23 Jun John Giving Keynote in NZ
Illustration by Sam Posnick (SamPosnick.com)
Hi all, John here!
Well I made it to Auckland New Zealand. I’m here for IECA Australasia Chapter’s Erosion and Sediment Control Conference. I’ll be giving a keynote and teaching some courses.
It was a Very long flight. I left Redding late afternoon on Wednesday and arrived in NZ at 4 pm Friday. I don’t know where Thursday, June 18th went!!!???
On my way to the hotel, I spied the highway from the airport was under construction. And I saw some really well constructed storm drain inlet protection. While silt fence inlet protection is not my first choice, these were exceptionally well placed and installed. Good job mates!
It is winter here after all. So, there seems to be active erosion and sediment control going on and I am really looking forward to the IECA Australasia / NZ Institute of Highway Technology Conference. While I’ll be teaching and lecturing, I always learn a lot whenever I leave the good old USA.
After the conference next week I’ll be caravanning around the country for a couple of weeks. I’ll keep you posted on all things erosion and stream restoration.
If you’re at the conference, find me and say hi!
John
Note: That fantastic illustration up at the top is courtesy of the very talented, very wry Sam Posnick. Check her out at www.SamPosnick.com
Update on 2009-06-23 18:49 by WatchYourDirt
Hey All, James Here:
Whoops! I was just informed from a reader that Kangaroos do not actually inhabit New Zealand. They are indigenous to Australia only.
Sorry all for the mix up. My fault. I let the unbridled joy of seeing a smoking Kangaroo wearing a party hat override the need for fact checking…I’m easy that way.
So for the purpose of this blog entry, lets all assume that the Kangaroo above is just visiting New Zealand (likely in for the conference).
16 Jun LITTLE WORKER TIMELAPSE
Hi All – James here.
Recently while filming at the OHV park, we had a lot of lulls in shooting. I used the opportunity to shoot some pretty neat timelapse footage with the intention of applying a ‘Tilt Swing’ technique to it. It’s a trick that I’ve been wanting to play around with for a while now and the OHV project was the perfect opportunity to do so.
So, here is a fun little piece showing us moving dirt and building a low water crossing just outside of Sacramento.
Take a look and let us know what you think.
14 Jun Dirt Time – What’s Next?
Hi All,
James here. I am currently en route to just outside of Sacramento, where I’m meeting up with John for yet another Dirt Time shoot. I thought I would write a quick note about our current (shooting) project.
This time, we are implementing a whole bunch of fun and innovative techniques at a Off Highway Vehicles (OHV) park.
For those of you not in the know, an OHV park is basically a haven of hills, valleys and relatively ruleless-ness for Dirt Bikes, 4 Wheelers and the like. It’s like a big awesome playground for the coolest of toys. However, A LOT of damage can be done to the land as a result. And erosion and sediment control quickly becomes a priority when you have creeks and streams running through the park.
That’s where John and this project comes in.
In what everyone is hoping becomes a test-site for the other 8 state OHV parks, John and the Park crew are looking to demonstrate a variety erosion and streambank techniques that will be adopted state wide.
I was there filming 2 weeks ago at the beginning of the project, and so far we’ve covered:
- Large Scale Sediment Basins (with Baffles and Skimmers)
- Articulated Concrete Block Low Water Crossing
- Scour Stop
- Green Armor System
- Cross Vanes
It’s a really neat project and we’ll undoubtably be posting more information as things progress. But FYI: That’s what we’re up to right now.
(Oh, we also have 3 episodes in the editing hopper! Expect footage soon)
Here are some pics:
04 Jun Coastal Erosion – Found Footage
Here is some found footage from a construction(?) firm down in South America dealing with a coastal erosion project they were working on. Thought you may want to take a gander:
03 Jun We Talk To Finn (EC08 Interview)
Here’s an interview we did with Finn back at EC08. It was up on the old WatchYourDirt, so we thought we’d repost it.
From EC08 in Orlando, John interviews Andy Hodek from FinnCorp about their line of strawblowers. For more information on Finn products go to: www.finncorp.com.
02 Jun John Does a Free ‘Green Design’ Webinar (with PDHs)
Hey All,
Last week John took part in a ‘Green Design’ Webinar over at CENews, sponsored by Profile Products. John was one of three presenters, all giving lots of great info. Two very important points:
1. It’s Free
2. It’s worth 1 PDH
Here’s a synopsis:
Green Design: New Approach for Sustainable Erosion Control
Combining engineering with agronomic excellence has created an innovative, new approach to achieving more cost-efficient and effective erosion and sediment control solutions. In this session, each of the key components for sustainable erosion control designs will be examined, including soil testing and analysis, vegetation species selection, Green Design Engineering™ technologies, slope and channel design methodologies and their impact on vegetation establishment and proper reinforcement, product installation considerations, and post-installation inspection and maintenance methodology. Participants also will be introduced to available tools that can help put all of these components together to meet specific site requirements.
01 Jun Rock Vane Talk From Willow Creek
Here is a quick excerpt from the Willow Creek Project. In it John talks about the re-directive powers of Rock Vanes. The full video can be found at the WatchYourDirtStore.
And for more info on the project, read this posting, and others like it in our past blog entries.