election). For the second time in their history, they are looking at declining occupancy ratios, and are striving to bring in industry to replace jobs lost to declining revenues.
Maui is still a beautiful place, as is Massachusetts SouthCoast region known as Greater New Bedford. Just as we can whale watch off the coast of Plymouth, surf the waves at Horseneck, dine in fine restaurants overlooking waves, visit history first hand in museums and on the living streets; Lahaina and its environs still offer an unique experience. One can travel to Maui, and feel at home among the Azoreans in Makawao, among the Yankee shopkeepers of Front Street, and along the shoreline of West Maui. A kindred spirit exists between these two places, formed by the tenuous strings extended by the whaling masters of New Bedford whose footprints can be seen in the wave-washed beaches of Lahaina.
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Environmental Dream Team Tackles Tough Environmental Issues
There comes a time when developmental needs and environmental issues meet head to head. Many of us have heard the old stories about how every developer thinks the best wetlands and forests are those under pavement, and how every person concerned about the environment gets labeled a "treehugger". But in the environmental field, there are still those projects where there are really no sides, and have tough environmental issues connected with the sites themselves.
(Sorry about no pictures for this story - we had graphics problems)
Theodore "Ted" Parker merely wanted to develop his site. Located in Avon, Massachusetts, the Industrial Park site was already under a purchase and sale contract to L&C Flashing - a sign contractor who had the Mass Highway Dept. contract to make highway signs and needed the Avon site to expand its facilities from it's Canton location and bring 90 new jobs to the Avon area.
Ted Parker figured he didn't have much of a problem. After all, on the site was only a small wet depression, one that he didn't realize might have wetland implications. He went through the usual steps, checking with the Avon conservation commission through a Request for Determination (RFD) procedure to see if the wet pocket required any permit filings. Given a negative determination, Parker assumed all was OK, and proceeded to fill the wet pocket to begin preparing the site for sale to the L&C Flashing group.
However, all wetland filings in Massachusetts, even the initial RFDs, are automatically reviewed by the state's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). DEP disagreed with the town's conservation commission, feeling that the wet pocket might be hydrologically and vegetatively connected to adjacent Bordering Vegetated Wetlands belonging to an off-site stream on abutting properties. They filed a Stop Work order on Ted Parker to halt his filling activities.
Parker hired his surveyor - Curley & Hansen - Land Surveyors to address the problem. Baffled by the state's position that such a small wet pocket could be wetlands, C&H tried to settle the issues with DEP, but soon felt it was necessary to bring in their wetlands subcontractors - Environmental Research Corps - to appraise the issue.
ERC delineated the pocket and the abutting vegetated wetlands. They judged that there was no connection between the two areas, and documented the soil changes, the vegetation percentages, and the physical topography in coordination with Curley & Hansen. Assuming this would be the end of the issue, the materials were submitted to DEP to initiate the removal of the stop work order.
DEP didn't buy the argument that the two areas were isolated. ERC was a bit surprised to learn that their work was being questioned. After all, the lead contact for DEP, Gary McKuch, had worked with Mark Howland of ERC on several thorny problem sites in the past, and the two had high regard for each other's work. This time however, both parties had a different slant on the subject, and dug their heels in a bit.
Complicating the issue was the fact that spring 1997 storms were rolling in and the partially fill zones began eroding and depositing silt into the small wet pocket. Spring high groundwater elevations promoted the development of iron oxide in the abutting stream. DEP seized upon these events to try to prove a connection between the two areas, claiming that the fill compression was creating the iron oxide concentrations. They expanded the stop work order with a stronger enforcement order fining Parker for polluting wetlands with the iron oxide.
At ERC's recommendation, an environmental attorney was hired to attempt to resolve these escalating issues and forge a compromise. John Smolak of Peabody and Arnold law firm in Boston was retained. ERC produced a series of calculations proving that the wet pocket could not overtop the berm of land between it and the adjacent stream, thus dispelling a hydrological connection. DEP responded with a calculation that the pocket could overtop the berm in a storm event. Smolak finally got both sides to agree that an independent calculation would place the issue at rest. Michael Perrault of PMP Associates was retained as a civil engineer acceptable to DEP to calculate if there was a chance of the berm being over topped. With a complete study of the watershed, and an examination of microtopography, PMP Associates determined that the pocket would not overtopped and that all water would be retained in the wet pocket.
In Massachusetts, however, all non-state jurisdictional wetlands such as this wet pocket still might qualify as wetlands under the Clean Water Act of the federal government as administered by the Army Corps of Engineers. Given the now established hydrology, the presence of wetland vegetation, and an organic mat of soils; the ACOE's 3 parameter approach to classify wetlands was met, and the pocket now had some jurisdiction. Also, Massachusetts, Water Quality Certificate Program still gave DEP some administrative power to regulate the pollution potentials on any site developments. In order to settle the case, they insisted on a full mitigation scenario development addressing wetlands, wildlife and pollution issues before Parker could proceed with the development. They asked for 2:1 replication ratio if the pocket was to be filled, and that all development meet the new Massachusetts stormwater management policy requiring at least 80% TSS removal in stormwater facilities. They also wanted the iron oxide issued addressed.
Environmental Research Corps, Curley & Hansen, PMP Associates, DEP, and Peabody and Arnold teamed up to produce a full mitigation narrative. Erosion control was addressed by the placement of ERC's BioFence along all silt generating areas of the site's development to prevent silt entry to the wetlands and new wetlands facilities. A Howland Swale was added to provide a stormwater facility that met the TSS removal rates - Howland Swales, designed to replace traditional detention facilities, offer not only 98-99% TSS removal rates upon plant maturity, but also offer increased child safety protection, mosquito control, and ease of maintenance. American Excelsior Company's Curlex QuickGrass was added on exposed slopes down to the wetlands and drainage facilities for slope stabilization and an assist for eventual wildflower seed germination.
In order to fill the wet pocket to gain convenient parking and buildings areas, the site needed to meet DEP's required 2:1 wetlands replication ratio. A wetlands replication area about an acre in size was created in the rear of the site. Coupled with the constructed wetlands portion of the Howland Swale, almost an acre and a half of wetlands was created to replicate the wet pocket. After matting the sideslopes with AEC's regular Curlex, the replication areas was planted with trees and shrubs from Musser Forests, ferns and mosses from BioMass Farms, cattails, rushes, and hydric grasses from Wildlife Nurseries, and seed stock from Ion Exchange and Wildlife Nurseries. G. Lopes Construction of Taunton, MA was hired to do all the excavation and grading work, and ERC's sister firm - BioMass Farms - did the wetlands planting and erosion control work. BioSol fertilization was used for general soil treatment and ReForestation Technologies International's Planter's Pak tea bags were used for individual tree plantings. The site was designed so that all runoff on the site would go to the Howland Swales for silt removal and purification with the cleansed runoff feeding the replication area with excess waters (the replication area was excavated within the root saturation zone of the groundwater). After flowing through more wetlands plants in the replication area itself, the waters then would enter the region of the off-site stream insuring that it would not be starved for water and that it would be receiving clean water. Ironically, this design scenario finally established the hydrological connection DEP initially sought to prove, but also allowed for a connection that provided clean waters from a commercial development.
The remaining issue to address was the iron oxide pollution. ERC recommended and designed with DEP's input an iron oxide treatment center. The compressed peat soils generating the iron oxide were removed and groundwater collection trenches were put in before the wet pocket was filled. A groundwater sump pump provided by Stearns Irrigation collects the iron oxide laden groundwater and dumps the waters via an aeration orifice to a collection trough. Here the trough, lined with bentonite clay and planted with dense matting of wildflowers on the sideslopes, retains the water for a period for evaporation and settling. The iron oxide develops with the forced exposure to air, and the settling action allows the concentrations to accumulate in this area. Routine maintenance to clean out deposits simplifies the procedure. The overflow culvert in the trough leads down to a small-constructed wetlands to treat any waters that overflow the trough during storm events, and this double level of protection insures iron oxide deposits (ocher) removal before final discharge to the stream wetlands.
The environmental dream team, lead by Environmental Research Corps, Curley & Hansen Surveyors, PMP Associates, Peabody and Arnold law firm, and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection; resolved their differences through scientific appraisal, compromise, and a high regard for wetlands mitigation. Ted Parker got to develop his site, and L&C Flashing bought the site and moved to the site in the late fall of 1997 bringing 90 new jobs to the region. A variety of erosion control and wetland planting techniques paved the way for allowing this site's utilization while at the same time safeguarding wetlands and water resources. An environmental dream team had done its job, taking a thorny environmental issue and resolving it to everyone's satisfaction.
The dream team has gone on to work on similar tough environmental issues. Invasive species treatment, wetland restoration, septic system mitigation, and erosion mitigation are just a few of the problems the team has addressed. The end result has been protection of wetlands; and the development of working partnerships between government, consultants, and developers to reach those goals.
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In the January/February 1998 issue of Land and Water Magazine, a feature article appeared titled "Environmental Dream Team Tackles Tough Issues". In that article, Environmental Research Corps described how Theodore "Ted" Parker attempted to develop his site, became mired in a variety of environmental issues, and brought in an environmental dream team to assist him in resolving the issues and allowing his project to go forward. This project, not only being exemplified by the developer, the dream team, and the regulators as an example project that meets all parties' interests; was one of the L&W stories that attracted broad interest as evident by the inquiry calls ERC received. Not only buoyed by this interest, this project is unique due to the variety of erosion control products, regulatory interest, stormwater controls, and environmental factors brought to fruition in this project. ERC has felt that it is our obligation to continue to document this project that has brought 94 new jobs to a township, maintaining at the same time strict environmental controls. As a picture is worth a thousand words, the following photo-essay documents our follow-up story.
As mentioned in the previous story, the site is now owned by L&C Flashing Barricades, Inc. - a prime contractor for the Massachusetts Highway Department. Oreste "Rusty" DiMartino owns the firm, and was both tolerant and patient for the delays created by the environmental needs the project entailed. He wanted to bring over 75 jobs to the South Shore of Massachusetts area, and succeeded by having over 94 employees at this new facility less than one year later. L&C creates highway signage, both the overhead highway markers so common to a traveler showing an exit, but also the flashers and construction signage common to highway work. But even Rusty was surprised at the final results of the environmental design that allow his building project to go forward.
Key items for the project to go forward were 1/stormwater mitigation, 2/wetlands replication, and 3/iron oxide treatment. The EPA 1998 Environmental Technology Innovator Award winner Howland Swale™ was used to address stormwater management. As cited by the EPA and others, this stormwater technology, patented and released to the market in 1993 after 15 years of testing, has proved its worth in this project. In Massachusetts, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) mandates a minimum of 80% TSS (total suspended solids)removal in all new projects that drain to wetland areas. The Howland Swale has been tested in over 776 installations as of June of 1998, and demonstrates a low of 83% TSS removal, with documented highs of 100% in over 25% of its installations.
On June 16th, 1998, Massachusetts experienced between 5 and 10 inches of rain in the Greater Boston region. L&C's site, located in Avon, got exactly 7.0 inches in 24 hours - a famous 100 year storm event! The photo on the right is taken near the same location as the Jan/Feb L&W issue photo in the "Dream Team" article. Here, the Curlex erosion control blankets have performed as advertised, and in a community reeling from storm events, these photos taken 2 days after the storm show that L&C had no concerns about slope erosion due to the blankets. Likewise, the Howland Swale demonstrated that Rusty had nothing to worry about with stormwater management either. This photo shows the swale flooding remaining after the storm event.
As can be seen, this photo at the edge of the slope leading down into the swale's siltation trap™ shows the silt-laden and clouded waters in the forepart of the swale. The Howland Swale works with three major sections - the siltation trap™, the pre-treatment marsh™, and the vegetated adjustment chamber™. The Howland Swale's 1998 Technology Award reads in part - "in recognition for the Howland Swale - an innovative approach to stormwater management and water treatment that utilizes both engineering and biological control processes. Your ingenuity and vision will help protect our Nation's water resources and the environment for future generations."
This stormwater unit differs from its competitors in that a well-thought out "soft" bio-engineered process was developed to compete or replace common "hard" civil engineered designed structures. As can be seen here, the Howland Swale begins its stormwater runoff cleansing while still providing environmental enhancements such as wildlife habitat.
As the swale begins to clean the runoff, wildlife continues to enjoy the habitat. The siltation trap™ is designed to remove common "street sweepings" of large sediment particles such as sands and gravels, and also to attract via colloid action to varying stone sizes in the trap, the initial large particles suspended in the flow.
Upon leaving the siltation trap, the flow is noticeably cleaner. Use of a TSS detection meter indicates that suspended solids have already been reduced by over 70% after passage through the silt trap.
The cleansing process continues by passage into the Howland Swale's pre-treatment marsh™. Here, a meandering path, both intentionally developed by the grading in the swale and also by nature's actions. passes the storm's runoff water over and through the vegetation and roots of selected wetland species picked to remove pollutants such as oils and greases, heavy metals, septic pollutants, etc…..
The Howland Swale here goes beyond Massachusetts' Stormwater Regulations calling for only TSS reduction rates. L&C Flashing, while an environmentally concoius company, still remains a commercial site, and pollutants unsuspected by the site owner can still be generated on the paved surfaces, and thus enter the stormwater mitigation structures via the catch basin once storm events begin.
So beyond the TSS removal, as evident by the noticeable reduction immediately after the 100 year storm event as the flow through the swale approach the control structure in this photo, the Howland Swale is also cleaning out other pollutants besides silt and sediment.
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At this point, in an immature swale, the TSS removal rate averages about 85%. But, as the swale develops in its first year period, as is the case with the L&C site, levels of 95-98% TSS removal can be expected. Of course, the swale also adresses pollutants beyond those found in suspended solids due to its design. This rectangular weir shown in the above photo, also allows the Howland Swale to not only treat the "first flush" of stormwater runoff, known to hold 90% of runoff pollutants, but also is designed to contain the 100 year storm event. Thus, not only is the first flush retained and treated, but the entire regime of the storm event up to the 100 year storm is treated.
As the discharge out of the major portions of the Howland Swale show, this flow approaches drinking water standards. In fact, this swale, two days after a Northeast major storm event, showed 99-100% TSS removal. As well, as whole range of other pollutants were tested for and failed to show up on the testing regime.
So, the Howland Swale has demonstrated that not only it can remove sediment, but pollutants as well. The regulators as well as the developer will now enjoy cleaner waters.
But it is not just the people involved in this project that will enjoy cleaner waters. As may be recalled in the previous article, a dispute over jurisdictional wetlands resulted in the need to create over 1 acre of new wetlands in a "replicated" area to allow some of the disputed wetlands to be filled in order to allow L&C to develop the site and create a building envelope sized sufficiently to bring in 90 new jobs to the region.
Entering the replication area out of the Howland Swale, the new wetlands now enjoy clean water free of silt and sediment to develop the wetlands growth. In replication, waters free of silt are crucial as silt blocks root development, and prevents both root growth and normal plant development.
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This clean water, along with the wildflower buffer zones enhancements ERC planted and seeded; allow the replication area to begin an active development as an active wetlands and wildlife habitat zone after 10 short months of existence.
The Howland Swale, the replication area, as well as an iron oxide treatment center all exist as perimeter borders to the overall site development for L&C Flashing. Though most of the neighboring properties are commercial, some are residential, and the aesthetic development of the side slopes stabilized with American Excelsior Co.'s Curlex erosion control blankets, and the subsequent seeding of the buffer zones with seeds from Wildlife Nurseries and Johnny Wildseed Farms all contribute to harmony with abutting properties.
Thus, the final desire of Massachusetts DEP, and all environmentalists everywhere resulted on this site. The final discharge, passing off pavement of a commercial site and laden with silt, sediment, and common pollutants, passed through a Howland Swale stormwater management unit for cleansing. Continuing through a replication area, the flow now enters the natural off-site brook. This brook now receives cleansed and purified waters, addressing both the state's regulations, as well as the environmental conscience of all concerned citizens.
It is worth telling you about the iron oxide treatment center placed on this site as well. The ocher developed after the found filled wetlands compressing the soils had influenced the brook off-site with bright red-orange colors and high iron oxide concentrations. ERC's design accommodated a desire to reduce this low impact pollutant. A series of groundwater pumping and settling ponds resulted in an higher than expected result - total ocher trapping.
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The off-site brook, once bright orange in spring and fall, now enjoys normal coloring as seen in the photo to the right. Beyond the cleansed waters fed into it from the Howland Swale and the replication area, this brook still enjoys the watershed input it had before, but now receives cleansed and iron-oxide freed waters.
Beyond Ted Parker, who got to develop and sell his site to L&C Flashing. or L&C who not only developed 94 new jobs but got an environmentally correct site; there was still one more party that has to be pleased. The few non-commercial neighbors to the property got more than they expected.
Beyond slopes that usually erode away, but were retained by excelsior blankets, or buffers that normally would have been seeded with grasses from hydroseeding or hand-casting; these neighbors got to enjoy wildflower meadows designed by Wildlife Nurseries, Ion Exchange, and Johnny Wildseed Farms. The views out their back windows to L&C Flashing's site did not bring the usual concrete drainage structures, the grassed slopes. Instead, aesthetics and neighbor concerns were considered a vital part of the "dream team's" overall design plan, and the results show.
The "Dream Team" planned for results, but did not expect overall success. Fortunately, this was one project where the results exceeded the goals; and it was obvious to see that a good design created an overwhelming success.
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Everytime I read through Countryside Magazine I am amazed at how many people think that the most difficult part in starting out on a mission toward homesteading is saving a thousand dollars or more. This number seems to most to be an insurmountable mountain that places their goals out of reach.
Without trying to show conceit or arrogance, I would like to point out in this article that I am a direct linear descendent of the Mayflower Pilgrims. In fact, due to the fact that most Yankee families interbreed in the first 40 years or so, I am directly descended from 35 of the 52 surviving Mayflower homesteaders after that first terrible winter that reduced their numbers from an original 212. Among my first cousins several generations removed are people like Ben Franklin (no explanation needed), Walter Folger (inventor of the spermaciti candle), Weston Howland (inventor of the process of refining kerosene and gasoline out of petroleum crudes), and others. Hard to believe, most of these innovative families stayed in Massachusetts migrating to the forgotten shorelines of Southeastern Massachusetts or even leading isolated lives on the offshore islands like Nantucket. Needless to say, the art of homesteading is firmly embedded in me.
I would like to introduce Ben Franklin's Rules of Seven to Countryside Magazine's readers. Terms in today's lingo like roll lucky sevens, or snake eyes are actually related to old Ben's philosophy. Ben Franklin even started the country's first lottery to help raise money for his church. Ben felt, as many of his generation did, that our counting system of 10s was not in keeping with the human spirit. In fact, akin to those who advocated the metric system with those esoteric centrigrades and meters; Franklin and his peers advocated a system based on sevens. He felt that the week, divided into seven days, created a mood and atmosphere that creates attainable goals for those in link with that division of time.
I have modified this rule of sevens from my relative to what I call the Seven Hundred Dollar Solution. With no disparity meant to others, the $700 solution has brought me wealth, material possessions, and happiness. As I write this, I am sitting in a townhouse rental on Turtle Bay on the North Shore of Hawaii, a rental unit that looks over the waves and surfers in a part of Oahu that still has the old Hawaii, and a rental unit that cost me $700 for the week. I paid for this condo by setting aside $100 a week for seven weeks during the summer when my business reaches its peak period. (I am a wetlands biologist based out of the Northeast considered an expert in erosion control, wetlands and wildlife issues, and stormwater management).
I have often watched the articles of this magazine and others. So many are written about waiting and dreaming until they can get to that special piece of land. Yet others are written about the failure to figure in the costs of the items it needs for a homestead to succeed, and how their dreams came to a crashing halt.
What I would like to show here is how the Seven Hundred Dollar Solution can put those dreaming years to productive use before that move to a homestead. I am not asking you to save $700 over seven weeks. Let me show you how $100 a month, $700 every seven months, can provide the basic needs and items that assist and help realize a successful homestead. There are seven basic items that can help anyone reach a homestead goal, and ironically the seven major needs cost about seven hundred dollars each. Taking seven months to obtain each items will mean that it will take about a four year period to acquire all seven items - ironically four years being the average time each homesteader claimed they spent researching homesteading, or preparing to "make the move".
What follows is not necessary endorsement of particular products or items. They are however, items that I have used personally and are comfortable with how they help me achieve my goals. For liability reasons, I assume no responsibility that they will assist the reader in their particular goals as well.
This is merely one individual's feeling on how he felt Old Ben Franklin himself would have wanted, when he hoped every American of the new born country he helped bring to fruition seize the opportunities before them.
What every potential homesteader should do is develop a plan to obtain each of these basic functions. Acquire them an item at a time, for cash, with no credit usage, and use the seven hundred dollar solution plan to obtain them.
Water
Water is a necessity of life. In fact, our bodies are composed of water for over 90 percent of our mass. Water needs for the homestead is critical to provide for animals, humans, crops, landscaping, erosion control, and other aspects. I own a 49 odd acre wetlands and wildlife research station in Lakeville, Massachusetts called BioMass Farms. I did not pay a dime for the land, obtaining it through barter, but that is a story for another time. At this facility, besides doing erosion control design testing for products my firms release, we grow about 400 species of wetlands plants that we use in replication planting work that is used to replace wetlands in areas of construction. Needless to say, we need water for this - water to rush waters down a slope to test out a new erosion control product's effectiveness in stopping silt, water needed to satisfy the water demands of wetlands species cultivated both in greenhouses and in outside growing beds, and water to keep the fields of wildflowers we have seeded and which have matured providing us with aesthetics, and addressing the science of slope stabilization.
BioMass Farms is not unlike homesteads that have little to none access to public utilities, expensive or difficult routing to bring power to the aquatic resources, and no large ponds or rushing waterfalls that could be tapped for water easily. What we do have is a small river that borders our north and east edges of the property. What we need is a way of getting that water to our locations on the farm where we need the water with no power.
Well, hydraulic rams are nice, but you need a good fall of water to get effective pumping ratios. Our land changes only about eight feet in elevation over 3000', and the river lies at the lowest elevation with no appreciable fall. Solar pumps are great, but on a wooded New England site with limited west vistas, solar well pumping, a power drainer of solar panels if there ever was one, just wasn't practical. And my local utility company has the distinction of being the numbero uno company of the USA for highest utility rates, and adds insult to injury by only giving one free pole to bring that power to you. Anything beyond 200' is on your tab.
The Amish region of Pennsylvania provided us with this seven hundred dollar solution. The RIFE Hydraulic Ram Co. founded in the late 1800s, manufactures a rather neat product called the Sling Pump. The sling pump looks like a miniature GoodYear Blimp. At the base of the unit is a small propeller and inside the core of the blimp like unit is a helical tube that is coiled and stacked within the unit. The propeller spins the unit in the water forcing water into one end of the helical tube. The reducing diameter of the tube and it becomes more restricted in its coiling toward the rear of the unit forces the water to "spurt" ahead. The resulting action is about 1 gallon a minute, 60 gallons an hour, over 700 gallons a day. Cost of the product, just under $700. We now sell the unit as an approved distributor in New England. Water pumping water, with no energy requirements. The Sling Pump has one moving part, and that's lubricated by water! We pump the water to holding tanks set at the highest part of the farm where we can gravity feed water down to our needs. We plan to add a pump every seven months or so (of course) until we have seven units giving us over 5000 gallons a day that will not cost us a dime to pump.
Ever wonder why convenience stores spring up on almost every corner of America? The average markup on a convenience store item over its same counterpart in the larger supermarket averages from a minimum of seven percent to a high of forty nine percent (See that Rule of Sevens? - not making this up, source Today's Grocer). The average person in America lives 3 to 5 minutes from a convenience store (1 to 2 miles away), and lives 20 to 30 minutes from a large grocery store (8 to 10 miles away). For the convenience of saving fifteen minutes and at the cost of saving about 31 cents in gas, the average person spends $3.43 cents every time he or she enters a convenience store. In fact, research has shown that the average person intends to go into the store to pick up a pack of cigarettes, or a carton of milk, unconsciously intending to spend less than a dollar. But in reality, the trip often is a couple of candy bars, a newspaper or auto magazine, extra sundries, that gourmet ice cream that just happens to be one of your favorite flavors. In states with lottery tickets, the average cost of a convenience store trip is over seven dollars, after all, you might hit that big one!
Want to save a hundred dollars a week fast? Don't go to the convenience store. Not only will you get savings of 7-49% by obtaining the prices a large market offers; with some discipline, these extra items will be eliminated as well. With the average person making 19 trips a month to the convenience store, savings of $25 to $50 are easy. Cut out those cigarettes, and not only do you save more, but also when you do get out to the country in your homestead, there is a far less chance of burning the forest down. You'll live longer to enjoy your property as well. Look at other costly non-necessities in your life, and the hundred dollars a month becomes possible. Subscribe to the newspaper rather than pick one up at the newsstand. Find a dairy to get your milk rather than the deliveries guy who shows you that special on spray can whipped cream. Feed that woodstove a little more rather than fill the oil man's pockets.
You don't like living frugal? It's a modern society and you want to enjoy the pleasures? Well, then just try living sensibly for a month, see if it returns to you that first $100 deposit to the seven hundred dollar solution, and if you don't like it, go back to your other lifestyle. If you are going to be a homesteader, the current mode of modern living (living check to check) will need to be changed anyway. I bet you won't go back, but at least at the end of seven months, you'll have that water pump, and will have satisfied one of the biggest needs for a homestead - your water supply.
Shelter
Of course, you need some shelter to be on that land. I hate to tell you this, but most raw land you can find affordable to buy to start a homestead just does not have those rolling pastures, that cleared wood lot, that perfect sweeping driveway up to the house location. Most land today still on the market at reasonable costs has its pitfalls. Green and catbrier, poison ivy stands, honeysuckle, katzu and not to mention natural brush and scrub are just a few of the pleasures that await you that need to be cleared away in order to use your land. Many find that it takes more than a few weekends or summer vacations to get that land into usable condition. And that dream log cabin just doesn't go up that fast, nor does the money to build it.
Well, how about a seven hundred dollar solution? For seven hundred dollars you can buy Stromberg's Chicks and Game Birds Unlimited geodesic dome fasteners, a pile of mill lumber, and 8 mil vinyl greenhouse plastic to make a usable 2500 SF shelter. The connectors are made from galvanized steel and are pre-shaped to make it possible to bolt together 2x4s into a geodesic framework. Alter the connections to allow several units together (we use 7), and a larger roof can be placed over one's head. Connector sets are about $50 apiece, seven for $350, each dome unit takes 12 2x4s at $2 each, under $200, and enough plastic costs under $200. 8 mil vinyl plastic lasts up to twenty years unlike the more common 6 mil polyethylene plastic, and can be painted for privacy shading. Finished with clearing the land, or got that cabin up? You now have left on your property a ready-to go greenhouse if you coated the walls with whitewash made from a $1 dollar bag of lime like Tom Sawyer, or a shelter for those pygmy goats or range chickens you plan to have for a food supply.
Need seven hundred dollars? There are seven weeks between Halloween and Christmas. Try the advance method, getting seven hundred dollars in just seven weeks. Go into the woods and find creeping jenny or princess pine and some sphagnum moss. Make a wreath ring out of old chicken wire and stuff it with the moss. Weave in the princess pine or jenny in between the wire opening until a solid wreath effect is reached. Floral supply locations or Christmas decoration outlets will buy these ready-to-be-decorated wreaths for at least $7. In seven weeks, you can make a hundred wreathes on weekends and nights, even in front of that mind-numbing boob tube. The moss if moistened regularly will keep the wreathes fresh looking like new if stored in a cool place. It's extra money, make your Christmas present to yourself one of your homesteading items.
Food
Don't think the seven hundred-dollar solution can be applied to solving this need? Well research it, seven hundred dollars can go a long way to creating a food supply. $700 will buy enough seeds to plant over 20 acres of land - you can grow all the food you will ever consume in a year on less than 2 acres. $700 will buy a pair of breeding goats, it will buy a cow, it will buy chicks and breeding pens. $700 will buy all the lumber and materials you need to build mushroom holding trays that you can set up in one of the geodesic dome units. Filled with straw and compost, or pre-packaged growth mixtures such as BioMatrix from BioMass Farms that we sell, and sprinkled with mushroom spawn; button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, Japanese shittake and enoki mushrooms and others are easily cultivated, being about a seven week crop. Some mushrooms, especially freshly grown and not dried imports, fetch prices up to $7 per pound at restaurants in any medium sized city. Plus, they are pretty tasty for your own use as well!
Entertainment
The seven hundred dollar solution can provide some fun as well. Seven hundred dollars will buy a pretty decent used or refurbished computer these days. Not top of the line, not the fastest. But it will get you one that gets you on the Internet. Check out the main mail order companies like Gateway or Dell - they are have refurbished unit outlets. Get last year's technology in a refurbished unit, it will work just as well. For less than $7 a week, you can find unlimited Internet access in most locations. Don't be a technophobiac, thinking that going country means that you can't live with high tech. As a research tool alone, the information on the net will aid you in developing homesteading plans. Need solar information, need a source for that mushroom spawn, want to find that book on some esoteric homesteading subject? Check out the net's online bookstore - far cheaper prices than that mega bookstore down the street, check out companies' web sites. Check out ours at www.biofence.com or at www.wetlandsandwildlife.com.
Pay for that computer in seven months with a Saturday or Sunday job. It is possible to find a weekend job in some seasonal trade like stores hiring for the Xmas season, greenhouse and nurseries in the springtime, landscapers in the summer. You can make a hundred dollars a month even if the jobs pay $5 an hour. You may have to put in an extra 20 hours on top of the 40 or 45 hours a week your regular job requires. Our ancestors work up to 18 hours a day a hundred years ago. You want to live like a king on a homestead? The best equity is sweat equity. You can bet it's hard on the family life, you can bet you will be tired. But seven months of hard work will get that computer, and you can always go back to your normal schedule after. Seven bucks a week for access will buy you into a few research titles on how that computer can make you money as well. Besides, there are no 40-hour workweeks on a homestead. It usually is more like 80 to 100.
Worried about powering that computer in the country? Work that second job another seven months and buy a solar panel array. Even in the poorest sun locations in the country, the 35 watts demand of a computer can be powered from any modest panel system and batteries costing under $700.
Clothing
The seven hundred dollar solution can apply to clothing as well. The average man spends over $1000 on clothing a year, a woman over $2300 (in the industrial Northeast). Shirts, underwear, pants, and shoes as well as children's clothing make up the bulk of the costs.
Seven Hundred dollars will gain you entry into a new world. How does $2.75 for a golf shirt sound? How about $4 for a brand new child's frock?
Where? Same place the stores get them from of course! Go to any yellow pages and find the listing for textile or silkscreen suppliers. We use Carolina Made to obtain shirts bought by the dozen, hats by the half dozen, socks by the gross, dresses, etc...; the company only requiring a minimum order of $200. We can mix and match sizes and colors by the half dozen. A color inkjet capable of making iron on transfers can be attached to that computer to make work logos on the shirts, colorful designs. A set of fabric pens or paints, and artistic talent can create a new secondary income at church bazaars, flea markets, or even walking into that company down the street and asking if you can produce their work uniforms for them with personalized logos. Besides, a case of shirts is more than you will ever need for yourself, wear the best and more colorful designs for advertising and knock that clothing bill down to under $700 by spending $700.
Personal Growth
Do you know that a high school grad averages about $20,000 in salary a year in the US? A college degree brings that up to about $35,000, a master's to $44,000, and a doctorate to $66,000. But do you know that a professional degreed person in the US averages $111,000 dollars a year! What is a professional degree? These are the specialized degrees awarded by professional associations, trade groups, or the government. A solid and wastewater technician's license takes about 2 months of study, about $500 in entry fees, and gives one access to a job paying on the average over $50,000 a year. A course in surveying or CAD drafting takes about a year with average course costs of under $700, and may require apprenticeship for up to seven years to get that surveyor's license. Surveyors in America average over $80,000 a year.
Beauty technician, nail care license, health care provider, child care license, animal science technician, water quality specialist, even that high school GED can be obtained for less than $700 in annual education costs. Not all of us need to spend $70,000 a year at Harvard to get ahead in the world. Find out the professional degrees in your field of interest. Find out what minimal course work can be had a lower costs to get a leg up in that field through some type of accreditation. A home welding course takes less than seven weeks to complete and welding equipment setup is under $700, yet welders are in demand throughout the USA. We spend more each year on pet food and pet care than we do on humans, yet technicians to assist vets are scarce and hard to find. Nurses with specialized training earn about 40% more than those without. The list goes on and on.
And I have saved my favorite for my last topic.....
The Environment
You had better believe the seven hundred dollar solution applies to the environment as well. We are all responsible to provide care for the earth that supports us, and seven hundred dollars a year is one expense that has its return unmeasurable in rewards. You want to be a homesteader? Well, be a homesteader that cares about the place they live in, one that cares about the land. Take a lesson from our Native American friends, the land provides for you, warms you, feeds you; take care of it and nurture it.
For seven hundred dollars you can buy a good used low emission woodstove and lower the dependence on oil or gas resources. For $700, you can buy a solar panel array, not to use for the power demands of water pumping (see item 1) but for the lighter demands of lighting. Reduce the need for nuclear power, for air polluting coal power plants to generate electricity. Get off-grid as they say. $700 will buy a power water turbine for those you have the right site. $700 will buy a small electricity-producing windmill.
Seven hundred dollars will buy enough erosion control materials to stop that mud from the driveway from sliding into the nearby brook and clogging the gills of the fish that live in it. $700 will buy a Pasture Pump created by those same people at Rife Ram, a unit that has cattle or horses pumping their own water and prevents the animals from tramping in the streams and ponds to get their waters and thus polluting the aquatic resources with feces, nutrients, and silt. (see our Story of the Month link on our web page at www.biofence.com - Water water everywhere - no power to pump a pint) $700 will buy a new AIR wind turbine, giving you free wattage from the wind again reducing energy needs. Seven hundred dollars will buy enough filter equipment to make water potable. $700 will buy those unique and innovative items that helps the environment in so many ways - solar ovens, wood water heaters, a grain mill, a beekeeper's setup. $700 will buy a composting toilet protecting our groundwater from its number one enemy - septic waste. Seven Hundred dollars twice over will buy the top of the line energy efficient refrigerator, the top power waster in your household.
The seven hundred dollar solution provides many solutions for the environment, and the returns are both financial and spiritual.
For those who think the seven hundred dollar solution as derived from my cousin Ben Franklin's Rule of Sevens might work, go ahead and give it a try. Seven hundred dollars in seven months is an achievable goal, much more so than a thousand dollars. For some reason in our psyche, $700 is not as intimidating as $1000, and appears to most to be reachable. As you make more money by getting those specialized degrees, step up to the next stage, seven hundred dollars saved every seven weeks; it is what I do and I am looking to be able to jump to the next level, $7000 every seven months! Keep making seven hundred extra dollars every seven months, apply those moneys in the manner I have suggested while you are planning and dreaming about that homestead. In four short years, you will have some items that can provide the basis for a good start in country living, and isn't that what we claim is all we need - a running start? Make the seven hundred dollar solution work for you.
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Old Technology helps New Technology get into the ground
It is often said that the development of new techniques and new technology is what helps Man get ventures off the ground and help us move into the next century. But this is a story of how old technology helped a modern venture get into the ground, with a technique that is as old as mankind first stirring from cavemen's fires.
Recently in New Jersey, a project laying down hundreds of mile of fiber optic cable commenced along that state's major highway systems. Fiber optics, the backbone of this nation's move into the 21st century through telecommunications, is rapidly being placed on thousands of miles of the United States streets and roadways to provide internet access, cable TV, phone service, and other means of communicating. It is truly the technology feat of our decade. But placing fiber optics along major highways can be an engineering feat in itself - dealing with traffic patterns, wetland disturbances, rock outcrops, etc…. For telecommunication firms, the minimum disturbance means the quickest installation, and the faster path to profits.
On the New Jersey project, the project's contractors, J. Fletcher Creamer, turned to an old technology to bury the conduits carrying the fiber optics. Most utility work involves trenching or expensive directional boring, usually done at a snail's pace using backhoes and other traditional construction equipment. But JFC turned to an old technique for getting the conduit into the ground - they plowed it in. A specialized SEVEN FOOT HIGH plow was used. This plow not only sliced through the side slopes of the Garden State Parkway and the New Jersey Turnpike with ease, it also carries the conduit hosting the fiber optics within the blade, burying it to depths up to seven feet, and seals the ground behind it with ease in its passage.
To initiate the process, all wetland areas that had been identified for the project by Environmental Research Corps (over 1250 areas in all covering 449 miles), ERC's biodegradable silt fence - BioFence was installed to protect those wetland areas from any silt or sediment escaping the work areas. Then, nighttime work crews, scheduled to miss most of the traffic congestion, set up the plow rigs and the cable's conduits to be installed along a stretch of the highway. The plow is capable of installing thousands of feet of cable a night. The plow is so massive, it turned up or aside large boulders like pebbles, and its rig is designed so that the plow can be offset, or centered dependent on the sideslope area of the highway's terrain. The plow's wheels are also individually geared so that the plow can work on almost any slope, and its wheels are sized to handle the most difficult of terrain and vegetation.
In the end, mankind's newest technology is in the ground. Wetland areas have remained undisturbed, and the cleanliness of the installation as shown in the photo to the right, means that minimal site cleanup work or sideslope repair to the highway has to be done. With the natural highway grasses or other slope vegetation put back into place by the plow, little slope stabilization or erosion control work needs to be done outside of maintenance of the BioFence until the plow's slit in the earth seals itself again.
And that new technology, fiber optics for our move into the 21st century, is ready to go, cleanly and efficiently. Without an old plow dog to teach new tricks, the millenium might just have been a bit further around the corner.
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Is It Time to Re-think Trenching?
There are practices in erosion and silt control that develop over time. Some ideas are ideal for the decade they develop in, while others have stood the test of time, and have been in active use for many years. It is hard to attack a concept that has passed decades of use, but it is also important to remember that mistakes as well as successes can be duplicated far into the future. For example, burying our heavy metals and other industrial pollutants from the 1920s to the 1980s seemed like a logical solution to getting hazardous materials out of sight and out of mind, but many locations are paying for that mistake carried forward.
I have given a lot of thought to attacking a bastion of principle of soil and water professionals for installing silt control devices. I am asking simply - Is it time to re-think trenching?
As a soil scientist and wetlands biologist, this re-thinking of the issue is one I would like to present here. Simply put, it is my opinion, that trenching in silt fences and other erosion control devices create more damage to the wetlands those products are designed to protect. As a basis for this opinion, I offer the following:
* every trenching method involves breaking the soil crust. Soil crusts are usually the layers immediately below the "O" or organic layer. The "O" layer is usually composed of decomposed leaves, pine needles or other loose organic matter sometime referred to as the "humus" layer. This layer can average between a few millimeters thick to as much as 6 inches thick. It is usually a loose, mobile and silt generating material. (Silt is mobile organic matter, sediment is mobile mineral (i.e sand) matter - these being the two chief enemies of erosion control)
* Below the Organic layer is the "A", sometimes a mixed "AB" layer, and then the "B" layer. Our sediment generators can usually be found here. These layers can extend deeper, but usually are found in the first 24" of a soil column. The "A" layer is our hardened layer in usual practices, soils that has been compressed and harden by the activities above it. Sometimes there is an interface layer called "AB" between the harden crust of the "A" layer and the subsoil found in the "B" layer. The "B" layer can take many configurations, but usually is not very mobile.
* It is the "A" and "AB" layers that concern me. As evident by any observation of water movement, once water takes a toehold, it can create vast gullies, rills, trenches, and other erosion problems once it has penetrated into a soil column. But it is usually these "A" and "AB" layers we penetrate to trench in erosion control products.
I submit for further examination that our practice of trenching erosion materials is not only allowing the mobile layers of soil to be reached by water penetration, but that the methods also create additional potential damages to our wetlands and environments that mankind needs to protect.
As a trench, or "slit" is created in the ground to insert the bottom edge of an erosion control siltation fencing, the potential for soil movement increases dramatically. My firm, Environmental Research Corps, has observed this action while watching the installation practices of our biodegradable silt fence - BioFence. BioFence is designed to be either trenched in or using our specially designed "flap" - stapled in to the ground on the surface layer. (see detail drawing in installation instructions on home page - return to home page.)
By placing the "flap" of a typical silt fence on the surface, one avoids "breaking" the soil crust of the soil horizon. With plastic silt fences, the disadvantage to this method involves the need to have an material "ride" on top of the flap to create a silt barrier of its own. In the New England region, this has been partially addressed by insuring that all plastic silt fences have hay bales situated in front of them to insure that a material that can bond with the soil be positioned in front of the fence to prevent silt from working its way under the fence. ERC has addressed this "bonding" issue by their choice of hay bale replacement materials in our patented fence product - BioFence - Trademark. We provide a material that bonds to the soil on its own, using its fibers to "curl" into the soil forming its own bond to the surface. Coupled with the stapling method for BioFence's "flap" we form a bond with the soil that precludes "breaking" the soil crust. We do not advocate exposing the mobile underlying soils (though BioFence's design still allows trenching when a regulator insists), preferring our stapling method. for a biodegradable fence such as BioFence, these staples can be traditional erosion staples, Turf Tacs, or BioPegs, or any of the new biodegradable erosion staples now appearing on the market.
This is a practice that offends and causes a reaction with the erosion control community. It is amazing to us, who have spent many hours examining trenching effects on water movement, that the reaction to proposing surface bonding of erosion control material rather than trenching is akin to declaring for Germany in WW2. This is the main reason that our product BioFence allows both methods in its design - trenching or stapling. But our choice is the stapling method. Any soil scientist will tell you - do not break the cohesion and natural soil boundaries in a soil column - this will only make the soil prone to increased erosion. Yet, standard erosion control practices demand this trenching - trenching that has been demonstrated to be harmful by its silt generating capabilities. We ask all erosion control professionals to re-examine the question - is it time to re-think trenching?
With no affront meant to established methods, we simply ask all logical people and dedicated scientists to re-think the standard practice. Just because the method has been there for many years do not mean it offers the best in wetlands protection. ERC knows to change an established practice can create regulatory hardships, but if anyone really researches the source of damaging silt or sediment behind an erosion control product, it is likely one will find it is the method, not the product that caused the damage.
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Planting Aids increase Replication Success
Growing up in my family's greenhouse and nursery business in the 50's and 60's meant tending to the growth and production of plants for the retail trade. Much of the work was back-breaking labor to urge and nurse small seedlings of poinsettias, geraniums, petunias, chrysanthemums, etc… with only the reward for a brief period with a cheery blossom on the plant before it was sold. Every day, hanging on the wall, was a saying my father had put up to remind customers why the pricing of the plants was what it was.
if folks only knew how many
minutes of thinking…
hours of digging...
days of sunshine...
weeks of coaxing…
months of hard labor…
years of investment…
barrels of fuel oil…
pounds of fertilizer…
baskets of rich soil…
gallons of water…
and inches of backache…
that it takes to produce a beautiful plant
they will gladly pay the price
Well, years later as an aquatic biologist building about 300 wetlands replication areas a year; I am often reminded of what it takes to make these planting successful and beautiful. The environmental industry has an average of 1 out of every 2 replication projects for wetlands failing within two years. At conferences and seminars, it has always amused me to hear a speaker talk about what they learned from one of the two replication projects they have conducted. At Environmental Research Corps, we have averaged about an 95% success ratio in planting wetland areas, and I often have stated that I learn much more from the 15 projects or so out of the 300 every year that fail than I do from the successful ones. What I feel makes us have a 95% success ratio versus the average in the industry of 50% is what I refer to as the little things…. planting aids and techniques, which seem to make all the difference in success of failure. Here are a few things that seem to make the difference.
Stock As in the greenhouse business, the seed or seedlings you start with often dictates what plant you will get in the year as a result. ERC grows about half of what we use in replication areas, but secure the remainder from wetland nurseries that over the years we have found have delivered to us a consistent quality plant to start with. ERC often uses Ion Exchange, Wildlife Nurseries, Wildseed Farms, and Bentley Seeds for their seed suppliers. What has always impressed us about these companies is the consistency of the actual seed germination with the published rate of germination on the label. There are so many seed companies out there that do not even publish germination rates, nor have actual field results that would match. Purity of the supply is also critical to us. In wetland replication, avoiding introduction of invasive species like purple loosestrife or phragmites, or obtaining seed mixes that met a specified plant list is often critical. Ion Exchange for example will customize their Marsh Mix for us to include forbs only, no grasses as most state related contracts do not allow the introduction of grasses in wetland plantings that may increase mowing and other maintenance needs. When I get a shipment of BirdsFoot Trefoil from Wildlife Nurseries, I know I am getting trefoil only, no other plants have germinated from the hundreds of pounds of this seed I have used.
Most of the other species used in replication are grown at our wetland nursery - BioMass Farms in Massachusetts, or at our affiliated firm in New Hampshire - Wallowa Wind Farms. We always look mostly for root development in our plant production. Going to outside nurseries to us may mean that the grower has used a lot of fertilizers to produce a beautiful specimen, but one with an unknown to us chemical dependency and poor root structure. However, we have found a few outside nurseries for items that are expensive, are not suited to our growing sites, or are time consuming to grow, such as red maples, buttonbush, vibernum, etc…
Musser Forests is one example of an outside nursery we use. In our first dealings with the nursery, it used to irritate us a little that Musser would not dig red maples for sale to us during the summer period when we needed them for projects. Afterwards, we grew to understand that Musser has strict digging policies for root development, shipping protection, and growth viability that means the tree/shrub they sold us grew, and did not wither and die. ERC has now adjusted their planting time periods to meet Musser's shipping dates.
When American Excelsior Co. came out with their green dyed QuickGrass Curlex excelsior erosion blanket, we were skeptical about benefits. ERC has been long time Curlex users for slope stabilization, and at first we could not see any benefit beyond the blanket looking like grass upon application. Since we usually seed our slopes with wildflowers and other aesthetic mixes, a blanket "looking like grass" was not on our list of priorities. However, soon after use, we discover the main benefit QuickGrass was the fact that the darker dye colors traps heat better. Under the blanket, soil temperatures are raised. Along with Curlex's moisture retention ability, this now meant we had mini greenhouse environment under the erosion blankets. Humid, hot, and moist conditions are ideal for seed germination, and our germination rates in the field for our wildflower mixes rose dramatically on projects using the QuickGrass Curlex blankets over the natural ones - with, in our estimation, about a 20-25% increase in seed growth.
I am not a big advocate of fertilizers or the like. After all, I grew up in a business where my parent's plants produced by sunshine and watering were superior to the outlet chain stores with a chemical dependency on Rapid Gro. However, wetland replications are often done in nutrient poor soils. Not by design, wetland replication areas are often done in the "leftover" land of a subdivision, in soils that are not ideal for development, and may not have proper conditions for growth.
Beyond assuring that proper hydrology levels, patterns, and connections are made, replication areas often depend on soil introduction for plant viability. This soil, sometimes sterilized to prevent introduction of invasive species, often has no nutrients to aid plant growth. We have found a couple of methods we use to counteract this condition - chief among these are using ReForestation Technologies Planter's Pak tea bags of organic fertilizers, and mycorrizzae innoculant. RTI produces their famous "tea bag" fertilizer paks. There is nothing as simple as using your planting bar to create the hole to place a plant into, and before inserting the sapling, dropping a tea bag in the hole. RTI produces several blends of fertilizers geared to plant growth needs, and use materials that are not harmful to water supplies, wetlands, or other receptors. With the Boston Tea Party an integral part of American History, it is only right that tea bags continue to make a difference in the protection of our wetlands and the growth of our forests. The mycorrizzae innoculant is a fungi that aids in root development. Both Musser Forests and Wildlife Nurseries regularly supply this innoculant with shipments to us. We have notice a tremendous difference in the start period for plant growth when this innoculant has been used.
Our list could go on and on of the little things we do that aid planting wetland replication areas. From using augers from Northern Hydraulics to dig and soften soils for planting trees and shrubs to using planting bars and dibbles from Forestry Suppliers; there are a host of items that make planting these areas much easier. Wetlands replication is not just digging an area down to groundwater. It is proper soil introduction, soil treatment, hydrology connections and a host of environmental factors. But it is often the little things like good plant stock, good seed covers, good fertilizers, and good tools; that make all the difference between success and failure.
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Hawaii…. palm trees…. sandy beaches…… Maui….. beautiful vistas….. we all have these singular visions of America's 50th state. But Hawaii is not simply grass shacks and swaying palm trees. In Lahaina, Maui, one of the oldest battles in the world is shaping up that may mean a watershed decision for that island's future -
conservationists versus the developers…
Lahaina, Maui was once the Royal Capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. It also was the whaling capital for the Sandwich islands in the mid 1800s where New Bedford and Nantucket whalers stopped over in this seaside villages during their pursuit of whales. Today, the romanticism of Hawaii and the history of whaling days, have combined to make Lahaina one of the top tourist destinations in the world. Whale watching (the whalers left, the whales stayed), aquatic sports recreation, fun in the sun, golden beaches, and glorious vistas of mountains meeting the sea bring tourists to Maui year after year.
Always make 10% - buy it for a dime, sell it for a dollar AN OLD YANKEE SAYING
Lahaina is not unlike other hot tourist destinations, as more tourists pore into the area, there is more need to provide hotel space, dining pleasures, attractions, and the like. And a great desire to make a buck. And like many other places, the concept of urban ecology and sustainable development was unheard of. The first signs of problems blemishing Maui's charms came in the late 1960s when areas of Maui like Kihei and Kaanapali were developed into "super-resorts" to accommodate the increasing loads of tourists. Condominiums stacked on top of each other became the identity of Kihei, while manicured landscapes became Kaanapali's calling card. The beaches and the mountains were still there, but some of the views were becoming obscured, and some of the landscape not quite natural.
The big developers of property on Maui were the pineapple and sugar cane growers like Dole, Castle & Cooke, and AMFAC/JMB needing to find use for agricultural properties as crops declined. AMFAC/JMB of Hawaii Inc., the island branch of the Chicago-based JMB company, was the prime developer of the Kaanapali resort. As time passed, most of the coastline of West Maui became covered with new resort areas like Kapalua, Napili, and others forming an almost unbroken chain of shoreline development on Westside Maui.
The last break in the shoreline chain of development is North Beach, now being called Keka'a at the suggestion of a senior Lahaina Kupuna Aunty Pua Lindsey. Keka'a, once the capital of Maui Island, is the last large piece of undeveloped shore land left in West Maui. And now, using the banner of economy jump-starter, AMFAC/JMB and its limited partnership, Ka'anapali Ownership Resorts L.P.; propose closing the last link of the shoreline development chain. They have proposed subdividing the land into four large lots, the first of which will house a 280 unit timeshare condominium complex next to the beach; and have proposed that the widening of the Honoapiilani Highway from two lanes to four lanes for 2.2 miles northerly of Kaanapali Parkway (main entrance to the built-out Kaanapali Resort) should suffice to accommodate the increase of traffic from development of Keka'a. The West Maui people have been led to believe for years that any expansion north of Kaanapali would utilize a new Lahaina Bypass Highway rather than upgrade the existing road. In the summer of 1997, the group filed a request with the Maui Planning Commission for a special management permit for the two issues.
Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there WILL ROGERS
Randy Draper is a day sailor who also refines and works on his solar powered aquatic vessels business - Solar Craft Marine. He spends part of his mornings jogging on North Beach and can be see off the coast of North Beach many times day sailing or testing out the sun powering a new motor winding on his double hull canoe that he plans to sail from Maui to Oahu on solar power alone. Draper has observed first hand how some of the current land management practices have degraded local reefs, created algae blooms in the waters, slashed and filled wetlands, deposited silt and sediment in offshore waters, driven away wildlife, and generally have taken local environmental conditions on to a downward spiral. He took the time to self-educated himself on esoteric subjects like floodplain compensatory storage, wetlands mitigation, erosion and sediment control, stormwater management. His efforts to preserve the beach from development led him, along with Robert "Buck" Buchanan, David and Elizabeth Chenoweth, and James and Joanne Johnson, to be named "intervenors" by the Maui Planning Commission on the two North Beach issues.
Being intervenors means that they are allow to put on a full case against the issuance of the permits requested by AMFAC/JMB group before a hearing officer. The intervenors have compiled a composite picture of the current condition of North Beach (Keka'a), and plans to present commentary on the proposed development and the effects it may have on further damaging the beach. Charges of resource manipulation has arisen between the two sides, and local interest in "Save North Beach" has risen. The media, schoolchildren, the native Hawaiian groups, local environmentalists like Hannah Bernard of the Hawaiian Wildlife Fund, the Maui Audubon Society, and the Sierra Club all have begun to show intense interest. Their chronicling of the current beach problems is an eye-opener.
The intervenors' group has charged AMFAC/JMB with clearing vegetation, destroying sand dunes, and filling wetlands in order to hide or destroy some of the natural resources before review and permitting is made. For the record, AMFAC/JMB has denied these actions, but in June sent Draper a letter reminding him of their no trespass action taken against him, and warned him to stay away from the "minor work related to the ongoing agricultural operations and harvesting" on the site.
Nature is in it for the long haul. JIM HARRISON
AMFAC/JMB's declaration of "minor work" has been argued by the local intervenors as potentially damaging to natural resources. Photos and documentation has been taken of the current agricultural use of the land and the actions taken by someone to destroy the wetlands and dunes that AMFAC/JMB claims no knowledge of.
Oceanit Laboratories, AMFAC/JMB consultants, have listed the acre-plus sized wetlands on the site as being "only about 120 SF in size". The southern wing of the proposed timeshare condominium complex lies almost entirely in this area. Regardless of the dispute of the wetlands size, even the consultant agrees that most groundwater in this area lies only a "foot or so" below the surface on over half the site which lies in an A4 FEMA floodplain.
As the results of over 30 years of testing by the Stround Water Research Center in Pennsylvannia, researchers have determined that a forested buffer between resources and development, even as small as 30' in width, drastically influence the ability of an ecosystem to process nutrients and degrade pollutants. Of course, forested buffers also provide a barrier to "line of sight" vistas to the beach from a development. Coincidentally, some intense dune clearing, beach grass stripping, and kiawe tree cutting is occurring as this article is being printed, denied as being done by AMFAC/JMB. Joanne Johnson and others have viewed the forested buffer above the sand dunes being radically altered. They cite the trees cut down with chainsaws, large areas of dirt being moved near or on to the dunes, wetland areas being filled with cuttings, slash, and sawdust from the tree cuttings, dune grass and plant removal, cut throughs made through the dune sand, the sandy dunes being shifted by heavy machinery indications, and wetlands and mangroves being degraded by silt deposits and deliberate root cutting to place growth in jeopardy. Contrary to a policy that has existed on the AMFAC/JMB lands for years, open campers were allowed to set up camps near the newly cleared areas next to wetlands. Trash, debris, and other materials now further degrade these areas. No permits for open camping have ever been issued. The intervenors believe that this is being done with AMFAC/JMB's endorsement in order to cause a reduction or elimination of wetland areas, a thinning of the forested buffer to create "vistas" for the proposed timeshare complex, and to create walk-throughs to the beach through the dunes ironically at the locations proposed for board walkways for use by the timeshare residents. Draper and Johnson and others also believe that this work is being done to discourage utilization of the beach, the dunes, and the wetlands by wildlife; such as potential nesting for the endangered hawksbill turtles which have been observed in nearby offshore reefs and waters.
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As in Alaska where Senators' Stevens and Murkowski have asked for exemption from the nation's "no net loss of wetlands" policy of the Clean Water Act; Hawaii being the other non "lower 48 state", also enjoys a more flexible administration of section 404 of the CWA by the US Army Corps of Engineers. In other areas of the country, small wetlands, vernal pools, and stands of hydrophilic vegetation are recognized for their value as wildlife habitat, floodplain and groundwater storage, and pollutant removers. The ACOE has only recognized one ponding area on the site and has described its primary function as a silt and sediment collection area. AMFAC/JMB's consultants have seized upon this to claim that this means the site's wetlands have "no wildlife habitat value" though an underlying principle of the Clean Water Act presumes that all wetlands areas have inherent wildlife habitat value. The photo to the right is one of the "other" wetland areas on the site. Numerous small pockets of groundwater seepage behind the sand dunes can be found in the forested buffer of North Beach, yet many of these are being filled with the cut vegetation, or being filled with soil either by directed runoff flows or by direct material placement. The intervenors and others would argue that these small groups of wetlands - "like pearls on a necklace" as described by Draper - behind the dunes are a vital part of the ecosystem and deserve the full current level of federal law protection to remain undisturbed.
With regard to runoff, it would appear a clever game is being played out on the site. Where back in Washington DC, the ACOE is rethinking decades of philosophy of relying on concrete channelization for flood control; in Hawaii, this is still the norm. Headwaters far up in the West Maui mountains collect intense rainfall and send it hurtling downstream. Much of the lower slopes of West Maui that once were covered with fragrant sandalwood that lent to the "heavenly isles" nickname of Hawaii, are now covered with pineapple and sugar cane fields. The flows pass through these agricultural areas collecting their runoff laden with fertilizers and silt, and then are directed to the ocean in great concrete troughs flowing at hundreds of gallons per minute during storm events. Agriculture "maintenance" and "routine improvements" of the drainage system around the North Beach area have mysteriously been done the previous year directing some of these silt and nutrient laden waters on to the North Beach site. The runoff flows have been directed to the on-site acknowledged wetlands, to the chain of small wetland pockets along the back edge of the forested buffer, and into the ocean itself through man-made "cuts" in the sand dune. Several times the dunes have been breached during storm events and silt deposits can be observed to be settling out in an ever-growing plume of sediment on the offshore reefs. Again, the intervenors believe that this is a deliberate attempt to degrade the beach environment so that the mitigation requirements for the proposed timeshare complex will not be too stringent due to the fact that the resources are not worth protecting due to degraded conditions.
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A remaining issue the intervenors have raised concern floodplain issues. Draper has researched the Federal Emergency Mangement Agency (FEMA) Flood Insurance Maps and found that prior to the "maintenance activities" of the agricultural use of the site, some of the property contained elevations of - 10 (minus) feet below sea level. The latest FEMA map describes over ½ of the property as being in a Zone A4 meaning during a large storm event, it is reasonable to assume that the land in this area will be cover with 4 feet of water. Over 90% of the proposed timeshare complex buildings lie within this A4 zone. The beach and dune lie in a velocity zone meaning no construction should occur in this region. It is required, and commonplace for engineers in the design of a project to provide "compensatory storage" for misplaced flood waters due to building activities. In other words, if 10-12 feet of fill is brought in to raise the site's elevation above its current 8 and 9' elevation marks to prevent 4' of water from storming and destroying the timeshare complex's waters; then those floodwaters must go elsewhere. FEMA requires that a low-lying depression must be built on site to accommodate these displaced waters so that off-site areas are not impacted by flood waters. Yet there is no record to date of any plans to provide compensatory storage; and as every developer knows, providing a 1:1 ratio of compensatory development means that great amounts of land must be given up to provide this space, land that developers are often unwilling to give up. Thus the intervenors believe that the current grading and fill activities on the site for "agricultural improvement" are merely a disguise for raising the site's elevation to get it above the floodplain requirements. It is believed that if the site's floodplain is displaced, it means that over ¼ million gallons of water during a storm event will need somewhere to go every hour. And the intervenors believe that somewhere means abutting residential properties.
Every human has a fundamental right to an environment of quality that permits a life of dignity and well being UN CONFERENCE ON THE HUMAN ENVIRONMENT 1972
Randy Draper, Joanne Johnson, Hannah Bernard, Buck Buchanan, Dave Chenoweth, and others believe they have a fundamental right to a safe ecosystem and open space. They are turning away from the "let's make a buck" philosophy that is combined with a reasoning that if the tourist economy is to grow, then more facilities are needed. Instead, they are looking to the precepts of urban ecology which dictates that every site has a desired function, and development needs to fit function to the site. They do not view a site with floodplain limitations, sand dunes and ecological beach environs,
wetlands and wildlife habitat, forested buffer, high groundwater, abundant nutrient loading, erosion and silt problems as a prime candidate for a timeshare complex. As intervenors, they feel that their role is not only to discuss the site's unsuitability for its planned purpose, but to offer a vision for a need that the West Maui region needs for sustainable urban ecology. Their vision of open space and recreational park use with interpretive trails seems to fit the site's need much better than another timeshare resort.
It has been said that environmental protection is the most successful area of public policy in our generation. Let's not forget the lessons that made that effort successful. Neither should anyone walk forward with their gaze fixed over their shoulder at past successes.
Draper and company feel that the lessons learned elsewhere should apply to this watershed case of environmentalists versus developers; and by combining new tools with past experiences, the environment will be protected. They believe fervently that the continuance of the tourism industry in Maui depends on having beautiful natural resources to visit and attract. They do not subscribe to the belief that more facilities means more people will come. They do believe that protecting their natural resources leaves attractions that bring in tourists, and that without the charms of the natural resources, new buildings alone will not attract tourists or a better economy. They point to the successes of ecotourism in places like Chattanooga, Tennessee where nature led the blueprint for turning America's most polluted and economically depressed city 25 years ago into a case study for how urban ecology brings economic growth with clean waters, clear skies, and a place to walk by the river. The intervenors wish to bring common sense to common problems for the common good; and to preserve "Maui no ka oi" - Maui is the best…..
In the fall of 1997, the Maui Planning Commission reviewed the comments of the intervenors and the planned proposal of the timeshare developers. Appeals, continuances, findings, etc…. will likely carry this decision making process into the spring of 2000. At this time, the decision for West Maui's and North Beach's future should be determined.
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Water, Water, Everywhere... no energy to pump a pint....
In 1993, demands for Howland Swales©, wetland replication plants, and the advent of the invention of BioFence™; led Environmental Research Corps to consider the development of a farm facility and research station to handle these items and products. As a spin-off of ERC, BioMass Farms was intended to be a wetlands and wildlife research station to innovate and develop new products for erosion control, wetlands replication and restoration, and enhancement of wildlife habitat. The initial 27 acres selected by E.R.C. in Lakeville, MA offered 12 acres of uplands for site development of the facilities, as well as 15 acres of adjacent wetlands for water supply and buffer from neighboring properties (E.R.C. has since purchased additional acreage of adjoining land to increase the buffer protection). BioMass Farms was intended not only to do research, but also to provide E.R.C. with a supply of wetland plants grown in greenhouses for wetlands replication and restoration projects the firm conducts. Needless to say, to grow wetland plants in upland greenhouses, or to conduct erosion product testing; water is a key element.
BioMass Farms has over 2000' of land along the Great Cedar River with the Audubon Society as our neighbors across the river. Much of the property is surrounded by Bordering Vegetated Wetlands belonging to the river and its feeder flows. There water, water, everywhere, and one would think that watering and providing water for plant growth and erosion testing would be a simple matter.
However, one drawback to this desirable property was the distance to the nearest utility lines. To carry electrical power to all points of the farm would mean that over 2 miles of cable would have to be suspended from poles; both an expensive proposition, and an unattractive one aesthetically. Water, water, everywhere, and no power to pump a pint! We needed to get water to the seven geodesic domes hosting plant experiments, the two greenhouses holding replication plants shoots, and the manmade swimming/skating pond that pumps water to the top of a hill and receives the runoff of those erosion testing grounds.
Therefore, our dilemma was…. How to get water to these points with no means of common public utilities. We looked at solar power, windmills, propane pumps, and a host of other low or alternative energy means to pump our abundant waters. Little did we realize that the answer was right on our land!
While exploring some of the wetland areas on the property, one day we heard a repeated "thud, thud, thud" and a bubbling sound near the site of an old homestead coming from the swamp. Raking aside some leaves and other debris, we uncovered an obviously old cast iron device that was spewing water from it every few seconds. Puzzled, we looked for a power cord going into the pump, but none was to be found. It was on an old rotten wood frame, and had a cast iron pipe leading into the device, but no other means of power input. Tracing the pipe upslope, we found that it was siphoning off some of the flow from a feeder stream of the Great Cedar River and directing that water into the cast iron pump. On top of the pump were the letters RIFE and a manufacturing date - 1931.
We asked around, and found that we had discovered a Rife Ram. A ram is a device that dates back to 1797 that moves water solely by water power. RIFE Hydraulic Engine Manufacturing Company has made rams since 1884. A ram works by taking advantage of the force of falling water to drive a portion of that water uphill. Trapping water and air through a system of valves and air chambers, the ram develops power by building up hydraulic pressure to deliver water to the discharge pump. We contacted RIFE RAMS, now found in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and found that finding old rams still working year after years from old rams is a common occurrence.
RIFE RAMS is a fascinating company. It easily carries some of the most innovative products in the aquatic field today. Beyond the rams, the company makes and distributes Davey Rams, Sling Pumps, Pasture Pumps, and a variety of troughs and other water system hookup parts. The Pasture Pump fascinated us as environmental consultants as it is a practical solution for an age-old problem. The Pasture Pump is an unique pump that uses animal power to pump water. Design for the environmental problem of keeping cows and other livestock out of streams, bank areas, ponds, etc…, the pasture pump allows one to set up a water station far from the edge of the resource to avoid the animals trekking mud, feces, and other contaminants into a water supply. The pump can be used by cows, horses, and even bison; and is based on the Pavlovian Theory of conditional animal behavior. Animals learn that pushing the pump activator rewards them with water. It takes between 1 minute to 2 hours for livestock to learn how to use the device.
For BioMass Farms however, it was the Sling Pump that seemed to offer us the best solution. We needed to pump the nutrient rich waters from the Great Cedar River about 2000' away and distribute it to different holding tanks on the farm. The Sling Pump works with distances as far as 4000' and elevation changes as great as 82'. Since we were pushing water only half the distance, and lifting it only about 7 feet, the pump seemed ideal for our needs. Locally, a fish farm had Sling Pumps that we went to see in operation. Thoroughly convinced by what we saw, we bought a small used one that the fish farmer was looking to sell having moved to the larger sizes.
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The Sling Pump works by using flowing water to drive a propeller-fitted cylinder. Inside the cylinder, a helically-wound poly hose accepts an alternating flow of water and air as the cylinder revolves in the flowing stream driven by the propeller. The swivel action force the water forward until it reaches a final delivery point with a pulsating discharge. A large Sling Pump will deliver as much as 1600 gallons per day. This may not seem like a lot of water, but it has several key environmental selling points. One, most nursery or grow-out types of operation do not need constant water for plant growth. Watering plants is a sporadic activity, and large volumes of water can be created by the use of holding tanks, troughs or elevated ponds. The low 1 gallon per minute flow rate means that the resource area does not have a drawdown problem, and the use of the aquatic resource then poses none to little impact to fisheries, wildlife, or aquatic plants. With no energy consumption to move this water, no harmful side effects to the environment are created. And as the Sling Pump has only one moving part - lubricated by water at that - years of maintenance free operation can be expected. The Rife Sling Pump will pump all year through flash floods and frost. It is especially useful for plant irrigation or fish ponds since it aerates the water as it pumps it, giving additional growth parameters to the species cultivation.
We were very pleased with the small Sling Pump we installed at BioMass Farms to run one of the wetland plant greenhouses. With the other three large greenhouses, and seven geodesic domes being constructed to go online this year, we anticipate that three additional large Sling Pumps will provide us with over 5000 gallons of water a day that we can store in reservoirs to gravity feed down to the greenhouses when we want to water.
And that old Rife Ram that was on our farm property ? - well, we hooked it's outlet up to a supply pipe and had it empty into a storage tank at the top of the hill to our erosion testing grounds where we research products like our BioFence™, our SeedGel© blanket seeding technology, or suitability of erosion blankets to soil types. Every day, that old 1931 Rife Ram fills up a 500 gallon tank that we tip over to provide rushing water carrying silt down the slope for our testing needs. Eventually, we have plans to expand the testing grounds and utilize one of Rife's new hydraulic rams or the new improved Davey Rams; but while old technology still works, why not use it. With something built in 1931 still working, we were convinced that Rife has the products to provide no energy water pumping systems that are durable and environmentally conscious, and BioMass Farms is making arrangements to handle the products as a regional representative at this time.
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This is the end of our Stories of the Month feature web page. We will gradually cycle in new stories over a bimonthly period. Please feel free to contact us at 508-763-5253 for permission to re-print an article, for further information, or to provide us with suggestions for new features. You may also reach us by email at markahowland@comcast.net
Thanks for your interest.......
Mark A. Howland
Chief Biologist............................
Environmental Research Corps
15 Mohawk Ave., E. Freetown, MA 02717
508-763-5253
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