DirtGlue Polymer Prevents Erosion After Wildfires

Every year wildfires consume many millions of acres of forest in the USA.  This represents a serious loss of valuable natural resources.  Fires affect forest communities in many ways. In the short-term, fire consumes vegetation, downed woody debris, and soil organic matter. Fire-caused changes in soil productivity and forest structure directly  affect future vegetation development, which, in turn, influences soil loss to erosion.  These and other immediate effects of fire continue to shape forests long after any flames have passed (footnote 1).

After wildfires, the understory of the forest is destroyed.  The plants that hold the topsoil in place preventing erosion are gone and a layer of ash covers the ground.   If the ash and topsoil stay in place long enough for new growth then all is well but more often than not thunderstorms wash much valuable topsoil and the ash that covers it down slope into streams and rivers.  The clean water in these mountain streams becomes turbid with ash and soil particles, killing fish and other aquatic life.  The ash and soil eventally settle out as sediment.  This sediment destroys the clean gravel base that typically makes up the mountain streams and rivers preventing or minimizing spawning.  No spawning and the fish populations are further reduced.

This common phenomenon can be controlled through the use of water-based acrylic polymers.  The ultimate goal is regrowth of the small understory plants to prevent erosion naturally.  The application of the water-based acrylic polymer will glue the ash and topsoil in place long enough to permit the desired regrowth.

Typical applications of polymer can be accomplished with tanks, pumps and hoses where terrain is not to difficult.  In extremely difficult terrain aerial applications may be made.  These applications can be made with dilute polymer alone or with native seeds to speed recovery. DirtGlue Enterprises offers an environmentally friendly, water-based, acrylic polymer emulsion with the capabilities important for this type of application.

1. Literature cited, Forest Fire in the US Northern Rockies

ArenaKleen-the end of horse arena dust!

by Brian McNeil, E=MC Equestrian Arenas, Inc.

To paraphrase Shakespeare’s Lady Macbeth, “Out, out, damn dust!” 
California equestrians see, breathe and endure dust, and our horses continue to pay the price.

Working throughout North America with equestrian owners, trainers and facility managers, I am constantly asked to make sure-fire recommendations for dust control for arenas, showgrounds, barn aisles and round-pens/turn-outs. Until recently, the solutions were short-term and less than environmentally sound and economically practical. Even with high-end sprinkler systems, water wheels, magnesium chloride, misting systems, water tanks or careful manure-removal management, dust would win out in the end.

A few years ago, I got into a heated telephone conversation with a manufacturer who claimed that his product could control all dust present in an arena for up to nine months. I doubted that. He said his product worked without chlorides (salts). Without water. And without any environmental risks or impact on horse and rider.

Having previously installed thousands of gallons of liquid magnesium chloride over the years, with adequate but short-term effectiveness, I finally asked one of my best clients to try this organic witches’ brew, this mysterious non-toxic liquid formula. It worked! And kept working. And it did not alter the feel of the footing, get crusty or, most remarkably, wash out of the footing when it rained.

My irritation with DirtGlue Enterprises, the environmental products manufacturer of this product, ArenaKleen, grew out of my own disbelief that their claims were valid. I was proved wrong. Trainers that had worked in dust-bowl arenas now tell me that it works. Owners in Carmel, in Pleasanton, in Orangevale, tell me that it works. No more dust on arena mirrors, on horizontal surfaces, on cars parked near the arena and, most especially, no more dust entering the respiratory systems of their horses and riders. 

I have never been so pleased to be wrong in my assumptions.

How It Works

Unlike other liquids that suppress dust by coating the sand/dust particles, ArenaKleen is absorbed into the sand/dust particles at a molecular level. Both non-corrosive and non-exothermic (it does not generate heat like calcium chloride does), the material does not wash off of the footing, even with heavy rains or waterings used to maintain footing density. It does not freeze - a plus for our northern riders. Of greatest significance to riders, it does not alter the feel of the existing footing. It just gets rid of the “damn dust!”

As California continues to grow, two realties are emerging: we are running short of water; and equestrian facilities once set in isolated and private locales are now trying, and failing, to co-exist with suburban neighbors who don’t want their air-conditioner’s filters clogged with arena dust.

DirtGlue Enterprises/ArenaKleen now distributes throughout North and Central America, and is available world-wide. The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto has used ArenaKleen for the past two years to control arena dust, while promoting the Fair as a “green” environment for its international  equestrian events. Vendors love it: no dust on the $4,000 saddles. The facility loves it: no water trucks! Lady Macbeth would have loved it, too.

Author Brian McNeil is the owner of E=MC Equestrian Arenas, Inc., which designs, installs and consults for equestrian clients throughout North America. Recently completed installations include arenas in Los Gatos, Pleasanton and Orangevale, CA. With over 150 installations since 1997, E=MC Equestrian Arenas approaches all projects with this single criterion: It’s All About the Horse!