Soil, Water, and Air

Industrial development at SRS has caused some significant erosion and watershed problems.  Parking lots, buildings, and other developments have changed the natural flow of water, and as a result many drainage channels have failed.  Continued replacement of site facilities as well as closure of old ones is also causing substantial water and sediment runoff.  To address this issue, USFS-SR implements DOE’s stewardship strategy by restoring watersheds, providing expert technical advise, educating the workforce through technology transfer, and by preparing comprehensive plans and inventories.

With the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, USFS-SR is correcting many of these problems.  Techniques such as hand-seeding, mechanical seedling with no surface disturbance, liming, fertilization, mulching, planting trees and shrubs, constructing drainage structures, and installing erosion control mats are used to establish vegetation and control flows.

One of USFS-SR’s major missions is to provide technical support to other onsite groups responsible for soil and water protection.  This is done by conducting workshops on erosion control and conservation, helping develop sediment and erosion control plans, and providing day-to-day advise on erosion control methods.  Although USFS-SR is not the organization responsible for many of these projects which result in erosion, it helps projects managers do a better job by teaching them the best technology.

USFS-SR is currently stressing the need for a systematic approach to repairing eroded areas across the site.  Areas are inventoried, problems are described, priorities are established, and costs are estimated.  USFS-SR is preparing plans to cover the industrial and administrative sites first.  When a plan is done, the manager of custodian of the areas works with USFS-SR to implement the plan.  The entire Site will be covered by a plan within 10 years.  By having these plans in place, USFS-SR will be able to select the most critical projects to complete, and be able to deal with the causes of erosion rather than just the results.

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