Creating forest sector solutions
www.fpinnovations.ca
Erosion and sediment control:
Handbook introduction
One vision
Global competitiveness
Clayton Gillies RPF, RPBio
Senior Researcher
Forest Road Engineering
Handbook overview: beginning to end
Funding contribution
Background
 Through an Advisory Committee
process, members and partners
identified erosion and sediment
control as an area of high
importance.
 Initial cooperators and strong
support originated in Alberta.
 Soon took on a national focus.
Field days to gather input and determine needs
Weyerhaeuser Company Limited, Nordegg, AB
Millar Western Forest products Ltd, Whitecourt, AB
Canadian Forest Products Ltd., Grande Prairie, AB
Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd., Peace River, AB
Field days provided an
excellent opportunity for
participants to interact
Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc., Lac La Biche, AB
Tolko Industries Ltd., Lumby. B.C.
Participants represented
the resource industries,
Provincial government,
and Federal government
(DFO)
Steering committee (blue) & National reviewers
• Juri Agapow, Diashowa-Marubeni International Ltd., AB
• Roy Crawford, Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc., AB
• Tony Gaboury, Alberta-Pacific Forest Industries Inc., AB
• Aaron Highmoor, Millar Western Forest Products Ltd., AB
• Brian Martell, Canadian Forest Products Ltd., AB
• Tom Plouffe, Millar Western Forest Products Ltd., AB
• Don Sarin, Weyerhaeuser Company Limited, AB
• Andre Savaria, Alberta Sustainable Resource Development, AB
• Christopher Spytz, West Fraser Mills Ltd., AB
• Robert Thomson, Diashowa-Marubeni International Ltd., AB
• Kathryn Collet, Department of Natural Resources, NB
• Mike Kelly, Stora Enso Port Hawkesbury Ltd, NS
• Mark Partington, FPInnovations, Feric Division, QC
• Gary Wearne, Domtar Pulp and Paper Products Inc., ON
• Eric Young, Department of Natural Resources, NL
Handbook layout: three main sections
Section1: introduction, planning, & riparian areas
Introduction to the types of erosion
 Wind erosion and mass
wasting not covered
Know your soils
 Coarse fragments:
- are easily identified
- not many erosion issues
 Fine earth portion:
- harder to identify
- has higher erosion potential
 § 1 - Introduction
Know your erosion hazard
Table 5 shows:
 By soil type
 By slope
Layout and field notes:
 Terrain or field
indicators i.e. long continuous
slopes vs. benches
and breaks
Planning
 Control vs. repair: it is less costly to plan ahead and
identify techniques to control erosion than conduct repairs.
 Communication: discus plans with regulatory agencies and
the field crews early in the process.
 Phasing: plan the various phases of construction to occur
closely to reduce the erosion potential of exposed soil.
 Erosion and sediment control plan: from basic to complex
depending on size of activity and known hazards.
 § 1 - Planning
Planning: phasing example
 Initial surfacing applied
soon after road built
 Additional surfacing
 Hydroseeding
 § 1 - Planning
Planning: phasing example
 Felled ROW still gives
cover to soil
 Felled and hauled
ROW leaves soil
exposed
Planning: erosion and sediment control
Riparian areas
 Last natural line of defense against sediment entering a
watercourse
 Protect water quality by maintaining stream bank and
channel stability
 Offer a filtering function for sediment-laden water arriving
from upland areas
 § 1 – Riparian areas
Riparian areas
 Narrow width of ROW
felling when
approaching a stream
 Establish buffers
 Do not build roads
adjacent to a stream
 Older roads may need to
be armored, upgraded or
relocated
Section 2: principles and practices for e&s control
§ 2 - Preventing erosion: ground preparation & cover
Key strategies for preventing erosion include:
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Keep the amount of exposed soil to a minimum
Maintain existing ground cover
Cover exposed soils soon after exposure
Machine operating techniques should be considered
Keep surface rough as compared to smooth
Minimize exposed soil: by amount and time
 § 2 - Preventing erosion: ground preparation and cover
Minimize exposed soil: by amount and time
Maintain existing vegetation
 Bridge was constructed
while maintaining riparian
attributes below structure
 Use of barriers or obstacles
in the field can clearly mark
disturbance limits
 § 2 - Preventing erosion: ground preparation and cover
Maintain existing vegetation
Provide cover for exposed soils: Live
 § 2 - Preventing erosion: ground preparation and cover
Provide cover for exposed soils: Inert
 § 2 - Preventing erosion: ground preparation and cover
Use of straw
Machine operating techniques
 Machine tracking can
result in 10% less
erosion
 § 2 - Preventing erosion: ground preparation and cover
Rough and irregular surface
 § 2 - Preventing erosion: ground preparation and cover
§ 2: Containing and collecting sediment
Strategies to promote deposition:
 Slow the flow or
movement
 Increase roughness
 Use of a flocculent
 § 2 – Containing and collecting sediment
Time for suspended sediment
to fall 1 cm in water
Slowing flow or movement
Silt fence
 All will require maintenance
and removal of deposited
material
 § 2 – Containing and collecting sediment
Check structure
Sediment pond / basin
 Will require periodic
maintenance
 Meandering flow path
promotes longer detention
time
 § 2 – Containing and collecting sediment
§ 2: Diverting flows & seepage: upland water mgt.
 Upland water can cause severe
rills and gullies on exposed slopes.
 Important to identify source areas
and incorporate actions in an E&S
control plan.
§ 3: Practical applications: roads and crossings
Ditch armouring
 Permanent versus
temporary armouring
 Consider shape of ditch and
vegetation establishment
 § 3 – Ditches
Ditch armouring (plus)
Check structures
 § 3 – Ditches
Check structure spacing
 § 3 – Ditches
Ditch turnouts
 Disperse ditch flow into the
forest
 Spacing will vary by terrain
and hazard
 § 3 – Ditches
Ditch bypass and double ditching
 Neither are all that
common
 Very site specific
 § 3 – Ditches
Cross ditch and cross-drain culvert
 Not suitable for main haul roads.
 Spacing correlated to slope, soil
type, and terrain.
 Locate to allow
water to maintain
natural flow path.
 § 3 – Ditches
Road surfaces
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Rolling grade
Waterbar
Open-top surface drains
Deflectors
Outslope, inslope and crowned
Roadside berms
Rolling grades
 § 3 – Road surfaces
Rolling grade
Waterbars
 § 3 – Road surfaces
Deflectors and open-top surface drains
 § 3 – Road surfaces
Outsloped, insloped and crowned surfaces
 Shape of a road can promote positive
water flow off the road.
 Goal is to prevent water from
accumulating, weakening or eroding a
road.
 § 3 – Road surfaces
Roadside berms
 Can purposefully contain
water to protect a
resource.
 Berm eventually breached
away from fish-stream
 Grader berms can pond water,
weaken subgrade and should
be avoided.
 § 3 – Road surfaces
Cutslopes and fillslopes
 Contain and direct water:
by use of a slope drain,
downdrain, or open-top
flume
 Terracing and increased
roughness will promote
deposition
 Establish a cover:
by seeding, mulching, use of
fibrous mats, or
bioengineering
 § 3 – Cutslopes and fillslopes
Some maintenance may be required
Culverts
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Armouring
Alternatives to aggregate armouring
Ditch considerations at stream crossings
Vertical alignment of road
Dewatering (during construction)
Stockpile management (during construction)
Protection against beaver damming
Armouring
 Aggregate is typically the
preferred material.
 Can be used along the
fillslope and the immediate
stream bank
 § 3 – Culverts
Alternatives to aggregate armouring
 Before and after photos
showing use of fibrous matting.
 Numerous reinforcement mats
available.
 Wire-mesh gabions filled with
smaller, rounded river-rock.
 § 3 – Culverts
Ditch considerations at stream crossings
 Fibrous matting used to
armour against erosion.
 Silt fences used to promote
deposition of fines.
 Ditch should not deliver water
directly to a stream
 Direct delivery of ditch water
also delivers sediment.
 § 3 – Culverts
Vertical alignment of road
 Promote road
surface flow away
from stream.
 Low area allows
for overtopping
during sever
events.
 Armour the low
area as well if
stream has
potential to
overtop the road
 § 3 – Culverts
Dewatering
 Can use a pump-&-hose system or a
gravity system.
 Gravity flow can be through an open
trench or a contained bypass.
 Dewatering during culvert installation
doubles as a BMP for achieving
desired compaction levels.
 § 3 – Culverts
Stockpile management
 Common to have a
stockpile during
culvert installations.
 Need to consider
how to:
1. prevent erosion
of the stockpile
(think cover)
2.contain sediment
(think deposition).
 § 3 – Culverts
Bridges
 Bridge deck
 Abutments and wing walls
 Vertical alignment of bridge deck with the
approaches
Bridge decks
 Consider the amount of
sediment delivered to bridge
decks.
 § 3 – Bridges
 Retrofitted guard rails
prevent direct delivery of
sediment into a water
course.
Abutment and wing walls
 Abutments should be planned
and placed where they are not
affected by high flow events.
 Armour below abutment to
prevent undermining.
 Wing walls vary by material
composition and orientation.
 They contain road fill and
prevent ravel, but movement
may occur where wall ends
 § 3 – Bridges
Vertical alignment of bridge deck and approaches
 Have the lowest area of the approach
away from the bridge deck to force flows
away from the stream.
 Bridge decks
positioned at low
areas of the road will
require water
interception
techniques.
 § 3 – Bridges
Subsurface water management
 Slumping due to subsurface
saturation can cause erosion;
especially noticeable along roads.
 Common methods to
address subsurface
water is to build and
utilize French drains or
stand pipes.
Thank you
Ditch erosion
repair
clayton.gillies@fpinnovations.ca
604 228 1555
Thank you & wooden box culvert replacement
clayton.gillies@fpinnovations.ca
604 228 1555