Today began in the Safeway parking lot waiting for Rich to pick me up. On days where it is going to be field visits all day and they are in the Santa Cruz area, Rich will usually pick me up rather than have me back track by driving to the office. Our first stop was in Davenport where we picked up our geologist, the most impressive and sharp minded 80 year old I have ever met, Roberta. Once in Davenport we met with a resident to discuss the issues of land movement they have been having. I say land movement over land slide because of how far the land moved. The neighborhood is situated at the base of a slight slope where there is land that was irrigated 10 years ago but now is just open pasture. Last year, there was a movement of soil covering about 100 yards before reaching the streets which from there it moved down the street before hitting the side of the 1. There was another less severe occurrence of this at the end of March which spurred our visit. From what we could see, there was a gully forming among the small hillsides that led to the neighborhood. Despite attempts to divert it, it moved over the open space and then went for the lowest points which was the streets. This was being considered for the Emergency Watershed Protection program but since that requires danger to life and property and this was more of a nuisance, it was unlikely it would receive funding. However, it definitely required follow up because it was not normal expectations for the land type.
The next location was in Bonny Doon as a first meet with a new client. The property owner had a large parcel of mostly forest land but was interested in what NRCS had to offer. I don't think I had been on a first visit with Rich since the first month of my internship and it was fun to hear the great things NRCS has to offer. The client just continued to look at Rich with awe while exclaiming you are a gift from heaven. There was also another girl there, a graduate of UCSC interested in helping to create pastured areas on the property. Overall we discussed the different land types we addressed and decided that a follow up visit to walk the entire property or at least the problem areas would be necessary to get a better understanding of what we had to offer.
The last visit took me far, far into the Santa Cruz mountains on more back roads than I ever imagined and places I never expected to see. We drove East from Bonny Doon on winding roads to end up closer to Felton and in Boulder Creek. We were greeted by a large assortment of dogs to assist with erosion problems on a horse facility. The property was not very big and tucked away in the hills. The "sacrifice area" was clearly eroding since the paddocks were approximately 5 inches higher leaving an area of concrete as the horses had to step down. There was also a long pasture that was sloping downwards the entire way with plateaus filled with water. Apparently they had used the area as a wedding location a few months ago and had cut into the sides to make plateaus for tables. Unfortunately with the rainfall we had and cutting into the clay level, they have hit the water table leading to a lot of unwanted water. The things I noticed on this visit was that horse people forget there are non horse people in the world. I love horses and would say I have medium experience around them, but if I was uncomfortable around them, I definitely would not want to immediately walk into a pasture and be nudged repeatedly for carrots by two large animals. Fortunately, I know to just push them away. Overall this meeting felt more like a social call than a regular field visit, with the horses showing off and being offered a ride on the worlds highest tree swing (130 feet). But I think that no matter the feeling of the visit, if the solution to their land problem is understood and resolved, then the meeting is a success.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
4-18-11
I came in to work today to find absolutely no one in the office. Its never a good sign when you walk in and there is a dark office ahead of you. After talking to one of the RCD employees, I found out Rich was still out on a field visit. I decided to work on some homework to use my time I had available, but I realized that without access to the computer there was very little I could do without Rich around. Because it is a Federal office, all the computers are password protected and despite being a registered volunteer, I do not have a computer login.
Once Rich arrived with Jim, our engineer, I got to work on creating a handful of soil maps. The interesting thing about this job has always been you never see the same thing twice. Each place is different, each problem is a new problem. Rich always says that's why he never tried to get a promotion, he never gets bored working in the field. Anyway, there is a certain aspect of problem solving that always gets me excited. Even soil maps which I should be a pro at by now, are always a new task to face. When you have no farm number or tract number, its impossible to know exactly where someones property line is. I usually pull up google maps and the soil map and by using the given acreage and the fuzzy outlines of properties google provides I can usually infer where my boundaries should be drawn. But there have definitely been times where the information just doesn't match up and its those times that I remind myself to do the best I can with what is given to me.
After completing my maps, Rich and I headed not far from the office for a few field visits. Once we got to the neighborhood, we met with a county employee. Turns out that all the properties on that street were against a creek. Their property lines were against county property on the creek sides and the banks were experiencing landslides. Now since the end of March, almost every field visit I've seen has been the same; they have all been landslides. A lot of Santa Cruz county has some serious slopes with natural soil, compared to where I grew up in flat suburbia covered in concrete. While this is good in allowing more water to permeate into soil, it also results in landslides. The problem in this case was that it was occurring on county land but the problem was from natural causes on the private land owners. Due to a lot of the private property not managing their runoff, it allowed for too much water to enter the county's property and destabilized the bankside. Almost in every case we've seen, the water oversaturated the topsoil and then hit a clay layer in which it could no longer penetrate and then slid off the clay layer. The properties we saw were in danger from the slides because once a slide occurs it will try to stabilize which usually involves moving up the slope where the properties were. Mostly, there needed to be some french drains or some way of collecting the water to stop it from heading directly for the slope.
After seeing four properties lining the creek, we went back to the office where Rich came up with an idea for a project to work on. Because he hadn't been there to give me access to the computer and he believed he was repeating a lot of solutions for similar projects that I should create folders to address certain land issues. These would include necessary publications to share, information such as cover crops etc, and a solutions letter. I worked the rest of the day making the letters I had previously worked on more generic. This included generalizing the farming on a slope letter, the landslide letter, and the horse facility letter.
Once Rich arrived with Jim, our engineer, I got to work on creating a handful of soil maps. The interesting thing about this job has always been you never see the same thing twice. Each place is different, each problem is a new problem. Rich always says that's why he never tried to get a promotion, he never gets bored working in the field. Anyway, there is a certain aspect of problem solving that always gets me excited. Even soil maps which I should be a pro at by now, are always a new task to face. When you have no farm number or tract number, its impossible to know exactly where someones property line is. I usually pull up google maps and the soil map and by using the given acreage and the fuzzy outlines of properties google provides I can usually infer where my boundaries should be drawn. But there have definitely been times where the information just doesn't match up and its those times that I remind myself to do the best I can with what is given to me.
After completing my maps, Rich and I headed not far from the office for a few field visits. Once we got to the neighborhood, we met with a county employee. Turns out that all the properties on that street were against a creek. Their property lines were against county property on the creek sides and the banks were experiencing landslides. Now since the end of March, almost every field visit I've seen has been the same; they have all been landslides. A lot of Santa Cruz county has some serious slopes with natural soil, compared to where I grew up in flat suburbia covered in concrete. While this is good in allowing more water to permeate into soil, it also results in landslides. The problem in this case was that it was occurring on county land but the problem was from natural causes on the private land owners. Due to a lot of the private property not managing their runoff, it allowed for too much water to enter the county's property and destabilized the bankside. Almost in every case we've seen, the water oversaturated the topsoil and then hit a clay layer in which it could no longer penetrate and then slid off the clay layer. The properties we saw were in danger from the slides because once a slide occurs it will try to stabilize which usually involves moving up the slope where the properties were. Mostly, there needed to be some french drains or some way of collecting the water to stop it from heading directly for the slope.
After seeing four properties lining the creek, we went back to the office where Rich came up with an idea for a project to work on. Because he hadn't been there to give me access to the computer and he believed he was repeating a lot of solutions for similar projects that I should create folders to address certain land issues. These would include necessary publications to share, information such as cover crops etc, and a solutions letter. I worked the rest of the day making the letters I had previously worked on more generic. This included generalizing the farming on a slope letter, the landslide letter, and the horse facility letter.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
4-12-11
Because of my schedule this quarter, I am coming in a lot later in the day than I previously have. This meant I am missing out on some of the field appointments I originally would have gotten to go on. The reason this was a problem today was that Rich was out on a field visit when I got to the office. And because its a federal office, I don't have access to the computers when Rich isn't there, meaning there was very little I could do until he arrived. I tried to organize the folders a bit, but the real work didn't start till he got there. At least I got some of my homework done for my other class right?
So basically we did all the things we have been avoiding or haven't gotten done today. The letters I had organized last week, which I thought had been completed and mailed out, were not done. So I had Rich send me everything that might be relevant so I could personalize it to the client and include it in their mailing package. This led to an idea for something I could do when Rich wasn't in the office. We decided that we should create a packet for each type of land use we face that is already prepared to send to clients. These would be Streams/Stream bank erosion, landslides, roads, fire, livestock and drainage control. Rich was talking about how he often feels like he is repeating himself to clients who continue to have similar problems. Once he sent me previous letters he sent to people following up a field visit, I went through and made them more generic. I specifically worked on a horse visit, roads, and hillside farms letters to create spaces where the clients name, dates, details about the property etc. should go. This way, it would make the turnover rate to the clients much quicker. I also worked on a generic summary of most of the problems one sees in Santa Cruz. Rich had previously used it for a presentation four years back so I just organized it and updated it a bit.
I also got to learn about another fun system I could use. Just like the Web Soil Survey, there is a program to help you pick the best seed mix for your property. You can choose based on your location (to know what species are there) and a series of influencing factors such as soil pH, wetness, dryness, salinity, as well as a section based on native vs. non native, irrigated or not, and a few more options. This would then let you choose the percentage of each species. However, I did learn that most people will get upset if you choose perennial grasses. They are known to be expensive and on occasion wont even sprout. So knowing what is best for the client is very important. Also knowing what the property is going to be used for. I noticed fescue being an option. From working on the toxic weeds for horses poster, I remembered that this was a threat to pregnant horses. It would be terrible to recommend someone a pasture mix that would result in killing their horse.
Lastly, we discussed a bit about my senior project. I had originally chosen a client who was at the very beginning of the AWEP stage. Unfortunately, that meant they hadn't registered with the Farm Bureau yet which meant they didn't have a farm number or parcel number. Basically, I wasn't going to be able to map their property or create a Conservation Plan until they did so. So that left me without a particular client. Rich then suggested another one, which I had gone to last quarter. She had various land practices that would allow for a complicated conservation plan and had many elements contributing to their land use. It was also great because I had been to the property and could distinctly remember the issues we had. There had also been no follow up since our field visit except to confirm her interest in the EQIP. So I am now super excited to get started on this senior project. Not only because it means this client is moving forward in her process for funding, but because I know it will be a challenge. I was dreading doing the senior project because I work on the 6 part folders almost everyday. They have a tendency to become bureaucratic and tedious so knowing that I have a complicated, large acreage property to use, I get excited to make the maps.
So basically we did all the things we have been avoiding or haven't gotten done today. The letters I had organized last week, which I thought had been completed and mailed out, were not done. So I had Rich send me everything that might be relevant so I could personalize it to the client and include it in their mailing package. This led to an idea for something I could do when Rich wasn't in the office. We decided that we should create a packet for each type of land use we face that is already prepared to send to clients. These would be Streams/Stream bank erosion, landslides, roads, fire, livestock and drainage control. Rich was talking about how he often feels like he is repeating himself to clients who continue to have similar problems. Once he sent me previous letters he sent to people following up a field visit, I went through and made them more generic. I specifically worked on a horse visit, roads, and hillside farms letters to create spaces where the clients name, dates, details about the property etc. should go. This way, it would make the turnover rate to the clients much quicker. I also worked on a generic summary of most of the problems one sees in Santa Cruz. Rich had previously used it for a presentation four years back so I just organized it and updated it a bit.
I also got to learn about another fun system I could use. Just like the Web Soil Survey, there is a program to help you pick the best seed mix for your property. You can choose based on your location (to know what species are there) and a series of influencing factors such as soil pH, wetness, dryness, salinity, as well as a section based on native vs. non native, irrigated or not, and a few more options. This would then let you choose the percentage of each species. However, I did learn that most people will get upset if you choose perennial grasses. They are known to be expensive and on occasion wont even sprout. So knowing what is best for the client is very important. Also knowing what the property is going to be used for. I noticed fescue being an option. From working on the toxic weeds for horses poster, I remembered that this was a threat to pregnant horses. It would be terrible to recommend someone a pasture mix that would result in killing their horse.
Lastly, we discussed a bit about my senior project. I had originally chosen a client who was at the very beginning of the AWEP stage. Unfortunately, that meant they hadn't registered with the Farm Bureau yet which meant they didn't have a farm number or parcel number. Basically, I wasn't going to be able to map their property or create a Conservation Plan until they did so. So that left me without a particular client. Rich then suggested another one, which I had gone to last quarter. She had various land practices that would allow for a complicated conservation plan and had many elements contributing to their land use. It was also great because I had been to the property and could distinctly remember the issues we had. There had also been no follow up since our field visit except to confirm her interest in the EQIP. So I am now super excited to get started on this senior project. Not only because it means this client is moving forward in her process for funding, but because I know it will be a challenge. I was dreading doing the senior project because I work on the 6 part folders almost everyday. They have a tendency to become bureaucratic and tedious so knowing that I have a complicated, large acreage property to use, I get excited to make the maps.
4-11-11
So I got to end up working today after all. Since we were most likely going to spend all day reviewing the situation with the embankment collapse in Bonny Doon, Rich just picked me up in Santa Cruz and we met up at the Bonny Doon Fire Station with Conrad, a Fish and Game employee as well as Jim, our engineer. There was also Brian from the RCD, who was in charge of the Roads program they have. We went over to the private road that led to the area. I am still unsure whether we were on public land or private land. I knew I overheard some talk about it being on an easement but I don't know whose.
So some history on this project. Rich had been out to see this years in advance, there had always been problems with this one location and erosion. It was after the big Marshall fire right in that area that they started noticing more problems than normal. This was due to the fire wiping out everything that would have usually taken in some of the water. They had created a plan that involved removing the 18 inch culvert for a 3 foot one with another pipe leading down the slope. All of this was to be at a certain angle with 10 inch rock preventing it from eroding. What was in fact done was two 3 foot culverts side by side, without a long enough rock area to prevent erosion, and without a critical dip in case of an overflow.
On the intake side, there was definitely some erosion showing that the pipes were possibly put too low and was allowing the stream to erode the surface. The big problems were on the downstream side. Next to the culverts was a huge gash in the sides where they had fallen into the stream. The rocks were not 10 inches but rather giant boulders which had now also fallen in from the ravine. Most shocking was the fact that two trees were currently lying over the ravine since their root ball had fallen out of the hillside.
The problem with this location is that no one was there to see it. Trying ot figure out what happened so we could avoid it in the future was like attempting to figure out a crime scene. What we seemed to have decided was that because the culvert didn't have a pipe leading down the slope, that the water had moved under the rocks to eat away at the soil. This continued to cut under the rocks leading to a destabilization of the hillsides. This led to them falling into the stream. Another thing we noticed was a large amount of water was not flowing through the culverts. They were actually flowing under the left culvert and out of the cuts where the streambank sides had fallen in. The fact that they water was seeping out showed that it was possible the water was percolating to the clay layer and then moving above the clay layer. This would encourage the land slide we saw.
Another contribution to the flow was actually something I noticed. Being a bit of a scaredy cat, I didn't particularly want to get under the culverts which had so recently had a boulder slide. It didn't seem like a good way to go considering I was only there as an intern. So while they were all looking closely at the culverts, I was looking at the road. The road had originally been pure sand and since Rich's first visit, they had managed to grow some grass on it so that it would have less erosion. They had also installed water bars to direct the water off the road. The exact spot we were also had a layer of hay on it. I was looking at the erosion on the upstream side and was trying to figure out if maybe more water on the upstream was having an effect. It was then that I noticed all the hay was pointing the same direction from the road to the upstream side. I felt just like Aragorn in Lord of the Rings when he's tracking the hobbits (geeky I know). I had managed to figure out something I had not seen from clues shown on the land. It was really exciting to know that I had found a clue in the larger mystery of what happened at those culverts on the 26th.
There was a lot of discussion of next steps on this project. The RCD did have funds for road improvement, but they believed this would be a much larger scale than they usually did. There was also an issue of that this was not the first time everyone had been out to see this. The fact that Fish and Game had ignored the first time NRCS had supplied them with a plan was not working in their favor. However, there was also a discussion that a lot of the materials were already available since they used the same products, just didn't install them correctly. The following are some of the pictures from the location. You can truly see how bad the damage was.
So some history on this project. Rich had been out to see this years in advance, there had always been problems with this one location and erosion. It was after the big Marshall fire right in that area that they started noticing more problems than normal. This was due to the fire wiping out everything that would have usually taken in some of the water. They had created a plan that involved removing the 18 inch culvert for a 3 foot one with another pipe leading down the slope. All of this was to be at a certain angle with 10 inch rock preventing it from eroding. What was in fact done was two 3 foot culverts side by side, without a long enough rock area to prevent erosion, and without a critical dip in case of an overflow.
On the intake side, there was definitely some erosion showing that the pipes were possibly put too low and was allowing the stream to erode the surface. The big problems were on the downstream side. Next to the culverts was a huge gash in the sides where they had fallen into the stream. The rocks were not 10 inches but rather giant boulders which had now also fallen in from the ravine. Most shocking was the fact that two trees were currently lying over the ravine since their root ball had fallen out of the hillside.
The problem with this location is that no one was there to see it. Trying ot figure out what happened so we could avoid it in the future was like attempting to figure out a crime scene. What we seemed to have decided was that because the culvert didn't have a pipe leading down the slope, that the water had moved under the rocks to eat away at the soil. This continued to cut under the rocks leading to a destabilization of the hillsides. This led to them falling into the stream. Another thing we noticed was a large amount of water was not flowing through the culverts. They were actually flowing under the left culvert and out of the cuts where the streambank sides had fallen in. The fact that they water was seeping out showed that it was possible the water was percolating to the clay layer and then moving above the clay layer. This would encourage the land slide we saw.
Another contribution to the flow was actually something I noticed. Being a bit of a scaredy cat, I didn't particularly want to get under the culverts which had so recently had a boulder slide. It didn't seem like a good way to go considering I was only there as an intern. So while they were all looking closely at the culverts, I was looking at the road. The road had originally been pure sand and since Rich's first visit, they had managed to grow some grass on it so that it would have less erosion. They had also installed water bars to direct the water off the road. The exact spot we were also had a layer of hay on it. I was looking at the erosion on the upstream side and was trying to figure out if maybe more water on the upstream was having an effect. It was then that I noticed all the hay was pointing the same direction from the road to the upstream side. I felt just like Aragorn in Lord of the Rings when he's tracking the hobbits (geeky I know). I had managed to figure out something I had not seen from clues shown on the land. It was really exciting to know that I had found a clue in the larger mystery of what happened at those culverts on the 26th.
There was a lot of discussion of next steps on this project. The RCD did have funds for road improvement, but they believed this would be a much larger scale than they usually did. There was also an issue of that this was not the first time everyone had been out to see this. The fact that Fish and Game had ignored the first time NRCS had supplied them with a plan was not working in their favor. However, there was also a discussion that a lot of the materials were already available since they used the same products, just didn't install them correctly. The following are some of the pictures from the location. You can truly see how bad the damage was.
4-6-11
After a day in the field, you know there is a lot of office work to do the day that follows. Because I wasn't really feeling invested in the first field visit yesterday, I took the beginning of the day to get more details on what exactly we had decided for that property. Because so much was already known to Rich from working with the client before, not all the information had been said out loud in front of Angie and I. Turns out the neighbor had sold his land and due to the buyer foreclosing, had received the property again. He had also deep tilled his property so it was creating even more runoff where as a non tilled property would have been able to take in the water coming from the clients property. There had also been some confusion of what practices we were going to do. Basically, this was going to be an intensive project involving leveling one side of the field, taking almost 1/3 of the property out of production and then installing a french drain that would collect the water and pipe it to the other side of the property where there was a natural area to disperse it to allow it to become sheet flow. I definitely felt a lot happier about the project once I fully understood the history and the suggested projects. It is difficult to decide what may be the best option if u are unaware of the property's history.
I also discussed more about the poisonous plants for horses poster. Even though I am no longer doing it as my senior project, I still wanted to have something I could contribute to the RCD and NRCS. Plus, there is a poster symposium and workshop on campus that I thought would be fun to do. This solves the problem of trying to find time to work with Angie (RCD) in the office on creating the style of the poster. We had decided a while ago it would be 10 plants shown, as well as the symptoms, the severity, and how to manage it. I talked to George today, the "plant guy" despite being focused in restoration ecology, about which plants to use. I expect to hear back from him what he believes is the most common in the Santa Cruz area. From there, I plan to get in touch with the veterinarian who has been involved with the livestock and land program about what she sees most often. We plan on putting her name at the bottom as an incentive.
Then we were off to the Soquel water district office to hear the RCD's road plan. I was expecting it to be a discussion of the roads program they have. It actuality it was a ranking of the various projects that have said they have an interest in getting grant money to improve their roads. Most of the projects involved better culverts or replacements of current culverts. They were ranked based on their cost, the amount of effect they would have (either on a high number of people or how far into the watershed they were). There were a lot of projects done in pretty remote areas, but because they would improve turbidity downstream in valuable steel head and coho habitat, they were ranked higher. The RCD expects that they should be able to fund them all. We also saw project successes one of which was attached to the building. They had used last years grant money to install a rain garden and catchment system to the Water District building. One of the most interesting things I saw them do was put crates underground to create more space to hold water underground.
Lastly they presented us with a very recent project resulting from the rains on the 26th. I had previously seen these pictures when they were sent to Rich requesting for assistance, but seeing them after a discussion of these roads and putting it in context, I realized how bad the situation was. The problem was an incorrect culvert was installed after ignoring a design created by the NRCS which had resulted in the side of the waterway to fall in, and this isn't just feet. This was the loss of a few square yards on each side and two full trees. It comes to show you how a change in grade in a culvert or a deviation from an engineered plan can make a huge differences. Rich also informed me that we were going to go look at this project on Monday, if the government allowed it.
Starting this internship, Rich had always guaranteed me that working for the federal government has the highest job security. Now 3.5 months later, we were looking at furlough days with an unknown deadline. Its amazing how much can change in a short amount of time. I knew that unemployment was at a new high, but I never thought they would completely shut down the government. And yet, I was told I was to call in before I came to my internship to make sure I could still show up. Rich was desperately trying to considered as emergency response (they could still work on Monday) since he was responding to people with landslide or property issues relating to the storm. It truly amazed me how much he enjoys his job. Rather than relishing in a day off, he was not just waiting to find out if he could work on Monday, but advocating for a chance to help more people. I found truly inspirational that there are still some people out there who truly enjoy what they do everyday.
I also discussed more about the poisonous plants for horses poster. Even though I am no longer doing it as my senior project, I still wanted to have something I could contribute to the RCD and NRCS. Plus, there is a poster symposium and workshop on campus that I thought would be fun to do. This solves the problem of trying to find time to work with Angie (RCD) in the office on creating the style of the poster. We had decided a while ago it would be 10 plants shown, as well as the symptoms, the severity, and how to manage it. I talked to George today, the "plant guy" despite being focused in restoration ecology, about which plants to use. I expect to hear back from him what he believes is the most common in the Santa Cruz area. From there, I plan to get in touch with the veterinarian who has been involved with the livestock and land program about what she sees most often. We plan on putting her name at the bottom as an incentive.
Then we were off to the Soquel water district office to hear the RCD's road plan. I was expecting it to be a discussion of the roads program they have. It actuality it was a ranking of the various projects that have said they have an interest in getting grant money to improve their roads. Most of the projects involved better culverts or replacements of current culverts. They were ranked based on their cost, the amount of effect they would have (either on a high number of people or how far into the watershed they were). There were a lot of projects done in pretty remote areas, but because they would improve turbidity downstream in valuable steel head and coho habitat, they were ranked higher. The RCD expects that they should be able to fund them all. We also saw project successes one of which was attached to the building. They had used last years grant money to install a rain garden and catchment system to the Water District building. One of the most interesting things I saw them do was put crates underground to create more space to hold water underground.
Lastly they presented us with a very recent project resulting from the rains on the 26th. I had previously seen these pictures when they were sent to Rich requesting for assistance, but seeing them after a discussion of these roads and putting it in context, I realized how bad the situation was. The problem was an incorrect culvert was installed after ignoring a design created by the NRCS which had resulted in the side of the waterway to fall in, and this isn't just feet. This was the loss of a few square yards on each side and two full trees. It comes to show you how a change in grade in a culvert or a deviation from an engineered plan can make a huge differences. Rich also informed me that we were going to go look at this project on Monday, if the government allowed it.
Starting this internship, Rich had always guaranteed me that working for the federal government has the highest job security. Now 3.5 months later, we were looking at furlough days with an unknown deadline. Its amazing how much can change in a short amount of time. I knew that unemployment was at a new high, but I never thought they would completely shut down the government. And yet, I was told I was to call in before I came to my internship to make sure I could still show up. Rich was desperately trying to considered as emergency response (they could still work on Monday) since he was responding to people with landslide or property issues relating to the storm. It truly amazed me how much he enjoys his job. Rather than relishing in a day off, he was not just waiting to find out if he could work on Monday, but advocating for a chance to help more people. I found truly inspirational that there are still some people out there who truly enjoy what they do everyday.
4-5-11
Today we had two field visits. The first was apparently a project they had discussed 10 years ago but faced a problem with a neighbor not allowing a pipe through his property. Now 10 years later, the neighbor is back and complaining about the water running off onto his property. The field is currently being rented out to a strawberry grower and is completely lined with plastic. The slope of the property means that all the water gathers on one side of the property. This combined with the plastic means a lot of water is heading to the neighbors property. Since piping it through his property was not an option last time, we decided that this time there could be some regrading and then a sediment pond with controlled releases. While this is one of the most extensive projects and well defined field visits we've done, I was not really feeling useful. Most of the meeting was discussing what was an option before and a lot of it was technical. I definitely benefited from hearing what the solution was to the problem but didn't have anything to contribute because it was so technical.
The next visit was so interesting mostly because of the location. It was in the Aptos area off a private road and had a pasture next to the house. But the most noticeable thing I saw was the 3 llamas lining the road way. Overall this was an incredible property, but we were there to address their land issues. The issue this land owner was having was a stream running through the middle of the pasture. Because of the amount of rain we had, it had grown to be rather large and she had moved the horses out of the pasture because it was unsafe due to unstable ground. That resulted in the grass growing really high, higher than the horses would probably eat. The solution for her land was to pick a better seed mix and to possibly fence off the stream. In reality, it is most likely against the law that the horses were in the pasture at all. When there is a waterway on a property with horses, there are a lot of issues regarding manure. While they had been put in the sacrifice area (a smaller location for the winter so they don't destroy the field) she had been gathering the manure to put in a compost pile. But during the year when they have free range of the pasture, she was not collecting the manure. We suggested maybe splitting the pasture so that the stream was no longer an option. Of course this would be difficult considering it was directly in the middle.
Overall, the day ended well. I think one of the best benefits from this job not pertaining to what I'm learning is the opportunity to see parts of Santa Cruz county I would not normally be allowed to. This was a private road location and we were welcomed onto their land with their permission. It is truly lucky that we get welcomed in considering how wary most people are of the federal government walking around their property. It truly shows the reputation the NRCS carries.
The next visit was so interesting mostly because of the location. It was in the Aptos area off a private road and had a pasture next to the house. But the most noticeable thing I saw was the 3 llamas lining the road way. Overall this was an incredible property, but we were there to address their land issues. The issue this land owner was having was a stream running through the middle of the pasture. Because of the amount of rain we had, it had grown to be rather large and she had moved the horses out of the pasture because it was unsafe due to unstable ground. That resulted in the grass growing really high, higher than the horses would probably eat. The solution for her land was to pick a better seed mix and to possibly fence off the stream. In reality, it is most likely against the law that the horses were in the pasture at all. When there is a waterway on a property with horses, there are a lot of issues regarding manure. While they had been put in the sacrifice area (a smaller location for the winter so they don't destroy the field) she had been gathering the manure to put in a compost pile. But during the year when they have free range of the pasture, she was not collecting the manure. We suggested maybe splitting the pasture so that the stream was no longer an option. Of course this would be difficult considering it was directly in the middle.
Overall, the day ended well. I think one of the best benefits from this job not pertaining to what I'm learning is the opportunity to see parts of Santa Cruz county I would not normally be allowed to. This was a private road location and we were welcomed onto their land with their permission. It is truly lucky that we get welcomed in considering how wary most people are of the federal government walking around their property. It truly shows the reputation the NRCS carries.
Monday, April 11, 2011
4-4-11
One of the joys of working at this internship 12-15 hours a week means that there is a strong continuation of the work you do. You are able to participate in the request for assistance to the conservation plan, and possibly even the start of the practices. Today was a follow up day from all the field visits from the week before. Because Rich doesn't work on Fridays, and I work Monday through Wednesday, I feel like I usually get to see everything he works on. It also seems like there are certain things he will save for the days where us interns are in to finish. Today my major task was creating envelopes to send out to the four field visits with the information we had promised them. I worked on making soil maps for the clients and finding various information such as a brochure on the EWP and create a database of possible geotech engineers to help with building environmental retaining walls, as well as plants that would be useful on hillsides without creating a load weight. There was also a general letter from Rich telling them it was information following up the field visit. We also included relevant publications the NRCS and RCD had made about drainage near homes and fire control. Overall this was an extremely slow day for me and I got the feeling that Rich was really busy, but unable to delegate work to me. Because of the huge storm event, he was doing a lot of work contacting the large amount of people asking for help with landslides and road damage. This wasn't something I could help him with so I felt a bit unnecessary today. I really wished I had been able to help take some of the work, or possibly search through the NRCS databases to find applications these clients needed but occasionally there is work that I am not legally allowed to do. I guess its part of working for the federal department and from lacking experience.
3-30-11
This past weekend we had a huge storm pass through Santa Cruz and it created a lot of work for the NRCS and the RCD. Many properties were damaged due to a lot of water runoff and today was all about trying to find ways to resolve that. It was also the first day I met the other intern for this quarter, Michelle, who was doing a 2 unit to get more experience. The first house we saw was in a residential area overlooking the Santa Cruz bay. It was a small property and the issue was the huge slope in their backyard. They had a large deck and starting at the edge of the deck there was a slide in the middle of their backyard slope. It was about 1/3 of the backyard with one of the other sides covered with ice plant and the base of the backyard going into a nature area. So there was no damage to any property below, but there was a concern for the destabilized hillside and the large pile of soil at the base of it. When looking at the stratification of the soil where the slide occured, you could see that the first 18 inches or so which had slid, was sandy surface soil while below that was a clay layer. What Rich decided was that water moving from the front yard and through the deck had gone into the soil, hit the clay layer, and moved forward taking the soil with it, resulting in the slide.
I learned that the short term options for a landslide like this was very small. Basically there was a ponding of water where the soil was gathered at the bottom of the slide. Rich recommended that the landowner try to keep that dry so that the hillside will not become further destabilized. Long term, they had been considering a retaining wall at the base of the deck to keep the soil under the deck from exposing the foundations. The problem with this is that unless it was engineered correctly, water would build up pressure behind it and cause it to collapse. The suggestion was to build the retaining wall with piping to remove the water pressure behind it. Another suggestion was to put a french drain under the entire front yard to move the water from just going along the clay layer. Once the hillside was restabilized, there should be planting of non heavy woody plants with a deep root system but not too much weight on the hillside. Also to find fire and drought resistant plants which is always a concern in the Santa Cruz area. Overall, I found this visit to be one thats extremely frustrating for the landowner and costly in the future.
The next visit was probably even more frustrating for all parties. We went to a property that bordered a creek and owned the property to the middle of the creek. The problem was that this creek was below a 150 foot cliff next to the house and was continuing to eat away at the cliff side, making the property next to the house unstable. There was very little that the NRCS can do, because the project would be a very large scale. She had already lost part of the property to it falling into the creek. The creek was creating a meandering patter which had the thalwag (the point where if the water is low will continue going also where there is the most velocity) was coming against the cliff side and continued erroding it. I definitely got to apply my restoration ecology terms such as thalweg and oxbow lake to this property since my professors experience was in river restoration. The only thing we could offer her was an entry into the Emergency Watershed Program, which has funding from the government to help these large scale projects endangering a valuable waterway. The client was mostly concerned with losing parts of the property and her safety and was willing to help in any way possible.
I think today was the first time I had seen severe problems that we necessarily weren't able to provide a large amount of help. It was frustrating for me to know that there was so little help for someone fearful for their house falling into a creek and had very little control over mother nature, which in this case was the nature meandering pattern of the creek. Angie pointed out that she did buy a property next to the cliff, but through being environmentally friendly through allowing the river to take its general course is now coming back to threaten her home.
Lastly, we headed to the Santa Cruz Farm Bureau where they had a guest lecturer discuss the benefits of lined furrows in strawberry plants. The main concern of this groups is the Pajaro Valley watershed and refilling aquifers to use for irrigation of agriculture in the area. The study showed that there was an decrease in runoff and the need for a sediment pond as well as an increase in water refilling the ground water. It was interesting to hear how the environmental practices are also the most cost effective in the long run. When you are discussing land manangement with farmers, they are going to care less about being a good steward of the land and more about the most cost effective way for them to farm. It is really important that this group realizes they need to be concerned for groundwater before they have a drought.
I learned that the short term options for a landslide like this was very small. Basically there was a ponding of water where the soil was gathered at the bottom of the slide. Rich recommended that the landowner try to keep that dry so that the hillside will not become further destabilized. Long term, they had been considering a retaining wall at the base of the deck to keep the soil under the deck from exposing the foundations. The problem with this is that unless it was engineered correctly, water would build up pressure behind it and cause it to collapse. The suggestion was to build the retaining wall with piping to remove the water pressure behind it. Another suggestion was to put a french drain under the entire front yard to move the water from just going along the clay layer. Once the hillside was restabilized, there should be planting of non heavy woody plants with a deep root system but not too much weight on the hillside. Also to find fire and drought resistant plants which is always a concern in the Santa Cruz area. Overall, I found this visit to be one thats extremely frustrating for the landowner and costly in the future.
The next visit was probably even more frustrating for all parties. We went to a property that bordered a creek and owned the property to the middle of the creek. The problem was that this creek was below a 150 foot cliff next to the house and was continuing to eat away at the cliff side, making the property next to the house unstable. There was very little that the NRCS can do, because the project would be a very large scale. She had already lost part of the property to it falling into the creek. The creek was creating a meandering patter which had the thalwag (the point where if the water is low will continue going also where there is the most velocity) was coming against the cliff side and continued erroding it. I definitely got to apply my restoration ecology terms such as thalweg and oxbow lake to this property since my professors experience was in river restoration. The only thing we could offer her was an entry into the Emergency Watershed Program, which has funding from the government to help these large scale projects endangering a valuable waterway. The client was mostly concerned with losing parts of the property and her safety and was willing to help in any way possible.
I think today was the first time I had seen severe problems that we necessarily weren't able to provide a large amount of help. It was frustrating for me to know that there was so little help for someone fearful for their house falling into a creek and had very little control over mother nature, which in this case was the nature meandering pattern of the creek. Angie pointed out that she did buy a property next to the cliff, but through being environmentally friendly through allowing the river to take its general course is now coming back to threaten her home.
Lastly, we headed to the Santa Cruz Farm Bureau where they had a guest lecturer discuss the benefits of lined furrows in strawberry plants. The main concern of this groups is the Pajaro Valley watershed and refilling aquifers to use for irrigation of agriculture in the area. The study showed that there was an decrease in runoff and the need for a sediment pond as well as an increase in water refilling the ground water. It was interesting to hear how the environmental practices are also the most cost effective in the long run. When you are discussing land manangement with farmers, they are going to care less about being a good steward of the land and more about the most cost effective way for them to farm. It is really important that this group realizes they need to be concerned for groundwater before they have a drought.
3-29-11
Today was one of those days at work that make me realize that sometimes I am a bit un-prepared. I haven't really thought too much about a "work dresscode" meaning I usually wear what I was wearing earlier that day. That has left me in a tough spot once before when I was walking around someone's property in flip flops and trying to not slip down a hillside. Since then, I had tried to make sure I wore closed toe shoes, but this time, I was wearing shorts.
The property we went to first was a hillside property hoping to have pastures for horses, either through a circle pasture to run them or a possible one into the forest. The first idea was a discussion of permits. How close can a pasture be to a well? These are one of those times we realize that there are rules you must comply with before you decide "this is my property and I can do whatever I please with it." There was also a problem with a huge amount of springs "daylighting" to the surface around the area. This meant that there were concerns of contaminating waterways with horse manure as well as unsteady ground and erosion due to these springs. The other idea the client had was to put a pasture in the forest. Right away I knew that was not the best idea. First, the ways were treacherous (I definitely slipped trying to walk up through the springs popping up) and then from working on the toxic weeds poster I noticed a large amount of acorns on the ground, which are known to cause colic and death in horses. It was also around this time that I looked at Angie and said "Hey Angie, thats poison oak isn't it?" And which she replied, "Yes I'm pretty sure it is. Also watch out for ticks." Great. I was now slipping in mud, tramping through poison oak, and had to regularly check my body for little black bugs burrowing into my skin. Definitely not what I had planned on doing that day when I heard we were having a horse visit.
We discussed a bit more about creating a trails system around the property as a sort of "pasture" which would include fencing on both sides to keep the horses from the dangerous hillside. We also reviewed a lined waterway that had been built on the property. It was not finished yet but was a great start to controlling runoff and erosion on a hillside property. It had softball sized rock with filter fabric underneath and led to a culvert with a large slotted fence in front to catch debri. It was an excellent project to see, and while NRCS weren't the ones who designed/recommended it, it was the first time I had gotten to see a finished product of the type of projects we recommend.
The next property we looked at was a small farm that was already CCOF certified and was looking for anything that would help make their farm more environmentally friendly. Overall, they had already done a lot that we recommend such as crop rotation, well managed drip irrigation, lined furrows. Basically they were interested in finding a way to improve their road. Measures were discussed about organic sprays that keep the dust from the road down, or rerouting it to a different location farther from the crops. The following is some of the pictures of the road where throughcuts are evident.
an example of the drip irrigation
The property we went to first was a hillside property hoping to have pastures for horses, either through a circle pasture to run them or a possible one into the forest. The first idea was a discussion of permits. How close can a pasture be to a well? These are one of those times we realize that there are rules you must comply with before you decide "this is my property and I can do whatever I please with it." There was also a problem with a huge amount of springs "daylighting" to the surface around the area. This meant that there were concerns of contaminating waterways with horse manure as well as unsteady ground and erosion due to these springs. The other idea the client had was to put a pasture in the forest. Right away I knew that was not the best idea. First, the ways were treacherous (I definitely slipped trying to walk up through the springs popping up) and then from working on the toxic weeds poster I noticed a large amount of acorns on the ground, which are known to cause colic and death in horses. It was also around this time that I looked at Angie and said "Hey Angie, thats poison oak isn't it?" And which she replied, "Yes I'm pretty sure it is. Also watch out for ticks." Great. I was now slipping in mud, tramping through poison oak, and had to regularly check my body for little black bugs burrowing into my skin. Definitely not what I had planned on doing that day when I heard we were having a horse visit.
We discussed a bit more about creating a trails system around the property as a sort of "pasture" which would include fencing on both sides to keep the horses from the dangerous hillside. We also reviewed a lined waterway that had been built on the property. It was not finished yet but was a great start to controlling runoff and erosion on a hillside property. It had softball sized rock with filter fabric underneath and led to a culvert with a large slotted fence in front to catch debri. It was an excellent project to see, and while NRCS weren't the ones who designed/recommended it, it was the first time I had gotten to see a finished product of the type of projects we recommend.
The next property we looked at was a small farm that was already CCOF certified and was looking for anything that would help make their farm more environmentally friendly. Overall, they had already done a lot that we recommend such as crop rotation, well managed drip irrigation, lined furrows. Basically they were interested in finding a way to improve their road. Measures were discussed about organic sprays that keep the dust from the road down, or rerouting it to a different location farther from the crops. The following is some of the pictures of the road where throughcuts are evident.
an example of the drip irrigation
3-28-11
So my first day back was not one filled with a ton of excitement. It was more like a day to get back into the groove of things and adjust to having Angie (the new employee who was part time before break) around for more of the time. Basically the deadline for AWEP applications were coming up so we spent most of the day adding more paperwork to the six part folder. I created folders for those who had only so far been a few correspondance note and a request for assistance paper clipped together and made them official folders. We also worked a bit on mapping the sites, since a majority of them were already in the system. This included property, CNDDB, and Soil maps (not from the web soil, but through GIS) to add to their folders. We also prepared for the field visits the next day.
I definitely was feeling very unmotivated at work today. I know there are often days where it is exciting and we go out into the field, but I also get really tired of working on the six part folders. I originally had planned on working on a toxic weeds poster as my senior project. I knew it would be useful to the RCD and NRCS and wanted to have something I contributed back to them. However, the more time I spend working on the folders, I realize why every intern before submits one of those folders as their senior project. It is because it is the single most item you have the most familiarity with and because it covers every aspect of the internship, whether its communicating with the clients, notes from the field, maps, and conservation plans. All of the work we do is put in paper form as one of these folders. And while they get tedious and I definitely get irritated with updating them and organizing them with the checklist, they are absolutely necessary to the job. Which is why I have now changed over to a six part folder for my senior project.
I definitely was feeling very unmotivated at work today. I know there are often days where it is exciting and we go out into the field, but I also get really tired of working on the six part folders. I originally had planned on working on a toxic weeds poster as my senior project. I knew it would be useful to the RCD and NRCS and wanted to have something I contributed back to them. However, the more time I spend working on the folders, I realize why every intern before submits one of those folders as their senior project. It is because it is the single most item you have the most familiarity with and because it covers every aspect of the internship, whether its communicating with the clients, notes from the field, maps, and conservation plans. All of the work we do is put in paper form as one of these folders. And while they get tedious and I definitely get irritated with updating them and organizing them with the checklist, they are absolutely necessary to the job. Which is why I have now changed over to a six part folder for my senior project.
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