Green Remediation Focus

Barksdale Air Force Base

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Bossier City, Louisiana

Federal Facility

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Material Recycling: Concrete was salvaged during demolition of flight pavement and an onsite building and sorted by aggregate size for construction use.

Material Recycling

Erosion/Stormwater Controls: In addition to silt fences and hay bales along construction boundaries, areas of intense stormwater runoff were lined with geotextile material and armored with rip-rap stone.

Erosion/Stormwater Controls

Selective Tree Removal: Careful planning of construction activities helped avoid clearcutting in work areas adjacent to the landfill cover.

Selective Tree Removal

Riparian Area: Riparian systems near the the landfill were preserved throughout cover construction.

Riparian Area

Wetland Border: The site's protected wetlands continue to play a role in the extensive habitat corridor surrounding the site.

Wetland Border

Thriving Vegetative Cover: Drought-resistant wildflowers such as white yarrow, clasping coneflower, Indian blanket, and black-eyed Susan were seeded across 20 acres of the landfill cover; late winter mowing promotes seed germination and regeneration of the annuals each spring.

Thriving Vegetative Cover

Cleanup Objectives: Contain 25 acres of construction debris and hazardous waste (including petroleum-based solvents and metals) constituting an onsite landfill adjacent to a wetland area and the Flat River

Green Remediation Strategy: Modified the original construction plan for landfill cover to capitalize on green construction methods and meet federal "greening the government" goals, while expanding the facility's natural resource conservation program

• Retained an existing natural levee to maintain the habitat corridor, minimize riparian ecosystem disturbance, and provide secondary erosion controls
• Developed a drainage design and construction plan recreating natural hydraulic patterns of the wetland and river
• Removed trees and shrubs selectively and chipped/recycled the material for placement on hiking trails within the facility's conservation area
• Used uncontaminated spoil material from previous dredging operations to construct an 18-inch low-permeability cover
• Used demolition concrete as rip-rap and aggregate material for stormwater runoff management and as base fill for access roads
• Removed, stockpiled, and later reapplied topsoil to enhance plant growth on the landfill cover surface
• Installed immediate grass cover on the cover surface for erosion and sediment transport control, followed by seeding of native drought-resistant wildflowers

Results:

• Used low impact development designs for constructing on-site drainage systems that mirror natural hydraulic conditions of the greater area
• Recycled 1,000 tons of concrete debris
• Reused 60,500 cubic yards of topsoil and subsurface material
• Saved 700 tons of removed woody material for beneficial use
• Saving approximately $1,800 each year in fuel and labor costs for site maintenance, through installation of a final landfill cover of native plant species needing infrequent mowing
• Achieved economic benefits totaling over $377,000 through sustainable design and construction of the remedy
• Integrated the facility's conservation plan into long-term stewardship of cleanup actions at "landfill 3" while preserving integrity of daily flight activities

Property End Use: Ongoing military operations

Point of Contact: Wallace Robertson, Barksdale Air Force Base

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