Erosion
What is erosion and how can I manage it on my land?
Erosion is the movement of topsoil and weathering of rock via elements like wind, water, sun, tectonic plates, and living things such as human- and nonhuman animals.
Healthy topsoil is the basis of all food for all beings on land environments, and in the span of one human generation we can destroy that basis of life—something that Mother Nature took millions of years to create. Caring for the soil is literally caring for ourselves.
Limiting erosion to natural levels means less and slower land disturbance; it allows creeks and rivers to flow,
water to be filtered clean, and niches of plants and animals to establish and diversify in those undisturbed areas.
Over-browsed hills and mountainsides erode quickly due to a lack of top-tier predators (like wolves) controlling browsers
(like deer). Recent findings show how erosion can be mitigated and biodiversity augmented when the food web is in
balance. Creation builds on itself when we can co-exist with it on its terms. See video below on how wolves change rivers.
How can we fight erosion?
1. Change thinking about the land as a “watershed” and instead think of it as a “water catchment”. We can manage the land in a way that “catches” and slows wind and water, because fast unbroken water and wind velocity does more damage.
2. Add organic matter
3. Plant native perennial grasses and forbs that bank more soil in the environment (instead of spending it the way annual crops and grasses do)
[For more info on sustainable stocking rates for wildlife habitat restoration in Texas and the southwest, see this podcast by Dr. Dale Rollins and this presentation by TAMU professor Dr. Megan Clayton on using rotational and deferred grazing regimes and stocking rates to restore prairie.]
4. We can lower or rotationally adjust stocking rates of livestock to match grazing patterns more akin to natural levels (e.g., mimicking historic Bison that migrated through and gave any area a rest period allowing the roots to regenerate). Success can be monitored and measured by building exclosures.
5. We can create restoration and wildlife management plans using a variety of other implements such as erosion blankets and shredding/mulching any overrepresented woody growth.