Green Initiatives

(Recent News)

Equine Waste Management Project at Rock Creek Park Horse Center --
Since 1999, Guest Services has operated the Rock Creek Park Horse Center for the National Park Service. For decades, there had been an open manure storage area at the Horse Center; an earlier containment structure had deteriorated and collapsed prior to Guest Services' involvement at this location. Straw, wood chips, manure and other equine by-products were periodically removed from the horse stalls and piled on an open, partially-protected asphalt pad, and the runoff from the Waste would leach into the soil and ground water. Rock Creek itself, a tributary of the Potomac River, is only a few hundred yards away, and was subject to contamination by run-off from the exposed waste pile. In addition to the contamination issue, the pile was aesthetically and aromatically unpleasant.

Planning for the project to build a new manure storage area started in 2008, with construction occurring in 2010. Dan Maillet, Guest Services' Director of Construction Management and Environmental Management led the design, permitting and construction processes. The project resulted in construction of a 30' wide, by 48' long, by 23' high manure storage facility, wooden-framed from sustainably-harvested (NHF) national harvested forest timber, with the outside metal sheeting made from recycled steel material. The paint on the steel sheeting is electrostatically bonded at the manufacturing facility, so no volatile paint products were applied to the skin of the building.

The Project houses a 33 cubic yard dumpster for the collection of horse manure, straw, and wood shavings that are used for bedding in the horse stalls. Once the dumpster is full, it is transported to a composting facility where the mixture is composted into nutrient rich soil that is used in soil enhancement for sports fields. The rain which lands on the building is collected and stored for watering the horses at the Rock Creek Horse Center, thereby reducing the demand on the municipal water system, and eliminating runoff.

The project has the following beneficial results:
Elimination of contaminating run-off, including equine fecal matter, to groundwater and streams, including Rock Creek.
2) Provides over 1,600 cubic yards/year of raw material for composting, leading to production of over 840 cubic yards/year ?of high-quality soil.
3) Sustainably-harvested wood was used for frame of the project.
4) Recycled steel was used for walls of the project.
5) The steel is covered with an electronically-bonded coating instead of volatile paint products.
6) Collects roof run-off for use in the recreational horse facility, reducing demand for water from the municipal supply.
7) Creates a project template which can be duplicated at other facilities that generate animal waste.

With minimal maintenance, the structure should have a useful life of approximately 100 years. All the above-listed benefits will remain fully in place throughout that 100-year period. When the structure needs to be replaced, the steel covering can be recycled, and the wood from the frame reused. The project, therefore, will have minimal environmental costs, and a century of sustainable environmental benefits.

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