Rethinking Culvert Design: Government Creates Obstacles
A Vermont Public Radio broadcast covers the restoration progress of post Irene efforts while focusing its attention on culverts, a statewide infrastructure issue. The question here is, will towns replace washed out culverts with new culverts large enough to accommodate future floodwater loads. Ecosystems and infrastructure are damaged when these man made passages get overloaded or clogged with debris, resulting in expensive repair projects paid for by taxpayers. It is suggested by local culvert designers that if towns pay a little more upfront to increase culvert dimensions they will save money down the line. However, in the wake of flood relief, organizations, such as FEMA, who fund infrastructure restoration only support culverts that meet the minimal requirements. The presence of these contradictory short cut actions taken my federal organizations are essentially ensuring the continued damage of both infrastructure as well as ecosystems during high water events. All the information we have gathered regarding the redesign of culverts suggests only beneficial attributes to both towns and the surrounding environment. It is extremely unfortunate that federal funding is only setting up towns in Vermont for continual disaster relief programs.
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Interview with Clark Amadon
A Vermont Public Radio broadcast covers the restoration progress of post Irene efforts while focusing its attention on culverts, a statewide infrastructure issue. The question here is, will towns replace washed out culverts with new culverts large enough to accommodate future floodwater loads. Ecosystems and infrastructure are damaged when these man made passages get overloaded or clogged with debris, resulting in expensive repair projects paid for by taxpayers. It is suggested by local culvert designers that if towns pay a little more upfront to increase culvert dimensions they will save money down the line. However, in the wake of flood relief, organizations, such as FEMA, who fund infrastructure restoration only support culverts that meet the minimal requirements. The presence of these contradictory short cut actions taken my federal organizations are essentially ensuring the continued damage of both infrastructure as well as ecosystems during high water events. All the information we have gathered regarding the redesign of culverts suggests only beneficial attributes to both towns and the surrounding environment. It is extremely unfortunate that federal funding is only setting up towns in Vermont for continual disaster relief programs.
Dillon, John. “Post-Irene, Towns Consider Larger Culverts.” Vermont Public Radio News, 11/28/11, 7:34am.
Listen to Broadcast: http://www.vpr.net/news_detail/92581/post-irene-towns-consider-larger-culverts/
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Interview with Clark Amadon
Yesterday evening, I had the
opportunity to interview with Moretown select board member, Clark Amadon.
Though the board is normally responsible for managing a municipal budget, his
position on the board was to head up the reestablishment of the towns offices
after Irene. Aside from his role on the board, Clark is an active member with
Trout Unlimited, a national organization whose mission is, “To conserve,
protect, and restore North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds”,
(TU). Such organizations are entirely volunteer driven, and as I later found,
so to is the ecological restoration process.
The interview had a fairly standard
start. We had been introduced through a series of forwarded emails so we spent
a little time going over the goal of our project as well as one another’s
backgrounds and interests regarding rivers. Clark, who lives in the village of Moretown can actually see
the latent river from his kitchen window.
With some discussion of the floods impact of Moretown, he was quick to
say that, “they (the town) were in pretty good shape”. He drew comparisons
between their damage and some of the epicenters and their surrounding areas
such as Bennington County, the Roaring Branch, Orange County, and the White
River area, suggesting that other towns are still behind the progress shown in
Moretown. Given the inherent size of Moretown, whose village is equally as much
residential as it is civil and commercial, the dialogue that followed was a
review of where state funds were allocated and who stepped in to help
residential. Though I had heard it before, I was surprised to hear that no
state funds were given to aid restoration of residential structures; Vermont
funds exclusively, “support state buildings and infrastructure”. It was with
the aid of local education taxes Federal organizations, such as the Federal
Emergency Management Agency, who came in to aid the affected residents.
The first leg of our discussion
reappeared throughout our interview, but the focus switched gears to ecological
restoration projects. Having read a few articles about ecosystem restoration in
Massachusetts prior to our interview, I now understand that ‘ecological’ or
‘ecosystem restoration’ was not exactly what one would think it to be. It
became evident that ecosystem repair was not government mandated but instead
driven by local momentum. Non-profit groups such as Friends of the Mad River as
well as Trout Unlimited are major players in taking back ecosystems following a
major flood event. Clark went on to say that, “these groups are constantly
scoping out potential projects to help preserve and maintain rivers. They are
always willing to work with landowners who are willing to work with them
regarding the regrowth of affected land. The work done in river restoration is
entirely volunteer based. The major projects this spring will be to remove
debris from the swollen riverbanks, this includes everything from garbage to
tires. Usually the fall is the time where we replant vegetation in affected
areas”. I was surprised to learn about the lack of involvement from the
governments end as well as the timeline of projects. However surprising, it was
also nice to know the level of concern for our environment driving the
motivation behind these local and national organizations.
Drawing from the few articles I
read regarding ecosystem restoration, we began to discuss how redesigned
infrastructure can help prevent future ecosystem damage. The independently
conducted interview posted in the blog section, Ecological progress, suggests
increasing dimensions of culverts is beneficial to ecosystems. I asked Clark
what he though of this idea and if any sort of redesign considerations were
being considered for Moretown’s restoration. To my surprise they were. “This is
my own personal goal! And some have been installed in Moretown! However, the
bridges that were repaired, in Moretown, on 100B are the same dimensions as
before the flood. Soon, the one bridge that was washed away in the flood will
be replaced with one that can accommodate more water, debris, and will be
higher.” The benefit of redesigning the bridges is that the culverts will not
get dammed up with debris causing the bridges to act as dams. When this happens
the water jumps the bridge or surrounding structure and causing massive amounts
of both structural and ecosystem damage. With the current temporary bridges in
place until reconstruction starts, Clark made the point, “We are learning our
lesson, and we have a long way to go. There is a lot of potential here to
ensure the passage of significant water and debris in the future to avoid major
problems”.
Aside from river debris clean up
days and replanting movements, much of ecosystem restoration is in part
attributed to the redesign of infrastructure. By rethinking the way we have
designed our water passes we can decrease future damage by creating structures
that are more accommodating to more intense flows. Though it seems like more of
a preventative measure rather than a active measure (actively restoring damaged
habitats), it is a step in the right direction. And as Clark said Irene has
been a hard lesson, but a lesson learned.
A
topic that came up towards the end of our interview was one that is relevant to
Irene, while at the same time independent. A discussion of trout fishing
combined with the detrimental affects of river channeling and widening resulted
in the current state of trout populations. A major issues surrounding river
ecosystems is the presence of summer conditions in early spring. “We are in drought
conditions in April, these are essentially mid summer levels. Trout are a very
resilient species, whose populations that tend to rebound from such variable
events. Although sections of the Mad are still being stocked, and we are seeing
similar annual fishing results here, an increase this summer in temperature of
a bout 7 degrees has a great potential to kill these fish”. This is of great
concern to our river health, and is completely independent of Irene. “Irene or
not, this is a significant event.” With the advent of spring and restoration
projects as a result of Irene still prevalent, issues surrounding rivers are
not solely the result of the 100 year flood. Though much is being done in the
way of coming back from Irene, much of the ecological restoration will be from
the result of climate change. Also, with a lack of government help, much of the
current work being done is being conducted locally through volunteer work.
- Henry Shepley
Interview set for Wednesday, April 18th, with Clark Amadon of the Selectboard Moretown, VT.
RELATED INTERVIEW: MASSACHUSETTS RESTORATION
An interview with Tim Purinton regarding ecosystem restoration in North Hampton, Massachusetts.
Some interesting pieces...
--- With regards to one major storms influence and how it allows us to plan ahead to protect wildlife and habitat from future floods.
"It also helps us build more ecologically beneficial infrastructure that allows rivers and streams to flex their muscles during extreme weather conditions without harming our safety and ecosystem health."
2.)
Q: What was the purpose of the Bronson Brook restoration?
A: We replaced a culvert that was under-sized and inefficient at passing fish and wildlife, and we replaced it with a culvert that meets the new stream-crossing standards. That site, which in the past had washed out Dingle Road, held up really well. It allowed the stream to flex its muscles and still pass without any damage to infrastructure and that was really interesting to note.
--- Finding relevant ecosystem restoration articles in Vermont is proving to be difficult. Hopefully the interviews tonight will provide a better understanding on how the state is dealing with this facet of restoration. Until then, relevant, nonlocal, articles paint a picture as to how other regions are repairing ecosystems.
Check out the full interview here:
http://www.gazettenet.com/2011/10/05/after-the-flood?SESS08f8ef4d8fe726ef21ebf42c0cc385a3=gnews
Check out the full interview here:
http://www.gazettenet.com/2011/10/05/after-the-flood?SESS08f8ef4d8fe726ef21ebf42c0cc385a3=gnews
