Erosion on a slope, trail maintainance tips welcome

[LuckyIL]

I have been using a path and it slopes north to south and at the end of it it finally leads down northeast. With our snow pack and torrential rains this year the water has really moved a lot of dirt around and has even caused my RR bed to form a bowl, it's on the northeast end.

What I've done in the past is just disc the ground up to remove the ruts, then drive over it a few times during the summer. I have miles of paths and trails I'm just really tired of hooking up my disc and turning up dust.
I guess it could be worse, but what I'm really looking for is advice on the hills that have become eroded from atv ruts then water passing thru.

How can I repair existing ruts on a hill? Go uphill with the disc, my brakes aren't great on my JD 5205
Then what should I plant to establish quickly? Annual ryegrass? What's cheap, it hasn't quit raining here, every few days another rain event.

 

[kskid]

Lucky,
If your trail runs up/down hill instead of across the slope, something that worked for me was to install water bars across the trail (closer together the steeper the slope). The bars can be rock, gravel, dirt, logs, or even rubber belting on edge. The belting is about the only option that doesn't involve moving heavy material. It's hard to explain without pics, but the bars should run across the trail almost level, with one end slightly lower (to the side that can best get rid of the runoff). Rock, gravel, and dirt should be placed like a speed bump. A log should be 1/2 buried. Belting can be buried like garden edging & folds over when you run over it. The idea is to get the water off the trail before it can pick up enough speed to erode the soil. The reason one end of the bars is only slightly lower is the same (so water doesn't run across the face of the bar fast enough to erode it). The more water there is, the higher the bars have to be. Use a level during installation - our visual sense of "level" is easily tricked when working on slopes. You might have to make some adjustments after a few months & do periodic maintenance on them but they should be easier than discing the whole trail every year.

Vegetation on the trail is trickier because there are so many variables. Annual rye will establish quickly, but will die at the first frost, so you need to plant something else with it for permanent cover. The rye will help hold the soil until the slower growing plants can get established. Fescue is generally frowned upon in habitat projects, but it is tough as nails and can handle wet conditions. Poor/thin soil or no sunlight can both be problematic. I don't know the conditions or your location. Perhaps others can better advise you about that.

Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!

 

[2ndHand]

I had similar issues with a ridge trail where the water continued to V-out the trail. We had a excavator on site for pond work last fall and had the contractor dig a couple of water by-passes to divert the water flow. The bypass is like an extra large speed bump with a ramp for the water to flow. Has worked great this year with all the rain we have been receiving. Best of luck!

 

[Aaron]

Water bars, Maybe build a big water bar on top of the hill to force water to go somewhere other then down your trail. A pick ax and shovel can move lots of water. If you are going to ride atvs on your trail, use logs as your water bar. I would have a dozer come in and try to re grade your hill, they might be able to get rid of all of the water.