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Holistic approaches that help people understand and work with nature. Ecosystem functionTopics:
Desertification, overgrazing, and healing damaged land
A one-page primer on desertification. Bonus quiz at bottom. By Peter Donovan, 2002. Is overgrazing caused by too much livestock, or something else? Bonus quiz at bottom. By Peter Donovan, 2002. Reversing desertification and healing damaged land. Success stories from around the world demonstrate dramatically improved ecosystem function. Lots of photos. How can grazing heal land? By working with ecosystem function rather than against it, graziers can produce big improvements in landscape health. A short introduction to the basics, with photos. By Wilma Keppel, 2002. Moving to perennial grasses in Idaho, U.S.A. Establishing perennial grasses in stands of cheatgrass and yellowstar thistle requires seeding, trampling to plant the seeds, and herbicide to reduce weed competition while the seedling grasses establish. By Peter Donovan, 2001. The American Sahara: The New Desert Beneath Our Feet on Thomas J. Elpel's Weeds and Wildflowers website. Good article with pictures and links. Animal impact and grasshoppers by Joel Herrmann. Improving ecosystem function near Bruneau, Idaho. Patterns of Choice, 1999. BLM rents cattle for mine restoration by Peter Donovan. A pioneering experiment by the BLM in Baker County, Oregon. Patterns of Choice, 1999. Improving soil healthHow to build new topsoil by Christine Jones. Several centimeters of topsoil per year can form under favorable conditions, which good management can create. This article explains how to do it. (23K) Grazing management for healthy soils by botanist Christine Jones. An excellent illustrated article from Australia. Researcher on ancient soils sees key role for grasslands in carbon balance by Fred Pearce. Soil scientist Greg Retallack thinks the balance between plants and animals controls atmospheric CO2 levels and global climate. Retallack says, "the idea of grasslands causing cooling has excited great opposition, even though I have a huge amount of evidence to support it."The New Scientist, 16 June 2001. Restoring perennial grasslands by Christine Jones. The key to restoring perennial grasslands is restoring microbial activity and nutrient cycling by increasing the level of soil organic matter. Once conditions are right for them, perennial grasses will return. July 2001. Landscape monitoringMonitoring methods that give managers useful information about what to do, and detect problems early enough for easy course correction: The Great American Land Monitoring Shootout. Wayne Burleson compares five methods of monitoring, including Pasture Walk, Land EKG, and Holistic Management Biological Monitoring. Pasture Walk how-to article and workshops at Pasture Management site. Land EKG was developed to give land managers useful information about what their land needs. By Peter Donovan. Tired pastures aren't overgrazed, but still show low vigor, unhealthy plants, and invading weeds. Wayne Burleson's article on Pasture Management site. Landscape brittlenessNew! Landscape brittleness and productivity by Jim Howell. A new way of measuring brittleness that gives managers more information about what their land needs than Savory's original brittleness scale. Brittleness: an introduction by Christine Allday-Bondy. Explores the difference between brittle and nonbrittle environments in simple, non-technical language. Landscape brittleness--how "good" management can harm land by Wilma Keppel. Includes Savory's brittleness scale, plus a brittle-nonbrittle comparison list. Brittle and Nonbrittle Environments by Thomas J. Elpel. On Wildflowers and Weeds website. Ecosystem processesA simple and remarkable water cycle demo using plastic soda bottles. June 2002. Ecosystem processes: the water cycle by Peter Donovan. Does rain feed plants and recharge groundwater, or does it run off the land, causing erosion? Patterns of Choice, 1997. Ecosystem processes: energy flow by Peter Donovan. How much sunlight are plants capturing? How much is going to waste on bare ground? Patterns of Choice, 1998. Ecosystem processes: mineral cycle by Peter Donovan. Are nutrients where plants and animals can use them? Or are they locked in standing dead growth, or sunk below the root zone? Patterns of Choice, 1998. Community dynamics in the ecosystem by Peter Donovan. Healthy populations have many individuals of all ages from many species. Patterns of Choice, 1998. LinksEcoresults! Website of Dan Dagget, author of Beyond the Rangeland Conflict. Stories and photos of effective restoration of degraded landscapes. Land EKG an overview of rangeland monitoring by Charley Orchard, developer of the Land EKG ecosystem monitoring method. Thomas Elpel's Weed and Wildflower site has excellent articles and photos about weeds, land management, and desertification. Elaine Ingham runs Soil Foodweb, a good resource for understanding the life of the soil. Mycorrhizas page at the University of Edinburgh. According to plant pathologist Stephen Wilhelm, "in agricultural field conditions, plants do not, strictly speaking, have roots, they have mycorrhizas." Mycorrhiza site by Ted St. John with articles about landscape restoration using inocula. Mycorrhizae.com has articles about forest, nursery, and turfgrass applications of mycorrhizae. The Permaculture Activist, North America's journal of design and sustainable culture, is an inspiring and down-to-earth magazine. The 6th PERMACULTURE CONVERGENCE in Australia in 1996 has some wonderful proceedings online.
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