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  • From: Mark <mpludwig@facstaff.wisc.edu>
  • To: permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] "thirsty " trees....
  • Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 10:09:20 -0500

A.

I talked with someone today who said that the best and deepest farm soil in
the US is in Champaign, Illinois. Farmland in that area is being sold off in
postage stamp lots for high dollar homes, no space for yards. This is a disgrace!

Amen. I was at a conference in Champagne years ago. While out munching tomatoes in the university demonstration garden I happened upon a huge hole dug for construction. I was taking intro to soil science at the time and marveled at the depth of the A horizon. Really left an impression.



Maybe this is proof that terrain cleared of plant life brings drought.
Plants, especially trees and understory transpire (evapotranspiration)
and give off moisture to the atmosphere. They shade the ground and prevent
moisture loss from that source. Moisture begets plants which beget biomass
and nutrients which beget more plants and a diverse, stable ecosystem.
This system helps to prevent soil erosion, nutrient loss and demineralization.

LL

I'm interested in comparisons in these arid areas between well managed grass lands and forest. Anyone got data? There is a lot of pretty good data in WI on stream flow enhancement under managed grazing, in fact rotational grazing is being promoted by fisheries biologists for trout stream management.
M


Mark P. Ludwig
Poultry Research Lab
University of Wisconsin -Madison
608-262-1730 WK
608-846-7125 HM





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