Erosion Service-Learning Project
Science 1101 Dr. Dirnberger

Assessing Sediment and Erosion Control Practices.

We will use the Field Guide to Erosion + Sediment Control from the Upper Chattahoochee River Keeper to evaluate erosion control measures used to reduce soil loss from construction.  You will evaluate a site using a site report card based on ten best management practices. I will hand out the 'Field Guide' with evaluation form ('Report Card') in class. For instructions on how to evaluate your site and examples of additional photos on  best management practices, click here

In general, use the following guidelines to rank each criterium:

A  - The management practice is implemented and maintained in a proper way so that sediment will remain on site at the present time and into the near future even during heavy rains.

B  - The management practice is implemented and maintained in a way that small amounts of sediment has moved off-site or may potentially move off-site.

C  - The management practice is implemented and maintained in a way that a significant amount of sediment has moved off-site or may potentially move off-site.

D  - The management practice  is implemented and maintained in a way that will be or has been of little use in keeping sediment on-site.

F  - The management practice was not implemented when it should have been or implemented in away that results in total failure of the management practice

Be sure to consider what you might expect to happen during heavy rains.
Using the A to F scale, consider what this means to the environment, not what A to F means to you in school grades (i.e. 'C' does not mean 'good enough to get by' in the erosion practice grading scale).
 

Selecting a sampling site
Find a site which is presently under construction (i.e. vegetation has been removed and buildings are in the process of being built). Be sure to select a site that can be easily observed from a public roadside. Do not enter the site! Do not trespass!
 

Safety precautions

-Do not enter the site! Do not trespass! Evaluate the site from a public roadside.

-Be careful to find a safe place to pull off the road!

-Take a friend or classmate with you.
 
 

 Procedure
To be discussed in class during the 'erosion workshop'.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Reporting your Erosion Evaluation Data
Once you have collected your field data, you will add it to the class data set electronically using on the web using the "Erosion Survey Form" (after clicking on the "Submit Information" button, you will be directed back to this page).  You must enter your data before Sunday, 11 April.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


Data Analysis and Position Letter
For this module, your assignment is to write a  "position letter". This is to be turned in to me (not sent to the intended audience, unless you really want to).

First, you must review the summary of the erosion surveys collected by the class on the "Erosion Data Set" web page (this link will be activated during Lab Week #12).
 

For this letter you have a choice of audiences:


In either case, use BOTH the stream turbidity and the erosion/sedimentation survey data sets.   When citing data, be specific.  Feel free to choose either position; your grade is not dependent on your choice, only on how well your argument is backed up by the data.  In either letter you choose, explain what turbidity and erosion are and how they are related  Some information to support your argument can be found in the first section of the "Project description and instructions for Turbidity", a report on costs of erosion, a graph showing effects on fish, and in an editorial from the AJC on erosion and sedimentation laws.

Your grade will be based on: