Completion Form

2018

This project started early September and finished in early October. We spent a lot of time and energy and effort during this project to assure that we were getting seed flown on at the appropriate rate and getting good coverage. We were checking on the ground as the plane was applying the re-green seed that we were covering the entire area and not skipping spots. Then we were checking unit by unit as they were applying the straw mulch to assure that we were getting mulch in the appropriate thickness and even coverage. This part was harder that you would have thought. The wind currents and the updrafts and lots of different factors were involved in trying to get even and consistent coverage. We did the best we could to assure that the specs of the contract were met. There were some locations that just didn't lend themselves to having straw coverage on them, and we had to accept that fact as I was out with the crew as they tried several (4-5) drops to fill in an area and the wind would take each drop to totally different areas and still miss the area that we were trying to fill in. These were the exceptions to the rule though. For most 90%+ of the area it was consistent in coverage and thickness and we felt like we were going to have some good stabilizing work that would come from the effort.

Then during the seed flight for the perennials we were pretty busy with the inspections for the mulching and we weren't as diligent at being out on the ground inspecting every site for total coverage but we were able to ground truth several passes of the plane and then use the flight lines to confirm that we did get total coverage and should see these species growing in these areas in the years to come.

We did have a very unfortunate accident on the very last day of straw mulching where our mulching contractor Bryan Burr was hit with a drop and killed. This was a terrible day and one that we hopefully will avoid ever having happen again. They were so diligent and did such a great job with the mulching efforts and for it to be so close to complete and have this unfortunate accident was just no good at all.

During the mulching inspections we did notice a lot of young aspen starting to re-grow and fill in some of the area. We also noticed a very big increase in the germination and growth of the re-green in the areas of mulching. This to us was justification enough to say that we were doing the right thing by spending the money to seed and mulch instead of just seeding.

Curtis Roundy

01/09/2020 16:42:51