Phil Gruszka

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Phil Gruszka

• Director of Park Management and Maintenance
• Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
• Pittsburgh, PA
• pgruszka_at_pittsburghparks.org
• 412-682-7275

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Soils in heavily used public placesHow do we
keep Green green
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Trees in sidewalks
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Urban parks are about more than just people
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Thank you for your interest.

• Any Questions?

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SPARE SLIDES FOR POTENTIAL DISCUSSION FOLLOW
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Fiber-Reinforced Soils
Photo Credit www.fibersoils.com
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Mixing

• Fibers are spread over the mixing area
• Mixing proceeds until a uniform fiber-soil
  composite is achieved.

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Placement Compaction

• FRS is placed and
• compacted to specified
• density using standard
• construction practices.

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Post-Construction

• Area or slope is graded and
• dressed to specified
• standards.
• The reinforced area is now
• ready for subsequent
• construction, planting or
• landscaping.

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Soil Texture

• Critical Soil Properties Related to Texture
• Porosity
• Field capacity
• Wilting point
• Plant-available water (PAW)
• Permeability (saturated hydraulic conductivity,
  K)
• OM levels and Soil Compaction Influences All of
  the Above

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Plant-Available Water Storage vs. USDA Texture
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Tools For Physical Improvement

• Subsurface drains
• Deep tillage
• Organic matter incorporation
• Polyacrylamide superabsorbents
• Polyacrylamide aggregate stabilizers
• Mulch

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Compost Blanket Seeding at Mt. Washington, 2007
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Tools for Chemical Improvement

• Lime (get pH up)
• Sulfur (get pH down)
• Gypsum (salt-affected soils)
• Fertilizer
• Manure
• Microbial/fungal inoculants