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ysabetwordsmithWater is flowing faster and vanishing sooner in the western U.S.
In mountain regions, snow acts like a natural reservoir that stores water for months and releases it slowly. Rain behaves differently. It moves quickly across the surface or through shallow soil layers.
So we need to increase the dwell time of water in the landscape. There are many ways to do this, including but not limited to:
* The cheapest, easiest, and highest impact is beaver restoration. They do the work for free and produce massive benefits across the area because they are ecosystem engineers. Beaver dams turn dry land into a giant sponge.
* Ban clearcutting. Forests not only hold soil against erosion and slow runoff, they can actually make their own rain.
* Erosion and runoff create a vicious cycle. Gully-stuffing is one way to combat that. It is especially useful out west where brush-clearing efforts generate tons of biomass. In a gully, that biomass slows water flow, and the moisture prevents the brush from becoming a fire hazard.
* Where you have rocks instead of brush, you can slow water flow with gabions.
In mountain regions, snow acts like a natural reservoir that stores water for months and releases it slowly. Rain behaves differently. It moves quickly across the surface or through shallow soil layers.
So we need to increase the dwell time of water in the landscape. There are many ways to do this, including but not limited to:
* The cheapest, easiest, and highest impact is beaver restoration. They do the work for free and produce massive benefits across the area because they are ecosystem engineers. Beaver dams turn dry land into a giant sponge.
* Ban clearcutting. Forests not only hold soil against erosion and slow runoff, they can actually make their own rain.
* Erosion and runoff create a vicious cycle. Gully-stuffing is one way to combat that. It is especially useful out west where brush-clearing efforts generate tons of biomass. In a gully, that biomass slows water flow, and the moisture prevents the brush from becoming a fire hazard.
* Where you have rocks instead of brush, you can slow water flow with gabions.
