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I don’t have this fleshed out entirely, since there’s still a lot of work I need to do before I even have a finalized plan. My neighbor loves the idea of a BDA below his pumphouse, though. I still need to check with my other neighbor across the river, and see if we can get some other neighbors upstream involved too.
I’m excited to have a few tests done throughout the monitoring process through Montana Tech! What a great resource!
Looking forward to slowing the flow of our most precious resource.
Our timeline should be manageable. We’ll cross off initial steps perhaps next fall depending on weather, and then probably start something next spring. I think the costs will be minimal since we’ll use local materials. We have a lot of dead and down on our property that can start getting put to good use.
Also, I found beaver activity in our lowland thicket, so hopefully one of them will start doing some of the work for me.
I attached multiple photos of recent beaver activity and one showing evidence of historic beaver activity on our land. It’s really amazing how much they do in a short time!
Here is my timeline. Our main uncertainty is whether we will be disturbing archaeological deposits through these ventures. Which is why we’re taking the summer and fall to do a little testing. I’m sure permitting will be a bit of a hurdle, but we’ll tackle that when the time comes.
sorry for the weird formatting and typos. that sentence should read:
*does not need to be an expensive model (the one I use costs $350).
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Additionally, it’s relatively easy to learn about soil microbes, how to identify them and discern the beneficial vs. “problem” organisms (or microbes that are indicator of problems, such as anaerobic conditions caused by compaction and/or waterlogging). Anyone can learn how to do basic identification, especially with the help of cameras. They even make attachments to hook up your phone to a microscope and act as a camera.
If you have your own microscope and a network of folks that can share photos, insight, and ID help, the learning curve can be 100% self-led with minimal costs. I am working on some lesson plans for free workshops here locally. I am also contemplating a grant through JVCF to donate a microscope and camera to the local library. But I think the educational workshops should come first.
My goal is to make it possible for everyday people to observe these organisms and empower them to get sense for soil conditions just by glancing at microbe activity. The microbes will tell you if there is enough aeration, nutrient cycling, etc., to support the plants on your land.
I am replying to this as my Module 4 participation. Holly, I just love that some of your projects are focusing on the top of the watersheds. Torrey Ritter also did/does an excellent job explaining beaver habitat here in the course and out in the field. Also, the need for connectivity and the process of creation and abandonment with dams. It really has me inspired to start looking upstream from me, and looking for potential beaver habitat with connective routes. I don’t know if it’s a viable goal to increase beaver populations upstream, as I know trapping is pretty prevalent here. However, I wonder if landowners upstream may be interested in BDA’s as a minimum. Thanks for the inspiration.
Strategies for water retention:
I am very grateful for all of the water retention ideas that have come from the course and the field trips that I was lucky to attend. I’m excited to try out a variety of structures at our place when the time comes. In the meantime, I am excited to help others with their vision (sometimes it’s nice to not have to make the decisions and just be told what to do, especially during the learning phase). Please feel free to throw me where I’m most useful!
Also, shout out to Torrey Ritter, who had some great advice for the plots we visited with Holly Harper and crew last Wednesday. Thanks so much for inviting us all along for such an information-packed day. Nothing beats a field day when it comes to educational value!
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Water retention with a focus on soil:
The only unique strategy that I bring to the table here is reintegrating the microbiology into the soil. There are many methods to do this, and I can talk about them in depth in a later post. To keep the focus on water retention, I copied a link for a short video from the Soil Food Web School below, but full disclosure—>I watch it with the volume off and read the subtitles. When you hear his voice, you’ll understand. But, out of all the videos I know about, it provides the most concise description of the water-related issues that arise in a substrate that lacks bacteria and/or fungi. The video details how these microorganisms do the work to catch water for you. This important work can raise your water table since more of the water that falls as precipitation will be absorbed rather than flowing away as runoff.
The video I recommend watching with sound off and subtitles on:
These process-based watershed restoration techniques have some similarities and differences with the soil restoration that I do. In some ways, the two go hand in hand, and overlap with similar goals. I would also hope that the soil biology restoration techniques I describe here can be used to help mitigate weeds that would occur as a result of disturbance from process based installations in the future, but I’ll work out the methodology specifics for a future study as time goes on. Here are some thoughts about how the two methods may compare or contrast:
From a “soil biology restoration” perspective, the process of recharging your aquifer and increasing the soil sponge would involve reintroducing the native, locally adapted organisms in their proper balances along the tracts of land that are outside of the direct floodplain. (The aerobic organisms are not going to survive in areas that are remain flooded for most of the year, so this effort would focus on the soil-sponge capabilities outside of flooded areas.)
The process of soil restoration starts with assessing the biomass of organisms in the soil by taking soil samples and physically counting the active organisms under the microscope using a consistent sampling strategy. After that, the goal is to create an aerobic compost* that is biologically complete with an array of organisms from four major functional groups, or at least containing the organisms that the substrate is lacking. The compost always gets checked with the microscope before being applied to the soil to ensure you actually got the organisms that are lacking in the soil.
*If you know someone who tried compost to remediate soil and it didn’t work or only had marginal effects, I just want to say that biologically active compost is more than just decomposed matter and a mix of nutrients. Biologically active compost and is like a kombucha starter. It has the power to transform a substrate into something that acts like a loam, and can transform the vegetative structure to exclude early-succession plants such as weeds. The only way to know for sure if a compost will benefit any stretch of land is to check it with the microscope and observe the type of organisms—good, bad, or neutral—that are present and in what quantities. The microscope does not need to be an<span style=”font-size: 1.6rem;”> inexpensive model ($350).</span>
In my view, a waterway restoration project will increase water retention and at the same time can increase the capacity for the beneficial microorganisms because the ground is getting more moisture, causing a greater diversity of plants show up, and therefore photosynthesis happens more consistently and for a longer duration throughout the year. The microorganisms will naturally flourish in such an abundant environment with water at hand and abundant food available through both decomposition and photosynthesis (plants release compounds to attract the bacteria or fungi species they want). The more the land can retain moisture but still remain aerated, the more these organisms will flourish. As the organisms flourish, they continue to create pore spaces that allow more water to soak into the soil. Thus, they go hand in hand, but the two types of restoration techniques meet at the shoreline and in the interstitial places between “water” and “land.”
Water scarcity: In centuries/millennia prior, our land would be occasionally flooded. I’m not sure how often that would occur, or if it even occurred on a regular basis. However, because the flow rate for the Jefferson Slough temporarily ceased in the early 1900s, and because the current flow rate is checked, I don’t think it has flooded in living memory.
Scott found that the Jefferson Slough was a major historical channel of the Jeff, but after a large flood near the early 1900s it became closed off. The slough was subsequently reopened as an irrigation channel, I think he said in the 40s or 50s.
Our land is pocketed depressions and gullies, and potentially old oxbow channels that have stagnant water in them. If using a rotational grazing system as I have experimented with in the past, we have multiple areas that are difficult to use without trucking water to them.
I’m not sure if getting in some installations on the slough, slowing down the water and increasing the water table, might also increase and refresh the water that seeps up in the depressions. If it did, that would seriously improve the ease of integrating a rotational grazing system with ruminants on this land. I’m not gonna hold my breath, but it’s something I’ll be monitoring before/after the installations take place just out of curiosity 🙂
Hi Judy! I’m glad you avoid stepping on our decomposers! They truly are magnificent creatures once we realize how much they do for us and how critical their survival is for our own survival.
I think it is a mix of factors that have resulted in patchy vegetation in certain areas on my land, ranging from 1) over-rest to 2) overgrazing, as well as 3) the use of herbicide. I know that this land was left completely untouched for many years after the owner died in the 80s. I’m not sure if he had cows, but I think he at least had goats and a chicken coop when he was alive.
After he passed, the land was left to his daughters, who ignored it for a long time. My neighbor says the grass would grow six feet tall in the summer but be completely dead in the center of the plant because of the lack of grazing. After a while, the daughters allowed some locals to graze their horses here in the summer. I think the horses probably did an ok job keeping the grass from getting overgrown, but they probably contributed to some overgrazing and compaction (horses are one of the worst for compaction because of their size, shape of hoof, and the way they eat). Compaction worsens with bare ground because rain will compact it further. We also had 3 horses here for a short while before I rehomed them all. I tried hard to have a rotational grazing system to end the cycle of over-rest and overgrazing, but I was not able to keep up with it with a full-time job.
Lastly, herbicide. My—perhaps unpopular—opinion is that, if you’re involved in restoration and you’re promoting herbicide in any way, you’re going about it all backwards. All of the chemicals that we (as in society) use, such as herbicide, fungicide, pesticide, chemical fertilizer, etc., KILL the soil microbiota and create an ecological gap that can only be filled with early colonizing species, AKA weeds! Fertilizers give your plant a temporary boost, but kill the biota and therefore you have to keep using the chemicals to get the yield you want. The “Big Ag” chemical companies only exist to make you addicted to their product. The interesting thing is that if the soil has more fungi than bacteria (measured by biomass per gram of soil), the weeds cannot grow because they cannot process the type of nitrogen that fungi create (ammonium). Weeds thrive on the nitrogen that bacteria create (nitrate), and every time we apply chemicals or till, the fungi are affected the most because they take the longest to repair, and thus we are always reverting back to a state that promotes weeds.
How do soil microbes prevent disease? Beneficial soil microbes coat the surfaces of the plant roots as well as the above-ground surfaces of a plant, creating a layer that prevents pests and diseases. Disease-causing organisms will not be able to penetrate the coatings from the beneficials, and therefore even the disease causers exist in the environment, the plant will be resilient to their attempts to take hold.
How do microbes promote nutrient cycling? Plants also produce specific compounds and excrete them out of their roots and other surfaces to attract the particular decomposing species that it wants… those soil microbes mine the nutrients from the parent material and convert them to a bioavailable form, giving your plant nutrients and making it healthy. A healthy plant is much, much less susceptible to pests and diseases.
The decomposers (bacteria and fungi) are absolutely an important piece to that puzzle, but they don’t actually give the nutrients directly to the plant (except for nitrogen-fixing species, but they actually take from the plant first before they start making enough to give back). In order for nutrient cycling to take place, the decomposers have to get eaten by predators, such as nematodes, amoebae, and other protozoa. Through this process, the nutrients are excreted directly next to the plant’s roots through the predatory waste (the Soil Food Web school calls this the “poop loop”).
Sorry for the long, drawn out explanation. I get pretty passionate about soil microbiology! My plan is to track and document the soil microbiota and how it changes through the seasons this summer by looking at it with a microscope this summer on my own land. I would be more than happy to do the same for anyone else in this course.
Hi everyone!
I included pictures of the steep banks along the river. Thanks to the nice weather, I was able to get pictures of these by wading out into the river rather than bothering my neighbor to take some photos from the opposite side (wild!.. but refreshing). One of the photos shows the path that many deer take to get onto our land, which is actively eroding thanks to foot traffic, and I contributed to it some more today.
Aside from the steep banks, topsoil erosion is taking place in many areas around the land due to lack of vegetation, which also means lack of soil microbiota (I will look at the microbiology under a microscope this spring, once everything wakes up, and I will be able to estimate the biomass of each of the functional groups of organisms to give some quantitative data to back up this statement). Soil microbes do an immense amount of work to maintain soil structure! Beneficial soil microbes do more for maintaining soil structure than plant roots, actually. Plants are constantly feeding the soil microbes to fuel their ability to build soil structure, but if the microbes aren’t present, they aren’t doing the work. The soil must have bacteria and fungi to produce the glues that hold the micro and macro aggregates in the soil together.
The economic impact of erosion is difficult to pinpoint. I currently do not make money off of my land. However, if it were revived to the level that I want, I estimate the current economic impact may be around 50-70K per year.
Benefits of LTPBR: I think there will be a lot of benefits. I hope to implement multiple LTPBR techniques. Live gravel bar staking might be a good fit for a small island we have, which is situated downstream from the primary restoration area. I would like to do live palisades in a couple of areas, and brush layers. Post assisted log structures in the river might be a good fit as well because we do get some pretty high flows.
Challenges: Time! Ha. It may be difficult to get the time to do this. Also, I am postponing my plans to do the restoration on our land this year because I want to begin the research process (checking the soil microbiota throughout the year) before the restoration takes place so I have a baseline. We are also going to do some archaeological testing to ensure we do not disturb any archaeological deposits. Other challenges are the high flows. We will have to thoughtfully design our post-assisted log structures so ensure longevity. I discovered that the historic canoe trail will not affect our plans to do restoration.Hi Judy and Dave! Sounds like an interesting project! I would also be interested in helping with any of the physical labor for your project (and anyone else’s), if I can get notice far enough in advance to work it into my schedule.
I am also curious to see how the Forest Service will respond to your requests. We have active research agreements with the Custer-Gallatin and we’re in the process of creating active research agreements with the Beaverhead-Deerlodge. This could be a really interesting case study that could demonstrate a restoration project with multiple stakeholders.
Looking forward to hearing more from you in future discussions!
Cheers,
Sari
Stephanie, where can I find your paper? I have been desperate to find local examples of people doing this work.
Yes, I’ve been reaching out to some folks who might know more about historic trails. I do know a bit about history, but historic trails are not my specialty, haha.
We are south of Whitehall on the Jefferson Slough 🙂
Please email me the link to your storymap! info@alpineresearch.org
Cheers,
SariHi Rod! I am intrigued by your project. I’m curious if you have thought about putting up electric fencing around your aspen/willow stands when you move the permanent fencing? I think there are ways to configure it so deer and elk are less likely to jump in. It would at least be a mild deterrent!
I’d be interested in doing a small case study of your property about the soil microbiology in the various plots, if you are willing. It am curious to know how the various plots differ and to see how they might change through time.
My goal is to get a network of landowners interested in regeneration to allow either 1) public engagement in the restoration process or 2) access to the soil biology data and results that are noted during the restoration process. Let me know if this is something you might be interested in!
Best,
SariHi Holly!
Sorry if this is a duplicate. It doesn’t seem to want to post my reply today! Sam, are we not allowed to post links?
It looks like you were successful replying, but I haven’t been yet, haha!
We are south of Whitehall where Kountz Rd intersects the Jefferson Slough. So far, we haven’t seen any archaeological evidence in the bank, but I am excited to get it stabilized to minimize risk to the arch site.
You can learn more about our research and educational outreach through our nonprofit, Alpine Ecosystems Research Institute (AERI), if you go to alpine research dot org. I just added a bunch of information about soil biology and restoration under About > The Present: Soil Biology Research. If you have time, I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions. It’s hard to remember what it was like to not know about these topics.
I also remembered your questions about moving willows out of their bioregion. The folks at Ripple both did a great job explaining the general principles of moving plants, but I can augment their answer to this question in terms of soil biology. Plants require aerobic microbiological partners to provide them nutrients from the soil and also to provide protection from diseases. A healthy plant will have root surfaces and above-ground surfaces coated in a glue-like layer of beneficial microorganisms. If you move the plant to a different bioregion with different climate, different substrate, etc., the beneficial microorganisms that came with it may not survive and the plant will be more susceptible to disease. Additionally, you run the risk of introducing a foreign microorganism, which will have unknown consequences down the line.
Finally, I’m not sure if they mentioned that willows evolved to get “torn up” by flooding events and have their missing limbs and pieces become trees down river. If we are really trying to mimic mother nature, we can think about sourcing our willows from upstream, or within the same river basin as our own.
Those are my 3 cents!
Best,
Sari1. Archaeological research that we conducted on our land revealed that this location has been used by people for over ~10,500 years—probably longer once the excavations and research has been completed. Those excavations showed multiple flooding events over the course of probably thousands of years. These events are represented by higher energy sand deposits, and some lower energy silt deposits. The reason people were spending time on these muddy/sandy banks is as yet unknown, but we have also found evidence of fishing-related artifacts such as net weights (large rocks with a carved groove) and a crescent-like biface, which tends to be used by fishing populations.
In more recent times, we know that Lewis and Clark passed by our property as they traveled along this arm of the Jefferson river on their voyage. Jumping forward at least a hundred years, I know that the flow rate for the Jefferson slough is managed, as old-timers have told me that it was impassable on foot or horse during spring runoff. I could go on about the history of our place, but I’ll jump to the more recent years.
We purchased the property in 2020 and the previous owners placed an electric fence on the edge of the steep banks, I think in part to deter fishermen. We have noticed beaver activity. We occasionally have small willows gnawed down, and our biggest cotton wood was munched heavily by beavers before we bought the place (and somehow it’s still standing!).
No one seems to remember the last time this place flooded, and my guess is that it hasn’t happened in living memory. Nevertheless, it is a major concern for us. We know that our soils are compacted, lacking the pour spaces to be able to act as a sponge if a flooding event did happen. The banks are very steep, and we would like to see them restored and having a better relationship with the river.
2). My goals for the land are extensive. I would like to see our land become a food forest / silvopasture, and I would like the land to make friends with the river rather than just being acquaintances. This will require rejuvenating the soil biology and multiplying the microorganisms that will support these later-succession plant species.
All plants require aerobic soil microorganisms to extract the nutrients from the minerals in soil and convert them to a bioavailable form. Weedy plants tend to like soils that are dominant in bacteria because bacteria produce nitrate. Later-succession plants such as shrubs and trees need a fungal-dominated soil because they require more ammonium. A soil that is fungal dominated cannot support weeds. I plan on creating “biocomplete” compost loaded with beneficial, aerobic fungi to multiply the LOCALLY adapted microorganisms so I can achieve this goal much faster than nature could do by herself. These organisms will not only benefit the plants, but also open up pore spaces in the soil to eliminate runoff, increase water retention, and many more benefits.
I would love to see whether I can introduce some of techniques introduced in this course to start repairing the stream banks. I need to figure out whether that’s possible since I know this stretch of the river is designated as a canoe trail.
