Bob LaRoche, a Maine Department of Transportation landscape architect, will guide participants through roadside sites with a prepared checklist used to evaluate problems. After lunch, Clyde Walton, a landscape architect, agronomist and surveyor, will work on solutions to problems identified in the field.

Areas that will be emphasized during the afternoon session are: roadside phosphorus and sediments erosion and water quality; erosion factors such as topography, vegetation, road designs, traffic and seasonal use; materials, ditches, turn outs, culverts, spreaders, grading; vegetative buffers and seeding; and regulatory requirements. Learn how to size and stabilize culverts, stabilize ditches, analyze site conditions, and plan for other erosion control measures.

The workshop is being sponsored by The Maine Department of Environmental Protections's Non-Point Source Center through funds from the EPA. The statewide program is being offered at five locations in Piscataquis, Penobscot, Somerset, Waldo and Franklin counties, with Rosetta Thompson, program manager at Franklin County Soil and Water Conservation District acting as statewide coordinator.

The Piscataquis Roadside Erosion Control Workshop will be hosted by the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 13. The workshop will be held at the Piscataquis Regional YMCA, 30 Park Street in Dover-Foxcroft. There is a $15 per person registration fee. Participants should bring a calculator with a square-root function, and a safety vest. Dress for the weather. For more information, call Sheila Grant at PCSWCD, 564-2321.

All programs of the Soil and Water Conservation District are offered on a nondiscriminatory basis, without regard to race, national origin, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation, marital or familial status, political beliefs, or disabilities.