Wood chips for erosion control?

[Steve Bullman]

Been faffing around with chat gpt a little bit and run a query on wood chip uses. It threw up a suggestion that it was useful for erosion control which I found a bit baffling. Its thrown up quite a lot of incorrect information on other queries so I thought I would look into it, and it turns out its a thing.

 

 

Just a moment...

WWW.RESEARCHGATE.NET

 

Wood chips were studied for their efficacy in controlling soil erosion on a steep construction site with disturbed soils. The purpose of the research was twofold: to determine if wood chips could be used to reduce the off-site movement of soil during construction activities, and to find an environmentally sound alternative to the landfill disposal of wood wastes generated in the urban forest. The research was conducted on field plots that received natural precipitation. Twelve erodible plots were established on an embankment with a 55% slope and an elevation change of nearly 12 m. Each plot had a width of 3 m and a horizontal slope length of 10 m. A series of flow dividers was installed at the toe of each plot to measure runoff and sediment. Four treatments were studied: large wood chips, small wood chips, a mixture of wood chip sizes, and a control with no chips. The mixture of wood chip sizes represented the size distribution that was found to occur from chippers. The wood chips were applied at a rate that covered 80% of the soil surface. The erosion rate for the small wood chip treatment was not significantly different from the zero-cover plots. The erosion rates from the large wood chip and mixture of chip sizes were not significantly different from one another, but were significantly different from the zero-cover treatment. Overall, in comparison to the zero-cover treatment, the small wood chip treatment reduced erosion by 22%, the large wood chips reduced erosion by 78%, and the mixture of chip sizes reduced erosion by 86%. The results of this project indicate that wood chips (as produced by a chipper) should be utilized as a soil cover and need not be discarded as solid waste.