Conservation Inovation Grant

Carlsbad SWCD Conservation Innovation Grant

Carlsbad SWCD has begun work on the Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) project. CIG grants are intended to stimulate the development and adoption of innovative conservation approaches and technologies. NM Department of Transportation approved composted mulch is put in burlap bags along with a grass seed mixture and placed strategically in highly eroded "road cuts" to act as check dams. The compost bags were installed in the road cuts during April. These “bag diversions” have been designed to slow water runoff and cause sediment deposits that will promote grass growth. All of these should slow and/or reverse some of the effects of erosion in these areas.

Carlsbad SWCD, along with indispensable help from the Eddy County Detention Center trustees, has installed approximately 250 burlap bags filled with composted mulch as flood diversion structures in a heavily eroded road run-off spillway near Black River. These bags were placed in four water spreading structures that were one to two bags high, in the bottom of the spillway to slow the runoff and as part of a mesh wire diversion structure. Two more diversion structures are to be installed in the month of May. The bags in each structure are staked to the ground using wooden stakes in a shape to promote spreading and slowing running water. Contours of the ground and natural vegetation was used whenever possible to enhance the efficiency of the structures.

The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a cost-effective, bio-degradable method of repairing and preventing the damage caused by flood water runoff. This project has already generated interest in utilizing this type of erosion control in other areas that are highly susceptible to erosion.