As Duke Begins to Thaw Out, New Challenges Are Emerging

Campus grounds crews have worked tirelessly the past week to clear the roads of snow and ice, to shovel paths and to remove toppled trees and broken branches. But many challenges are yet to come.

The melting snow is expected to reveal a modest amount of damage to landscaping on campus and generally make apparent problems concealed beneath the white stuff.

For instance, to make the roads and walkways safe, workers have spread sand and rock salt in many areas. The sand will leave no effect as it washes away, but the salt could pose a minor threat to landscaping, said Joe Jackson, assistant director of Duke's Facilities Management Department.

The grasses on campus are intolerant of salt, and the edges of some lawns and grass strips could experience chemical burning, Jackson said. And there's no way to know the extent of the problem until well after the snow and ice have melted.

"I don't foresee too much damage," said Jackson, whose department is handling the bulk of the cleanup. "Salt damage takes a while to rear its ugly head. When the plants start to come out of their dormancy in the spring, the signs will be evident."

Grounds crews at Duke toss a gritty mixture on the roads that is about 70 percent sand and about 30 percent rock salt, a common practice, Jackson said. For the walkways on campus, and especially in areas where there are ornamental plants, workers use a chemical known as Ice Melt that is easier on the environment.

Another challenge stems from simple mistakes. When the crews use small tractors to plow snow from the sidewalks, it can be difficult sometimes to know where the path edges are, or where the paths begin and end. In some areas, crews on plow duty have cut into lawns with blades mounted on the earth moving equipment.

Still other damage has arisen because motorists have spun out of control and into the landscaping, Jackson said. Last week, at least one driver reportedly slid past a stop sign on West Campus and crashed through the bushes ringing the traffic circle on Chapel Drive, while another apparently intentionally drove through the same landscaping.

Grounds crews expect to replace lots of plantings this spring, Jackson added. They also anticipate having to reseed and lay a bit more sod than usual.

"The sheer volume of snow has been our biggest challenge," Jackson said. "All my guys need to be commended for the sacrifices they have made, first just for getting to work, and then for dealing with the many difficulties stemming from this inordinate amount of snow."

At the Student Infirmary in Duke Hospital South, nurses have seen more injuries than is typical at this time of year, most of them related to the freezing weather. The clinic stays open 24 hours a day for just such occasions, said Penny Sparacino, the infirmary's nurse manager.

"A few students bumped their heads and twisted their ankles from playing around or just slipping on the ice, and we expected that," Sparacino said. "But we also had eight to10 injuries that required X-rays, which is uncommon."

Similarly, the Duke University Emergency Medical Service, the student rescue squad on campus, treated seven people for injuries attributed to the snow and ice. They included a broken toe, a fractured forearm and one case of frostbitten feet after one young woman took off her shoes and walked around outside, said Jim Yen, director of the student squad.

At the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, at least a dozen trees were downed, mostly pines and magnolias, and others had limbs snapped under the weight of the precipitation, said Larry Daniel, the gardens' associate director.

"We have a number of hollies that we think are pretty much wrecked," Daniel said. "We don't know if we will be able to salvage them."

Daniel also had a message for students. Sledding doesn't damage the lawns when there is plenty of snow cover, he said, but once the snow is gone, sleds ruins the grass. His plea: "Know when to quit."

Most of the hardwood trees throughout campus have stood up well, but the evergreens have had a harder time because they tend to catch more snow and ice, noted Jackson of Facilities Management. However, some of the evergreens that were bent over already have begun to spring upright again, he said.

Unlike some vegetation, the Duke Primate Center's 300 animals weathered the storms in comfort, thanks to round-the-clock care, propane heaters and emergency generators. According to operations manager Dean Gibson, the center has run 24-hour shifts since Jan. 17, when frigid weather first set in.

As is standard practice, the center had already winterized the cages by covering them in weather-proof fabric, and the staff maintained comfortable temperatures for the lemurs, lorises and galagoes using industrial-sized propane heaters. Running on high output, the heaters helped to quickly melt the snow that had accumulated on the cage roofs. The center did lose power for about 32 hours, Gibson said, but emergency generators readily handled the electric load.

Earlier this week, after the severe weather policy was lifted and life on campus started to return to its normal pace, administrators announced plans to make up the three and a half days of canceled classes.

On Monday, Robert Thompson Jr., dean of Trinity College, and Phillip Jones, associate dean for education of the Pratt School of Engineering, released a schedule that sets aside seven weekend afternoons from Feb. 6 through April 16. The makeup schedule can be accessed via the web at http://registrar.duke.edu/registrar/makeup_schedul e.html.

Written by Noah Bartolucci.