I am very excited to announce the publication of my fourth article highlighting an outstanding enhancement reclamation project!
Read the most recent spotlight here: Enhancement Reclamation Creates a Bridge Over (Historically) Troubled Waters. This most recent article focuses on the Willamette Confluence Project in Eugene, OR. You will learn not only about the history of the site, but more importantly, how that history relates to us today- from citizen to miner to environmental conservationist. Like many enhancement reclamation spotlights, the story of the Willamette Confluence is not just a tale of how, but who. It highlights an incredible family company that helped physically shape its community over decades of sand and gravel mining, and then shape it again in a brand new way by coming to the table with local conservation groups - and participating in sensitive negotiations - to ultimately restore and conserve more than 1,200 acres of land and miles of riverfront. This is a very special article to me, certainly the most personal to date, and I'm proud to once again be featured in NSSGA's Stone, Sand, & Gravel REVIEW magazine.
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I'm very excited to announce my latest article is out in NSSGA's Stone, Sand & Gravel REVIEW. This is a special story because it highlights how reclamation can be integrated into a community plan and with patience, planning, and perspective, can become a vibrant social hub.
The most inspiring piece of this story to me is the perseverance and belief in a vision- despite major setbacks- that took place to make it come to fruition. Although the individual who led the charge on this project was not comfortable being interviewed and in the spotlight, a colleague and I agree their contributions, foresight, and creativity deserve major, major kudos. I'll go on the record to say I hope someday to be the catalyst for an enhancement reclamation project like this- not necessarily at the same scale or type of reclamation to a 'tech center', but a project that clearly gives back to the community and realizes the potential of a quarry following extraction. So to the individual who spearheaded this project: thank you for the inspiration. I'd like one day to buy you coffee and 'talk shop' because I feel we are of the same tribe. Please read the article to learn more! Or if you're interested to learn more details (because there are always additional interesting details that can't be included in an article...) please post a comment or send me a message! Read the story here: From Below the Bottom Up: Enhancement Reclamation Spotlight on the Columbia Tech Center. Reprinted with permission by the NSSGA. I'm thrilled to announce that my second article for the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association (NSSGA) is now out! Check it out here on the NSSGA website:
There and Back Again: A Vineyards Tale of Enhancement Reclamation The spotlight for this issue is on the incredible work being done by CalPortland down in the Central Valley of California to reclaim their mines. They have completed the reclamation of a 40-acre site back to fully productive vines and the grapes are sold to vintners in the region. They've got further plans- thanks to a permit and reclamation plan secured by the prior land owners, Union Asphalt- to reclaim over 400 acres to similar vineyards in the future. It's an amazing project and has all the right ingredients in the best enhancement reclamation projects: longevity, community support and outreach, cooperation, coordination, and a genuine pride in the work that's being done. I posted earlier about the trip and incredible experience I had getting to visit the site in person- but please now read about it in the NSSGA publication, Stone, Sand & Gravel REVIEW, to hear directly from those I met with about the project. I'm so proud and feel incredibly blessed for this opportunity to write about what I'm passionate about at the national scale. It's something that doesn't happen often in the aggregate industry, as we tend to be closely tied to our local geography, but I find very important. ENJOY! Please let me know what you think. Always happy to answer any questions too- I love comments and talking aggregate reclamation (my poor family can attest to that)! I got spoiled this weekend. Not only did I get a reprieve from what seems to be an endless winter, but said reprieve came in the form of a visit to one of the neatest and most community-integrated enhancement reclamation projects I've had the pleasure of learning about. This visit was to speak with CalPortland employees who knew the history and future of the site and to get a feel for the operations as well as the general character of the company and community they are a part of. I learned so much and was keenly interested in some of the key differences between this and other ER projects, which have allowed CalPortland to operate and reclaim as they do. With all sites I dig into (so to speak) I'm particularly interested in not only how they do what they do, but why they're able to do what they do. Because every enhancement reclamation project is unique, it is important to learn the story behind it- its history- because from that we can start to spot parallels between operations and circumstances. It is my dream that as we move into the future this will become more commonplace and these noted parallels and circumstances will become opportunities. Below are a few pictures from my trip and I'll be sure to post again when the full NSSGA article comes out about it! Stay tuned! This 40 acre mine was fully reclaimed back to vineyards in 2007. The grapes they produce are sold to a local wine maker. Broccoli is being grown on mined and reclaimed land. They also have an area prepped for strawberries. A loader fills the haul truck with raw material to be transported back to the plant for processing. Beautiful sunset from Pismo Beach. I'd be remiss not to include at least one beach picture! Wine and selfies go hand-in-hand...
Given the opportunity I've just been granted, I have to admit I worry I may have "peaked" early in my career- because it may not get better than this! I'll start with a quick background and some thoughts on enhancement reclamation to agriculture, then spill the beans!
ER to AG (enhancement reclamation to agriculture...) The second article in the trio I'm writing for the NSSGA this year will be focused on doing enhancement reclamation back to agriculture. I knew this had to be a focus of one of the articles because not only does ER to agriculture make economic sense (where feasible, of course), but is uniquely controversial in some areas and is a hot topic. Or as my advisor would say, a "sexy" research topic. My first exposure to enhancement reclamation to ag was in the Willamette Valley, OR where conflicts have raged for decades between the farming and aggregate industries -- my first MS thesis actually specifically focused on conflicts between miners, farmers, and environmental groups and the role/potential role of ER. I figured, therefore, conflicts between these groups were the norm. From the farmers' perspectives, aggregate folks may say they can reclaim back to productive farmland, but they need to "put their money where their mouth is" and actually do it. Further to their point, many of the ag reclamation projects they'd seen included reclamation back to farm use. Not farmland. So they would be water impoundments for cattle frequently, even though in the Valley cattle ranching is highly uncommon. What is common is high value agriculture i.e., row crops. And farmer see this limited resource being mined for the aggregates underneath- the mining takes ag land out of use and isn't put back. Plus they feel the squeeze from development, urbanization, population growth, young generations not wanting to stick around and take care of the family farm.... You being to see the picture farmers in the Valley are starting at and can appreciate their plight, fears, and frustrations a little more. Now I'll switch to the agg view. And trust me, it's shorter. When high quality, at spec aggs run a depth of 120' and it gets harder and harder every year to permit mining... An operation is damn sure not going to dig shallow so they can refill back to farmland. That pit is going to be the depth mother nature allows -- and at say, 50 acres (or however many acres) there is no way to refill a pit more than 100' deep. It is not feasible. So this was the scene where I first began digging into the aggregate industry and the relationships, conflicts, and interests around it. However, if we go north to Washington state or south to California there are 180 degree different examples! In Washington the ag and agg folks get along great. They're often on one another's "team" even- but this is because when we talk "ag" up north we're talking forestry- not row crop farmland. Then in California, of course the Central Valley and coastal regions have abundant farmland and land for vineyards. But you know why these industries have been able to cohabitate more successfully? The depth of the material. Geography wins the day because average depth of an aggregate mine is on the order of 20-40', which offers the potential to backfill. So really, while enhancement reclamation options comes down to a multitude of factors, one of the absolute foundations is the size- in particular the depth- of the quarry itself. So I leave you with some ruminations of mine on that subject... First, it is fairly simple to do this where aggregates are naturally shallow. I believe that enhancement reclamation where backfill is required will become more commonplace as populations increase and finding high-value secondary uses for mine lands becomes absolutely essential. So those sites, they're the low hanging fruit. They will work themselves out as economic drivers flex their muscles and we see more and more examples of innovative, cost-effective projects that add clear community value. Second, it's the deep sights I worry about. The Willamette Valley's of the world... Where there are high population densities, even higher regulations to grapple with (on the industry side of things), and limited ER options due to the depth of pits. I mention the regulations between there are often so many that any organization can become strung up by them (e.g., a local conservation group was unable to do their proposed work due to the varying required permits, involved agencies, etc.). They limit innovation. They tie our hands when we have to progress. They allow for a one-man-monkey-wrench to step in and stop a project in its tracks. Now I'm not suggesting we scrap the system, nor am I even calling it out for being poor. It's well meaning and was created to balance citizen involvement, environmental protection, economic growth, and all those other essential societal needs... But we need some flexibility too. The option here, to choose to dig shallow if enhancement reclamation is carried out. That's my push. That's my pipe dream. That's what I imagine will keep me up until all hours of the morning perseverating about on, likely, multiple occasions throughout my career. The beans! I have been invited to visit CalPortland's operation down near San Louis Obispo to tour their site and learn more about their enhancement reclamation practices where they reclaim to both row crops and vineyards! I'm thrilled to have this opportunity, cannot wait to meet the fine folks down there, show off their operations in the next NSSGA publication, and (naturally) taste the difference between reclaimed and non-reclaimed wines ;) I am excited to announce that this year I am thrilled to be writing a trio of articles for the National Stone, Sand, and Gravel Association (NSSGA) highlighting various enhancement reclamation projects in the west! The first article just came out, and is one of my favorite examples of enhancement reclamation: The Delta Ponds.
I'm thrilled to share with you the story of the Delta Ponds-- and my first publication! Enhancement Reclamation Spotlight: Legacy of a Quarry. Reprinted from the March/April edition of Stone, Sand & Gravel REVIEW with permission from the National Stone, Sand & Gravel Association. Read the original article at review.nssga.org. No matter what you’ve done today you’ve used crushed stone, sand, gravel. Did you wake up in a dorm, apartment, or house this morning? Then you were using these materials because they create the cement that sets the foundation of every building. Did you drive or bike on pavement? Or maybe take the dog for a walk? Then you were using crushed stone, sand, and gravel because they’re what make asphalt. These materials are collectively called aggregates, and they are the literal building blocks of the US infrastructure. And we mine a lot of aggregate. Last year alone 2.3 billion metric tons were extracted. That’s about 1/3 of the material lost when Mt. Saint Helens erupted. So every three years, we extract enough aggregates in the U.S. to rebuild Mt. Saint Helens. But it’s not just how much we extract, it’s how many individual mining sites we create to extract so much. There are tens of thousands of sites across the U.S. which equal millions of disturbed acres. Aggregate mining can destroys habitat, pollutes waterways, disrupts the flow of ground water, increases erosion- and even when these issues aren’t present, aggregate mining leaves land barren. Many sites are left like what you see here: Sites are typically sloped for safety purposes and undergo minimum reclamation (depending on their history and application of policy), which is dictated during permitting— years prior to mine closure. Many reclaimed pits, over time, fill with water depending on their location and and provide some habitat benefits. However, such pits frequently welcome populations of invasive species or, if reclamation is not required, are just left to their own devices. What I research is how we can repurpose these pits and bring them dynamic new life. And I’ve found that these sites hold a lot of potential. They can be refilled and turned into productive farmland: Restored into habitat for endangered species: Or re-imagined for development and recreation- from parks to fishing holes to amphitheaters: Projects like these let us have our cake and eat it too. Because we get the aggregate we need and the land is returned to something useful. But, I’ve also found that standout projects like these are not the norm- because most people are unaware of the potential these sites have. My research and work about enhancement reclamation is the first step in recognizing and promoting these sites for what they could be. Project: Pit Stop is the first database of restored sites like these in every US state. I’m documenting their location, history, geology, funding, and ultimate restoration outcomes. I envision that this database will increase awareness about the potential of aggregate pits and also be a resource for those interested in pursuing projects of their own. Aggregate pits hold so much untapped potential. And increasing education and awareness about exemplary projects, like those on this site and in my database, can help them become the norm for aggregate mines. |
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