View from the North 40: Spring, it's pretty much its own sport

Yes, folks, it’s finally that time of year we’ve all been waiting for — the annual running of the snowmelt.

The celebration has, as we all know, experienced several delays this year due to lingering winter weather conditions needed for the snow to actually melt.

For the uninitiated to this sport, or if it’s just been so long since you participated in your last one you’ve forgotten what melting snow is, the traditional running of the snowmelt could best be described as one part solar energy heating the earth and the snowpack; one part gravitational pull drawing water to flow downhill wherever that path may lead; and one part civil engineering, a human effort to direct or guide that water to flow into and through areas as it would benefit civilization.

The final element is, of course, four parts random chaos of nature. This includes the amount of snowfall; where snow has accumulated; how much of it drifted into snowpack that melts slower; what the temperature reaches during the day and falls to at night; whether the snowmelt is augmented with rain; if and where ice jams occur; and how much the natural and manufactured waterways and drainages have eroded or decayed over the years, or have otherwise been altered with unintended consequences.

Here on the North 40, where the main roads run north and south and the run-off flows generally southwest to northeast, we have used the weather delays and gradually warming daytime temperatures to analyze and tweak the route this year’s snowmelt will be running.

The one-woman main crew has been successful at clearing routes clogged by debris and new-growth vegetation, and she has made note where snowpack from snow drifting and settling into the low-lying areas, where water gravitates to in times of runoff, could potentially cause problems.

Her latest report indicates that the stretch of established manmade drainage ditch is, this year, clear of any significant snow and ready to handle snowmelt that runs over the spillways at water corrals, called dams, up the coulee from the North 40.

However, in areas where the ditch has been disrupted by construction on the North 40 — as well as new vegetative growth and alterations resulting from natural erosion exacerbated by a big dam failure — snowpack is causing melted waters to run down the road as well as into areas designated for parking and septic tank drainage.

The report says that this is less than ideal.

She is documenting areas of concern which need to be worked on this year after the spring celebration of water and mud have ended. The only important questions this year, she said, are how much snowmelt is available upstream to drain into the coulee, filling established reservoirs, and how fast will the predicted warm temps bring that water into the coulee.

Water flowing over the spillways makes for a lively running of the snowmelt on the North 40, but should the snowmelt overwhelm the dams altogether and stampede across the property, again, the one-woman crew and her shovel have proven they are no match for the onslaught.

She, and her long-time assistant who will remain on standby throughout snowmelt season, have formulated a plan to save the main structures and the main septic tank, but the old trailer house may end up as a fatality should its foundation be overwhelmed by the stampede again.

Continued report will keep participants apprised of ongoing activities.

In the meantime, event organizers encourage everyone to don the standard uniform — waterproof boots (the taller the better, just to be prepared), waterproof or resistant pants, and outerwear befitting the temperature (layers preferred) — and participate in the running of the snowmelt this year.

Take a shovel, clear some drains, herd some water through the mud.

Don’t get trampled by rampaging water.

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Well, maybe we can say good by to drought at http://www.facebook.com/viewfromthenorth40 .