Topography as a Function of Vegetation
Rhett K. Kerby, M.S.
Principal, Soil Scientist and Natural Resource Consultant at KerTec, LLC
I had interesting conversation yesterday. Topography as a function of vegetation.
Topographic maps provide a snapshot of the current lay of the landscape.
The topography is a function of the vegetative conditions. By that I mean the topography is, in part, the way it is because of the existing vegetation.
I realized that civil engineering designs for large construction projects are based on pre-construction topography/vegetation and DO NOT account for the changes that occur when vegetation is removed.
After vegetation is removed rainfall directly impacts the soil surface, dislodging soil particles causing erosion that was NOT accounted for in the civil design. Additionally, once vegetation is removed there are no obstacles (grass, stems, trees, brush,etc) to break concentrated flow.
The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation 2 (RUSLE2) is a tool to determine how landuse (pre vs during vs post-construction) will alter the erosion potential.
SWPPP plans should be developed using RUSLE2 calculation for bare soil... and not developed by pre-construction vegetation conditions.
RUSLE2: https://lnkd.in/g-Ma7uR
MS Accounting || Financial Reporting | ArcGIS | SQL | Tableau
1 年This is something I never thought of. It sounds more like archeological artifact mapping, being that the artifact would be the removed vegetation. The problem would be how would you know if vegetation was there to begin with? Maybe with satellite imagery?
Senior Biologist / Tri-Cities, TN
3 年True and insightful!
Principal Technical Consultant, Capital Project Delivery at ERM
3 年This is great - My original Masters thesis research, back in the dark ages when NEPA was only 15 years old and poorly understood, was that USACE failed to incorporate erosion and sedimentation caused by devegetation from construction and adjacent home building when attaching a nominal 100 year lifespan on a new reservoir in Indiana. Groundcover and viable rooting systems are key to topography and landforms.