CHAPTER 4
ROADS AND TIRE
Napoleon's army may have traveled on its stomach, but the
army of wilderness destruction travels by road and vehicle. Indeed, one of the
most commonly used criteria for "wilderness" is
"roadlessness." Roads are used for logging, for mineral exploration
and development, for oil & gas activity, for grazing
"management," for powerline construction, for dam building, for ski
area, recreational, and subdivision development. Trappers, poachers, slob
hunters, archaeological site vandals, prospectors, seismographic crews, and
other vanguards of the industrial spoliation of the wild use four-wheel-drive
vehicles on dirt roads, on jeep trails, and cross-country. Then there are the
mindless masturbators on their 4 x 4s, ATVs, ORVs, dune buggies, muscle wagons,
dirt bikes, tricycles, and Nature knows what else-ripping up the land, leaving
their tracks as their imbecilic calling cards, running down wildlife, and
disrupting non-motorized recreation.
The road network on public lands, however, cannot be
effectively guarded against a serious campaign to close it. The money is not
available to both build and constantly repair roads in rough, remote country.
And vehicles-whether on the roads or off-are highly vulnerable to having their
tires flattened if they enter areas where they don't belong.
With the simple tools and techniques discussed in this
chapter, an Earth defender can essentially declare her own wilderness boundary
and safeguard an area from vehicle-borne destruction. Are two roadless areas
separated by a dirt road? Close it. Are "cherry-stem" roads invading
a block of wild country from all sides? Shut them off at the periphery. Is the
Forest Service building a logging road into prime wildlife habitat? Wreck it. Are
miners, seismographers, surveyors, trappers, or poachers threatening your area?
Take their transportation away. Are bozos on their tricycles or dune buggies
trashing a wild canyon, roadless beach, or desert valley? Flatten their tires
and make 'em walk out.
The most vulnerable portion of the industrial infrastructure
is the transportation network. The ecodefender can safely, securely, cheaply,
and effectively disrupt it-and save wild country.
Most monkeywrenchers have focused on disabling heavy equipment, cutting down billboards, and-more recently-spiking trees. All of these are worthwhile, but road spiking and destroying roads have not received the attention due them. With the United States Forest Service continuing a gargantuan road-building program in currently roadless areas, monkeywrenchers need to make a major effort to close these roads. This chapter tells you how to do just that. An additional attraction of road spiking or road destruction is that it is much more difficult for the villains to protect hundreds of miles of road from sabotage than it is for them to guard a few pieces of heavy equipment or active logging sites. You are in much less danger of apprehension doing this kind of monkeywrenching out in the wildwood than you are crawling around equipment yards. Nonetheless, do not neglect basic security precautions.
ROAD SPIKING
A modern version of the Vietnamese
"punji stake" offers a simple means of closing an unsurfaced road. An
angle-cut metal rod driven into the road's wheel rut will puncture tires while
not harming people. The 1/2 inch diameter rod, protruding only about three
inches, is too blunt to penetrate a shoe sole under a person's weight, but
sharp enough to puncture the tire of a heavy vehicle. With this technique you
can cure an ORV problem or make a logging or mining operation unprofitable. By
harassing a survey or exploration crew with these you might persuade a
corporation not to proceed with a mining or drilling operation. The possible
applications are extensive since almost any exploitive enterprise requires
roads.
You can buy the materials to close a road for pocket change,
and can emplace the stakes alone in
a very brief time. By not involving anyone else, you can insure that nobody can
betray you. That peace of mind is sometimes worth more than the encouraging
companionship. Since the stakes can be driven quickly and easily, there is
little chance of being seen, let alone identified, if you exercise even
minimal caution.
Obtaining the Materials
Any piece of hard metal that can be
sharpened and driven into the ground will work. For convenience and economy, we
recommend 1/2 inch diameter steel rod used for concrete reinforcement, usually
called "number four rebar" in the construction trades.
If you buy rebar pre-cut to length, you will order "one
foot number-four dowels," and you will have to sharpen one end.
If you decide to cut the stakes from
longer rods, you can hacksaw stakes such that the ends are sharp enough. Cut
the rods off at a sharp angle (at least 45 degrees) every couple of feet, then
cut these pieces in half with a straight-across cut. Thus each stake is about
one foot long, with one sharp end and one blunt end. Stakes longer than a foot
are hard to drive deep enough in rocky ground; much shorter and they are not
stable. Longer ones may be useful in very soft ground.
If
you buy the longer rod and cut it, keep in mind that rebar is usually bought by
contractors in quantity and delivered to a construction site. So, do not call
attention to yourself by repeatedly buying small quantities of rebar and hacksaw
blades in the same building supply store in an area where "road
spiking" is taking the profits out of some local rip-off. Rebar is common,
ordinary stuff, though, and nobody will take any interest in why you want it so
long as you don't need a salesperson's help in figuring out what (and how much)
to order. Order a length that you can easily transport. Buy the best hacksaw
blades, since cheap ones break easily and will only make a few cuts before
dulling. Buy the longest blades you can find in order to get a decent stroke
(most hacksaws accept blades of various lengths). This will make cutting much
easier.
Expedient Method of Cutting Stakes
Secure one end of the rod (by clamping,
jamming, etc.) and lay the free end across a crotched (or notched) piece of
wood under the cut to be made, about one foot from the end. Lay the blade
alongside one of the retention ridges which run across the rebar at a 45 degree
angle. Make several light strokes until the blade cuts into the bar enough to
prevent sideways slipping. With a little practice you can cut more than a dozen
road spikes an hour in this manner. If you cut up a rod or two in your spare
time during the week, you will have plenty by the weekend.
Building a Jig
For ease and convenience, you may want
to build a jig to hold the rod steady and to guide the sawblade. Any kind of
"miter box" that doesn't reduce the length of the stroke much is
okay. A simple method is to place two cement blocks on end and place the length
of rebar to be cut in the grooves on the ends. Saw the rebar between the cement
blocks.
Using an Acetylene Torch
A torch is the fastest and easiest method of turning out
large numbers of stakes. Learning how to cut (as opposed to welding or joining)
with a torch is easy. Someone can show you in half an hour how to hook up and
adjust the equipment well enough to burn off rods. Learn how to handle the
gases and equipment safely, and to adjust the flame. (See the separate article
on the Cutting Torch in the Vehicles and Heavy Equipment chapter.)
Emplacing the Stakes
Make the "cap" illustrated here so that you can
drive the stakes into the ground without blunting the sharp end. Buy two 3/8 to
1/4 inch galvanized pipe "reducers," one 3/8 by 5 inch galvanized
pipe nipple, and one 1/4 inch nipple of any length (the shorter the better),
and assemble as follows: Screw the five inch long pipe into the large ends of
both reducers; screw the smaller pipe into the small end of one of the
reducers; then cut it off flush.
Place the reducer with the flush-cut nipple over the sharp
end of the road spike and hammer the other end of the reducer to drive the
stake into the ground. If you simply put a piece of 1/4 inch pipe over the
sharp end of the stake and hammered on it to drive in the rebar, one pipe end
would deform very quickly from hammering and the stake would wedge up in the
other end. The reducers hold their shape and make this a long lasting tool.
Driving the first stake creates a seat (in the end that fits over the stake)
into which succeeding road spikes should be fitted.
Where to Place Road Spikes
For
effectiveness and safety, give thought to where you place road spikes. Avoid
areas where a blow-out or flat from the stake might put the driver of the
vehicle in danger. Roads or "jeep trails" with a sheer, long drop-off
on one side are obvious danger zones. Choose, instead, a flat area or low point
in the vehicle path. Determine whether you should spike a long vehicle route
at the beginning or in a remote location in the middle. Will a flat miles from
nowhere endanger a typically overweight, soft ORVer?
Although road spikes are difficult
to see from a vehicle (particularly a charging muscle wagon), picking a spot
where they will be extra difficult to see will increase their effectiveness.
Choose a spot where vegetation to the side, shadows, a dip in the route, a
curve, or other natural camouflaging will obscure the three inches of dark rod
protruding from the ground. Also, pick a site where there is an excellent chance
of the road spike making contact with a tire. At some points along a vehicle
route, there may be several feet of variance for the tires. Several road spikes
may be needed across the route there to flatten a tire. Instead, select a spot
where ruts or natural constrictions keep the tire tread confined and where one
spike is sure to make contact with knobby rubber. Crossings of streams and dry
washes are also choice locations. Look at the terrain and previous vehicle
tracks to determine where each of your spikes will wreak maximum (but not
dangerous) havoc on vehicle tires that should not be there.
Consider the direction most
vehicles will be traveling and incline the road spikes accordingly. It may be
necessary on some routes to direct your spikes in both directions.
Even with proper planning of spike
emplacement, your road spikes may stand out. Put a tumbleweed, litter, or small
branches over visible spikes to hide them.
-Dan 'l
Boone
FIELD
NOTES
• Check a dead-end jeep trail before you spike it. It is best
to flatten someone's tires when they are going in, not coming out.
• Often a
trustworthy partner is useful for security. While one person drives the spikes
in the road, the other can watch or listen for vehicles or hikers. Prudently
used, radios can add to security. See the section on Tools in the Security
chapter for a discussion on radios.
• Placing a rag over the head of the spike driver when
hammering in stakes may help to deaden the noise of hammering.
• Rebar is
cheap. A twenty-foot length at one suburban building supply store was only
$3.50. Rebar also saws easily and quickly with a good hacksaw blade-don't be
intimidated by the task until you try it.
• Disguise your
spikes with small branches. This may be especially effective on logging roads.
Soon, drivers will be afraid to drive over any fragment of dead tree.
• 3/8 inch rebar
can also be used for road spikes. It is cheaper (79 cents for a ten foot
length), saws easier, and is lighter to transport in your pack. Except for
really macho tires, it should do an adequate job.
• 3/8 inch
diameter rebar cut in two or three foot lengths has been found effective for
flattening the tires of dune buggies and the like on beaches and in sand dune
areas.
• Free rebar can oftentimes be had by scouting around old
construction sites where short pieces have been discarded.
• On almost
every construction job where rebar is used, many small pieces will be left
over. If you walk up and ask whoever is putting in the steel if you can have
the leftover rebar for a home project, they generally will be happy to give it
to you.
• A quick and
easy way to cut rebar for road spikes is to rent a heavy pair of bolt cutters
(handles at least 3' long). Place one handle on the ground and stand on the
grip. You want the whole cutter lying on the ground except for the one handle
used to work the jaws. While keeping the cutters flat, raise the jaws as wide
(high) as you can. Place the rebar in as close to the hinge pin as possible, then
put your full weight on the handle. The jaws will eat right through, crimping
the bar into a razor-sharp edge. Be careful; you can lose blood to these sharp
little suckers. You may not be able to cut the rebar at more than a 20 degree
angle, but field experience has proven that to be sharp enough. This method
works well for anyone over 175 pounds; a smaller person might want to use a
hydraulic cutter. In two hours, you can have enough stakes to spike a lot of
jeep trail.
• The so-called
"Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988" which made tree spiking a federal
felony, also made road spiking (including nailboards) a similar crime. This
testifies to the effectiveness of road spiking and to the concern industry and
ORVers have about its increasing use. See the section on Federal AntiSpiking
Legislation in the Developments chapter.
An Alternative Spike Driver
Rebar road spikes can be driven into soft (muddy) ground
without dulling the business end and without using a spike driver. Tightly
clamp a large pair of visegrips to the spike and tap on the visegrips with a
hammer to sink the spike into the ground. In harder ground, visegrips and a
simple spike driver can be used. Use a three-inch section of 3/8 inch pipe with
a 3/8" by 1/4" reducer or a 3/8" end cap (block-off cap) screwed
on the end. Tightly clamp the visegrips 3 1/2 inches from the pointed end of
the rebar road spike. Slide the spike driver over the rebar so it rests on the
visegrips but does not touch the sharp end of the rebar (half an inch gap
should be present). By hammering on the end of the spike driver, the rebar
spike will be driven into the ground through the visegrips which you grip. (See
illustration.)
-St. Francis
Advanced Road Spiking
Here are some ideas to increase the effectiveness of rebar
road spikes. First of all, we found that the easiest way to procure raw
materials is to visit the local landfill. Many landfills have unattended scrap
metal recycling piles which contain scrap pieces of rebar. The sizes that work
best are #3 (3/8") and #4 (1/2"). Many pieces will be bent, but these
are useful for creative placements.
We have directed much energy toward stopping 3-wheeled ATCs,
dirt bikes, and the 4-wheeled ("Quad Runner") ATVs. These
abominations present problems different from those presented by 4 x 4 trucks
and jeeps. For them, ecoteurs must be more exacting in their methods of
manufacture and placement.
The relatively light weight of an ATV, coupled with the
pliable, low air pressure tires, makes it possible for the tire to bounce over
a standard 1/2" rebar spike cut at a 45-degree angle and sticking up
3" from ground level. To increase effectiveness we use 3/8" rebar
with tips cut at an angle of 60 degrees or greater. For standard emplacements
we use 14" long spikes, enabling us to have 4-5" above ground. As a
general rule, for maximum stability, the length of the spike underground should
be at least twice the length of the part above ground.
Before cutting rebar, notice that it has two longitudinal
ridges running opposite each other. Start your cut on one ridge, since it
helps form a sharp tip for the spike. While a hacksaw works well, also consider
using metal-working tools such as a "Sawz-all" with metal blades or
the special metal-cutting carbide blades for hand-held circular saws. If you
use a metal grinder to sharpen tips, do not overheat the tip, as the metal will
lose its temper, making it brittle.
Our most effective emplacement tool is a block of 1
1/2" plywood or three 1/2" plywood strips nailed together. The block
should be 3 to 4 inches wide (enough to grip well) and 8 to 10 inches long.
Align your spike tip and place the block over the tip and drive with your
single-jack hammer. Plywood drives the spikes without dulling the tips and will
not split apart. The plywood block is easily removed from the spike and will
last a long time. It produces far less noise than metal emplacement tools, and
is simple to replace. Plywood would also be easier to explain should one be
questioned, or to toss if someone approaches.
As these spikes have sharp tips, wear gloves when handling them (you should wear gloves
anyway, for security reasons, and should make sure the spikes don't carry
fingerprints). Consider making special containers for carrying your spikes-unprotected,
they can puncture a backpack. We constructed spike "quivers" out of
3-inch diameter ABS plastic pipe. The 3" size holds 20 to 30 3/8"
spikes. You'll need two 3" caps; one should be cemented on, and the other
attached with a small draw cord. D-rings can be mounted at each end by using
large 3" hose clamps, and a nylon luggage strap can be clipped on to the
D-rings to form a sling. The quivers can be carried in a day pack. When ready
to emplace spikes, simply pull out a quiver, sling it over your neck and
shoulder, and you have 20 spikes at your (gloved) fingertips.
-Robin Road
SPIKEBOARDS AND
NAILBOARDS
Another weapon against tires is the spike- or nailboard.
Short scraps of rebar, left over after making spikes, are useful here. For
rebar spikes, take a 2 to 4 foot length of standard 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 lumber and
stud it with spikes. Our spikes protrude 4 to 6 inches out of the board at a
45-degree angle and are usually placed 3 to 4 inches apart. The spikes can all
be angled in one direction, or angled two ways, so as to puncture tires coming
from either direction. To place the spikes, drill a hole the diameter of the
spike, at the desired angle, through the board. After placing the spikes in the
board, you may want to nail another board across the bottom as backing, so the
weight of the vehicle won't drive the spike down into the hole before the tip
accomplishes its purpose. However, this may not be a hazard with the lighter
ATCs and ATVs (a 4 x 4 ATV may weigh 500 lbs., sans rider).
Nailboards, made from strips of 1" or 1 1/2"-thick
plywood with numerous nails driven through at an angle, are ideal for dirt
bikes, whose narrow tires may miss rebar spikes. We recommend nails of at least
20d size, since smaller ones might be bent by the tires.
Nail- and spikeboards should be anchored to the ground. This
is done by drilling a hole in each end of the board, and by driving an L-shaped
piece of rebar through each hole. We use 14 inch "Ls" for soil
emplacements and 36 inch "Ls" for sand or mud emplacements.
Bury the wood portion of your nail- or spikeboard in the
ground. Carry a digging tool for this. Camouflage your emplacements. Be
creative. Most ATV and dirt bike yahoos won't think anything of running over a
small piece of brush, tumbleweed, or litter which conceals a spikeboard.
Be
sure to avoid leaving fingerprints anywhere on your spike- and nailboards, and
on your tools.
Keep in mind that by making spikes sharper, and by using
spike- and nailboards, we may increase the risk of injury-and that is not our purpose. Thus, use these emplacements only where there
is little chance of injury to the general public.
-Dave Harleyson
FIELD
NOTES
• An easy way to
drive nails through a nailboard is to place the board on sand or soft dirt and
drive in the nails through the board into the dirt. Turn it over and you have
your nailboard.
• To anchor nailboards, try driving large nails or bridge
timber spikes through the nailboard into the ground
• Some
field agents argue that nails should not extend more than an inch and a half
cut from the board because they will bend on contact with the tires.
* For cheap and easy nailboards: Stud a
piece of irregularly-shaped cardboard (it looks more like trash that way) with
roofing nails and spray paint the whole thing brown so the nails are not
noticeable from a moving vehicle. Do the same with a piece of carpet scrap, but
no paint this time.
* Remember that many dirt bike
and ATV riders are children and mentally handicapped individuals. Be careful.
Many dirt bikes travel at high rates of speed. Place tire puncturing devices
with the safety of the rider in mind.
* Other dirt bikers are of the most
uncouth, violent, and potentially dangerous variety of Boobus americanus. Be careful. You do not want to be captured by
these slavering morons or even suspected of doing anything against them.
HOW TO MAKE CALTROPS
Caltrops are extremely effective for flattening tires on
stink machines of the two, three, and four wheel varieties. They are sold
through Soldier of Fortune style mail-order houses for about $1.75 each and possession
is legal. If you are a beginning welder you can easily make your own for less
than ten cents apiece.
Take a welding class at the local community college. Learn
how to cut and weld using an Oxy-acetylene outfit. You'll be amazed at how much
this will expand your horizons as a monkeywrencher. A cutting torch can slice
through iron like a hot knife through butter. (See the Cutting Torch article in
the Vehicles and Heavy Equipment chapter.)
INGREDIENTS:
Oxy-acetylene
welding outfit
Small
diameter welding rod
Twelve
pounds of 20d nails (bright box)
Sturdy
workbench and two vises
Three
pairs of welding goggles
18"
handle bolt cutters
Medium
weight hammers
Two
pairs of pliers
Clamp one handle of the bolt cutters horizontally in the
vise. Hold a nail in the jaws at a 45 degree angle with one hand and push the
free handle down with the other hand to snip off the head and leave a
nasty-looking point where the head was. Cut the minimum amount of nail off with
the head. It's easier to snip when the nail is jammed as far into the jaws as
possible. You might as well
do this to 600 nails while you're at it. Wear safety glasses to protect your
eyes in case a nail head flies off. Be careful to save every single nail head
for appropriate disposal somewhere other than your workshop.
Now mark the center of each headless nail with a felt tip
pen. The best way to do this is by marking two parallel lines on the workbench
one-half nail length apart, and laying the nails over these lines to mark them.
Once all the nails have been cut and marked, you're ready to make a prototype
caltrop.
Clamp one of those double pointed nails
vertically in the vise with the midpoint mark just showing. Bang it over with
the hammer until you have a wide "L" shape with an interior angle in
the neighborhood of 110 degrees. Make sure it comes out with the bend at the
midpoint. Do this to only six nails. Clamp one of these bent nails with one tip
in the jaws of the vise so that it is in an upright "V" position.
Balance another bent nail over the first one crosswise in the inverted
"V" position. This is what a caltrop looks like. All you have to do
now is weld the nails together.
Notice that there is a convenient place for two tack welds
where the nails cross, and two more places on the underside. Strike the torch
and do a tack weld. Before the weld cools, tweak the caltrop with pliers so
that it is symmetrical. Do the other tack weld. Turn off the torch so that you
will have two free hands to loosen the vise slightly. Grab the caltrop with
pliers, take it out of the vise, and reposition it upside down to expose the
two remaining tack weld areas. Strike the torch again and do those two welds.
When the caltrop cools, give it a test by placing it on the
ground. No matter how it falls, one point should be vertical. It not, then
either the bend in the nails is not the proper angle or you welded it crooked.
When you've got a decent prototype, set it aside.
Tape a piece of cardboard to your vise and make a mark on it
to serve as a bending guide for all the hundreds of nails you're about to bend.
Clamp a nail vertically in the vise with the midpoint mark just showing and
pound it over until the tip is even with the mark. Carefully bend all the nails
to the correct angle, one at a time. Now you're ready for the welding assembly
line.
To make the best use of both your time and welding gas, use
a three-person production team with one welder and two helpers. This requires
two vises on the workbench about two-and-a-half feet apart. Provide welding
goggles, a pair of pliers, and a beer for each helper. The welder works one
vise while the helpers set up a pair of caltrops at another. Each vise has two
sides and can hold two caltrops at a time for a very efficient production line.
The welder does the first two tack welds on both caltrops in
vise A while the helpers are setting two more in vise B, then the helpers flip
the caltrops over in vise A while welding happens at vise B. Finished caltrops
are placed on the floor to air quench.
When you have made 100 caltrops, double bag them in paper
shopping bags. This is called a "Bag-o-Trops." It's a handy little
item that can really increase the effectiveness of every Earth defender.
-Barstow Bob
FIELD
NOTES
* Cover the jaws of the vise with
pieces of wood, cardboard, or metal to prevent leaving distinct tool marks on
the caltrops. Such tool marks may reveal the brand of bench vise, records of
purchase, and may be linked to your particular vise. Dispose of the jaw covers
after the manufacturing is complete.
* If you haven't the
means to make caltrops as described above, you can buy caltrops on the surplus
market from some advertisers in Shotgun
News.
These
caltrops are military surplus from some war and aren't always advertised, so
keep looking. The advertisers who run full page ads with surplus items are the
ones to watch. See an issue at your local gun store.
· See the illustration for two other ways to make caltrops.
• Somewhat
cruder caltrops can be made with inexpensive arc-welding units as small as 70
amps. Sears has a 20-70 variable amp unit that can be obtained as cheaply as
$59. Higher-amperage units are more expensive but will produce faster and more
substantial welds. It is important to read the operating instructions carefully
before arc-welding and to always use hand and eye protective gear (intense
light can burn the retina).
Caltrops can be constructed as follows with the arc welder:
Obtain nails at least 4 inches long, the thicker the better, and cut off the
heads with bolt cutters or a hacksaw. Sharpen both ends on a grinding wheel.
Extreme sharpness is not necessary as the weight of the vehicle drives the
nail into the tire even if somewhat blunt. Weld at least 3 of these nails
together in opposing planes so that there is a tripod effect no matter how a
thrown caltrop lands.
To
perform the actual welding, place one nail in a vise, hold the other in a pair
of visegrips, and use your other hand to hold the electrode.
-Sidewinder
• Short
on caltrops? Put a caltrop or other sharp object inside a target. Many
off-roaders love to drive over the random beer can or paper cup in the road, so
put a surprise in one. Those Styrofoam clam-shell containers from fast food
places even have a use. One will hold the business end of a broken bottle with
its points up. These targets make cleanup afterwards easier and minimize
possible injury to animals, hikers, ORVers, and yourself.
• Effective
caltrops can be made with 4 to 6 inch reinforcing mesh used in concreting. This
mesh cut at an angle in the middle of each span will produce steel crosses.
Bend them at right angles to form quick caltrops.
• Spray paint caltrops black for use on asphalt so they will
be less conspicuous.
• For
simple caltrops, drive a half dozen long nails through a golf ball so that they
stick out in all directions. Spray paint the whole thing with a color similar
to the surface on which they might be used. Remember that a box of these in your
car or truck might look very suspicious to a policeman who, on a random traffic
stop, decides to poke around in your vehicle in the hope of finding an open
liquor bottle, drugs, or stolen goods.
Other Tire Flattening Methods
ROOFING
NAILS
When flattening dirt bike tires to keep them from tearing up
country, the monkeywrencher should be concerned about not endangering the
rider. An effective, but seemingly safe, method is placing upended simplex
roofing nails. These nails have large heads so they will stand on end easily,
they are available at every hardware store, and they are cheap. The nails come
in lengths up to 2 1/2 inches long. This is long enough for dirt bike tires
(and regular auto tires), but not long enough to flatten a heavy-duty 4-wheeler
tire. The safety advantage of roofing nails is that they won't dump a bike from
a blowout, but will eventually cause the tire to go flat-in a period of time
from minutes to hours. The best place to set them is at the entrance to an
illegal dirt bike trail. For maximum effectiveness, hand set them with the
bases down and cover the bases with road dirt to camouflage them. Paint them
the same color as the ground if you really want to hide them. One distinct
advantage of roofing nails over a permanent installation is that the tire will
pick up the nail and carry it away for a while. This ensures that the biker
won't be able to pinpoint the exact spot where the nails are deposited. A
disadvantage is that these nails will probably go through a tennis shoe sole, so
you don't want to set them where runners will go. A single person can scatter
hundreds of these nails in a short time. They can also be scattered caltrop
fashion in order to evade pursuers, although many of the nails will not fall
point up.
Hand setting the
nails at strategic points will ensure that all the bases are down. Use a
straight section of trail where the bikes aren't breaking traction or
side-slipping. This ensures that a single bike won't ruin the entire setup by
sliding through and scattering the nails off the trail. That way each bike
through will leave some for the next bike, and the next .... If you want to get
really elaborate, paint the bottoms of the bases black so the biker won't immediately
notice the foreign object sticking out of his tire.
-Porky Pine
FIELD
NOTE
* A company called Dings Magnetic
markets a variety of road magnets to pick up nails and other metal on roads and
at construction sites. This indicates that dropped nails are a major problem
for tires.
FINISHING
NAILS
Generally a metal object bends under a
vehicle's weight but doesn't compress lengthwise. A well-anchored 6d finishing
nail is adequate, provided it is set (see illustration) at the angle of purely
compressional impact (Table 1). Lubrication facilitates penetration (a light
oil also allows camouflaging road dust to be adsorbed). A simple wooden jig
(see illustration) is used to set the angle in the field.
-Bernard Femow
VALVE
CORE EXTRACTOR
An inexpensive tool
known as a "valve core extractor" provides an alternative method for
flattening tires. Remove the cap from the valve stem, insert the extractor into
the stem. Twist until you feel the tool engage the valve core. Then unscrew
(counterclockwise) the valve core and throw it in the bushes. Doing this to all
the tires on a vehicle would immobilize it, without permanently destroying the
tires.
Valve core extractors may be purchased cheaply at most
bicycle shops (the valves on most bicycle tires are the same size as the valves
on most automobile tires).
It is also a simple matter to let the air out of the tires
of an unattended vehicle by depressing the post in the tire valves. A pressure
gauge has a post on it to do just this; a nail or other slender metal object
will work, too.
Railroad Spike/Tie Plate Trap
Railroad spikeboards are probably suitable only for special
events (a particularly noxious off-road race, for instance), or for Monster
Trucks (like "Bigfoot") and other jacked-up rigs with very large
tires. This is due to the work involved in making them and their heavy weight.
They have the advantage of superior strength, and would probably penetrate most
tires-including the $2,500 behemoths Monster Trucks use-quite readily.
When walking along railroad tracks, one commonly finds old
spikes discarded when new rails were laid. It is also possible to find, along
the tracks, discarded metal tie plates. The tie plate is a square metal plate,
about 8" x 8", which is used to fasten the rail to the ties. It
contains four holes through which the spikes are pounded, to hold the rail to
the tie. To make a railroad spikeboard, place four spikes through the holes
opposite the way they would be when holding the rail down to the tie. Weld
these spikes to the tie plate. The result is a massive "spikeboard."
Railroad spikes are stronger than rebar, and the metal tie plate prevents the
weight of a vehicle from driving the spikes into the ground-instead, maximum
tire penetration is likely.
The weight of these spikeboards makes them suitable for use
in desert canyons where Monster Trucks like to romp and frolic. The best place
to put them would be in stream crossings under water. Pick known vehicle crossings.
Or on rivers where the ORVs will be charging down rather than simply across a stream, look for narrow spots in
the canyon where vehicles will not have much choice of route. If the bottom is
rocky, simply place the spikeboards where the water is deep enough or opaque
enough so they won't be spotted by the oncoming drivers. If the bottom is sandy
or muddy, find a flat rock and place a spikeboard on top of it. There must be
enough resistance beneath the spikeboard to drive the spike firmly into the
tire.
Another
suitable location to nail Monster Trucks with railroad spikeboards would be in
thick vegetation.
Railroad spikeboards are ideal for soft sand; the plate can
be buried with only part of the length of the spikes protruding above the
surface. If the spikes are spray-painted with a color matching the sand, and/or
camouflaged with vegetation, they probably won't be noticed by the driver of a
speeding vehicle, particularly during a race. Multiple emplacements of these
devices can create a formidable barrier.
Note:
The discarded spikes found along RR tracks are usually rusty and dull. If so,
sharpen the points before emplacement.
-Casey Jones
FIELD
NOTE
• Other methods
have potential for dealing with large-tired ORVs in canyons. Place a
waterlogged railroad tie, studded with sharpened rebar, in a stream crossing.
You could also take a 2 x 6, drive numerous bridge timber spikes all the way
through, and then nail the board, with the points of the spikes projecting
upward, onto a waterlogged railroad tie. Since it may take a while to come up
with a waterlogged tie, other means of anchoring a studded board under water
may be easier. For example, you could anchor it with rocks or fasten it to a
heavy piece of metal.
Slashing Tires
Suppose your neighborhood is infested with off-road vehicle
scum, or you chance upon an unattended muscle wagon where it shouldn't be. A quick
slash job is in order. Drivers find it particularly annoying if all four tires
are destroyed. Slashes in the tire sidewall will often be non-reparable,
whereas punctures of the tread can usually be patched. The choice is yours.
An excellent instrument for the job is a thick-handled,
x-acto knife with a symmetrical "stiletto-type" blade (x-acto blade
style 23x). These can be obtained cheaply at hardware or art supply stores.
The blade design prevents the knife from getting stuck in the tire, and the
sharp point allows easy insertion into the sidewall. You can safely carry this
tool in your pocket if a piece of cork covers the blade. Keep one in the glove
compartment of your vehicle for use when the opportunity arises. Although
probably not as damaging as cutting the sidewall, an effective method of
deflating a tire is to cut off the valve stem, or to pull the valve stem out
entirely with a pair of pliers. Another way to puncture is to place small
pieces of wood spiked with long nails under the tires of a parked car, or do
the same thing with a caltrop. However, this method is more time-consuming,
less certain, and best reserved for situations where the sound of escaping air
might give you away.
-Sidewinder
FIELD
NOTES
• Less
incriminating than an x-acto knife and equally (if not more) effective is the
"Opinel" knife widely sold at camping and surplus stores. The 4"
size is ideal. Get a model with a lockring. Sharpen both sides of the blade. These knives are inexpensive, extremely
sharp, and do not elicit suspicion.
• A small, sharp
pocket knife works fine for slashing tires. Place the point firmly against the
sidewall and push, with a slight sawing motion if necessary. The tire is
ruined. It cannot be patched.
• If you slash a
tire make sure you really slash it so that it flattens. If you merely slice
through part of the tire sidewall, not deep enough to flatten it, and give up,
the tire may blow out while the vehicle is being driven. If this occurs at a
high speed or on a curve, it could be very dangerous for the driver and passengers.
Flatten tires; do not put people in danger.
• DO NOT SLASH TIRES UNDER HIGH PRESSURE. THIS CAN BE
DANGEROUS.
SNOWMOBILES
It's time to haul out the old
monkeywrench and turn the screws on the snowmobiling cult. Snow machines harm
plants and animals, waste energy and resources, and destroy the solitude of
the woods with excessive noise.
One way to deter snowmobiling in
sensitive areas that have marked snowmobile trails (much of the North Woods),
would be a committed but decentralized effort, beginning with the departure of
snow, to remove and ruin signs and posts associated with snowmobile trails.
Trail markers and trail identification and promotion signs should all be
removed. Safety signs, such as stop signs at intersecting highways, should
probably remain.
Equipment for sign removal is minimal-usually a box-end or
crescent wrench to turn out a couple of lag screws. Upon removal, the signs
should be bent, defaced, or otherwise rendered unusable, then stashed under
leaves or brush where they will eventually rot into the ground. If concealment
is not a problem, a small pruning saw or bow saw would also be useful to cut
the sign post into several pieces.
Removing snowmobile signs will serve to discourage the cult
by decreasing the accessibility of trails, eliminating the "advertising
value" of sign posts, and siphoning away at least some of the funds that
would otherwise go to trail expansion.
In
one northern Minnesota county recently, eco-raiders removed over $2,000 worth of
signs out of a possible $5,000 worth.
Maintenance costs for snowmobile trails can also be
increased by dragging dead trees and downed branches across trails. This is a
good way to combine some low-commitment monkeywrenching with a hike in the
woods. (Do not, however, push standing snags down across trails. Snags are
vital for many birds and other species of wildlife.)
If
we all do our work this spring, summer, and fall, the snowmobile trails should
be in ragged shape by next winter.
-Windigo
FIELD
NOTES
• It has been
suggested that snowmobiles can be stopped by shoveling to bare ground a section
of trail, preferably a section hidden by a bend in the trail. Drawbacks to this
method are the amount of labor involved, and the fact that it would have little
more than a nuisance effect on the snowmobiler.
• A more
effective deterrent might be to go after the trailers that pull the
snowmobiles, while they are parked unattended at the trailhead. Tires are obvious
targets, although by no means the only vulnerable points. Trailers are also
used to haul other destructive "toys" such as ATCs and dirt bikes. Be
cautious-it wouldn't do to have the owners return while you were trashing their
trailers!
• Reportedly,
monofilament fishing line spread out on the snow will suck into a snowmobile's
track mechanism and cause it to jam.
• Remember that
snowmobiles are often driven by overweight, poorly-prepared bubbas, who may be
put into a life-threatening situation if their snowmobile is disabled miles
from civilization. Be very conscious of
the situation you may be creating and be concerned for the safety of the
snowmobiler.
• Some have suggested throwing handfuls of loose wire on
snowmobile trails. Presumably this will become entangled in the track
mechanism.
• Just walk up
to a parked crotch rocket with some wire cutters, press the throttle on the
right handle bar to the handle and clip the exposed cable. Sprays to prevent
car fan belts from slipping or some other abrasive sprayed between the track
and the wheels might cause the whole thing to heat up and melt to itself.
Snowmobilers are always concerned about their track melting to the rubber
runners when they are traveling at high speeds in dry snow. This might work
best with rental units-most operators of which are inexperienced. Snowmobile
rental outfits have a hard time getting insurance anyway and with a little
wrenching, these toys could become too expensive to play with.
• Snowmobiles are also vulnerable to the methods discussed in
the Vehicles and Heavy Equipment chapter.
CLOSING ROADS
Most exploitation of the wild requires roads, and the
industrial machine could not afford to constantly repair the road network on
public lands if even a few hundred people across the country were making a
spare time project of trashing it. Roads are difficult and expensive to
maintain, especially in the areas we want to save. Selected areas, such as de facto wildernesses or roadless areas
denied protection in the RARE II rip-off, BLM Wilderness Review, and subsequent
"Wilderness" legislation, can be protected by closing the unsurfaced
roads that are built and used in the process of exploitation.
Individuals can use the techniques described here, with
simple, cheap tools, to prevent vehicle access to sensitive areas. You can
deter the testing needed to prove commercial feasibility for proposed
developments such as mining or oil & gas drilling. You can discourage the
construction of a timber harvest road in a National Forest roadless area. You
also can harass and render unprofitable an existing exploitative enterprise.
The
simplest, and often most effective, way to inhibit vehicle travel is with
"road spikes" (previously discussed). But for a variety of reasons,
you may want to employ additional methods of stopping traffic. You might want
to make the damage look like an act of nature (or at most, of vandalism). You
may wish to prevent quick repair of the road. As each "road spike" is
found, it can be removed, whereas some of these techniques will necessitate
major repairs. On occasion, the money, equipment, and initiative to make the
repairs will not come together, and they will be postponed. Numerous instances
of damage to roads will multiply the effects and eventually large parts of the transportation
infrastructure on public lands will be abandoned. In this era of high federal
deficits, construction and repair of controversial roads that are continually
being sabotaged will be recognized as pouring money down a rat hole.
The well-known methods of cutting a tree across or rolling a
boulder onto a road are of limited value (but they are of value if enough
people do them frequently). The intruder can cut trees out of the way and
suffers little loss. Trees can be of greater use on footpaths where dirt bikes
are a problem. Hikers simply step over, while the bike has to be dragged over
the log(s). Of course the logs have to be placed in spots where dirt bikes
can't ride around the ends and this must be done in many places to present a
real deterrent. A tree across the road might be effective in conjunction with
another operation to delay motorized pursuit.
Tools
Any boulder you can drag into the road, some 4-wheeler with
a winch can probably move out. But where you feel that a big rock or log can be
placed in a hard-to-remove position, the most useful tools are: a come-along,
rated two tons or heavier; 2 or more chokers; 2 spud bars; a hydraulic (car or
truck) jack; large and small rock chisels; and log-splitting wedges. You
probably won't need all of these tools on any one job, but with a tool kit like
this, you can move anything that is practical to move without machines. All of
these items can be purchased cheaply at flea markets, and anyone who works in a
construction trade can easily obtain the bars, come-along, chokers, and such.
A "choker" is a length of cable with a loop in
each end: one loop is passed through the other loop and the cable is wrapped
around the load to be lifted or moved. Pulling on the free loop pulls the slack
out, choking the cable tight around the load, hence its name. You will need at
least two chokers and four is better. Buy fifty feet of good, flexible
5/16" or 3/8" stranded steel cable and have it cut into four equal
pieces where you buy it. (It takes a special cutter to do a neat job on cable.)
Now double the ends back to form a loop of about 6" diameter. Then double
cable-clip it. Cable clips can be bought in any hardware store and must be
matched to the size of the cable they are to fit. They can be put on with a wrench
or visegrips.
The "come-along," or hand winch, can be attached
directly to the object to be moved or it can be used in conjunction with other
tackle. You can use it to pull a rope or cable through blocks to multiply its
rated power. The small reel on a hand winch will only hold a few feet of cable
so you have to secure the load and get a new grip frequently. A logging chain
is handy for this type of work. For one thing it acts as its own choker since
it has a fitting on each end that grips on any steel link it is slipped over.
Steel carabiners are indispensable for all rigging work, especially for work as
"fairleads" (those with the Teflon rollers are best) to lead cables
and ropes over and around turns. Any library should have books explaining
rigging and the use of tackle in detail. Nautical books such as Chapman's have
sufficient coverage of the subject.
"Spud bars"
are just long, heavy-duty pry bars. You can make a nice one cheaply by using a
piece of heavy-wall steel box tube. Cut a slot in the end of the box tube, slip
a piece of leaf spring in the slot, and have a welding shop run a bead
everywhere the leaf spring touches the tube. Use the come-along to pull on the
end of a log as a giant lever if even a spud bar won't do the job.
The hydraulic jack is useful for
raising something enough to get a bar or roller under, and it can be used for
"pushing" as described below. The rock chisels can be used to start
blocks of fractured rock, as can the thicker splitting wedges.
Undercutting a Bank
Undercutting a bank is only a little better than logs and
rocks since the rubble can usually be cleared out of the way or driven over
with less trouble than it took to bring it down. However, it is possible to
find conditions where a modest effort applied to an unstable bank (or cliff
above the road) will fill up a section of road with no easy detours. Using the
spud bar in the cracks of fractured rocks is sometimes feasible. After a bank
is well undermined, a ditch across the top of the bank will help to bring it down. (Remain on the
uphill side of the ditch and/or rope off to avoid becoming part of the
landslide!) If, after undercutting the bank and ditching across the top, it
still won't slide, you can lay a pole on each side of the bottom of
the ditch. Lay the hydraulic jack
on its side between the poles, and jack them apart. They will spread the load
along the ditch and push the undermined bank off.
Removing
the Roadbed
Much better than blocking the road is to remove part of the roadbed.
This is especially effective on a steep hillside where more fill is hard to get
and stabilize in place. One simple, small-scale way to do this is to ditch the
natural water flow downward across the road. The best place to do so is where
a gully or watercourse crosses the road on a slope. Such a spot may have a
culvert or waterbreak to keep the run-off from washing out the road. You can
dig out a waterbreak and create a ditch across the road. Running water will
deepen it and eventually make the road impassable to vehicles. (If it is too
wide, it can be forded, however, and if it is too narrow and shallow, it can be
filled with logs or rocks by a driver.) A pick, pry bar, and long-handled,
pointed shovel are about the only tools you need for this kind of job.
Perhaps the best way to cut a road is to find the place(s)
it is trying to slip off down the slope naturally. Clay slopes often slide as
do fractured rocks bedded at a steep angle. On rocky slopes a spud bar and
gravity should help you undercut the roadbed. This is especially effective on
tight, outside curves and steep slopes. Don't bother to dig off the entire
width of the road; digging off just the outside will do the trick.
While
clay slopes can be dug off, too, there is an easier method in some places. With
practice you can spot a slope that is trying to slide off. The shoulders of the
road will be cracked and slipped in a series of step-downs. If there is water
on the uphill (inside) side of the road, stop up the drainage so that the
ground becomes soggy. Dig holes to help the water penetrate the subsoil, and
once the clay becomes saturated, it will slide.
Culverts
If the road has culverts, stuff the uphill ends with rocks
and other debris. Then dig through the road fill to expose the top of the
culvert. If this is done at the beginning of a seasonal rainy period or before
spring run-off in snow country, most culverts will wash out, creating an
excellent vehicle barrier. Keep your work hidden from drivers on the road,
otherwise it might be noticed and removed before the next big storm. (See the
next section for more ideas on plugging culverts.)
You can also remove the
culverts, using the come-along or a vehicle to drag them out. First dig all the
road fill off the top of the culvert and free an end enough to get a choker on
it. Using pole A-frames and fairleads as necessary, pull upward on the end of
the culvert, lifting it out of the road. Use the comealong or a vehicle to pull
on the cable, through tackle as necessary, and then bend the culvert when one
end is free, leaving it half buried in the road.
Bridges
Wooden bridges are vulnerable and require a major effort and expense to replace. They can be burned but it takes more than a can of kerosene and a match. A huge pile of dry firewood must be heaped up under the load carrying timbers of the bridge to sustain a fire of sufficient heat and duration to burn a soggy old bridge. Fill the available dry area under the bridge, or crib up a log platform covered with dirt, sand, or rock on which to lay the fire. Several armloads of small stuff, topped with progressively larger limbs and finally logs should be crammed right up to the underside of the timbers. After the small stuff burns a little and the fire collapses, you should stoke it with big limbs and logs and stuff the openings with branches. Then you can walk away confident of the results. (Do not try to burn bridges in drought conditions or fire season. You don't want to be responsible for a forest fire!)
You can also saw through bridge timbers from the underside
with a chain, bow, or crosscut saw. It is hard to avoid hitting nails-this
conceivably could be dangerous with a chain saw (see the Tree Spiking section
in the Developments chapter). If noise is a problem, a bow saw blade cuts
easily when sharp and can be quickly replaced when dulled. A few drops of
kerosene will make it cut smoothly in resinous or creosote-treated wood.
Simple, safe, and inexpensive methods such as these, done in
your spare time, multiplied by dozens of similar actions by other ecodefenders
in their particular neck of the woods, can effectively stop the destruction of
many of our remaining wild areas by vehicle-borne logging, mining, poaching,
and by
mindless
ORVing.
-Daniel Boone
FIELD
NOTES
* In the proper location, it is possible for a group of people, using only their hands, to fill a road with enough boulders and other debris to act as an effective barrier to most vehicles. While a vehicle with a winch, a bulldozer, or a crew of workers might be able to clear the road to permit passage, most casual ORVers will be stymied. If this kind of minor ecotage of roads occurred often enough and in enough locations, many marginal roads would be abandoned. This type of road trashing can be done casually by a group on a hike, taking care that they aren't caught by ORVers while doing it and being sure that they aren't trapping some poor old fogey in a jeep on a dead-end jeep trail. Although extremely effective, this form of monkeywrenching bears fewer dangers than other kinds.
To effectively close roads,
strike at numerous points along a single road, and at many roads within the
road network surrounding a wild area. Maintain your campaign against the roads
in the area-after they are repaired, strike again, and again, and again.
Eventually it will become too costly for the Forest Service or whoever to
continue repairing them and roads will begin to be abandoned.
• Keep in mind that as your
campaign against roads becomes more effective and costly, your security
precautions will need to become more stringent to avoid being caught in an
increased law-enforcement campaign to protect the roads.
• Concern about the federal
deficit, budget overruns, and deficit timber sales are conducive to citizen
road closures. Forest Service and BLM budgets will be tighter in the future. A
massive but dispersed campaign of nibbling away at the road infrastructure on
the public lands will soon exhaust agency road repair and construction budgets.
• Many Forest Service roads have gates which allow the
Freddies to close the roads at will for a variety of purposes (wildlife
protection is one reason, but these gates may also be used to keep protesters
out of a timber sale area). You can cause confusion by getting cheap padlocks
at a city hardware store and closing and locking such gates yourself. A little
Liquid Solder in the keyhole prevents the lock from being picked. Most FS
gates have a casing around the lock to prevent them from being cut with bolt
cutters. See the section on Jamming Locks in the chapter on Miscellaneous
Deviltry for other ideas.
·
Close a road near the
beginning. This keeps vehicles out.
•
One of the cleverest monkeywrenching escapades involved a controversial
landing strip in the middle of the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area in Idaho.
In 1986, an unknown person dug 21 holes with a posthole digger in rows
three-abreast along the strip. Salt was put into each. Elk and deer pawed up
the holes to get the salt and made the dirt strip unusable for aircraft
landing.
PLUGGING CULVERTS
In the last several
years, many experienced monkeywrenchers have come to believe that the most
effective single form of ecotage to defend wildlands is to plug culverts on
dirt and gravel roads. Flood waters from storms or snowmelt, unable to flow
under the road through the culvert, wash out the road, making it impassable.
Done at every culvert on a National Forest backroad, the damage is immense, and
considerable reconstruction and repair is necessary. Using basic common-sense
security techniques, plugging culverts is as safe as any ecotage. It does not
carry severe legal penalties (though you still don't want to be caught!). It
does not carry a "dangerous" onus like tree spiking. It is simple,
quick, easy, and effective!
The idea is to plug the culvert inside the inlet opening so
the plugging is not visible to road maintenance crews peering down from the
road while leaning on their shovels or by Freddies driving by in their pickups.
In the last several years, many ecodefenders have begun to
experiment with culvert plugging. The following are some of the methods
developed. See also the section on Plugging Pipes in the Developments chapter for
additional ideas. Use your imagination! Culverts are perhaps the most
vulnerable part of the wilderness-destroying infrastructure.
1) To take out roads without heavy equipment or
back-breaking labor, get some 2 x 4s, chicken wire, black plastic, nails, and
staple gun. With such goods, a friend and I plugged six key culverts on one of
the most notorious roads ever pushed into a wilderness-all in one night.
These materials and tools are light enough so that you and a
friend can pack them into the area-thus not having to drive and leave your
vehicle in an incriminating spot. You'll generally be working below the road
surface, so even if a car comes, you'll either be out of sight already or you
can watch for headlights and duck in time.
Scope out the road ahead of time. Measure the diameters of
the culverts at strategic points on the road. Then go home and cut 2 x 4s to
fit each of the culverts. For culverts 30 inches and less in diameter, all
you'll need are two pieces a few inches longer than the diameter. For larger
culverts, you might want more strength than this simple "X" frame can
provide. You could use three in the form of a triangle, or four in the shape of
a tic-tac-toe. But don't nail them together yet.
You'll also need enough chicken wire and black plastic to
cover twice the combined surface areas of your culvert ends. Bring a few pounds
of galvanized 16-penny nails (3 inches long), staples and staple gun, hammer,
wire cutters, and a pickax.
Nail the 2 x 4s together to make a frame that fits over the
uphill end of the culvert. Once you've fitted the frame, cut a piece of chicken
wire about four feet wider and taller than the end of the culvert. Center the
wire over the frame and liberally staple it in place. Then cut an equivalent
piece of black plastic and staple it over the chicken wire. (You may need to
use several overlapping pieces.) Place rocks, soil, and other heavy debris on
the bottom, top, and side to hold the plug securely in place. (This is where
the pickax is handy.)
If there was water flowing
through the culvert, it should now be backing up and forming a little
reservoir. As long as your frame can support the weight, this lake should grow
until it washes over the road. You might want to let some water continue to
flow through by poking holes in the bottom of the plastic. This way, your
efforts are more likely to remain unnoticed until after the next big rainstorm
or until snowmelt. The increased flow during a storm will cause more damage.
-Siskiyou Sid
2)
A very effective way of plugging a culvert is as follows:
-
Slide a plywood shelf into the culvert so you can lie on it (see illustration).
-
Drill six holes at the lower (downstream) end of the culvert while resting
comfortably
on your shelf.
-
Twist in heavy eye screws with a section of dowel.
-- Affix doubled-up 1 inch mesh chicken wire to the eye screws.
Flow-borne debris will form a solid
plug inside the culvert up against the chicken wire and will block the culvert.
None of the blockage should be visible from the road. Cutting the chicken wire
after debris piles up against it should not be enough to flush out the culvert.
On smaller culverts, simply wad chicken wire a leg's length up the lower end.
-Carrie Ahn
3) Corrugated roofing metal or other types
of sheet metal are ideal materials for blocking culverts under roads. Use your
ingenuity to affix them to the culvert so they will stay in place in high
water. (Try using eye bolts as suggested above, or drive large nails into the
walls of the culvert.)
4) Steel culverts that are large
enough to walk into and difficult to block can be wrenched by punching holes in
their bottom with a rock pick. This allows water to seep underneath and cause
the gradual washout of the culvert. The damage is irreparable but may take a
long time, so plan ahead! This method works best in culvert bridges that are
primarily backfilled with dirt.
5) For narrow
culverts, make a trip to the auto junkyard and buy some of those collapsed
"space saver" spare tires. These little things are hated by anyone
who has ever tried using them, so they should be cheap. Position the collapsed
spare in the culvert, then inflate it with a bike pump or other inflator. As it
expands, it will firmly wedge itself in the culvert. This should be enough of a
flow restriction, but you could also plug the "donut' hole with debris.
6) Plug culverts on newer roads that haven't been fully
compacted. These wash out more easily. Plug culverts in road sections that have
substantial fill on the outlet side. It is more difficult to repair these
wash-outs.
7)
Since round corrugated metal culvert pipe comes in 2" increments from
6" on up, it makes sense to use round stuff to plug 'em:
-I Volleyballs (@ 8"), soccer balls (@ 9"), and
basketballs (@ 9"+) can be used to plug 8 to 12 inch diameter culverts.
Partially deflate the ball, shove it into the culvert inlet a short distance,
then over-inflate it in place with a small, portable, foot-operated tire pump
(available at Sears with pressure gauge, 100 psi maximum, for under $10).
4 For 10 and 12 inch culverts, wrap the ball with absorbent
material such as cotton toweling to make up the diameter difference. Cover the
ball with debris and rocks, but not past (outside) the pipe opening. All of
this stuff can be easily backpacked, and tire pumps and sports equipment are
not unusual items to have in your car or truck (the Feds are getting real
snoopy these days). No fingerprints!
4 A partially inflated tire inner tube shoved in and pumped up
to fill the void might also work. It would be more flexible for various culvert
sizes, but would require more pumping. Even a large balloon, like a weather
balloon, placed in the culvert and then inflated might work.
- Plastic 5 gallon buckets with lids are a common sight in
dumps and along the road. They are about 12" in diameter at the top, and
could be wedged into a 12" culvert, tapered end first, then filled with
rocks and debris. The round black plastic planter buckets available in
nurseries also come in 2 inch increments (12, 14, 16 inches on up) and could
be used in the same way.
- Large culverts (16" on up) can be plugged with
sandbags, which are routinely used for bank stabilization and temporary road
sign ballast. Pick up a few and put 'em in your car trunk or truck bed. The extra
weight will give you better traction to get to those hard-to-reach culverts.
Unless you're built like Hayduke, it's not advisable to backpack sandbags.
-Magic Mole
8)
To jam a culvert:
A)
You can do it like George Stewart in his novel Storm and jam a big old dead hog in it. Naw, too damn heavy to
carry up a Forest Service road in a backpack.
B) If the sucker is
between, say, six inches in diameter and two feet, you could use plastic
two-part expanding wall insulating foam mixed in appropriate amounts in a trash
bag which you quickly jam in the culvert as the stuff expands. The trash bag
(small for small pipes, large for large ones) will force the foam to inflate
across the pipe diameter rather than along its length-thereby plugging it
instead of just laying along its bottom.
Buy the two-part (50/50 mix) expanding foam, which comes in
2 one-pint containers (available at most home builder supply stores). It
supposedly expands forty times the liquid volume, but assume a 50 percent
advertising exaggeration. Therefore, if you have an initial volume of 1 quart
(2 pints), expect 5 gallons of foam to fill the pipe. But be scientific and
experiment with the stuff before trying it in a culvert you want to plug. The
couple of quarts of liquid, trash bags, and expanding foam are easy to carry in
a backpack.
C) If the culvert is larger than 2 feet in diameter, you
could probably tie several large foam bags together and emplace some kind of
cross bracing to jam the pipe. Remember that a hell of a lot of water must be
held back to jam a large culvert until the road erodes around the culvert, so
think it through to make sure your plug will hold.
Blocking culverts is much better at reducing access to the
forest than you might think. The roads the Forest Service must repair will take
the same road construction funds needed for new roads. The more we can make
them spend repairing existing roads that shouldn't be there anyway, the less
they will have to spend on building new roads.
-Tom Joad
9) Do your culvert plugging before the rainy season or
snowmelt in your area. That way your plug need not remain undiscovered for a
long time. Otherwise, small backups of water might be visible from vehicles on
the road and Forest Service or other road crews would be able to unplug the
culvert before a major runoff seriously damaged the roadbed. Watch weather
reports and try to plug culverts shortly before major storms are forecast to
hit the area.
10) If you don't want to carry anything incriminating into the
field for plugging culverts, use large rocks and multi-branched limbs on
culverts up to a couple of feet in diameter. Bigger rocks won't wash out
readily; dead tree branches with many limbs will jam in place easily.
Flood-borne debris will finish the job (especially if you toss a lot of debris
in the streambed upstream of the culvert) and even make the washout look
"natural." Remember to restore the natural appearance at the mouth of
the culvert to avoid tipping off a passing patrol.
-Bucky Beaver