BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. (November 19, 2007) — Recent fires that have ravaged huge areas of southern California’s majestic hillsides are setting the stage for potential secondary disasters with the onset of the upcoming rainy season. Without precious vegetation to hold soil firmly in place, heavy rains bring cause for concern of mudslides.

In addition to the damage mudslides can cause to roadways and homes, they also create havoc with hillside environments. PROFILE Products LLC, an erosion control industry leader, has recent experience in minimizing the mudslide potential left by fire devastation in California.

In May of this year, fires burned more than 1,000 acres of the City of Los Angeles’ coveted Griffith Park. The park is located on a series of hillsides offering a magnificent view of downtown L.A. and frequented by thousands of visitors.

With vegetation stripped away by fire, steep slopes with barren soil were ripe for possible mudslides in the fall. “With the onset of the rainy season, government officials had a genuine urgency to find an immediate solution to stop the threat of severe soil erosion in a large area of the park,” said Marc Theisen, director of business development, PROFILE Products LLC. “From the outset, we knew that the enormity of this project and the tight installation timeline were going to present us with plenty of challenges.”

The process began when city officials began putting together their criteria and general plan for addressing the overall soil erosion potential caused by the spring fire. In all, there were 31 government entities from federal, state, local and community departments involved in the Griffith Park Fire Recovery Team.

“There were several concerns these officials had to address,” said Theisen. “First was choosing a product that would bond to soil and prevent erosion even under heavy rainfall. Further, there was a strong desire to allow the native vegetation to reestablish with no introduction of seeds or plant materials from outside the Park boundaries. Thus, the revegetation techniques had to be free of foreign seed and demonstrate sufficient longevity in order for the slow-growing endemic vegetation to regenerate on steep, fire-ravaged slopes.”

Profile was able to offer two proven products that met or exceeded all the criteria for this project. The two products selected for the project were Profile’s Hydro-Blanket® BFM (Bonded Fiber Matrix) and Terra-Matrix™ SM (Stabilized Matrix).

“At the beginning of the project, we conferred with the reclamation contractor (Western States Reclamation, Inc. of Frederick, Colo.) and our distributor (Watersaver Company, Inc. of Commerce City, Colo.) to discuss how we wanted to address the issues at Griffith Park,” said Frank J. Lauro, market development manager, PROFILE Products LLC. “We all felt that if we were going to be involved in such a large scale, environmentally-sensitive project that we wanted to do it right the first time. For this reason, we chose to utilize proven solutions that exceeded the minimum requirements set forth by the City of Los Angeles.”

Both products are environmentally safe and biodegradable, which was required in the project specifications. The products have also demonstrated great soil-bonding performance on steep slopes as well as the functional longevity needed for this application.

Terra-Matrix SM was selected for the less severe terrain while Hydro-Blanket BFM was used on steeper areas. Application rates for both products were customized to accommodate the range of slope gradients encountered within the project boundaries. Both products offer inherent advantages over field-mixed wood fiber and organic tackifiers.

Due to the quantity of material involved, having pre-blended products greatly simplified logistics for Western States Reclamation as they did not have to worry about where to store additional tackifier. It also simplified mixing since they only needed to add water to the pre-mixed formulations.

Another advantage with these products is that they use thermally refined wood fibers. According to Theisen, “Thermally refined wood fibers provide better coverage than non-thermally refined fibers. The use of these products greatly enhanced the ability of the contractor to meet the 100 percent coverage requirements of the project specifications. These products also employ a cross-linked tackifier which reduces the water solubility of the tackifier and results in increased bond strength and extended longevity.”

Lauro added, “We felt that without the use of a cross-linked tackifier, it was not possible to meet the six- and 12-month longevities of the project specifications.”

The logistics surrounding the project meant Profile had to act quickly and efficiently. With nearly 500 acres of fire-damaged land to treat at the park, in a very tight time window, just getting enough material to the site was the first challenge to overcome.

“October is the absolute peak of the erosion control construction season throughout the United States and Canada so our manufacturing personnel were given the task to produce enough material for this large project and beyond,” said Theisen. “They really rose to the occasion and we were able to produce a substantially large quantity of the required products in a short period of time.”

Getting all of the material to arrive at the right time was another obstacle. Once the project was awarded, the contractor, distributor and supplier had to work together very efficiently to meet the aggressive project demands. Due to the large amount of material required, the contractor needed to receive several truckloads of material a day during a one-week period.

“Watersaver Company did an outstanding job coordinating the logistics for this project. There is no way that things would have come together as smoothly as they did without their assistance,” said Lauro.

Due to the steep slopes, large areas of inaccessible terrain, tight application windows, and a desire by the City of Los Angeles to minimize any disturbance of native vegetation, Western Reclamation contacted the services of Erickson Air-Crane, Inc. out of Central Point, Ore. to apply the product aerially.

The helicopter arrived on-site October 15. There was an immediate challenge to make sure the 20 people involved in the application of materials were all in sync. While some workers were assigned to the operation of hydroseeding machines, others were involved in the mixing and loading of materials to ensure the smooth operation of aerial application. Two thousand gallons of the hydraulic slurry were applied aerially every three to four minutes. Approximately 90 percent of the project was completed in only 10 days.

“Everybody involved in this project worked incredibly hard and did a magnificent job,” said Theisen. “They turned this job in a very short time window and in the process were able to supply and install products that will do a great job bonding the soil and help prevent any major soil erosion problems such as mudslides.”

Theisen added that the project was a good example of how Profile partnered with an effective team to integrate people, technology and services to successfully complete a very large project in a timely manner. He also said that the recent breakout of fires in southern California may call for similar solutions and he looks forward to working with agencies and contractors in the area to meet their specific needs.