Forest floor cleared by downpour &caused driveway washout. Preventable?

[lhfarm]

Our gravel drive is 1400' long and climbs 250' through the woods. For several hundred feet, the drive goes across the face of the hill. There are two culverts that carry water under the drive from the ditch on the upside of the drive. The ditches are cleaned in the fall. A couple of nights ago, we had a torrential downpour and a large amount of debris (leaves and small branches) washed down the hill and filled the ditches and blocked one culvert. Luckily, the major washouts were restricted to a couple of spots.

The one picture was taken, looking up hill from the drive and you can see the washed area. The second is of the tractor parked at the clogged culvert and one of many loader loads of leaves. (Figured if I put that picture in, I could post in the projects forum.) We have lived her for almost 30 years and I don't remember this ever happening. We often have the "dry creeks" and other wash areas "cleaned" of leaves after heavy rains, but not so much of the forest floor.

Short of building a several hundred long catch fence, is there any other means of preventing a repeat? Or should I assume this was a 100-year event and just fix the road? I am considering just placing some downed branches and logs in hopes of catching some of the low up hill. I have spent 8 hours cleaning up and don't want to have to do that again, if possible.

Any thoughts/suggestions appreciated.

 

[tcreeley]

Our gravel drive is 1400' long and climbs 250' through the woods. For several hundred feet, the drive goes across the face of the hill. There are two culverts that carry water under the drive from the ditch on the upside of the drive. The ditches are cleaned in the fall. A couple of nights ago, we had a torrential downpour and a large amount of debris (leaves and small branches) washed down the hill and filled the ditches and blocked one culvert. Luckily, the major washouts were restricted to a couple of spots.

The one picture was taken, looking up hill from the drive and you can see the washed area. The second is of the tractor parked at the clogged culvert and one of many loader loads of leaves. (Figured if I put that picture in, I could post in the projects forum.) We have lived her for almost 30 years and I don't remember this ever happening. We often have the "dry creeks" and other wash areas "cleaned" of leaves after heavy rains, but not so much of the forest floor.

Short of building a several hundred long catch fence, is there any other means of preventing a repeat? Or should I assume this was a 100-year event and just fix the road? I am considering just placing some downed branches and logs in hopes of catching some of the low up hill. I have spent 8 hours cleaning up and don't want to have to do that again, if possible.

Any thoughts/suggestions appreciated.

Larger culverts that don't clog as easily? More of them?

Good luck. I think we are going to see more of these storms as time goes on - new pattern.

 

[stub]

I would rent a trencher and dig a trench along the top side of the road, in the ditch, about 2 feet deep. I would put perforated drain pipe in the trench and fill it up with pea gravel making a french drain. Now when your runoff hits the ditch, your french drain will carry it down the hill instead of over the road. The wider the french drain the better but I think any size would work. You would still need to keep the ditch reasonably clear of leaves but I don't think leaves in the runoff will prevent the french drain from working. My house is on a slab on a slope I've done this around the uphill side of my house. Haven't had a drop of water get in since.

 

[Diamondpilot]

I agree. You need a backhoe to come in and dig larger culverts.

Chris

 

[dave1949]

I agree the ditches look on the minimal side. If you aren't cleaning them with a backhoe, they have probably shrunk over the years.

In terms of mitigation, over the past 30 years your woods may have matured with a more closed crown than earlier which shades new growth. The woods "floor" looks barren of new growth, grasses, shrubs, etc. Those plants are all natural erosion preventers and act like a fence for leaves washing down the hill.

Only you can compare now to 30 years ago, but if that is what has happened, you could harvest/thin a belt of trees across the slope to get some sunlight in and promote new growth.

I think laying some logs and brush in rows along the slope is an excellent idea.

 

[Doloe]

The floor of your woods looks really empty. Not much vegetation or downed trees.
Is that normal for your area?
It seems to me that those things would go long ways to minimizing this damage.

 

[radioman]

I'd cut the hill back by 4-8 ft away from road. Dig a large swale in that area and on the downside put in a large culvert 20" in diameter or bigger under the road to let the water wash with debris. If you put in a smaller culvert - it wil just clog up from debris. The culvert only needs to be long enough to go on the other side of road at a steep angle so water can rush out. Its the only way to let debris settle in the swale area in light rains, but in torrential raids, it can wash out without going over the road.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[gilbertmsg]

Looks like a normal gully washer that we have with severe thunderstorms. We clean out culverts and ditches and drive on.

Eddie

 

[forgeblast]

http://www.dnr.wa.gov/BusinessPermits/Topics/ForestPracticesRules/Pages/fp_board_manual.aspx
lot of different manuals the one you want to look at is Section 3 Guidelines for Forest Roads updated 8/11 (1,625KB PDF)
starts about page 11

 

[lhfarm]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to call the guy who put in the culverts and see about adding a couple more. While we have plenty of gully washers around here, it was more than just the gullies that are clean. We got lucky and missed the rain that was to the west and north of us here in central Indiana.

I'll do a follow-up when I get something worked out.