Plan for the coming winter

It's time for your annual walk around the property in preparation for winter. Look at roads, check your culverts, stream crossings, and other potential problem areas. The following classic recommendations were made in this newsletter two years ago and still apply today:

Check your existing culverts. A good time to do this is during the first rain. Go out in your rain gear, take a shovel, clear out any debris and place it where it cannot get back into the watercourse. Sediment deposits that threaten to plug the culvert may need to be excavated. Bent or damaged culvert ends should be straightened and reopened. Outlets experiencing erosion can be armored or fitted with a downspout, and culverts that experience overflow problems may need a larger or second overflow pipe.

Look at the drainage of the whole road. Besides culverts, check waterbars, outsloping, and ditches for problems. Clear out trash barriers, culvert inlet basins, and pipe inlets. Ditches should be cleaned and heavy vegetation trimmed. Excavate all unstable or potentially unstable fills and sidecast.

Waterbars can be constructed on unsurfaced roads where little or no traffic will occur. These are high maintenance structures that must be built and maintained properly. (Detailed information on waterbar design can be found in the Handbook for Forest and Ranch Roads by Weaver and Hagans. Purchase from Mendocino County RCD 707-468-9223)

Seasonal, unsurfaced roads can be badly damaged by even occasional use during wet periods when the road bed is soft. Once seasonal and temporary roads have been winterized, they should be gated and closed to nonessential traffic.