Get ready to winterize your roads

Winterizing consists of maintenance and erosion control work needed to drain the road surface, to ensure free flowing ditches and drains, and to open all culverts to their maximum capacity.

• Before winter, all permanent, seasonal, and temporary roads should be inspected and prepared for the coming rains.
• On unsurfaced roads, waterbars may be required at spacings dictated by the road gradient and the erodibility of the soil.
• Trash barriers, culvert inlet basins and pipe inlets should all be cleaned of floatable debris and sediment accumulations.
• Ditches that are partially or entirely plugged with soil and debris should be cleaned and heavy concentrations of vegetation which impede ditch flow should be trimmed.
• Excavate all unstable or potentially unstable fills and sidecast which could fail and be delivered to a watercourse during the coming winter.
• Once seasonal and temporary roads have been winterized, they should be gated and closed to non-essential traffic.

--from Handbook for Forest and Ranch Roads by William Weaver and Danny Hagans. Available from the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District, 405 Orchard Ave, Ukiah, Ca 95482.
(707) 468-9223. $20.