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  • From: "Rich Blaha" <rich@mossbackfarm.com>
  • To: "" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Creek remediation
  • Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:02:06 -0800

Hi David

A few scattered thoughts...

Depending on how far you want to go with it, an all native restoration
project could be funded by the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.

The removal of the upstream drain tile will do good things for your summer
water levels...how did everything look during the flooding of a few weeks ago?

Is there active scouring of the channel? Or is it pretty well vegetated? If
it's scouring, addressing that soil loss should be the first priority, and
there are some pretty inexpensive solutions (google "one rock dam" with the
quotes) that have / are working great for my creek restoration project.

Drop me a line off list if you have any questions

Rich
Mossback Farm
Yamhill, OR
www.mossbackfarm.com/journal

>
> Message: 6
> Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2007 15:01:30 -0800
> From: David <david@h4c.org>
> Subject: [permaculture] Creek remediation
> To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Message-ID: <4765AE4A.8020704@h4c.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>
>
> Friends,
>
> A small creek (which has a very, very low flow in the summer) runs
> through the northern part of my farm, and as part of the transformation
> of the property from land into a sustainable, organic (insert several
> other terms here) farm, I am considering what to do about this creek.
> (In deference to the list, I should probably say "permaculture" or
> polyculture farm, but frankly I'm too much of a novice, in my view, to
> warrant the use of such terms just yet. I'm working on it.)
>
> The creek is fed from a watershed of a couple of hundred to a thousand
> acres to the west and south. For decades, this land has been under
> conventional ag, with a very large commercial nursery covering most of
> the ground, and 90 acres with a corn, corn, corn rotation between me and
> the nursery. Recently the 90 acres was purchased by a company that will
> be using it as part of an organic dairy (albeit conventional, USDA
> compliant), and in the last four months, they tore out the clay drainage
> pipe which was most of what existed of the creek upstream of me and
> across that property. They are in the process of restoring the swale and
> creek bed, according to a plan they have developed. There will still be
> drainage from the nursery feeding the creek, but before it gets to me it
> will pass across the 90 acres where I hope some natural remediation
> (cleansing) will improve the water quality. (I checked it yesterday and
> it's running pretty clear, not muddy.) The organic dairy has no plans
> that I know of to engage in deliberate remediation for improved water
> quality, and they don't ask me what to do next, so there is no
> particular reason to suppose they would listen to any suggestions I
> might have for what they "should do" on their own land.
>
> The thing I've been wondering about is what I should or might do in the
> new circumstances about cleansing and restoring the life of the creek,
> and folding it into the property plan (11 acres tillable, 7 acres woods,
> 2 acres pasture, more or less). Its got a muddy bottom, and is for the
> most part lifeless, as its history would imply. I am sure that a good
> deal of fertilizer and pesticide runoff has been trapped in the mud over
> the years. The land across which it runs has a slight slope.
>
> First, with regard to remediation, what options are available? I ran
> across some references such as this one
> <http://www.envismadrasuniv.org/pdf/Bioaugmentation.pdf> or this one
> <http://www.bashanfoundation.org/michael/michaelbioremediation.pdf>, as
> well as some others. (I'm just starting my research on this, but if I
> find something really useful, I will mention it on the list.) In spite
> of the potential merits of commercial options, I would prefer to use
> "found" materials and methods. Any suggestions for materials or
> information sources? Relevant experiences?
>
> With regard to life, it seems to me that I have the option of selecting
> plants and also of building a dam to create a pond, but I don't want to
> introduce expansive "non-natives", for example, and I would prefer to
> use plants (or animals for that matter) that meet as many needs as
> possible, increase diversity, etc. Again, suggestions? My part of the
> Willamette Valley appears now to be in USDA Zone 6 (previously in 7),
> with those zones marching northward in recent decades.
>
>
>
> I would also mention that the completebiogas
> <http://www.completebiogas.com> site is now up, and it offers eight of
> the seventy-two chapters and appendices as free downloads. Two (or more)
> may be of interest to members of this list. The two I would suggest are
> Chapter 18, "On Growing Substrates", and Appendix 3, "Agricultural Use
> of Effluent", linked to the table of contents page. Enjoy.
>
>
>
> d.
>
> --
> David William House
> 503-678-5162 (home)
> 503-206-1001 (cell)
> "Make no search for water. But find thirst,
> And water from the very ground will burst."
> (Rumi, a Persian mystic poet, quoted in Delight of Hearts, p.
> 77)
>
>
>

>




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