Erosion Prevention & Sediment Control
Plan ahead when working on property near the lake or anywhere in the Devils Lake watershed. Avoid the rainy season for any major earth moving projects.
Lincoln City erosion control ordinances are online at www.amlegal.com/lincoln_city_or.
Lincoln County erosion control ordinances 3.100 through 3.195 are online at www.co.lincoln.or.us.

Contact Lincoln City Public Works' Todd Pote 541-996-2154 and Lincoln County's Maria Wagoner at 541-265-4192 in Newport.

An Intergovernmental Agreement for Administration of Grading and Erosion Control Services exists between Lincoln City and Lincoln County. The City of Lincoln City Public Works Department sells a manual for $15.00 - Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance, Erosion Prevention and Sedimentation Control Practices, Technical Guidance Manual. For property in the county on the east side of the lake, the city handles residential property and the county handles larger developments. Report problems to the
• Devils Lake Water Improvement District (DLWID) 994-5330
• Lincoln City Public Works (Todd Pote) 996-2154
• Lincoln County Public Works (Maria Wagener) 265-5747
• For a complaint or concern for properties east of the lake that fall under the Forest Practices Act and are under State Forestry's jurisdiction, contact the city first. If the issue is not resolved to a complainant's satisfaction, contact Jim Buisman, county public works director.

Erosion - is the movement of soil particles, mud, dirt, sediment, or similar material resulting from the flow of, or pressure from, storm water, irrigation water, other water, or wind, where the movement is from a site onto public or private streets, onto adjacent property, into a public storm or surface water system, or into a private storm or surface water system that drains or is likely to drain into a public storm or surface water system.

Sediment - suspended material that settles to the bottom of a liquid. Sediment is both a direct pollutant, and a vehicle that carries other pollutants to Devils Lake and its tributaries.

Erosion control tips for autumn
Autumn is the time to tighten up those building, construction, excavating and landscaping projects.
• Emphasize erosion prevention rather than sediment control.
• Cover all exposed soil
• Minimize the extent and duration of exposed areas.
• Install sediment control measures to keep sediments on site.
• Make sure silt fences are properly installed, and are keyed in, and they follow the contours of the landscape.
• Install control measures to keep storm runoff velocities low.
• Monitor the site frequently and maintain control measures.

Shoreline erosion from wakes and storms
Native vegetation can be added to your shoreline. The root systems trap sediment, keeping it on the shoreline where it belongs. Vegetation also dissipates the energy of a wave which reduces the impact of breakers.  A wave crashes, hits the vegetation, gets slowed down, but the energy still flows forward eventually wearing itself out. Armored or rocked shorelines actually add to erosion as they fail to dissipate the wave energy and simply reflect it somewhere else. It is a simple property of physics – equal and opposite reaction. This ends up channeling the energy onto a less armored “weaker” shoreline which will end up eroding faster. This then will provide an access point for more wave energy to enter which eventually undermines the rocked edge as well. Rock has another problem in that it does not trap sediment very well like roots do. Water that crashes through the boulders eventually will reach the finer sediment on the shore which if exposed will get lifted away and flushed into the lake. Concrete walls cause the same thing. They too reflect wave energy and like rocked structures increase the erosional effects. This happens as the wave energy hits the wall and then cycles downward undermining the wall itself.  Sediment is lost under and from behind the wall as gravity pulls down soils on the land to replace those that have been washed to the lake bed.       
 
Best thing to remember is that vegetation holds soil, not rocks, and thus encouraging a richly intertwined root system of many different species of plants is nature’s way of holding soils in place. Of course trees do fall into streams and lakes over time, but this too is natural and serves an ecological need as well, providing habitat, etc. Nature acknowledges this by spreading more seeds upland to replace those that grew before. End of the day (on a geologic timescale) mountains wither to the sea, and erosion natural or man-made will do its best to tear down mountains or shorelines, vegetation is the buffering system though that slows this down (on the order of centuries and millennia). So best management practice (BMP) for your shoreline…let it go wild. Get rid of a lawn should you so have one in favor of shrubs and other plants that actually have decent sized root systems. Plant low growing willow trees as they tend to grow quickly, and have a great capacity to thatch together a root system. This will protect your shoreline and property as well as use up nutrients before they get into the lake. Devils Lake used to support Sitka Spruce trees 250’ tall, which grew everywhere (many still do where development has either not occurred or where they were spared), and they grew without fertilizer, so we know naturally there are nutrients available that can sustain large (enormous) native plants. (DLWID manager Paul Robertson)

Lincoln City has declared September to be Erosion Prevention Awareness Month, and during September conducts events to promote a greater awareness of the problems with erosion and the solutions to prevent it. The City of Lincoln City, and the Devils Lake Water Improvement District (DLWID) hold an Erosion Prevention and Sediment Control Workshop in the fall. Each year they publish the names of the participants in The News Guard, the local newspaper. The list in the past has included builders, excavators, road builders, contractors, public officials, and news media. Past guest speaker and panelist has been Fred Wright, President of the Pacific NW International Erosion Control Association. The national address is PO Box 774904, Steamboat Springs, CO 80477-4904, Phone: 1-800-455-4322, Website: www.ieca.org.

Erosion Ordinance:
Past DLWID manager Dave Wagner promoted an erosion control ordinance, and the next DLWID manager Bob Storer continued work on the ordinance. PADL member and DLWID board member Lynn Hermo researched ordinances in other coastal cities. In 1996 the main body of the ordinance was written relating to sediment and erosion control and storm water management.
   In November of 1997 the City Council of Lincoln City approved an ordinance amending Chapter 12.08 (Grading and Excavations) of the municipal code to conform to the city's grading regulations with minor revisions, to appendix Chapter 33 of the uniform building code; to establish erosion prevention and sedimentation control regulations; and to provide for educational programs, and declaring an emergency.
   Also, in November of 1997 the Council approved an ordinance amending Chapter 12.08 (Grading and excavations) of the municipal code to make compliance with Chapter 12.08 a condition to receiving new city water service outside the city; and declaring an emergency.
  A. To maximize the likelihood that appropriate erosion prevention and sediment control requirements will be followed within the Lincoln City urban growth boundary, the city shall not provide a new water service to any property, outside the city but inside the urban growth boundary, unless the property owner first enters into a written agreement, approved by the city engineer, that before, during, and following any land disturbing activity on the property, the owner will fully comply with all requirements, procedural and substantive, of this chapter, as though the property were within the city.
  B. In the event land disturbing activity occurs in violation of an agreement entered into under subsection (A) of this section, the city engineer, as a remedy in addition to any other available remedy, may cause a termination of water service to the property.
  Finally in the spring of 2000 with continued effort by DLWID manager Lori Campbell, the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners approved the ordinance that creates regulations to control erosion and prevent sediment loss in the county lands around Devils Lake. More than half of the lake is outside the city's jurisdiction, and far more than half of the watershed is.
  There are two categories of regulations. One is large scale excavating and grading work, defined as more than 50 cubic yards of material, the other is small scale activities of the same sort. The Lincoln County Public Works would administer the grading permit required.

   Roads - The Oregon Department of Transportation is subject to state and federal erosion laws. Road projects require an erosion control plan that includes a pollution control and landscaping plan. Discharge permits are required from the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). DEQ can actually shut down a road project that does not comply.
  Moving dirt - Projects that involve moving dirt may be required to file with the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).
  Leaking Loads - It is illegal to leak mud or other substances onto roads. Muddy trucks should be washed before traveling on public roads. Mud can make roads slippery, a real road hazard. Check with the state motor vehicle laws, and information on a leaking load permit.

Runoff
Definitions:
1. That part of the precipitation, snow melt, or irrigation water that appears in uncontrolled surface streams, rivers, drains or sewers. Runoff may be classified according to speed of appearance after rainfall or melting snow as direct runoff or base runoff, and according to source as surface runoff, storm interflow, or ground-water runoff.
2. The sum of total discharges described in (1), above, during a specified period of time.
3. The depth to which a watershed (drainage area) would be covered if all of the runoff for a given period of time were uniformly distributed over it.
For more information see, http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/runoff.html
and http://www.epa.gov/nps/
Rain Gardens - Infiltration technique to capture water runoff and reduce nonpoint source pollution, see http://dnr.wi.gov/org/water/wm/nps/rg

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Erosion Control Workshop 2006-
Thurs., October 26 - download agenda doc
The 2006 Erosion Control Seminar and Vendor Fair is growing! Lincoln City Public Works and the Devils Lake Water Improvement District are combining to bring the best erosion control seminar yet this Thursday October 26th starting at 8:30 am at City Hall. Guest speakers will include the dynamic erosion control guru Mr. Fred Wright of Environmentally Wright and Ms. Laine Young of Landlinks Consulting LLC. Together with eight vendors from around the Pacific Northwest and California, this year’s seminar has really shaped up. Topics considered this year will include details from local sites including the Villages @ Cascade Head and others.

Additionally, Paul Robertson of the Devils Lake Water Improvement District will present his own presentation on Safeguarding the Lake: Reasoning for Exceptional Erosion Prevention & Control. As always the event is free, open to the public, and includes lunch for those that RSVP Annemarie at 996-2154 by the 24th. As a bonus many Door Prizes are to be had including a FREE Erosion Site Plan & Installation including all the materials and labor done by those that enforce the rules themselves: Public Works. Also look for a number of vendor prizes still coming in as well as meals at restaurants such as the Kernville Steak and Seafood House. So in order to win your chance to see our own public employees slaving away at your next building project be sure to attend the Erosion Control Seminar and Vendor Fair in Lincoln City at City Hall on the 26th.

Erosion Control Workshop planned annually

Erosion documents

1. Lincoln City and Lincoln County - Intergovernmental Agreement between Lincoln County and The City of Lincoln City for Administration of grading and erosion control services. download document

2. Lincoln City - Grading and Erosion Control ordinances Chapter 12.08 from the website service posting Lincoln City's ordinances. download document
   a. The city shall declare each September to be Erosion Prevention Awareness Month and during September shall conduct events to promote a greater awareness of the problems with erosion and the solutions to prevent it.
   b. The city, in cooperation with the Devils Lake Water Improvement District, shall sponsor an annual workshop on erosion prevention and sediment control.
      www.lincolncity.org, ordinance site, search for erosion

3. Lincoln County - Erosion Control ordinances 3.100 through 3.195 from the Lincoln County website www.co.lincoln.or.us download pdf

4. Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District fact sheet. download pdf

5. Lincoln City Public Works Department - Grading and Erosion Control Ordinance, Erosion Prevention & Sedimentation Control Practices, Technical Guidance Manual, Revised November, 1999
$15 per copy