Erosion and Sediment Control Tip #27

 


I’m going to get on my soapbox a little this time and discuss mowing maintenance of vegetation.  A lot of the roadside and large area mowing maintenance is done with tractors equipped with lugged pneumatic tires. Lugged pneumatic tires were first developed in the 30’s primarily to get better traction, better fuel economy, and more power in a plowed farm field.  Pneumatic tractor tires are very advanced today with more ground contact to reduce compaction problems and increase traction. While lugs can create some soil compaction issues, my beef is the use of these tires in challenging locations like steep vegetated slopes and wet areas.  Anywhere the tractor tire can slip or spin, the vegetation is often destroyed.  This is a common case on roadside slopes.  If the conditions are too severe to keep the tires from slipping, something else should be used to maintain the vegetative cover on the site. Less frequent mowing, using tires that don’t slip, using vegetation that requires less or no mowing, or not mowing the area at all but occasionally removing the undesirable plants could be options. There are even tracked remote control mowers available now that have a low center of gravity and can mow very steep slopes without damage.

 

The vegetation on a construction site was expensive to achieve and is hard to maintain.  Don’t let your equipment destroy the vegetation and cause you erosion problems.

 

Off my soapbox now.

 

 

Perry L Oakes, PE

Erosion and Sediment Control Program Coordinator

AL Soil and Water Conservation Committee


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