Environmentally Sensitive Maintenance on Ag Access Roads to Eliminate Nutrient and Sediment Pollution in the Kishacoquillas Valley Watershed

Extensive studies of low traffic volume roads have identified unpaved road corridors as a major source of sediment pollution to nearby streams. On farms and in agricultural settings, unpaved lanes and access roads have the same potential as any public dirt and gravel roadway to produce, mobilize and transport sediment. These unpaved farm roadways are far more likely, however, to carry nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous, as well as sediment, and far less likely to receive routine maintenance. Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy identifies dirt and gravel road improvements as a BMP to reduce nutrient and sediment loadings. The purpose of this project is to initiate the widespread adoption of environmentally sensitive maintenance (ESM) erosion control and reduce sediment/nutrient pollution from private farm lanes and field access roads in the Kishacoquillas Valley watershed in Pennsylvania.