Rock and Dirt is an ad magazine for every type of equipment that moves or handles rocks and dirt. Lately, BRASS drools over the advertisements. Wouldn't it be nice to have a boom truck to swing stones over an embankment and place them in an eroded area? Or a suction/vacuum truck to clean out catchment basins? Or....
Why the saliva and wish list? Because BRASS has been working with local highway departments on projects to curb sediment run-off into rivers and Lake Champlain, yet the projects must fit grant budgets awarded to BRASS by the Lake Champlain Basin Program ($18,000).
Road superintendents in 18 towns in the Boquet, AuSable, and Little AuSable watersheds met with BRASS to discuss sediment run-off problems. Because of the ‘98 Ice Storm and flooding afterward, many problems were huge, costly, and beyond our grant. However, six projects were finally chosen by superintendents. Interestingly, five of the projects involve private landowners. BRASS got a good feel for the complexity and time needed to plan, design, and work with landowners. Perhaps through this grant process BRASS can influence other watershed groups to work with road departments because it takes many cooperative parties to solve a good percentage of the road run-off problems.
Road departments must work within yearly approved budgets, so there can be little long-term planning. Many run-off problems are caused by private landowners and developers. Watershed groups can help solve problems. Also, road departments and elected officials need help in the design of model ordinances to save taxpayer dollars and keep road departments from responding to one emergency after another.