permaculture

[Scott Vlaun <scott@moosepondarts.com>]

> >  On Monday, September 2, 2002, at 03:35 PM, Rick Valley wrote:
> One friend remembers the stream thru his farm flowing all year, before 
> the
> forest above was converted to grazing. Now he pumps from his well to 
> allow
> the tree frogs time to mature in a small dam.

Kirby and all,

> I recently attended a talk by Florence Reed of Sustainable Harvest 
> International (http://www.sustainableharvest.org/). They are working 
> with farmers in Central America to help them convert from slash and 
> burn agriculture to sustainable polycultures. She told story after 
> story about how drought and flood followed large clear cuts and burns 
> where forests and streams had been. She also told of instances where 
> streams had returned after several years of reforestation. 
> Interestingly, while they seem to be teaching permaculture design, 
> they had never heard of the concept.

> Another anecdote about the relationship between forests and riverflow 
> comes up in Frances Moore Lappe's new book Hope's Edge written with 
> her daughter Anna.

> ( I reviewed it a while back in the Seeds of change eNewsletter  
> http://store.yahoo.com/seedsofchange/hopesedge.html)

> They quote Wangari Maathai, founder of Kenya's Greenbelt Movement, as 
> saying "...that without the forest we have no river flow."  She 
> partially attributes this to the ability of the trees to hold onto the 
> soil in the mountains and allow it to retain moisture that is then 
> slowly released into the streams as opposed to the cycle of flood and 
> topsoil erosion followed by severe drought that has befallen much of 
> her country as it has been logged clean. Her organization has planted 
> over 20 million trees, transforming entire ecosystems in the process.
>
> Praying for rain in Western Maine, (USA)

Scott Vlaun
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