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Plow drivers from Peru, Ausable, Plattsburgh and Hague gathered recently in Peru for a workshop to reduce road salt. Thank you to these communities and individuals for going the extra mile to keep winter roads safe and water clean.
Experts from Hague, [including] Rob, Matt, and Tim, demonstrated drop calibration tests with salt trackers on a plow truck to help other shops in our Clean Water, Safe Roads Network learn what the trackers can do for their winter road maintenance operation. By calibrating with a salt tracker, operators have an exact measurement how much salt their trucks are spreading across a lane mile, allowing them to apply salt with more precision.
The group also passed around questions, ideas, and best practices for salt reduction, particularly around the implementation of road brining, pre-wetting of salt, and reductions in sand application. The workshop brought together different shops at different steps in the salt reduction process to learn from one another and make salt reduction practical at the garage and road-level.
This project has been funded by an agreement awarded by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission to New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC) in partnership with the Lake Champlain Basin Program.
AdkAction Facebook page photo.
AdkAction Facebook page photo.
AdkAction Facebook page photo.
Photo at top: AdkAction Facebook page photo.
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Finally- this is good news!
Years ago, before my father passed away, being the avid fisherman, hunter and all-around outdoorsman with a love for the environment, he was so disturbed over witnessing the changes that the accumulated salt was making in the Saranac over the years that he asked me to take pictures of specific places where he could see significant issues. He was not a college educated man but had experiential knowledge regarding the woods/streams/animals, etc. that few with a degree could match, neither was he an “activist”, so for him to want to get involved was out of character for him. He just loved the ADKs- his home and wanted it to be respected and cared for…..
I took many photos for him that day so he could take to the next town council meeting, but he had passed away before ever expressing his deep concerns. I am sure he looking down and is pleased that this issue is finally being addressed, as am I.
My dad was similar in character as you described yours!
Heaven holds many good people that we are having a tough time emulating.
Here’s hoping that our Adirondacks and surrounding areas can survive the assault of the ‘live for today’ attitude.
I concur! I am finding that some people today tend to be ‘over-educated”. There’s a huge difference between accumulated knowledge ‘about’ nature/environment and being intimately acquainted ‘with’ it. They could actually learn alot from people like our fathers!
I just read an article that in NJ that the placing of thousands of wind turbines in the ocean off the coast of NJ “could have” been the cause of 7 whales washing up to shore in 1 week- not a normal occurrence. But instead of researching and seeking the truth to find out, the governor will just continue with his energy plan, regardless. Sad. If one truly cared about the environment, he/she would desire to know if what they are doing is also hurting it.
Keep up the good work Rob Vlop, have a newspaper clip on fridge from several years ago salt seminar. Lake George hiway was the leader in salt reduction and happy I was involved. Rock on!
It’s high time, too. The DOT have been dragging their feet in doing anything meaningful to reduce salt application for years now. Yes, there have been token experiments such as “reduced salt areas” in a very few sections of roadway. Other than that, the DOT trucks dump the salt as if it was going out of production. Has anyone else noticed that it appears as if they are dumping more salt THAN EVER this winter? Route 73 from Saranac Lake to the Northway interchange in North Hudson has had excessively high amounts of salt applied when there are just a few flurries. The trucks go several rounds of salting instead of just once. When the trucks are at a stop-sign or a stop-light, the hopper’s spreader is dumping an overload from a stand-still. When the hell is this going to FINALLY come to an end? Enough excuses. Our flora, fauna, motor vehicles, road surfaces, bridges, drinking water, clothing, et cetera cannot take much more of this salt assault.
Having sat in the seat of a plow truck for the state for several winters in the adirondacks it is a strange situation to watch for sure the majority of the issue is that alot of the operators are very green because when most that know what they are doing are told that they will only make $18 an hour to plow snow all hours of the day and nite they simply dont take the job. It is a very stressful job that wad not worth the pay for me if it paid a living wage i would still be working in my town where i live. There are a lot of operators that care very much about the usage but the decisions come down from higher up often without listening to onsite visual intelligence, The moral of the story is like years gone by you are not going to be able to drive 60 mph in a snow storm and reduce salt usage.
“when most that know what they are doing are told that they will only make $18 an hour to plow snow all hours of the day and nite they simply dont take the job.”
How about the minimum wage MountaynMan! Chicken feed! Some states are worse than others. And you have politicians, and others, griping, refusing to boost it because it’s going to hurt businesses or whatever their lame excuses are. Yet they could never live on the hourly-wage limits they propose.