Silt fences may have met their match, and more.
In this day of increasing concern over issues of erosion control and water quality, a Knoxville landscape professional is gaining new ground in the age-old battle against the slope.
Jason Garber, president of Lawn and Landscape Professionals, LLC, is the only landscaper in East Tennessee to hold the rights to the sale and installation of Filtrexx, a state-of-the art approach to erosion control.
Garber is putting the system to the test in a subdivision off Sevierville Road behind homes built by Fred Meunier.
On slopes behind the homes -- some of which approach vertical orientation -- Garber and his crew are in the midst of installing a Filtrexx system.
The main feature of the erosion-control technique -- embraced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as an example of ``greenscaping'' -- is long nylon and polyester ``soxx'' of varying sizes. The socks are filled with a fescue-seeded compost and laid along the contour of the slope. Depending on the size of the incline, they are either tiered, or placed at the top and bottom of the slope. Additional seeded compost is then placed between the socks.
So why is this approach to erosion control better than the traditional means of permeable silt fence?
Simply put, the ``soxx'' are three-dimensional, they eventually decompose in sunlight, and they provide made-to-order organic material for seeds to take hold, Garber said.
The compost-filled tubes also serve as a ``three-way filter,'' Garber said, filtering chemicals, silt and natural minerals.
``All a silt fence does is hold back silt,'' Garber said. And, ``in the long run, it's actually cheaper than a silt fence,'' when the cost of installation, removal and maintenance are factored. There are also penalties associated with poor drainage control, and silt fences are prone to failure.
Three weeks ago, Garber and his crew started stabilizing the first section of slope behind the houses, most of which are still under construction. Already there is a fairly lush growth of fescue holding a steep hillside in place. With traditional silt fences along the bottom of the slope, what is now green would be a gullied, bare hillside.
``We see a need for this in the market,'' Garber said, with increased regulatory emphasis on erosion control at construction sites.
The Filtrexx approach may be especially attractive to those building along waterways. Garber's company just completed a stream-bank restoration project at a Knox County park in Halls.
There are more Knox County connections to this story.
Garber has used more than 4,000 tons of Knox County yard waste and other compost materials this year.
``We literally bumped into this,'' said Knox County Solid Waste Director John Evans.
Knox County officials attending a trade convention learned of Filtrexx, headquartered in Ohio, and found out there was a Knoxville installer and distributor.
``We hunted Jason down and found he was looking for sources of compost in large quantities.''
The Knox County yard waste and composting facility in Solway, run by Natural Resource Recovery, has no shortage.
``It gives us a market,'' Evans said. ``If it has nowhere to go it becomes a waste again.
``I think it has the potential for being sort of the replacement for silt fences in Tennessee. It has enormous potential for reducing sedimentation in urban settings,'' he said.
``I have seen it work in a number of applications,'' Evans said,
``The water goes in dirty, and comes out clean.''