Property Owner Strives to Repair Decades of Erosion from the Surrounding and Unrestrained Development.

 

Recommendations for Correction And Remediation

 There are 4 main issues affecting ecological stability of this property.

1.     The expansion of the catchment area around the property by extended hardscape and rooflines has vastly exceeded the capacity of the woodland to absorb or buffer.

2.  The volume of water delivered to the property is unrestricted regardless of duration or intensity of weather events.
3. The catchment landscape source of runoff has no infiltration mechanisms or back slopes to slow, delay, or retain the water, causing a high transfer rate across the property and the resulting catastrophic erosion.
4.  The quality of the water is highly questionable due to the source being parking lots, streets, driveways, and chemically treated turf.

Issues for correction

Public Works

• The volume of water entering the property must be reduced.
• The speed at which the water enters the property must be reduced.
• The quality of the water entering the property must be improved

Ecological Restoration

• The soil profile needs to be repaired to its original state and planted with native species of grasses, perennials, trees, and shrubs to stabilize the landscape.
• The topography of the property, especially with in and around the drainage ravine, needs ecologically clean fill at appropriate slopes suitable to the silt loam soil.  This will include numerous terraces, swales, berms, and infiltration ponds on contour.
•  Swells and berms on contour would be best installed across the entire property.
•  A creek bed must be installed atop the newly repaired drainage area. Numerous check dams and ponds will allow for water cleaning plants and improved ecological services to the woodland environment.
• To ensure proper drainage of extreme weather events, overflow and first flush mechanisms must be used atop a deep underground pipe for transfer of the water off the property. It would seem reasonable that this pipe should run the length of the property, and perhaps extended beyond, to protect the ecology of the woodland and deter a reoccurrence of the present situation.
•  Properties outside the DMGL Woodland must be required to accept and infiltrate a majority of their rainwater into the landscape on site.
• Drainage onto the DMGL property that is not according to a legal easement must immediately cease.
•  Wattle fences and check dams should cross all newly eroded areas and drainage points.