Serving
Erosion Control Professionals In Arizona, California, Nevada
and Hawaii
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Get Ready for Ahupua’a
The Western Chapter will explore erosion control and
stormwater management issues in Hawai’i in context of the ancient
Hawaiian concept of ahupua’a. The conference will
be held December 12-15, 2006, at the Sheraton Waikiki
in Honolulu.
Ahupua’a is an ancient Hawaiian land division representing
from the “mountain to the sea.” These land
divisions, often entire valleys, radiated from the interior
uplands,
down through deep valleys, and past the shoreline into
the sea, encompassing a watershed.
The zones within the ahupua’a provided a continuum
of conditions in terms of rainfall, soils, and species of
vegetation, provided diverse natural products, and supported
a variety of crops and domestic animals. Each ahupua’a
contained nearly all the resources needed for survival.
Fresh water resources were managed carefully for drinking,
bathing,
and irrigation. Wild and cultivated plants provided food,
clothing, household goods, canoes, weapons, etc. Many land
and sea creatures utilized for food also provided bones,
teeth, skin, and feathers for tools, crafts, and ornamentation.
At the Western Chapter Ahupua’a
Conference, presentations
by local and invited experts speakers will explore the
theme of the relationship between the land and the sea
with a focus
on erosion and sediment control, and storm water pollution
prevention to protect the soil and water resources.
Three conference tracks will focus on the Ahupua’a,
Erosion Control Basics and Soils and Vegetation with about
10 technical papers in each. A field trip to Diamond Head
will give attendees an opportunity to see demonstrations
of the techniques discussed in the technical sessions. A
highlight of the conference’s social and networking
activities will be a luau with traditional foods and entertainment.
In the Ahupua’a track we will follow the water down
hill through the watershed exploring issues from mountain
trail maintenance to native fish ponds and have speakers
to detail the history of the ahupua’a.
The erosion control basics track will include presentations
for beginner and intermediate erosion control professional
and applied case studies in the Hawaiian landscapes from
riparian corridor restoration to management of feral ungulates.
Finally, in the Soils and Vegetation track we will examine
some of the issues associated with tropical soils and native
plant restoration.° 
Sandy Mathews, WCIECA Secretary & Director
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, (925)
423-6679,
° Sources used in the article Get
Ready for Ahupua’a:
Web Sites:
http://www.saveourseas.org/aboutAhupaa.htm
http://www.hawaiitimeline.com
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/kona/history1g.htm
Books:
A Cultural History of Three Traditional Hawaiian Sites
on the West Coast of Hawai’i
Island
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Advance
Photos from the Ahupua'a Conference Site
 |
 |
| Attention to detail: Ahupua’a Conference
Planning Committee members surfing the break before
approving the Sheraton Waikiki as conference headquarters. |
Cathy McPhillips of Earth Saver® serving on
the WCIECA Ahupua’a Conference advance team
which converged on Honolulu in November 2005 to scope
out potential sites. |
 |
 |
| Poolside at the Sheraton Waikiki for impromptu
break-out
meetings. |
|
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President’s Message
Hope to see you in Hawaii!
“
From the Mountains to the Sea,” Ahupua’a in
Honolulu, HI is fast approaching. Scheduled for December
13-15, 2006, this inaugural conference is sure to be an
exciting venue. I encourage you to urge all of your erosion
and sediment control professional associates to attend.
Also, be sure to join us for the Scholarship Golf Tournament
on December 12th, in Aiea, HI, prior to the conference.
This fundraiser will make it possible for our Western Chapter
Scholarship Program to assist a deserving college student
majoring in the field of soil erosion control.
I would also like to thank past board members: Mike Chase,
Joe Crea and Laurie Barnes for their dedication and service
to our Chapter.
Congratulations to our new board members: Mike Alberson
and Craig Benson. A special thank you goes to our re-elected
board members: Sandy Mathews and Peter McRae, for their
additional commitment to our board.
Participation in local events and chapter committees
gives greatly needed support to the issues that concern
us all.
Join in and help raise public awareness of our great
organization.
Tony Pitts, WCIECA President & Director
Earth Saver® Erosion
Control Products, (530) 662-7700,
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The Return of Flight of Discovery
 |
| The Flight of Discovery crew that flew the 2nd half
of the Lewis and Clark Trail pose with local well-wishers
who came out to greet the team and present a gift to
mark the occasion. |
I had just finished teaching the CPSWQ review class with
Carol Forrest in Denver at StormCon. We had been reviewing
our performance over a glass of wine when Carol said
to me: “It’s too bad you’re not going
on the Flight of Discovery (FOD) this year, are you sure
you can’t go?” Well I had only been back
10 days from a 20-day whirlwind trip to England, Ireland
and Italy. I had been in Denver for a week and the FOD
was only four weeks away. I had previously participated
in the FOD’s 2004 Expedition that followed the
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail from St. Louis,
MO to Astoria, OR. I told Carol I just wasn’t sure
how I could work it out for the full trip, which this
year amounted to a two-week return trip from Astoria
to St. Louis. I thought, just maybe, I could meet them
half way. Carol spoke up: “That would be great
because part of the water quality sampling crew has to
leave at the Mandan Villages (New Town, ND) and you could
take their place helping me sample from the helicopter.”
I should tell you that the Flight of Discovery is a group
of volunteer pilots and scientists whose goals are to use
the framework of National Historic Trail system – from
2004-06 it’s been the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial – to
raise awareness of cultural and environmental issues. Through
their expeditions the crew members provide educational
opportunities for people along the flight routes. We’ve
been doing these expeditions since 2004 and we use aircraft
because they get us along the Trail quicker: Lewis and
Clark took three years. Our trip typically takes 2-3 weeks.
Aircraft, particularly helicopters, give us the unique
ability to access remote areas for photography and sampling.
From 1,500 feet one gains a perspective on the interconnected
nature of the environment that you just don’t get
from the ground.
One of the many activities that were conducted on this
year’s expedition was Carol’s “Native
Waters Project”. Mike Harding and Carol had conceived
the idea of sampling and analyzing tributary waters all
along the Lewis and Clark Trail; a total of around 75 major
confluences, such as the Columbia-Snake Rivers, the Yellowstone-Missouri
Rivers, to name a few. Carol and her flight instructor,
Peter Simpson planned to swoop down in their Robinson-44
helicopter above the tributary branches of a confluence
and then to the downstream mixing zone. A water quality
technician in the back of the chopper would lower a probe
to collect samples that would be analyzed for a variety
of constituents. The idea was to provide the data to natural
resource professionals so that they have additional information
on which to make future policy decisions on the preservation
or protection of our collective water resources.
As we finished our drinks I told Carol that I would have
to shuffle some things around but that I would be able
to join up with the crew at New Town, ND for the second
week’s sampling activities. She told me to contact
Mike Harding, (her husband and FOD leader) when I got back
and see if we could work it out. We continued to talk about
stormwater, but the conversation always seemed to drift
back to flying helicopters and airplanes.
When I got back home I called Mike and he was excited
that I had decided to join the FOD for the second leg of
the
trip. I went to the preflight meeting on Wednesday August
9th for the San Diego-based planes. Coordination and logistics
are always the key issues and this meeting was no exception.
Details of each expedition are worked out well in advance,
but it’s always up to the crew to put them in motion.
Mike led the fixed wing aircraft out of Montgomery Field
in San Diego the next morning. Carol flew her helicopter
out of Palomar Airport in Carlsbad with two other aircraft.
Eventually, all the aircraft and ground crews arrived in
Vancouver, WA on Friday evening August 11th and began preparations
for departures up the Trail on Monday August 14th.
On Sunday morning August 13th, during a pre-expedition
flight for photography purposes, two of the FOD helicopters
flew to the Oregon Coast near Astoria. As Mike and other
crew members waited on the shore for the aircraft’s’ arrival,
Carol and Peter, along with videographer Todd Lilburn crashed
into the ocean about a mile offshore.
That evening the Crew held a meeting back in Vancouver.
Someone suggested that they take a vote as to whether to
continue on, but Mike suggested that to go on or stay was
equally courageous and not subject to a vote. “These
expeditions are voluntary and have always been about individual
choices and responsibilities,” Mike said. “Whether
you go on the ground or in the air, it’s up to each
one of you to make that decision”. Mike suggested
that the Crew should proceed onward but that he and his
son Lee needed to stay behind to take care of the arrangements
for Peter, Todd and Carol. The majority of the crew decided
to continue on the Trail in order to complete the journey
that Carol and Mike had mapped out for them and to honor
those that were lost.
The crew departed Vancouver, Washington (Pearson Airfield)
across the river from Portland Oregon on Monday morning
the 14th of August. The flight was made up of two helicopters,
two biplanes (an antique Stearman and a 1939 Waco… they
really are different), a Piper Cherokee and six Cessna’s.
The flight headed up the Columbia River across the Rockies
and down the Missouri to Washington, MO near St. Louis
were our journey for Lewis and Clark would end and a different
journey would begin (more of that later).
The first night was spent at Lewiston, Idaho, Clearwater
River Company Canoe Camp. Nez Perce Indians were friendly
to Lewis and Clark and had told them not to go too early
across the mountains. Lewis and Clark went anyway and almost
died. The crew wound up in Salmon, Idaho the next night,
the same place Lewis and Clark took weeks to get to and
almost didn’t make it. The crew was fed dinner at
the Interpretive Center, and then allowed to wander the
town. Baron’s Statue, Chinook Indians, and South
Survival Camp (the fort where Lewis and Clark stayed at
for two years) were all part of the sights to see.
The second day of the expedition continued up the Clearwater,
Lochsa and Bitterroot Rivers to Salmon, ID. The ground
crew conducted soil sampling en route at designated areas
with the help of the local State NRCS staff. Some members
of the ground crew also participated in runs over various
historic footpaths such as the Continental Divide at
Lemhi Pass. The aircraft carried out photographic assignments
gathering digital images of confluences, historic landscapes,
cultural resources and dams and lakes along the National
Historic Trail. The Flight regrouped at Great Falls,
MT
for two days where they were the guests of the City and
the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center run by the U.S.
Forest Service as well as the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage
Foundation. On Friday August 18th the crew of FOD was
off to New Town to join the Signature Event being held
there.
I joined them there.
 |
| The confluence of the Big Sioux and
Missouri rivers. Notice the color difference. |
The week before I left had been full of turmoil, as it
had been for the crew in general, but I knew I had a mission.
I had hoped water and soil samples had been taken, but
I was not sure what had been done. I only knew that one
of the goals was to get water samples at all of the major
tributaries and along the Missouri River. Sue Scott (my
wife) and I flew into Bismarck North Dakota and drove to
TTT Ranch. After 2.5 hours of driving we arrived with no
luggage and we missed dinner, oh well! The ground crew
was at the main house and the rest of the crew was at a
secondary lodge located about a quarter-mile away. At that
time, I tried to find the sampling equipment I knew they
must have had but was only able to find the sampling bottles.
The portable testing kits and electronic testing devices
could not be found. I knew that the data collected would
have mixed results because we were not able to do some
of the specific analyzes we had planned. I was disappointed,
but not deterred from the mission. I discovered, when talking
to the ground crew that they had managed to start the water
sampling at the headwaters of the Columbia River and the
Missouri River (just a quarter-mile away). That was the
beginning. The next morning, we saw the helicopter take
off with the film crew and runners. A race was on! The
rest of use drove via van and truck to New Town; the celebration
was beginning!
This was one of the largest gatherings of the Indian
Nations for the Signature Event. Over 1800 Indian dances
had been
performed over the prior three days. The ceremonial area
was full of Indians. We enjoyed the ceremony and Amy Mossett
honored Michael Harding and Carol Forrest by presenting
the crew with a Star Quilt. Chin Tu our acting leader accepted
the quilt on their behalf. At that point one of the elders
gave a prayer in his native tongue in honor of Carol. The
crew then presented a condor feather to Amy to honor and
replace the eagle feather that had been lost in the crash.
When the ceremony was over, we went to the Signature Event
where the re-enactors were camped displaying the tools
and materials of Lewis and Clark. There were replicas of
the earth shelters and dug out canoes. It was quite a sight
to see!
The next day we flew out of the small New Town airport.
Now there were only two helicopters, one Steerman, a Cherokee
and four Cessna’s. Several of the aircraft that had
been with the trip had departed for home. Our numbers had
been reduced, but we would continue on our journey.
I was in a new Robinson 44 helicopter piloted by Avis,
it’s owner. We were flying low and watching the water,
looking for the confluence. Just a little ways into the
flight, we could see something on the surface of the water.
It was schools of fish, big fish! I had seen fish schools
before, but nothing like this! We tried to get pictures
but could not do it justice, a 1000+ school of fish, each
2 feet or more in length. It’s still hard to explain.
We weren’t sure if they were Coco Salmon or Walleye.
We saw 5 or 6 sets of these fish. It was amazing! We continued
to look for the confluence of rivers, but they were harder
to find than I thought. It had been a very dry spring and
summer and many of the confluences were very dry and it
was difficult to take samples. If we had used a probe it
would have been a lot easier, but we had to actually get
on the ground to get the water sample.
We took five or six samples and marked them with GIS
so we could find each spot in the future. After hours of
flying,
we headed on to the Circle H Ranch. On the way we flew
over a beautiful 4-point buck deer leaping. His leaps covered
20 to 30 feet a bound. He was just bending, turning, and
shifting, trying to fade away into the landscape. We would
have liked to follow the buck, but time was short. Having
been to Circle H before, I told Avis to look for the prairie
dog holes near the tower and when we spotted them, we knew
we were close to the destination. When we were at the lakes,
we knew we were there. It was a wonderful evening, the
meal was awesome and our host was great.
 |
| Taking a water sample on the Nishabotna
River in Nebraska. |
 |
 |
| Having flown into Council Bluff and
spent the night, we flew on to Atchison, Kansas, where
the team was enthusiastically greeted by about 150
local school kids. Here we gave talks about the trip
and gave the kids rides in the aircraft. The kids were
very excited. |
Later that evening, we heard the Cherokee aircraft on
approach. It was Chuck Yeager - I mean Roger Frazer and
the crew!
Due to efforts of Terrie Percel, Roger, Rogers’s
grandson, Terrie, and Kelly had gotten permission to land
the Cherokee at Mt. Rushmore and tour the inside of Jefferson’s
head. Only a privileged few are allowed to complete this
tour. We all enjoyed seeing the video of their tour that
Kelly had taken. The next morning we had a great breakfast.
At this time, two of the pilots left the FOD and headed
home (Avis with his Robinson 44 and one of the Cessnas).
They would be dearly missed on the balance of the trip.
I was adamant about taking the water samples so I moved
to Chin’s jet turbine helicopter with Kelly who was
doing the video. Over the next few days, I would gain a
healthy respect for Kelly, the producer turned photographer.
She was young, but fearless, just strapped into the helicopter
with no door, jumping out of the helicopter ahead of me
to capture a few minutes of me escaping to grasp a small
insignificant water sample. She got some great shots of
me climbing down banks, running through soybean fields,
and the backyard of hard-to-get-to sampling sites. We took
about thirty samples. It may not seem to be much, but I
felt I had tried to accomplish some of the goals Carol
had wanted to achieve.
We landed at Washington, MO and the trip was almost done,
or so I thought! The water sampling was completed, but
we still had to make the trip home. The crew spent the
night with friends and old acquaintances. Mike Harding
and Carol had missed the trip, but they were there in spirit
and I we all knew the trip was a success.
The next morning we started out west but Mother Nature
was not cooperating. 50 miles after take off we wound up
in Cuba, MO (not exactly on course!). Bad weather had moved
in, so we decided to have lunch. After lunch several of
us decided to try to continue. The weather had improved
marginally and it was minimal flying condition. Some of
the crew wanted to wait, but others wanted to continue
on home. We got close to Pier, OK, but about 50 miles out
we encountered major thunderheads and had to work around
them. I was flying with Kari and we were a little panicked.
The clouds were approaching faster than we could move away.
When my head hit the roof of the cockpit, and the controls
bounced and moved in the other direction, I knew we had
hit a major turbulence. We both grabbed for the controls
to get the plane back under control and it worked. It was
an unsettling experience, but we finally landed safely
at Pier, OK.
The next morning when we tried to start the aircraft,
the prop just turned over and over without starting. It
was
a major mechanical problem and the plane would have to
remain on the ground until fixed. Kari would have to stay
with the plane, while I was re-routed to meet up with Chin
in Del Rio and ride in the helicopter the rest of the way
home. Chin decided that this would be a great time to give
me some helicopter flying lessons. I was not expecting
to ride in the helicopter, much less fly it! I got in and
Chin took off. The next thing he said was “it’s
yours”. I had flown aircraft since 1974, but never
a helicopter, Wow, it is really different! The helicopter
did not cooperate at first. It was so bad that Glenn in
the back seat asked, “When are the lessons going
to end? I am getting sick!” Chin replied “in
about 9 hours!” Everything got silent! I kept trying
to control the helicopter. It’s not as easy as it
looks! About 30 minutes into the flight I began to gain
better control of the aircraft, the nose calmed down and
we settled into a calm and level flight. Three hours later
we came to rest at an airport just south of Albuquerque,
New Mexico, where we stayed for the night.
We had flown across three States (Oklahoma, Texas, and
New Mexico) and had seen old homes from the 20’s,
chased antelope across the deserts of New Mexico and took
photos of everything. We had flown the terrain at about
200 to 500 feet off of the ground. There had been a lot
of rain in New Mexico and Arizona over the last month and
it showed with glowing yellows and greens.
Next morning as we were taking off we saw three sky divers
floating towards the earth. We were down to two aircraft,
a helicopter and a Cessna. We followed each other to
another airport north of Phoenix where we had lunch and
then moved
on to Blythe in California. We said goodbye as the two
aircraft separated heading to their home airports. On
this final day, having crossed over New Mexico, Arizona,
and
Southern California, as we approached Julian, California,
I realized I had been flying for almost 4.5 hours and
was mentally and physically drained. I asked Chin to take
over
the controls and into Palomar Airport just 35 miles away.
As I sat in the helicopter watching the urbanization
go by, I realized that I had made the right choice by deciding
to fly the Lewis and Clark Trail for the second time.
I
had helped accomplish the goals of the Flight of Discovery
and the effort all seemed worthwhile.
Mike Alberson, CPESC, WCIECA Director
Eilar Associates,
(760) 753-1865,
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Regulatory Update
Idaho Transportation Department And Contractor To Pay
Total Of $895,000 To Settle Federal Storm Water Discharge
Claims
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Idaho Transportation Department
(ITD) and contractor Scarsella Brothers, Inc. have agreed
to pay $895,000 for violations of the Clean Water Act during
the construction of the Bellgrove-Mica realignment of Highway
95 near Lake Coeur d’Alene in Northern Idaho, the
Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) announced today.
Today’s settlement concludes a lawsuit which began
in 2004, alleging that ITD and Scarsella Brothers failed
to provide adequate storm water controls for a large highway
project that later deposited many tons of sediment in Mica
Creek, which flows into Mica Bay in Lake Coeur d’Alene.
Under the terms of the consent decrees, lodged today
in the federal district court in Boise, Idaho, ITD will
pay
a penalty of $495,000 and Scarsella Brothers will pay a
$400,000 civil penalty. As part of the settlement, ITD
and Scarsella Brothers also have agreed to send their engineers
and environmental inspectors to a certified storm water
management training, and ITD has agreed to implement new
construction management practices to help avoid future
violations of the storm water regulations.
“
The Idaho Transportation Department and Scarsella Brothers
Construction Company failed to follow known best management
practices and their actions had a significant impact on
the receiving waters and on the Mica Bay portion of Lake
Coeur d’Alene,” said Assistant Attorney General
Sue Ellen Wooldridge of the Justice Department’s
Environment and Natural Resources Division. “We are
committed to enforcing environmental laws and to seeing
that violators undertake the actions necessary to comply
with storm water regulations in the future.”
“
Runoff from construction sites is a major contributor to
water quality impairment in the U.S. EPA is aggressively
enforcing federal regulations to help control this problem,” said
Granta Y. Nakayama, EPA’s Assistant Administrator
for the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “This
settlement will result in improved water quality and is
a signal of the Agency’s commitment to increased
enforcement of our nation’s environmental laws and
regulations.”
The penalty in these two cases is the largest EPA Region
10 has imposed thus far as part of its regional storm water
compliance initiative. Although the initiative began in
2001 with several years of intensive outreach, including
workshops, mailers, and an expanded website, it was not
until 2005, after EPA stepped up its inspection and enforcement
efforts, that the region saw a dramatic increase in compliance
rates.
Between June 2004 and April 2005, the number of construction
site operators in Idaho signed up for the Construction
General Permit rose 112 percent. EPA inspectors have also
noted that construction site operators are increasingly
in compliance with the permit’s requirements to design,
install, and maintain storm water controls to prevent common
construction site pollutants such as sediment, petroleum
products, and concrete washout from discharging into nearby
waterways. Since the initiative began, EPA has brought
cases against more than 100 operators.
Michael Broadwater, CPESC,
WCIECA Treasurer & Director
Vali
Cooper & Associates, Inc., (951) 788-6028,
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Call for Erosion Warrior profiles!
In future issues of the WCIECA newsletter, we would like
to highlight one of the many “Erosion Warriors” among
our ranks. This will be a one paragraph profile with
a photograph that celebrates an individual doing great
erosion and sediment control work, product development,
training, or other activity directly related to erosion
and sediment control. The individual need not be a WCIECA
member, but will want to become one after the profile
comes out! Please submit the following to Craig Benson
at cbenson@swsv.com:
WCIECA_Fall_2006.pdf
WCIECA Certified Erosion Warrior
