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' • Practical Apptoact~r ESoctivc E & S Cotum! - 79 <br />' IA Iattitutional Acceptance <br />' This vaziable relatts to the historical usage or current specifications regazding <br />techniques and materials used for erosion control. Is the material or technique <br />currently used? If not, is the material or technique a new concept or does it <br />' occupy a niche already established by a similar material or concept? <br />If one were in the position of introducing a new product to the erosion control <br />' market, one of the first questions that should be asked is: Am I selling a new <br />product or a new concept? Certainly, there are many, "Me-too" erosion control <br />products on the market, testimony to the fact that it is more often easier to sell <br />' products than concepts. But the advantage to selling new concepts is that the <br />innovator generally carves out his own niche in the mazketplace: He becomes a <br />leader rather than a follower. <br />' In selling to an existing specification, one would hope for the broadest <br />description possible; however, when creating a specification for a new product, <br />most people would want a fairly precise, or "tight" spec in order to exclude <br />competition. <br />When evaluating erosion control materials and techniques as to their <br />iastitutional.acceptance, it helps to have as much technical and historical <br />' information on your specific approach as possible as well as on altemadve <br />materials or techniques in order to justify continued use of an existing <br />specification, propose changes, suggest conditional specification or submit new <br />wncepts for review and evaluation. <br /> VA Visual Impact <br /> Aesthetics is a key component in planning a complete erosion control system. <br />' A trend in today's erosion control mazket is towazds the development and <br /> incorporation of vegetation into all aspects of erosion control and to "engineer" <br /> plant materials into projecu where acceptable and appropriate. In this regard, <br />' plans that include a vegetation component, either as a short term, temporary <br /> measure or as a long term component of a completed system are more highly <br />' desirable over systems that do not. This is especially true on highly populated, <br /> or urban sites. <br />' With the variety of plants materials available today, the role of vegetation in <br />erosion control has increased from passive aesthetics to engineered function as <br />well. A successful erosion control planner is familiaz with the attributes of <br />' different types of vegetation to fulfill both requirements. <br />1 <br />O 1995 IECA <br /> <br />