It was 10 years ago this month that the state Dirt and Gravel Road Program was created as a result of work done by the Pennsylvania Council of Trout Unlimited whose members documented the pollution that washed into exceptional value and high quality streams from unpaved roads.

Trout Unlimited first brought the problem of unpaved road runoff into the spotlight in 1991 when Trout Unlimited Members in Centre County’s Black Moshannon State Forest started a project to reduce pollution from dirt and gravel roads.

In 1993 a Task Force on Dirt and Gravel Roads was created to investigate the problem statewide and look at road maintenance practices. This private-public partnership include nonprofit groups, businesses and local, state and federal agencies.

During the summers of 1996 through 1998, volunteers from Trout Unlimited went out at their own expense and drove thousands of roads in an effort to identify pollution sites, ultimately identifying over 900 sites in exceptional value or high quality watersheds.

The Task Force members were later given a Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence.

The work of the Task Force convinced key decision-makers and legislators that a program was needed to deal with the pollution from unpaved roads and on April 17, 1997 Act 3 was signed into law allocating $5 million a year for these efforts to the State Conservation Commission and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

The key elements of the program included: local control over projects and decision-making, education and training on proper maintenance and road building techniques, simplified grant applications and encouraging public-private partnerships.

Since 1998 when it received its first funding, over 719 miles of unpaved roads have been rebuilt to new standards and using new materials piloted by the new Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies with a total project value of $34.5 million and over $594,000 has gone into training local road maintenance staff in new maintenance and road building techniques. (Thanks to Michael Klimkos for the reminder of this anniversary.)

4/20/2007