dredge spoils these days are tough to deal with,just to warn you.Although my experience is with salt water dredging I would imagine you may find the same red tape.
They did more research and found out that the material would be considerd hazardous and had to be dealt with properly. If they loaded the wet stuff into a truck and one drop would fall out of it onto the roadway, the whole operaton would be shut down and fined big time. The only way they could do it was to keep the material onsite.
There is always a lot of razzing about WV being a little behind the times. And, we certainly have some pretty contentious environmental issues like moutain-top removal and fracking for natural gas.
But, being part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed with extremely strict water quality monitoring, and being adjacent to several Great Lakes states with very strict invasive species and fish health issues, we seem to be in the right place, at the right time, to get ahead of these issues before uninformed legislators make non-scientific based laws on emotional pleas.
About eight years ago I got involved with the West Virginia Aquaculture Association (WVAA). I was shocked to find that most pond muck and most fish poop was classified as toxic waste, and fell under numerous crazy regulations. At that time, virtually all fish and aquaculture fell under the auspicies of the WV Dept of Natural Resources (DNR), plus 42 other agencies. The WVAA started a campaign to move aquaculture (including private ponds) from under the DNR to the Dept. of Agriculture. It has now been three or four years since the change happened. What an incredible world of difference. Fish poop and pond muck are now basically classified the same as cow manure. We also went from 43 agencies of oversight, to just a handful -- depending on your operation.
I don't want to see this thread go berserk politically regarding ...., whatever. I ask that it not go to the fringes or to ...., whatever.
But, there are many things we can do without becoming extremists, while we work in helping modify or eliminating aquaculture practices that don't make sense to anyone except the truly misinformed.
Like most of you, I'm just a hobbyist pond owner, but I've found that my voice in the aquaculture industry is one more voice and opinion in the always contentious environmental issues. However, even as small pond owners, don't be afraid to get involved with your state's aquaculture association. One of my longtime education issues to the regulators has been that we are a very large monetary block in the many industries related to aquaculture -- feed, feeders, pond builders, docks and boats, fish stocking, and dozens more. I strongly believe that people who own hobby fishing ponds have a lot more disposable income than their general state population median. Few of us are wealthy, but if we own enough land to have a stocked pond, and enough time to enjoy it, we are probably not destitute.
Enough. It is now time to go hug a big tree
-- actually, I need to do this only because I need to get an accurate chalk line around what will be the stump. I only have a 24-inch bar on my biggest chain saw, and the tree is at least 28 inches DBH. Then I need to hug it some more, as I need to get ropes/chains up about 30 feet to help pull it well away from the tractor barn! I unfortunately don't have room to safely get the excavator in place.Get involved. We are a much bigger force than you may realize.
