11-25-08 PTRC - Laserfiche WebLink

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9/ Evaluation of Buckthorn Particulates From a Chipper- Shredder by Lanny Baumann 10/27/08 Summga: Samples taken from the pile of shredded buckthorn plants in Hazelnut Park on October 26h 2008, showed almost total destruction of thorns on the stems. There is no significant safety issue to pedestrians if used as trail cover on Arden Hills paths and trails. Back round: Buckthorn removal projects in Arden Hills parks yield a significant volume of waste plant material that could be used as ground cover on city trails. Because of the many thorns there is a potential safety issue if thorns are not broken down when passed through the city's chipper- shredder machine. The question of this issue came from the Parks Trails and Recreation Committee (PTRC)meeting of 10/21/08. Evaluation Procedure: Four half gallon containers were filled with particulate material from different parts of the debris pile resulting from the buckthorn removal project at Hazelnut Park on 10/25/08. The four samples were slowly and carefully inspected for any sign of intact thorns. Findings: Approximately 90%of the particulates,by volume, were less than 3/4"long and many were less than 1/2". Some longer stem pieces ranging in size from I"to 3"remained but with no thorns attached. I believe the thorns, being more brittle, were shattered, as only a few sharp 1/4"tips could be found in the fine particulate material. There were other plants that were also shredded with the buckthorn. They had some pointed ends,not sharp like a thorn, and also not a big safety issue because the pointed end was on the longest dimension of the particulate which would normally be horizontal.