23 Mile Slough RSA Proposed Budget
July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011
Recurring expenses
$7,800 Summer road maintenance
---$3,600 2 road gradings for 6 miles @ $295/mile
---$4,200 1 Mowing @ $145/hr
$15,000 Summer road repair
---$5,000 pothole filling X2 truckloads @$2,500/truckload
---$10,000 Misc repair and upgrades
$11,600 Snowplowing @$200/mile
---$6,000 3 for 10 miles
---$5,600 2 for 14 miles
$100 Mailing supplies
$3,600 Direct cost to borough
$38,100 Total
Extra expenses
$15,708 repair at mile 3
$15,708 repair at mile 4
$15,708 repair at end of road
$4,200+ weed control
---$4,200 additional mowing
---$? spraying
---$? weed killer
$51,324+ Total
$38,570 Money available from taxes
$81,956 Money in savings
$33,440 Money available in project funds
$26,073 Money remaining in FY2009/10 budget
Short term goals
~weed control
~road repair
~Improve line of sight at 4 mile curves
Long term goals
~Acceleration lane on Richardson
~Apron entrances for farm equipment
~Cowpie, bring up to Title 17 standards
~Equipment passing pullouts
~Pave 8.1 miles EFR
~Repair corner at mile 4.1, increase line of sight
~Resurface last mile of main road with RAP
~Sawmill Trail, bring up to Title 17 standards
~Sebaugh, bring up to Title 17 standards
~Upgrade newly annexed Old Valdez Trail to Title 17 standards
~Upgrade Skila & Prince to Title 17 standards
Permanent improvements
Strategic plans
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14 comments:
I can't make the meeting, but have a suggestion on teh weed control.
Rather than spend $4200 on mowing, which does not rid the area of the weed, or spraying, which only works for a short time, why not designate two days during summer; one early in May, another maybe early July, and everybody get out on teh road and pull the danged stuff out and burn it. Goodness knows we could all use the exercise. I think two pullings might be very effective in ridding us of the current adult weeds and two batches of new ones. Might have to repeat next summer as well. What's wrong with a little community project?
Karl
We are also unable to make the meeting, but Travis and I are up for idea of weed pulling days. I think it would be more fun to designate a couple of days during the year, instead of just taking care of our road section throughout the summer. I would be willing to hand out refreshments to people working along the road during those days too. Thanks Karl.
-Kelly Eggleston
I think that is a very good idea. Could also be done in at the same time as the clean up day or as our own community clean up day, kill two birds as it were
great ideas. Anyone willing to volunteer to coordinate?
great idea, combining it with clean up day! (days)
I agree. It would probably let us do a better job of both.
Two nice ideas folks. Unfortunately, the weeds are not growing so good at that time being hard to identify as well as small. Things are going good by the end of June and need to be plucked prior to flowering. This is why early season spraying works better in the two to four leaf stage. I agree that spraying is not a one time activity and could be costly. Rural services, as of this date, has not responded to my questions regarding herbicide and spraying as legitimate uses of our road service funds. Perhaps they would respond in a phone call. I'll try that approach.
Would Chris or Karl like to volunteer to chair the community weed pull committee? I will serve on the committee but I will not coordinate. Sounds like a great idea to me.
Stu Davies
Neighbors -
The response from rural services will limit our discussion of weed control using RSA funds at the winter meeting. This would appear to be a community project unrelated to road maintenance. I hope someone will step up to organize this effort.
Stu Davies
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: RE: Weed Control - 23 Mile Slough
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 10:59:19 -0900
From: bgryder@co.fairbanks.ak.us
To: farmerstudavies@hotmail.com
CC: arobio@alaska.net; aworhatch@co.fairbanks.ak.us; khawman@co.fairbanks.ak.us; SCJohnson@co.fairbanks.ak.us; jdolan@co.fairbanks.ak.us
Stu,
I verified with our legal department that the borough’s road maintenance and construction powers in the service area do not include control of noxious and invasive weeds. The service area cannot spend funds on herbicide spraying for weed control.
Bill Gryder, P.E.
Acting Deputy Director
FNSB Public Works
v (907) 459-1360
f (907) 459-1330
From: Stu Davies [mailto:farmerstudavies@hotmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 11:01 AM
To: Rural Services; Bill Gryder; April Barnes; Ed Arobio
Subject: Weed Control
Good Morning -
This is a general question for rural services staff. The 23 Mile RSA is located in a farming community. As such, we have a question regarding the spraying of noxious and invasive weeds occuring alongside our roadways. I reviewed the specifications for road maintenance and can find no reference to this type of work. Is the purchase of weed killer and spraying a legitimate use of our tax dollars? Has this been done before in other RSA's? If someone could research this and get back to me in a timely fashion, I would be grateful. If you can refer me to other resouces that would be helpful also.
I am mainly interested in the legal use of our funds for this type of maintenance.
Thanks
Stu Davies
Chair, 23 Mile RSA
Are the adult clovers we see all over the side of the road now dead, or will they liven up in spring. If they are perennials, we can pluck 'em early because they are easy to identify, even now. If annuals which i suspect, we may have to wait for Stu's later time for the first harvest.
I will ba happy to volunteer time to do the picking, but i have no time for organization, other than sending out one email to the effect that;
"We meet at 10 am at bathing beauty pond on june 3(whatever). Bring a truck to haul the stuff to a fire pit located at the other end of the road, where there will be a picnic at 5pm. No excuses"
(actually the picnic should be at the pond, start at othr end. See, too much to think about for an old guy)
This may not make me very popular, but that is not my mission in life anyway. It seems to me the people most at risk from any infestation of a noxious weed would be those who farm. Chris is not a farmer, nor am I. I do have an interest in eradicating noxious weeds when and where possible. Here we have an early infestation that could possibly impact local crop production. It is still in a stage where you can count individual plants. If anyone should be taking the lead on this it should be a farmer, and every one of the farmers along this road had better be out there next to me when the clean-up begins if they want to keep any credibility in my little world.
I have no patience for those who want someone else to do everything for them. Where is the farmer who will step up to the plate? I promise to help him/her in any way I can
The white sweetclover is a biennial, which means it flowers in the second year (usually). The tall dead ones that we can still see along the road have already gone to seed and are, in fact, dead. The second year plants generally begin flowering in June.
I will organize the weed control pulls on Eielson Farm Rd, as a community member and hater of invasive plants. Though, in my personal and professional opinion, pulling will not be an effective method compared to spraying. If you have any ideas, please feel free to contact me at 460-7927. Also, I will be pursuing a change in borough regulation to allow road service areas to use funds for invasive plant control.
Darcy,
I would like to help you organize this weed pulling operation. Thanks for stepping up to the plate.
Hi all,
I've been meaning to reply to the whole idea of a weed pull and invasives in general. Like Darcy, I have some professional training and education when it comes to invasives. While I think the weed pull is a great community activity and I would help pull weeds for the heck of it, I agree with Darcy that it is not the most effective method to battle invasives. Darcy - let me know if you need any help pursuing a change to the borough regs for spraying.
The other thing I really want to point out is that we should be looking at ways to prevent the spread of weeds in general: our road maintenance program of grading the side slopes of the road is actually exacerbating the spread of these weeds. I had not seen the white clover beyond the first mile or so of the road until after the last time the side slopes were graded. Every time we have equipment that moves up and down the farm road, disturbing any ground where these weeds are present, we drag those seeds all up and down the rest of the road.
Many DOT contracts require that equipment be cleaned of all seed and plant material before beginning any work at a new site. I would like everyone to consider that we put some sort of clause in our road contract that addresses the spread of weeds and involves preventative measures for equipment (like power washing). A lot can be accomplished in basic prevention efforts.
It would also be beneficial if we could make a map of the current extent of weed presence - and I would volunteer to help do this (Darcy, maybe we could do a trail ride to accomplish this?? :). If weed pulling is the only avenue available to us currently, knowing where the biggest weed problems are would make our efforts much more effective.
Finally, as to farmers being the most at risk and therefore being the ones who should take charge, keep in mind that we are also the ones who can, will, and do spray to deal with this issue. Doesn't mean we aren't interested in preventing invasives or aren't willing to participate in community endeavors, but we already have the best tools to address the problem. If I can fit it in, I'll help pull weeds or assist in whatever happens, but in general I believe this is an issue for everyone to be aware of is not farmer specific.
I will likely see most of you at the meeting on Saturday!
Happy Friday,
Valerie Baxter
Moose Creek Farm
6.5 Mile Eielson Farm Rd
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