Try This!

Log and Pole Structures at Ales Run in the Duck Creek Watershed

Employees from the Oversight and Inspection Office (OIO) of the Office of Surface Mining’s Appalachian Regional Coordinating Center participated in an Earth Day pilot project in the Duck Creek watershed. On April 22, 2003, they met with the Duck Creek Watershed Coordinator and employees from the Washington County SWCD and the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources Management (DMRM) to construct log and pole sediment control structures at the Ales Run Wildlife Area.

The Ales Run watershed was strip mined in the 1960’s using contour mining methods, which left highwalls, pits, and barren and eroding spoil banks. The majority of the watershed, 2900 acres, was purchased from the B & N Coal Company in the year 2000. The property was purchased through a partnership between the Ohio Division of Wildlife (DOW), the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), the Ruffed Grouse Society, and the Conservation Fund. The area is now owned and managed by DOW. This subwatershed of Duck Creek is listed as priority 2 clogged stream land in OSM’s abandoned mined land inventory system (AMLIS) in problem area description OH-0765. DMRM has planted most of the barren areas with trees inoculated with an acid-tolerant fungus and has had a great deal of success. However, some unstable erosion gullies still exist in certain areas, and would require a significant amount of tree removal if reclaimed using conventional methods with heavy equipment.

The goal of the project was to show that a small group of people utilizing hand labor could build structures using on-site materials to control sediment and runoff on a small scale. The participants also hoped that this activity would build teamwork and a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment in the watershed group.

Below Left (top): Ales Run prior to construction.
Below Right: Ales Run immediately after construction of a log and pole structure, with some members of the construction team.
Below Left (bottom): The structure 120 days after it was placed (note the sediment
caught).

Max Luehrs, of OIO’s Columbus, Ohio office discussed with Kaabe Shaw, the Duck Creek Watershed Coordinator, the idea of using log and pole sediment control structures using on-site locust trees in some of these areas to control sediment and runoff. Diagrams of various structures were provided to Kaabe, and he coordinated with DMRM to locate some potential sites for a demonstration project.

Several criteria were considered in site selection. The site should not carry more than 5 cubic feet per second of storm flow and preferably have locust trees nearby--locust being rot resistant and not of high value. (Other trees may be used but may not last as long or landowners may be reluctant to allow cutting of more valuable trees.) And of course landowner permission is required. Ales Run was selected because of its public ownership, high priority in AMLIS, and because the placement of the structures would compliment DMRM’s innovative tree planting program.

On the morning of April 22, 2003, a hardy group of volunteers met on site to unseasonably cool and damp weather. (Kaabe recruited folks through emails--only a dozen or so volunteers were needed for this pilot project.) Allen Kraps of OIO’s Pittsburgh office served as the chain saw operator. (This duty should be assigned with care. The person should have experience, their own saw, and the necessary safety equipment such as safety glasses, gloves, steel toed boots, etc. A backup saw should also be available.) Everyone else took turns digging, hauling and setting posts, and scavenging rocks from the spoil for use as energy dissipaters.

The display of teamwork, between many folks who had only met that day, was remarkable. The volunteers found that the trees available on site were not nearly as straight as those on the diagrams, nor was the ground as rock-free as shown on paper. They improvised to fit the situation and were able to complete three structures by days end. The left that afternoon with a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment at leaving Ales Run a slightly better place.

Kaabe will be monitoring these structures after storm events to see how they perform and/or might be improved upon. While the structures will ultimately fill up with sediment, they will still help to reduce runoff by dissipating the energy of the flows. With any luck, many more may be built in the years to come.

Max says: "It is my hope that the log and pole structures will be used by other watershed groups to not only control sediment and runoff, but to provide in-kind contributions for grants such as 319 non-point source grants. The cost would be easy to justify based on the number of people involved times an hourly labor rate."

For more information about this project, contact Max Luehrs at (614) 416-2238, ext. 110.