About a year and a half ago I received a phone call from a local farmer I had worked with in the past. He had a high pressure gas transmission line that ran through his property behind his home, and the ground around it had started to slip. As you can imagine he was very concerned on several different levels.

I went to his farm and we examined the situation. He had already contacted the gas company, but was wanting my advice on what needed to be done and how he could keep that acreage productive for his beef cattle operation. He sought this because, basically, he trusted me and my research based advice, and did not trust the gas company and what they wanted to do.

Over the course of the last, roughly 18 months, the gas company and contractors have done extensive work on stabilizing the slip. Now, I am not an engineer, so I did not advise on the slip reclamation effort, not my place. But they did put in place several of the ideas I suggested on the multiple visits I have made, as well as followed the agronomic recommendations I provided.

Among these were some water diversion techniques. These were necessary as the slip occurred along the top of a fairly steep slope, and erosion could have been a very big issue as water came down the slope. They also seeded back with novel endophyte fescue as well as properly limed and fertilized the area due to the top soil being greatly disturbed by stabilizing activities.

The company had originally tried to ignore the problem, then tried to come in and do some cheap reclamation work, with poor drainage and agronomic value. Due to his contacting me and my knowing his operation from previous visits, he was able to get a potential disaster site remedied and turned into a productive pasture area for his cattle.