Water and Soil - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 109

haul it off-site. Whether on-site or off-site, the receiving land should be examined to verify
that no sensitive resources will be impacted.
• Importing soil should have the same characteristics as the final destination, unless the
change in soil is specifically required by the design. Imported soil may also bring in
undesirable organisms, such as weeds and soil fungus. Evaluate the benefits of the soil
against the measures that may be needed to control the weeds or other negative aspects of
the soil.
• Can you, or your professional or volunteer workers, operate the required equipment?
• Account for paid operator time, typically at an hourly rate. In some cases in which the
operator owns the rental equipment, a combined rate may be available. Operators not
familiar with ecological restoration need to be made aware of the constraints prior to
beginning work. Excavation or fill operations frequently require additional labor for
handwork. Excavation of material may leave a substrate condition that is atypical, which
may affect the performance of your project. Soil amendments and preparation will require
money and time.
• Will local ordinances, regulations, or laws restrict the noise levels of equipment operation
and under what specific circumstances? Determine the maximum noise levels that will
occur on-site. In some cases, the time of day will determine acceptable noise levels.
• Do you know the specific equipment needed for the job? There are many types and sizes
of equipment available, and not all types of equipment do everything your project may
require. Interview people who have used the equipment that you are considering for your
project.
• If the grading operation is small, can it be done with hand equipment? Consider the
number of volunteers and total hours. Are they hard workers? Is the haul of excavated
material minimal and suitable for hand equipment? Perhaps simple pickup trucks will be
sufficient to haul the material out of the area.
• If it is a large job, will it require excavating-type equipment, such as a bulldozer or
backhoe?
• Can the equipment place the excavated material in its final location?
• Will the grading require vehicles to haul material away to a final location, and is it very far
away?
In many cases, sites will not require landform modification because they are derelict lands, either
from past industrial use or from agricultural practices. Because abandoned lands typically are
infested with numerous weeds and with high nutrient loads in the topsoil, essentially no native spe-
cies are capable of becoming established there. The most frequently used techniques are extensive
thatch removal and several applications of herbicide treatment, which greatly reduces the soil seed
bank. Another approach involves discing of the soil on a regular basis until the seed bank becomes
exhausted. Another method involves “soil inversion,” a process of turning over the topsoil and
bringing up the subsoil from three feet below the surface. This technique has several advantages
over the other techniques because it moves the nutrient-rich topsoil three feet below the surface