permaculture

[Lawrence London <lfljvenaura@gmail.com>]

X Runoff Coefficient Terraforming for Water: TrenchBerms, Gabions, Dams,
and Keyline Plowing 0.49 M - Google Docs
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#

Terraforming                                   by Jared Eglinski

                 contactjaredeglinski@gmail.com <contactjeglinski@gmail.com>

Abstract

This document describes how improving the terrains ability to absorb water
generates the conditions for crystal clear oceans, potable rivers and
lakes, while mitigating, or in some aspects completely eliminating the
following problems:

Erosion, Water pollution, Aquatic Dead Zones, Algae Blooms, Peak
Phosphorus, Untreated Sewage, Ocean Acidification, Coral Bleaching,
Mosquitoes, Drought, Desertification, Salted Soils, Famine, Greenhouse
Gases, Tropical Cyclone, Air Pollutants, Depleted Aquifers, Depleted
Groundwater, Floods, Fluctuating River levels, Dry River Beds, Water
Shortages, Fish populations, Salmon, Rising Sea Levels, Pests and Plague
influence on forests, Forest Fires, Wildfires, Underground Fires,
Tornadoes, Hail, High Winds, Struggling Local Economies, Utility Drainage
Fees, 100-Year Storm Events, Bee Extinction, Species Extinction, Electric
Energy Scarcity, Unnecessary costs associated with Grass Maintenance,
Crime, War, Mental Disorders, Stress, Noise Pollution, Dust Storms, Spring
Snowmelt, Tsunamis, Mass Wasting, and Avalanches.

By increasing the planets efficiency at absorbing water it increases the
ecosystem's ability to utilize energy from the sun, generating fertility
and abundance while mitigating decay. This document outlines how five
individual landscaping techniques can be combined to form strategies to
generate conditions for a self sufficient, post-scarcity civilization of
abundance.

Summary of concept

The water absorption rate is measured on what is called the Rainwater
Runoff Coefficient scale. 1.0 is the least absorbing, like roads and roofs,
while.grass and farmland scores between 0.5 and 0.3, while a healthy forest
absorbs the most rain water at 0.1. The following absorption improvement
techniques turn the terrain into a water harvesting, storage, and filter
mechanism, which slowly releases the water to the watershed, or enables it
to be used by plants to be recycled into rain again.

The five techniques are shown on the next page are On-Contour-Trench-Berms,
Gabions, Terraces, Dams and Keyline Plowing. Water projects are so cost
efficient they can often meet their Return-On-Investment value within the
first year, and continue to generate value after. For comparison, solar
electric panels may take up to ten years to return their investment value.
Of all the available sustainable technologies, the low cost of
geoengineering is the most cost effective strategy to solve a diverse range
of expensive problems. These techniques are simple enough they can be built
by hand tools, or with machines, costing as little as fuel and time (est.
$100 per hectare).

For perspective, Alberta, Canada, receives an average 0.4m of water per
year, $100 of fuel can shape a hectare (10,000m2) to harvest all $14,000 of
water that lands on it each year, which is more than ten times the value of
the agriculture crop that is grown in the same space (based on Epcor water
utility rate). The annual global average precipitation is 1m³ per 1m² [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.xdonf31risnf>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.w79qngolou3x>
.

Water is not destroyed when used, it can be recycled over and over. Water
requires energy to be raised up from the ocean on to the land, allowing
water to pour back into the ocean unused is wasted potential energy, and
becomes a destructive force. Generally the higher the elevation, the drier
it is. To visualize, imagine a staircase, the sun evaporates the ocean
water at the bottom and it condenses as rain over the first step. This
potential energy can be left wasted to cause problems as it returns to the
ocean, or the water absorbency can be improved to aid the water with
climbing the stairs to higher elevations, generating value through the
benefits of plant production each time it recycles. Contour trenches and
keyline plowing act as steps to allow the plants to utilize and recycle the
rain it where it lands to be transpired upwards again to form into clouds,
then to rain on the step up in elevation, each recycle provides the
opportunity to hydrate higher elevations and to produce more biomass. Water
that is not evapo-transpired infiltrates into the subsoil, turning the
terrain into a water storage mechanism, filtering the water on its way
through the regolith towards the rivers at a consistent rate. This enables
communities, farmers, and wildlife below to have a stable, and potable
water source all year round, even during the dry season or droughts.

Land with poor runoff coefficient stacks the potential energy of storm
waters into a dangerous, destructive force that erodes topsoil, and washes
away the land's fertility, agriculture chemicals, and pollutants into the
ocean, where the resource is wasted and generates problems for aquatic
life.

The techniques are scalable, and may be adapted to any size, climate,
terrain. From urban properties to rural farms. For example, a desert will
use larger capacity trenches to capture the seldom but heavy rain events,
where the tropics may use more numerous smaller trenches to prevents the
erosion of organic matter.

Trench Berm: On-Contour-Trench-Berm also called a swale, or infiltration
trench. these are built level, on contour. Similar to the concept of a
castle moat. It collects surplus rain runoff, evenly distributes it, and
allows the water to infiltrate into the soil. They can be constructed with
shovels and picks, or heavy machinery. They can be scaled from urban
residential properties, to large agriculture farmlands, and vast deserts.
[1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.qkjy5xp47d1k>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.1jyhdur1r8fz>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.x1rveoxs00y>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.4ds7wc9s9i2z>
[5]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.vhixoswbw9zq>

Keyline plowing: Best described as micro trenches. These are slices that
allow rain to evenly distribute and infiltrate into the soil. Industrial
agriculture must adopt this method in order to be sustainable. This method
improves crop yields while stopping erosion and preventing chemical runoff
from entering the watershed. This technique is applied ‘on level contour to
the keyline’. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.vb6d2nqtqa45>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.hfud3zfs3616>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.2gg82k4q50ar>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.9xotxgu70fgh>
[5]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.7tinxuncc5kp>


Dams: Above ground water storages built from the local natural materials,
capped with living retaining walls that do not deteriorate like concrete,
but strengthen as it matures. These work synergistically when connected to
trench berms. There are valley, ridge, and saddle type dams. Valley dams
can be detrimental to aquatic ecosystem in some cases, but more smaller
dams of equal volume can be advantageous to wildlife (ex: salmon
fish-ladders). This opens up the opportunity for micro hydroelectric energy
and aquaculture, the symbiotic raising of fish and plants together [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.69u8bqapb77n>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.bsxoo6kmb9qp>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.15vvg0fvvmy7>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.fd4v7yfegz11>
[5]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.1ig4te5srmec>

Gabions: Check-Dams or Filter Dams, that slow the descent of the water
while retaining organic material and sediment. If no trench berms are built
in the watershed above, these get filled with sediment and become water
storage vessels that slowly release water like a strainer filled with wet
sand. This slow release strategy may turn a riverbed that is dry for most
of the year into one that may have clean water all year round. They can be
constructed from a variety of materials. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.wfrwjxkslbaj>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.epzhzv1g4mpp>




Terraces: The pinnacle of erosion control, but they are not focused on in
this document due to being the lowest return on investment. They are more
effective than the trench berm technique, but trench berms requires less
time and energy in construction to achieve the same runoff coefficient of a
terrace. Terraces work best in climates with lots of precipitation, where a
trench and berm works in any climate.


Pre Industrial History Civilian Conservation Corps, 1933 to 1942.

Crews constructed 9-foot-wide trenches that were spaced up to 20 feet apart
that followed the slope contours.

In 1936, a rainstorm brought nearly an inch of rain in 15 minutes, but the
terraces kept water from flooding the Davis Valley.  Those terraces still
remain in service in Utah to this day. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.mvura4hwts49>


Ancient History

Ancient civilizations around the world used 0.1 rainwater runoff
coefficient agriculture methods. On the sides of mountains, up to four
thousand meters in elevation, the Inca Civilization fed more than 10
million people on 1 million hectares sustainably for 12,000 years. Compared
to today's conventional methods that have left a third of the planet's land
classified as ‘degraded’, with only 60 years of farming left. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.kzdtgdr2vag>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.6ithkls8yi3o>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.qdogyav98tse>



The following nations all have hundreds, to thousand year old examples of
0.1 runoff coefficient agriculture, each designed differently to cater to
their climate, and terrain. Switzerland, Japan, Philippines, Portugal,
Indonesia, Nepal, Morocco, France, Iran, Iraq, Chile, Mexico, Fiji, Korea,
Yemen, Madagascar, Swaziland, Sri Lanka, Italy, Spain, Pakistan, Thailand,
Great Britain, China City of Petra, Jordan [3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.h5u0mp5xjabj>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.iyfnbmo4gdab>



The Primary Problem

Poor rainwater absorbency; primarily due to deforestation for inefficient
industrial-conventional-monoculture farming methods that generate $0.10 per
square meter at best, while encouraging nutrients to wash away into the
water system. These production methods can be turned from a destructive
process of decay into a regenerative process that produces more value.
Urban zones contribute too, but rural areas have more surface area and
receive more rain and therefore are the primary focus.

Top left image shown in green is the province of Alberta showing the area
in red that has been deforested and continuously plowed, exposing the soil,
loosening it so the rain can wash it away into the ocean.

Problems and Solutions

Erosion

Brown rivers and murky oceans are not natural phenomena, they are the
result of poor rainwater and land management. The UN released a study that
24 billion tons of topsoil and sediment washes away into the ocean each
year leaving one third of the planet's soils classified as ‘degraded’ with
60 years left of production while using current conventional methods. To
conceptualize the loss of value, imagine how much energy it would take to
carry the soil all up back to the farms where it came from. Topsoil can
take thousands to millions of years to generate, below topsoil is infertile
regolith, or bedrock. WIthout topsoil, crops will not grow. Topsoil is made
of organic matter, and contains plant available trace minerals that are
essential to plant health.

Topsoil easily washes away when the trees are removed and the soil
structure is destroyed every year by plowing. When soil is not protected by
trees, mulch, or a protective ground cover plant, the sun dries the exposed
soil, evaporates water, kills the soil biology, and allows wind to blow the
topsoil away. When it rains, the droplets impact onto the exposed soil at
terminal velocity, loosening it and carrying it away into the ocean.
Erosion is often ignored, and yet, it is causing more, suffering, and
financial loss than all the wars combined.



On-contour-trench-berms and keyline plowing prevent erosion by evenly
distributing the water and holding it long enough for it to infiltrate into
the soil, while gabions in the valleys slow down the water to let sediment
settle, retaining the fertility and allowing cleaner water to filter
through. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.tmudksluqqd4>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.oqhyypdoccvr>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.6ithkls8yi3o>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.k27hlpgd5rpg>
[5]
<https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/only-60-years-of-farming-left-if-soil-degradation-continues/>

Water Pollution

The fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides used in industrial
agriculture get washed away in heavy rain events that cascade into the
rivers, lakes, and oceans. The biocides are toxic to organisms by design.
Something that kills a grasshopper that eats wheatgrass, may also kill
aquatic dragonfly larvae which we rely on to prevent mosquitos. Keyline
plowing and contour trench berms keep these chemicals on the farmland where
they were sprayed, on the land, not in the water. Rainwater runoff
improvements prevent chemicals from washing away, which reduces the amount
of biocides and fertilizers needed to achieve the same result. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.bwjdbdou9hov>

Aquatic Dead Zones, Algae blooms

Low dissolved oxygen has suffocated and killed entire oceans and lakes. The
Baltic sea, parts of the Gulf of Mexico and even freshwater lakes in Canada
have become aquatic dead zones. When nitrogen and phosphates from the
agriculture fertilizers wash into the water system they cause algae to grow
rapidly, which is called an algae bloom. These blooms are the way nature
counters the toxic levels of dissolved nutrients by converting it into
solid plant matter. Eventually the algae bloom dies after it has consumed
the surplus nutrients. The mass of dead algae is then decomposed by
bacteria which use up the dissolved oxygen in the water during the process.
This decomposition causes hypoxic (low oxygen) zones that suffocate aquatic
life and can kill off entire lakes, reefs, and bays.

Keyline plowing allows fertiliser to absorb into soil where is it intended
for the root zone of plants, improving food production efficiency. Without
keyline plowing or trench berms,  a heavy rain event will wash away the
fertilizer into the water, wasting terrestrial food potential, and
suffocating aquatic life. Surplus runoff may also be reclaimed in trench
berms which generates Agroforestry opportunities.

The fertilizer Phosphate is acquired by strip mining, and Nitrogen comes
from fossil fuel sources, both are finite and unsustainable, but the runoff
improvements will improve the efficiency making the most of these
resources. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.spdre7hd511l>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.n9iyrjq4v4hh>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.eao2u1psppn3>

Phosphorus, Peak

Phosphates, it is a finite resource (like oil) and one of the three primary
nutrients for plants. Fertilizer is commonly referred to as NPK, Nitrogen,
Potassium and Phosphate. Phosphate is strip mined, and sparsely deposited
throughout the globe. Morocco Has twice as much of  the global rock
phosphate reserves as the following top ten ten countries combined. As any
finite resource, its cost will only increase over time with more demand and
less supply, some estimates say we may reach peak phosphorus as early as
2030.

Phosphate is not destroyed in the nutrient cycling between animal and
plants. Phosphates, with nitrogen are the primary contributors to algae
blooms and aquatic dead zone. When the blooms die, the phosphate sinks to
the lake or ocean bottom, which either contributes to another algae bloom,
or sits on the bottom as a wasted resource. Phosphates enter the water
system primarily from farmland rain runoff (or sewage). Sufficient runoff
coefficient improvements to the land can prevent 99% of this resource from
leaving the terrestrial food chain.

What has already been strip mined from the planet can sustain the
civilizations food supply indefinitely with improved runoff coefficient,
municipal composting, algae harvesting, blackwater waste management. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.k7caeesrz9yf>

Sewage

One of the most valuable and underutilized byproducts of a civilization.
Like water, nutrients are not destroyed when consumed. The value of the
food going in still retains most of its value when it comes out, when
sunlight, time, and the right conditions are met to regrow the food.
Victoria, Canada, and a lot of Mexico still release sewage into the ocean,
wasting a resource. Central Mexico was once forests and now it is barren,
surviving on their finite aquifer reserves in some places, and natural
springs in others.

To turn a wasteful problem into an inexpensive solution, the current open
air rivers of sewage that are full of nutrients in Mexico can be redirected
into trench and berm networks that will regrow their desert into forests
quickly, while allowing the waterways to regenerate.  Every day these
nutrients are wasted are another day the people have to spend their economy
to import the nutrients back from the coastal regions. <There are obvious
safety concerns regarding this, which will be expanded on in a linked
article, but anything is more safe, productive, and efficient that the
current method of dumping raw sewage directly into the rivers and ocean>.
Active aerobic digestion of the black water will make this strategy more
sanitary and feasible.

[add illustrations to disperse black water canals into trench agroforestry]

Ocean Acidification

Ocean acidity has increased since the industrial revolution and poses a
threat to life on both land and sea. Calcium is alkaline, and is countered
by acid. Shellfish, corals, planktons, and the egg shells of many species
require calcium. Planktons are at the base of the food chain supply
everything above from fish, to whales, and humans.

Carbon and Oxygen atoms do not get removed from the global ecosystem and
must take form as a gas, liquid, or solid.  As a gas it is either absorbed
into the ocean to become a problem, or it can be the building blocks for
biomass and food on land. Plants need water in order to metabolize the
Carbon from a gas into a solid state such as sugar or wood. The most cost
effective solution to prevent CO2 from absorbing into the ocean is to
improve the conditions for photosynthesis to take place on land with runoff
coefficient upgrades. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.28m4josd0q85>

Coral Reefs Dying

Coral Reefs are organisms that rely on sunlight to survive and are
negatively affected by biocides, fertilisers, ocean acidification, and low
oxygen levels. Algae live symbiotically within the structure of coral to
generate sugar and oxygen to via photosynthesis. Eroded soil creates turbid
water that reduces the light from reaching the algae within the coral,
starving it to death.

Runoff coefficient improvements prevent the erosion of sediment,
fertilizers, biocides, and conditions for hypoxic algae blooms. Sewage can
be redirected through aerobic digestion and into trench and berm
agroforestry, which also sequesters the carbon in the sewage into biomass
and topsoil.  [1]

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.99yt3ga76wxq>
Mosquitos

Mosquitos are the most lethal animal on the planet, averaging a death of
one person every thirty seconds. Low oxygen water bodies are ideal breeding
grounds for mosquitoes and their aquatic larvae because they use snorkels
to breathe from the atmosphere and do not use gills. Fish and dragonflies
use gills to absorb oxygen from the water and suffocate when algae blooms
decompose from the bacteria consuming the dissolved oxygen.

With no predators the young aquatic mosquito larvae (and leeches) are able
to thrive. Algae is the food source for mosquito larvae, and dense algae
generates stagnant water, providing visual cover to stay hidden from fish
and dragonfly nymphs. To prevent the algae blooms that suffocate the
mosquitoes predators, the phosphates and nitrogen need to stay on the crops
where they are needed and not in the water by using the keyline plowing,
and trench and berm techniques.

Spiders and many terrestrial predators get their moisture from consuming
prey, but drier conditions due to poor water efficiency, can leave them
weakened if their hunting is not successful. Spiders use liquid hydraulics
to move their legs, not muscles. Spiders will suck the moisture out of
humid decaying wood, or from soil under a rock, leaves, and mulch.
Mosquitoes and other parasites like ticks and horse flies get their
moisture from blood. Topsoil that is dehydrated generates conditions in
favour of parasites, but not their natural predators. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.8ieqqe2m6gzj>

Drought

Some regions (Canada) have received half of the expected rainfall, reducing
crop yields by a third, and local economy, while contributing to famine,
and desertification. Cape Town is running out of water in its third year of
drought, and expecting to run on on 2018, April 12th, when residents will
be rationed 25 litres of water per day.

The situation will only get worse with the current method of inefficient
continuous off-contour plowing. A mature forest in a trench berm can
survive long periods without rain, as the deep roots can feed on the water
that was sequestered in the subsoil from previous rains.

Water is not created or destroyed, Trench berms and keyline plowing capture
the rainwater at the elevation where it fell, allowing it to infiltrate
into the soil, turning it into plant biomass, then transpiring into the
atmosphere, allowing it to recycle into rain again. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.c0r1ai2d994>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.6jd6kdy351rr>

Desertification

Forests and Jungles are the natural end result of most climates. Trees once
covered most of the land, and have been cut down for industrial agriculture
purposes. Trees generate rain by release organic chemicals into the
atmosphere that water molecules can bind to in order to form raindrops and
clouds. The desertification process begins once the trees are removed,
allowing topsoil to wash away, then the stored water in the soil dehydrates
as it is exposed to sunlight. With less trees seeding clouds and rain, and
less topsoil to retain moisture, the evapotranspiration is reduced,
resulting in fewer rain events as the system continues a downward spiral.
Off-contour plowing drastically accelerates this process.

The strategy to regenerate a desert into a forest is to collect as much of
their brief, heavy, rain events in larger trench berms. The water stored in
the soil localized around the trenches can support agroforestry that can
survive in the harshest of environments. As water in the trench berms gets
utilized in plant production, the transpiration and the release of
terpenes, gives the water a chance to be recycled into rain again.

Gabions can be used synergistically with trench berms by slowing the water
in the valleys and spreading it horizontally on contour into the trenches.
These techniques allow arid environments to regrow forests faster than
nature can do on its own. With enough time, even the most arid deserts can
be (in some cases, returned to) edible rainforests.

[1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.upfjlz1r898n>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.gbfb728bjkk7>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.c5vtvbkvljji>

Salted Soils

Over $27 billion dollars per year and 20 square kilometers of land day is
being lost to soil salinity due to inefficient conventional agriculture.
Too much salt in the soil kills plants by drawing the moisture out of the
plant. This is from irrigating from ground waters that have small amount of
natural salts in them which build up in the land as water evaporates.
Salted soils are most often found in areas with scarce water reserves,
meanwhile the UN and some Universities are recommending flushing the land
with the finite ground water to remove the salt, in order to start the
inefficient process over again. A temporary solution to a symptom.

Farmers are removing or burning off the inedible organic matter, leaving
the soil exposed to the sunlight, wind and rain, causing evaporation,
erosion, and poor water infiltration.

After improving the runoff coefficient, rainwater that is free of salt is
more efficiently utilized and therefore requires less irrigation with the
salted groundwaters.

Using the inedible organic matter as a mulch to protect the soil from the
wind and sun reduces the amount of irrigation required.

When the soil is left untilled, beneficial fungus consume the organic
matter and lock up the salt in the decomposing material with a waxy
substance, rending the salt insoluble.

One of the most profound examples of on-contour agroforestry was done In
one of the most inhospitable deserts on the planet, the Jordan Valley, more
than 200 meters below sea level, two kilometers away from the Dead sea. An
on-contour trench and berm edible forest with mushrooms was grown using
1/5th of the water that the neighbouring conventional farmers were using.
After three years of maturing the polyculture edible forest required no
more irrigation.

[1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.upfjlz1r898n>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.bvp2tbh239fo>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.er7imo6ch1os>

Road salt and chemical runoff

Road salts, and chemicals from vehicles wash into the watershed causing a
list of problems [1
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.yzl9zcp3wfcv>].
Keyline plowing the roadside may reduce the runoff by up to 99%. Gabions
planted with reeds in the ditches will further improve the runoff
coefficient of the road system. The keyline plowing should include a seeder
with a diverse range of salt tolerant species and a legume species such as
clover for its ability to sequester nitrogen as a fertilizer with its
symbiotic relationship with bacteria.

Like with salted soils (section), mushrooms exudate a waxy substance that
renders salts inert and insoluble. The keyline plowed area will benefit by
spreading a layer of mulch such as wood chips, or dried grass clipping from
municipal waste management. This will reduce evaporation to increase the
moisture available for the plants and mushrooms to deal with the negative
effects from the salt.

Salt does not disappear, sequestering the salt runoff in the keyline
roadside ecosystem is going to cause a buildup after each application. The
long term strategy may require innovation to remove the salt that has
accumulated in the plant and fungal biomass. A possible solution is to
harvest the plant biomass on occasion, dry it, burn it in a pyrolysis stove
to produce charcoal and heat. The charcoal byproduct can then be rinsed of
the salt, left to solar dehydrate and be reused again. The leftover
charcoal can be reused and applied to the roadside as a soil amendment.

The gabions in the ditch may be made from stones, recycled concrete, hay
bale, or a mixture of materials. The gabion should be planted with reeds
(Cattails, bullrush, etc). They will absorb the undesirable materials in
the runoff that makes it past the keylines plowing. These gabions acts as
filters, once they become full of reeds, cull a portion of the reeds to
remove the runoff materials and to unclog the filter. Using hay bales or
other carbon rich materials in the gabion systems will act as a food source
for the mushrooms and provide a material for the mushrooms to sequester the
salt into.

Clover and other species used for erosion control require no mowing and
will reduce the costs associated with road maintenance. A dripper may be
attached to the seeders on Yeomans Keyline Plow to inoculate the micro
trenches with the beneficial fungal and bacterial inoculants. A ‘snowcat’
may be the best machine to safely plow the steep angles of the roadsides.
[1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.ds83jo3brv7c>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.qqt0366b8kb9>
 [Insert illustration of keyline plowing and seeding on contour]

Hunger, Famine

Industrial agriculture generates around 1000 calories and less than $0.10
CAD gross revenue per square metre [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.vjy22bbkm5v6>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.l63spq7fouwu>
while being the primary contributor to the majority of ecologic and
economic problems listed within this document. The rainwater itself is
twenty times more valuable at around $3.00 per square meter based on local
utility rates [3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.xdonf31risnf>.
Each year this production method degrades the soil, reducing the yields,
and increasing the synthetic fertilizer requirements.

Keyline plowing utilizes water, biocides, and fertilizers more efficiently,
increasing the yields of row crops. This method is compatible with the
current system and is easily converted. Trench and berm edible polyculture
agroforestry can produce more than $25.00 per square metre of food value
(farmer's market rates). Trench and berm agroforestry pacifies heavy winds
that damage crops, provide habitat for predators that protect the crops by
feeding on pest, reducing the need for biocides. Mixing on contour
agroforestry with keyline plowing, and other inputs such as organic waste
can improve calorie production from 1000 calories per square meter to 2000
- 4000. [4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.6shld6mb0t0n>
[5]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.9z3sw1fd140q>

Conventional machinery is already automated and can be programmed for
keyline plowing, while the labour intensive mundane aspects of manual
harvesting fruit in agroforestry is already available and being improved.
The critical element that needs to change in the food supply is that the
machines need to be operating on-contour, not in straight lines in order to
work with the water.

These innovations point towards a civilization that will use automation to
produce it energy needs, while regenerating its ecologic and economic
systems leading towards a post-scarcity society of abundance. [6]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.qi7bcshkg72v>
[7]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.kx0ogq2e1kmp>

Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases,

Trees are nature's climate control, they seed clouds by releasing terpenes.
Clouds have a high albedo, the ability to reflect sunlight back into space.
Trees transpire water for an evaporative-cooling effect to regulate the
temperature around them. The sequestered water through terraforming
produces more fuel for evapotranspiration. The hotter it is, the more the
plants transpire to cool their local environment.

Sublimation, is the process of snow or ice evaporating into gas, skipping
the liquid phase. Snow has a high albedo, without sufficient snowfall, the
dark exposed frozen soil of industrial agriculture, and dormant brown grass
absorb heat. We may not notice the difference between -30 and -28, but the
extra warmth is added to the biosphere. Poor water management has left the
land less hydrated, reducing the amount of humidity and snowfall, exposing
the black soil or brown grass during the winter. A downward spiral if left
untreated.

Atmospheric carbon is a ‘greenhouse gas’ which contributes to rising
temperatures. Plants are primarily made from carbon, their growth
solidifies the carbon as biomass which eventually decomposes to form
topsoil. When this carbon based topsoil does not erode away into the ocean
by improving the runoff coefficient the topsoil increase the fertility to
grow more plants and store more water as the system matures. An upward
spiral.

Carbon, or coal has been used to fuel civilization for over a century.
Instead of burning coal for energy, surplus wood from the increased tree
growth from agroforestry can be used in ‘pyrolysis stoves’ to burn the
combustible gases within the wood in a low oxygen chamber to generate
energy, and leave the charcoal structure behind as a byproduct. A furnace
that generates coal instead of consuming it. Charcoal is a stable form of
carbon that lasts for thousands of years and is used for water filters, air
filters, and a soil amendment to be used in trench berms. The most basic of
these stoves can be made from two metal cans with a hammer and nail. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.5h30622q1qub>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.dx974vt70jih>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.gn2bw0bna734>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.9cicuj5s3iky>

Interior Climate Control, Energy Usage, Day and Night Temperature
Fluctuations

Using sunlight, moisture, and the earth to automatically heat or cool a
home. Structures can be cooled without using electricity with passive solar
cooling by drawing air through a pipe laid underground through a radiator
in the home and out a vertical black solar chimney. Store moisture in the
terrain around the underground pipe increases the ability to cool the
structure. When the sun heats the black chimney it heats the air, pulling
the underground cooled air up through the building or radiator.

Interior climate control consumes a lot of energy, in U.S.A. 13% of the
Nation's energy is spent on heating and cooling. In a desert climate, it
may be hot during the day, then cold at night. The dry soil absorbs the
solar heat, then radiates it, heating the local area. Hydrated land has a
twofold effect, the moisture in the plants and soil cause an evaporative
cooling effect to mitigate the temperature spike from the sun but it also
allows the thermal energy it to conduct deeper into the soil and biomass,
turning the the environment into a heat battery, then later releasing
warmth into the night.

Conceptual example: The arid climate of Central Mexico can be 30° during
the day, going down to 5° at night, whereas if it is forested and hydrated,
it may reach 25° during the day due to evapotranspiration, and be 10°
degrees at night as the biomass and soil releases the five degree
difference.

In some regions this can be the difference of wasting energy on climate
control or not needing it at all.

Tropical Cyclone

Warm water vapour evaporating from the ocean is the power mechanism of a
hurricane. As the lands have degraded, deforested, tilled to expose black
soil, less moisture in the terrain and biomass means the collective global
temperature absorbs more heat. Water evaporation releases heat as it rises
and expands. These cyclones function as the biospheres emergency overheat
venting system.

Runoff coefficient improvements lead to; sufficient winter snow cover in
cold climates raising the albedo, plants having the water they need for
transpiration, evaporation from soil, water to regrow biomass over exposed
black soil, and more water for plants release organic chemicals to seed
clouds increasing albedo. All of the mentioned cooling effects require
water and are improved with the water management techniques. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.p07398j819wv>

Air Pollutants

Air pollutants kill 5.5 million people a year, while hundreds of millions
are alive now and consistently suffering from the effects. The medical
costs, loss of productivity, and psychological effect due to chronic
illness are unmeasurable.

Plants require water to sequester CO2 and other pollutants as a solid in
the plant tissue, the harder they work the more water they require. Many
cities also have a dry season where the grass turn brown and plant
metabolism slows down, reducing their effectiveness at filtering the air.
Both urban and rural runoff coefficient techniques increase the water
available to the plants to do their job and extend their activity further
into the dry season as the plants withdraw the groundwater that was
sequestered during the wet season. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.gwahgfr1ebu>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.3ymdbzikgxcx>

Depleted Aquifers, and water tables

Aquifers are finite underground water reserves, similar in concept to an
underground oil reserve. Some parts of the world dig wells for water to use
in industry, agriculture, and human consumption. These reserves are ancient
and are often seen as a finite resource, and difficult to replenish. Trench
berms and keyline plowing allow rainwater it to penetrate into the terrain,
recharging the underground water storages. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.hy5h7x5hcc1a>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.rcj6pz3kc81k>

Floods

Flood are the most common and lethal ‘natural’ disasters. During a heavy
rain event, the top layer of soil becomes saturated and the remainder of
the rain cascades into the valleys of the watershed causing the water
levels to surge. Floods are responsible for loss of life, home, and
infrastructure damage. Swales, gabions, terracing, keyline plowing, and
dams improve the water retention capacity and runoff coefficient to slow
down rainwater to allow it absorb into the terrain, mitigating flooding,
and stabilizing water levels. A watershed that has been improved to 0.1 of
better may make it near impossible to flood. These techniques were employed
over 80 years ago by the Civilian conservation Corp, which mitigated a
flood in 1936, and the trench berms are still there providing a service to
this day. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.7nfxwga8y58a>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.fedpb22ufm0f>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.v1ggcq391sqx>

Fluctuating River Levels

Similar to mitigating flooding, the trench berms slow the descent of the
heavy rains, preventing the river levels from surging. Instead of all the
rain crashing through in one day, it is harvested, slowed and infiltrated
into the terrain and may take months or years for the rain to filter
through the soil en route back into the river and ocean at a consistent
pace. If a rainfall raises the water level of a river, it is a clear sign
that the watersheds runoff coefficient needs to be improved. When the
entire watershed has a 0.1 runoff coefficient or better, the rise and fall
during storms and droughts should be barely noticeable. When a consistent
flow rate has been established the riverbed will stabilize, generating
conditions for clear rivers even with a mud bottom. This stabilization
prevents taxes from being wasted on costly infrastructure and riparian zone
repairs. Stable water flows may enable hydroelectric opportunities because
the risk of the equipment being damaged from surges and floating debris is
reduced. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.rcj6pz3kc81k>

Water shortages, and dry riverbeds

Every cubic meter of water sequestered on land is worth approximately $3 if
the watershed is kept from free from contaminants. The trench berms and
keyline plowing prevent contamination of the watershed below and turn the
terrain into a water harvesting, storage and filter mechanism. The regolith
(subsoil) slowly release water into the valleys, providing clean water to
the communities on its voyage back to the ocean.

Gabions are a secondary measure, providing an extra layer of water storage,
filter, and pacification against heavy rain events. A valley in an arid
climate with poor runoff coefficient may surge with water that is polluted
with erosion and other runoff, only flowing for the short period of the
rain season. Over time, improvements to runoff coefficient may generate a
stable potable water source for twelve months of the year as it is slowly
is released through the soil. The volume of water does not change, but the
flow is changed from a destructive unusable surge into a clean consistent
flow. Most animals including humans can not survive without water for long.
Consistent, clean water improves the environment's capacity for both humans
and wildlife. In communities where residents spent a significant portion of
their income on bottled potable water, this is a savior to their economy.
[1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.gbfb728bjkk7>

Fish Populations

Next to mollusk family, fish are some of the most effortless, ethical,
efficient, and prolific sources of animal protein. Fish are cold blooded
and do not need to waste calories to generate warmth to survive like cattle
and people do. instead, this energy can be used to grow body mass. ‘Water
is life’ and fish can be abundant in any water system without farming
techniques when they are not bombarded by the negative effects of poor
water management on the land.

Algae blooms generate low oxygen conditions that can suffocate and kill off
an entire lake or bay in one season, regardless of fishing. Many freshwater
lakes in Canada have completely died off, while there are over a hundred
coastal dead zones, the largest being 70,000 km². Improved rainwater runoff
coefficients of the land within the watershed prevent the phosphates and
nitrogen that create conditions for algae blooms from entering the
watershed.

Murky waters reduce visibility and makes it difficult for aquatic animals
to find food.

Murky waters prevent sunlight penetration to the plants underwater, which
is detrimental to the bottom of the food chain that supports the fish.

Algaes do not absorb nutrients from their roots like terrestrial plants.
Many algaes use ‘roots’ like anchors and need solid surfaces to attach to,
but the sediments from erosion that settle over the rocks prevent plants
like kelp from anchoring.

The improvements on land pacify the erosive water preventing the sediment
from entering the watershed.

The irony of the situation is the nutrients that are detrimental to the
aquatic food chain are the nutrients needed to grow food on land, so
letting them wash away is detrimental to both land and sea. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.afn5mgc4lm4t>

Salmon Runs

Salmon are born in gravel beds up in the mountains, then travel 1,500km
down to the ocean to build their bodies, to later climb back up the 2.1 kms
of elevation to the same gravel beds they were born in to reproduce, and
die. Salmon suffer the same problems as other fish types with the addition
of needing their sense of smell to find their river. For millions of years,
their birthplaces would have had a consistent flow, after deforestation for
agriculture, the content of their river of origin may change every year.

Salmon can benefit greatly from gabion installations that are within the
maximum 3.65 meter jump height of salmon. Steps, called a fish ladder can
be installed if a gabion or dam must be built more than a few meters. Small
gabions are the perfect tool to generate Salmon Runs

It has been estimated that bears leave up to half the salmon they harvest
on the forest floor ,providing as much as 24% of the total nitrogen
available to the nearby riparian woodlands. Eagles, wolves, fox and other
species consume the flesh and deposit their manure throughout the forests.
Salmon are a unique tool employed by nature to bring minerals from the
ocean, up onto the land. They are considered a keystone species, bringing a
rich supply of the wide range of essential trace minerals from the ocean,
up into the mountains. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.j9eco7wem0h9>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.3vajouc4gris>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.qeeif62mt1qk>


Rising Sea Levels

Water levels are rising due to ice melting because of warmer temperatures,
and to a lesser extent, the extraction of water from the aquifers which
eventually evaporates and deposits water the to ocean. The sun evaporates
the ocean water, raising it into the atmosphere, then it falls as rain
providing us with the opportunity to recharge the ground waters, and to
seed clouds through plants to reduce temperatures. The global average of
the planet's regolith, the layer of unconsolidated rocky material covering
bedrock is 15.5 meters thick. Gravity and weathering deposits most of the
world's regolith in low points of the terrain where water naturally flows,
trench berms, keyline plowing, and gabions slow and spread the water,
allowing it to soak in.

Lowering the temperatures mitigates glacial melting, and allows new snow
precipitation to stay in its solid form as ice on land. Albedo is the
ability to reflect sunlight. Trees seed clouds by releasing terpenes, and
the extra moisture sequestered in areas by implementing the terraforming
where there was none before will contribute to forming clouds increasing
the albedo and lowering the overall temperature. The improved fertility of
terraforming improves the rate of Carbon being sequestered into biomass,
reducing the greenhouse gas effect.

Atmospheric carbon sequestered into topsoil is primarily made from decayed
wood and leaves. This layer is a key element at holding water for plants
and keeping it away from the ocean. Much of it has eroded away due to
agriculture, but topsoil can be regrown, and this time, kept on land. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.uuyo8w3muf3j>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.exrgjo4slarm>


Forest Resilience to Pests, Plague, Pine Beetles

As an example, the pine beetle is labelled as a pest. It can kill large
areas of forest, leaving a fire hazard behind. It thrives in dehydrated
areas with stressed trees that are too weak to produce their natural
methods of defense. Minerals and water are required for natural defenses
such as sticky sap flow, or the bitter flavoured tannins to repel the
attacker. A forest hydrated by trench and berm installations has more
water, minerals, and organic matter available to generate defenses. Organic
matter such as leaves collect in the swales feed beneficial symbiotic
mushrooms that connect to the roots of trees, similar to an Internet
network. When one tree is attacked by a pest, a chemical signal is sent
through the network, notifying the other trees to preemptively start
investing resources into their defenses. The mushrooms (mycelium) root
networks mine for minerals and water to exchange with the trees for sugars
from photosynthesis, creating a complex organism that shares resources
within its own internet to adapt and thrive in a wide range of conditions..

When excavating trenches is not a possibility due to the terrain or root
systems, the standing dry dead trunks and branches should be brought down,
on contour to create small trench-less berms out of organic material. For
urban forests, berms on contour made from compost, grass clippings,
processed sewage solids or general organic waste can be laid throughout the
forest as berms to aid in water catchment, and to create a hotspot for the
symbiotic fungi to establish and spread out from. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.uln1vw60g4gf>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.rhe6jq2ptcl>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.3pb7a7neg5hm>

Forest Fires

Although nature has adapted to recover from wildfires, forest fires and
controlled burns are not beneficial for a forest. Fire is not required to
open seed pods, because a hot dry period,birds and other animals do the
same job. Controlled burns and forest fires damage topsoil, and expose it
to erosion. The impact of raindrops following a fire are no longer softened
by trees foliage, allowing the mineral rich ash, and exposed topsoil to
wash away to the ocean. The resulting erosion reduces the plant available
trace minerals in the system and the terrains capacity to hold water. Each
fire leaves the land less fertile than before, increasing the difficulty
and stress for the new generation of weakened trees, increasing the risk of
future fires, pests, and plague.

Trench berms may be installed through forests with heavy machines or with
hand tools depending on the environment. Alternatively, municipal organic
waste, compost, or reclaimed sewage solids can be laid as level berms to
act as trench and berms without digging and disturbing roots. This adds
nutrients and improves hydration while keeping the essential organic matter
at its current elevation.

Dead wood that is standing or partially fallen is one of two things, fuel
for a forest fire, or a future food source for the mushroom networks as
they decompose it into carbon rich topsoil. Forcing down dead wood to
contact the soil allows it to become moist which then can be consumed by
beneficial fungus, recycling the old nutrients into new tree growth. It is
most beneficial to lay dead wood horizontally level to the slope of the
land to create on-contour-micro-berms, cut it into manageable pieces if
needed. Mushroom production will increase because of the extra moisture and
carbon food supply, supporting more wildlife that feeds on the mushrooms.

It is near impossible to spread a wildfire in a well hydrated forests. If a
fire is able to start, the trench berms create a humid barrier containment
zone which isolates the fire to prevent spreading. Cities can protect their
residents and investments by implementing these techniques to the wooded
areas both inside and outside of their borders. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.ivvsapjnwd6p>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.5avv3kb52pot>

Wildfires

Firefighters, residents, wildlife, crops, cattles herds, homes and more
have all be lost to wildfires and heavy winds. Treeless industrial
agriculture generates conditions  for 100 kph winds that can cause fires
that are almost impossible to control after they have started. Keyline
plowing, with on-contour trench and berm agroforestry are the most cost
effective preventative measures. Treelines within the trench and berms stay
hydrated and create barriers to isolate the fires, while also mitigating
the wind potential that fuels and spreads the fire. Keyline plowing leaves
more hydrated biomass. More detail about designing against bushfires can be
found here.
<https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B5mLitql1p9_T0tEc0p1a19QbnM> [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.50a5y45bttpd>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.rfu261ecgukb>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.ivvsapjnwd6p>

Many farmers still burn the non edible parts of their crops, to release the
macronutrients Phosphorus, Potassium, and valuable trace minerals such as
Iron, Zinc, and Magnesium from the plant tissue. The carbon and third
macronutrient Nitrogen is burnt away into the atmosphere. Carbon is the
primary component of topsoil. The fire damages the soil structure while
leaving it exposed to the wind, sun, and rain which erode the minerals into
the water systems contributing to eutrophication, algae blooms and hypoxic
deads zones. Less topsoil, unprotected soil, and less nutrients on the farm
leads to desertification which is evident throughout the entirety of
central Mexico. Every following year using the burning methods requires
more nitrogen fertilizer, and irrigation. The land becomes less fertile
each year, and is more susceptible to wildfire. The non edible parts of
crops are supposed to be left on the land to build up topsoil, and to
protect the soil biology from wind, sun, and the impact from raindrops.
Pastures benefit from keyline plowing and integrated trench and berm
agroforestry. Although burning crops is counterproductive to topsoil and
farming, at least keyline plowing will allow the rain to sequester all of
the ash on location in the root zone  where it may be used by the next
generation of plants.

Relevant Side Topic, Non edible organic matter once dried may be burnt in a
pyrolysis stove {explain}  to generate charcoal and heat energy, which can
be used to generate steam to spin a turbine for electricity. The Charcoal
is primarily carbon that is stable for thousands of years. <law should be
implemented that crop burning stops unless it is burnt with the pyrolysis
method, which is basic enough that a small one can be built from two soup
cans, This caron structure provides a lot of the same qualities as topsoil,
in some cases better. For perspective, this charcoal could be stockpiled
and used to power coal power plants in the case of emergency like a long
cold winter. Carbon farming. Opinions, Doing this could be compared to as
‘icing on the cake’ for an ecosystem,‘reap what you sow’

Carbon is the primary component in most air and water filters, The
structure itself is ideal as a hotel habitat for beneficial bacteria and
spores which can then be spread to inoculate trench berms and keylines
plowing and under tree plantings. It have one drawback, it will absorb a
lot of nitrogen from a system. Once saturated though, it becomes a slow
Nitrogen release mechanism (meaning, saturate is first with
actively-aerated-compost-tea, or urine). (Theory: there is a lot of
unexplored edible mushroom production opportunity)



Underground Fires

Some underground coal fires are thousands of years old. Fires can smoulder
underground after a forest fire in the dry roots and peat moss for years.
This is not common, but dangerous, as fires can flare up well after the
primary fire is out. Trench berms allow water to penetrate deep into the
soil, preventing fires in the first place, or extinguishing the burning
carbon. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.8z5xw0gxkwgo>

Tornadoes

Treeless industrial agriculture farmland is the perfect scenario to breed
tornados. Trench and berm tree lines create an abrasive surface that
generates resistance to tornadoes from forming, Like trying to slide an ice
cube over sandpaper. The temperature regulating effects from
evapotranspiration helps stabilise temperature changes that contribute to
tornadoes. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.79p9x9qsixyy>

Hail

Hail can contribute to famine and economic collapse by destroying crops and
devastating wildlife and herd animals. Hail is caused by updrafts in a
storm. An updraft pulls in air horizontally from the surrounding area. The
trees within the trench berms create resistance to the horizontal flow that
supply the upward draft. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.r1uqr3y35oer>

High winds

Similar to the cause and effects of Hail and Tornadoes. High winds damage
everything from structures, agriculture yields, power infrastructure,
derail trains, and can result in death when combined with wildfire.
Treeless industrial agriculture creates the conditions for high winds.
This is mitigated by implementing on contour trench and berm agroforestry,
which is compatible with industrial agriculture. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.2kwgxshgxb58>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.9s43y16hov2>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.5vf0w05xo6s2>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.50a5y45bttpd>

Local Economies

Agriculture is the foundation of many economies. Trench berms and Keyline
plowing improve topsoil retention, fertilizer and water utilization,
increasing yields and the profits of primary producers. When rural farms
increase productivity, the additional money becomes part of the local
economy. Urban food production prevents local economy being wasted on
importing food and the energy costs associated with transportation of
products.

Urban residential agriculture is the most productive, cost, and energy
efficient. By utilizing stormwater, abundant organic waste, and some
thriftiness, the cost of materials can be next to zero to build an Urban
edible forest <https://imgur.com/a/zZHD1> that can produce $25 per square
meter, even in cold climates. Here
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/10y7nZgBgCLaokpywYyILcSSXoJJ33WAufiAbXx3HhDI/edit?usp=sharing>
is a concept example of an Urban Sustainable Retrofit that would score 0.1
on the Runoff Coefficient Scale while retaining lawn space for play. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.9z3sw1fd140q>

There are approximately* 150,000,000,000 square meters of lawns in the
United States alone. A single square meter of high calorie crops such as
potatoes generates over 2000 calories (up to 6000), a day's worth of food
energy. There is enough sunlight growing grass that could feed 410,000,000
people indefinitely, more than enough to exceed the population of the
United States. The techniques described in the previous paragraph,
explaining the use of stormwater, household nutrient rich greywater,
surplus organic waste, symbiotic microbial innoculations, and companion
planting, may triple the production value of the yields. [2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.qixpktfc365d>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.dtckqzycd7wb>

Agroforestry on-contour scores the highest on the runoff coefficient scale
and requires minimum maintenance once a year if it's implemented correctly
and matured. Grass in the United States requires 3 billion hours of
maintenance per year, has a poor runoff coefficient which allows
fertilizers and herbicides into the watershed (unless it is keyline plowed
or has an urban trench berm integrated into it). [4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.o1qs37ezcwtl>

*All numbers were rounded within 10% variance, based on a cold climate
production, etc.

Some people do not want to do the work of harvesting their food.
Organizations like Operation Fruit Rescue
<https://operationfruitrescue.org/> can be called to harvest the food, then
split it with you, the volunteers, and the food bank. [5]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.tktodkkrgr3x>

Utility Drainage Fees

$0.47 for every square meter per year is charged to landowners based on the
average ‘0.5 runoff coefficient’ rating by the utility company Epcor in
Edmonton, Canada. This is meant to pay for municipal drainage
infrastructure upgrades and erosion repairs. The projects are generally
expensive because it often means digging up pre existing urban development,
then replaced everything back to its original appearance. These projects
are addressing symptoms of the problem instead of resolving the cause of
the problem. Civil engineers have been trained in the past to get rid of
the water as fast as possible, this is irresponsible because it generates
problems to everyone else downstream. Quickly dumping the water causes
storm surges, leading to flooding, erosion, and infrastructure damage.

The solution is utilize or so slow the waters descent from the point of
landing, then release it over time, or utilize it in an ecosystem, even
small urban properties. Urban residential trench berms and keyline plowing
of public grass spaces can improve the average 0.5 runoff coefficient
rating to 0.1, mitigating 80% or more of the stormwaters and reducing the
drainage fees down to $0.09 per square meter, saving the average homeowner
$200 dollars or thousands for a school, while generating the byproduct of
fertile agroforestry. Scenario [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.t5g41hk5d2w1>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.d9td4ywq76cj>
Rates [3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.t01unt4lbhug>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.9lnrecv039c0>
[5]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.xdonf31risnf>

100-year storm events

Civil engineers and urban planners understand the consequences of the
‘dreaded 100-year-storm’. These storms can dump 10% of the annual
precipitation in an hour. These cause floods, and heavy damage to
infrastructure with repairs in the billions. If space permits, trench berms
should be designed with the 100 year storm in mind, If they can not harvest
the whole storm, anything they do catch will mitigate the flooding,
erosion, and damage to the infrastructure. The hypothesis is when a city
retrofits to a 0.1 runoff coefficient where possible, the 100 year storm
may be mitigated to have the impact on the infrastructure with the force of
10 year storm.

Pre existing high density urban areas have to be more innovative to
mitigate storms of such magnitude, but even a parking lot with 1.0 runoff
coefficient can be a water harvesting mechanism. Most flooding comes from
rural agriculture lands, but localized flooding can happen in urban areas
when the landscape is primarily grass roads and roofs. Storm drains get
overwhelmed, or clogged with plastic bags and leaf litter.

New developments should have zero problems to capture a large storm event,
urban planning is most cost efficient when designing water systems first,
then access (roads, paths), then structures.

Bee extinction and Colony Collapse

Water is needed by plants to metabolize CO² into nectar. More humidity
allows plants to produce more sugary carbohydrates as fuel for bees. Trench
berms and its agroforestry is meant to be planted with multiple species,
the more diversity the better. Plant diversity provides staggered flowering
times, supplying bees with consistent access to nectar and pollen. Bees
often suffer from dearth, a period when there are no flowering plants
blooming to get fuel from, because of lack of species diversity. Dearth is
common in monoculture agriculture when only a single species of plant is
grown, like a field of wheat or a city of grass. Trench berm agroforestry
create habitat and moisture for predators that control insect pests,
reducing the need for pesticides that kill both ‘pests’ and bees. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.5flmc4qruwk8>

Species Extinction

There has been a decline of 75% percent of flying insect biomass, even in
protected areas. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.7mmvj9r3o0ro>
Insects
feed 60% of the birds [2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.b1w9waf771nm>,
and are estimated to provide 57 billion dollars in ecosystem services
annually in The United States alone (excluding domesticated insects such as
honeybees and their products) [3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.1zi1crqna8qf>
.

These water management techniques allow water sources to be more consistent
and abundant in any climate. Year round water supplies drastically improve
the environment’s holding capacity to support fauna as many species have
not evolved to survive for long without it. The increased plant growth in
the swales provide habitat, and food for all types of animals. Ecosystems
thrive with species diversity, the more diversity of plants, the more
diversity of animals, and the more stable the system becomes.

Although controversial, the increased capacity to support fauna enables
sustainable hunting practices for species like deer and fowl. This reduces
the demand and detrimental impact of cattle production. Cattle farming is
one of the least efficient and most destructive forms of protein
production. Cattle farming that remains must adopt the ‘cell grazing’
method, with keyline plowing to turn a destructive system into a
regenerative one.

Hydroelectric Energy Potential

Water stored at elevation is potential energy. As it is released the
momentum can turn turbines to generate electricity. Water can be stored in
open water bodies, or within the regolith of the earth, turning the the
terrain into a battery system.

Hydroelectric opportunities become available once the rivers have
stabilised. Trench berms and keyline plowing prevent surges and reduce the
amount of debris from entering the rivers preventing damage to turbines and
equipment. The terraforming turns the geology itself into a slow release
water battery, eventually draining out a current from the soil over time as
new water is added from rainfall above. This can regulate a storm surge to
flow at a consistent rate all year, even in dry riverbeds where water only
ran during a short rainy season. This generates opportunity for large
cities around rivers to tap into the stabilized river without doing any
harm to the environment.

Rural communities and farmers with access to large spaces of land can tap
into the new springs that are formed once the groundwater recharges,
enabling micro-hydro opportunities where there was no water flow before. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.6vwgeaeuv54>

Wind Energy Potential

The average wind speed on land in meter per second is 3.28 m/s 10 m above
land, and 4.54m/s at 80 meters above land. Wind turbines are the cheapest
form of electric energy when the conditions are ideal. In some scenarios,
conditions can be designed to be ideal by considering dominant wind
patterns, orographic effect of the terrain, and designing agroforestry
plant patterns to guide and concentrate windflow to the desired location of
the turbine, making the shorter, less expensive, less visually obtrusive
turbines more feasible.  [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.veft9utxq2p7>
[Will
update with design images of contour treelines guiding wind to turbines on
ridges]

Costly Unnecessary Grass Maintenance

In regards to area with little to no foot traffic. Grass is the cheapest
ground cover to start but most expensive to maintain which generates a
constant unproductive drain on the economy. Highways, interchanges,
industrial parks and the majority of lawn space are all wasting sunlight,
water, fertilizers, fuel and labour to maintain grass.

Monoculture is the growing of many of the same species. A single species of
grass is unnatural and detrimental to an ecosystem where a mix of clover
species is beneficial. Clover is a member of the legume species. Legumes
symbiotically work with bacteria that take atmospheric Nitrogen gas and
sequester it into the soil as plant available nitrogen nutrient, a free
form of fertilizer. Clover also produces nectar, supporting pollinator
insects, which support species higher in the food chain like songbirds.
Clover does not grow tall so it does not obstruct traffic line of sight,
therefore it does not need to be mowed.

For roadside areas keyline plow with a seed dispenser attachment that
distributes clover seed. Replacing grass will remove the costs associated
with the meaningless labour and fuel that is required to maintain it.  If
city staff are worried about losing jobs, mowing grass labour is already
being replaced by with automation. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.363dghfqjybq>

Crime

Trees and parks deter violent crimes by 56% in case studies by University
of Washington, University of Illinois and the City of Philadelphia. A
civilization in a state of scarcity is prone to crime, even if the crime is
as necessary as stealing of a loaf of bread to feed One’s own family. The
state of scarcity evident across the globe in every culture and it is
primarily due to the civilizations inefficient utilization of sun and
rainwater. Improving the runoff coefficient increases yield of primary
products such as food, water, textiles, building materials, biofuels and
even plastics. These products are the foundation of a post-scarcity society
of abundance.

Within scarcity, people are forced into a survival mode, influencing the
decisions that they make. In a world moving towards automation and
abundance, people will always have access to food and water, regardless of
their employment and finances. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.3qc4dcuhmid9>

War

Conflict throughout history has often generated from scarce water resources
and arable land for food. These terraforming strategies transform barren
regions into systems of abundance, and self sufficiency, reducing the
potential for some conflicts. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.4lo03x5ardc1>

Mental Disorders,

Stress, Depression, ADHD, Alzheimer's are among a range of mental disorders
that are reduced when the subject is within a green space. People living
near forests have been found to have a physically healthier amygdala, the
part of the brain that deals with stress and relaxation.

Many communities have have a dry season where all the vegetation turns
brown, leaving the place looking like a barren wasteland for half the year,
which may have negative effects on the inhabitants. Runoff coefficient
improvements store the surplus water from the wet season underground. The
extra water supplies trees and groundcovers moisture longer into the dry
season, keeping the landscape greener. Mowing grasses and groundcovers
cause the roots to recede, avoid mowing for deeper rooted, greener
landscapes.

Municipal (waste)water can be used to irrigate the highest trench berms
which will evenly distribute and hydrate the terrain below, recycling the
water, reclaiming the nutrients, and turning the landscape into a
productive water filter mechanism.

[1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.ck0mz9w3xqqc>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.yn9icyoetjeb>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.hyxfzv41r4ix>

Noise Pollution

Hard surfaces conduct and reflect sound, while soft elements absorb sound.
Most neighborhood streets have a road, with a grass lawn, leading to the
home, with little to not sound mitigating inbetween.

The runoff coefficient techniques themselves do not mitigate soundwaves,
but they create the ideal conditions for plants to grow vigorously to fill
up the open space and absorb the soundwaves. More available water allows
for more plant foliage which increases the sound absorption. Residential
lots are generally sloped so the water runs off the property onto the road.
Having a single trench berm near the base of the property before the
sidewalk (or trenchless-berm made from compost) will catch the runoff water
to quickly grow a sound and privacy barrier between the homes and the
street. Most urban areas have a one or two meter utility corridor for
underground cables next to the sidewalk, always check with your
municipality first before you dig.

Warning: Damaging a underground cable or pipe may cause loss of life, or
large fines for negligence. There are organizations such as “Click Before
You Dig [1 <http://www.clickbeforeyoudig.com/>]’ that will survey the area
for free.

Dust Storms

Arid regions with exposed soil to due plowing and overgrazing allow
particles to carried with the wind. Dust storms in China alone cause an
estimated 6.5 billion dollars in economic loss per year, from killing
crops, blowing fertile topsoil into the ocean, causing respiratory health
problems to humans and cattle, damage to machinery, and time wasted on
cleaning. Rehydrating the land and restoring groundwaters with keyline
plowing will allow ground covers to establish and protect the soil while
trench and berm tree belts provide wind breaks that can survive harsh arid
environments. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.ucqigrknbryi>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.xd6kvj4472hh>

Spring Snow Melt

Almost 25% of the annual precipitation in cold climates is snow. Because
the melting happens on the surface, and the soil below is either saturated,
or frozen, a lot of this water is melts away without absorbing into the
land contributing to spring flooding. A cold climate can also be an arid
climate. When a quarter of the environments annual precipitation thaws and
comes all at once it is logical to sequester it into the earth instead of
allowing it to waste away back into the ocean, flooding the rivers, and
causing erosion on the way.

Cold climate water management require techniques that are slightly
different from the tropics and desert. Larger capacity trenches with higher
berms connected to ponds can capture this spring melting to recharge the
groundwaters and preventing flooding. Smaller trench berms may be buried
below the snow and may have less effect during the spring melt.

Every environment is different, in areas with clay-like soils, standing
bodies of water may be a problem. Organic matter in the swales with
prolific water hungry trees like the willow species will help absorb and
transpire the water more quickly. A aerator can pass through a trench after
its construction to ‘poke holes’ in the base to increase surface area and
absorption. Alternatively, larger trenches can be sealed through compaction
and become linear aquaponic fish and plant production, similar to highly
productive ‘chinampas’ used in ancient Mexico. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.eh8xqzsetluw>

Tsunamis

Waves coming on land create a threat from the mass of water, but also from
the debris such as vehicles, structural materials, and anything else it can
carry. The incoming energy can be mitigated and the large debris can be
filtered from being carried inland with treelines.

Heading from the coast toward inland urban areas, a series of on contour
trench berms and their treelines will create resistance and a filtering
effect. The berm and trench create a hydrofoil effect and the fluid is
forced to curve over the berm, redirecting its angular momentum downward
into the trench mitigating some of the energy by creating turbulence as it
is forced into the base of the trench. The further inland a wave travels,
the more debris it picks up and carries with it. Each treeline acts as a
filter to hold back incoming debris. Previous events have shown that
tsunamis are unable to uproot mangroves. The roots of trees within trench
and berm agroforestry tangle together to create an flexible anchored
structure.

Compared to commonly proposed tsunami hardware defenses, such as sandbags,
concrete and metal structures, none are less expensive, more resilient,
lower maintenance, and self repairing than a living wall made from organic
matter, soil, mulch, and plants. A secondary byproduct of using trench
berms on Island and coastal communities is the creation of a freshwater
lens in the subsoil that displaces the saline water, pushing it towards the
ocean, enabling the use of freshwater wells. A third byproduct is the food
generated. Salt resilient species may be included in the agroforestry
because a trench full of salt water may kill many of the plants, which is a
small sacrifice to mitigate the tsunamis energy. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.ycgqq6chlrv>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.fc5uvtx9b3qb>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.v1rha6kn7oig>
[Illustrations
will be provided]

Mass Wasting, Landslides, Mudslides

Due to the diversity of different types of Mass Wastings and their inherent
dangers, this section is more in depth, applications will vary, and may not
the best solution for every situation. There are many different types of
Mass Wastings, categorized as landslides, creeps, slumps, falls, and flows.
Mass wastings happen on earth and even other planets in our solar system.
The common causes are erosion, seismic activity, increased top layer
moisture mass, undercutting excavations, frost heave, the shrink and swell
of the wet and dry seasons, the reduction of roots anchoring the soil from
deforestation, overgrazing, and even lawn mowing.

Deforestation cuts to tops of the trees off, the situation seems stable at
first, but the roots decay as time passes and the roots release their hold
on each other, subsoil, and bedrock. Once the top layer of soil gets wet,
it can exceed the shear strength and cause a landslide.

An Engineer should be involved in any earthworks because the implementation
of both trench-berms and keyline plowing may temporarily contribute to the
cause of a landslide. The keyline plowing and trench berm create the
conditions for permanent solutions that strengthen over time by deepening
water infiltration resulting in deeper roots that improve the shear
strength, increase resilience against dry season, and reducing further
erosion. Without water infiltration techniques, rainfalls only hydrates the
top surface with little penetration, causing plants to invest their roots
in the surface area, instead of burrowing deep into the subsoil as an
anchor.

In a scenario where keyline plowing or trench and berm excavations may
temporarily increase the risk of a landslide, multiple small contour berms
(without the trench) made from organic matter such as compost, grass
clippings, or wood chips may be laid out along the high risk area. This
requires no digging but still increases the water infiltration and
nutrients aiding in revegetation. The berms should be seeded immediately
with fast growing nitrogen fixing legumes such as alfalfa. Alfalfa has a
root structure that grows a meter deep in months and recorded up to 15
meters over time. Nitrogen fixing legumes are a categorized as a pioneer
species that improve soil conditions for other plants that can establish a
more permanent root network, such as bamboo in warm climates and willow
(salix) species in colder climates. If the land is too steep for small
berms, seed with grasses and legumes on contour to grow a living ‘berm’.

Organic matter berms can easily erode and wash away and contribute to
flooding if the spillways and capacity calculations are incorrect. Time
these applications according to the local climates weather patterns to get
as much root depth as soon as possible before the risk of heavy rains. High
priority projects in urban areas likely have access to (waste)water and may
be able to sparingly irrigate for the first three months to establish roots.

Some engineering organizations suggest draining water from the slopes with
diversion drains to prevent landslides, but that does not prevent water
from soaking in to the top layer during a light rain, that is steady, over
a long period of time, eventually exceeding the sheer strength, causing a
landslide. Draining water from the ecosystem causes the roots of vegetation
to recede, weakening the shear strength.

Alternatives such as metal rock bolts eventually rust, concrete requires
maintenance, drainage pipes eventually clog. Applying organic waste and
immediately establishing deep rooting plants is a method that requires the
least amount of investment, maintenance, and strengthens over time. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.nvmug67bosjl>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.vhkzeuzbbxta>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.dq9dj2ogwilp>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.wxer5sptjaed>

Avalanches

The concepts applied to prevent Mass Wasting events are relatively similar
to prevent an avalanche, instead of a layer of earth slipping, an avalanche
is a layer of snow that collapses. On mountains steep slopes, and scarce
regolith does not often leave digging as an option, but every current
method of structural avalanche prevention utilizes level-on-contour
applications.

Terrain and access is a primary factor regarding what preventative measures
can be used. Timber or metal snow bridges, steel mesh fences, and berms
place level on-contour are already common applications. It may take longer,
but may be less expensive to grow a barrier with compost than to construct
one from corrosion resistant metals.

Polyculture layered ecosystems provide the best results, implement high
trees, medium shrubs, and low groundcovers to offer three vertical layers
of resistance. Pioneer tree species, especially those in the nitrogen
fixing family such as Alder species should be included. To imagine the
effect, picture a ‘bed of nails’ at a 45 degree slope and try and slide an
ice cube down it, or put it outside during a snowstorm and see that a layer
of snow will not slide off through the nails. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.xb2g0aohh9mj>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.i420qz9xp9t>
[3]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.8t7igwku9vzi>
[4]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.taf0bstg8rqx>

In the case of recreational skiing, bumps on the hill will not be
acceptable. Seeding low lying ground covers on contour with some compost
may prevent erosion in summer, and the plant may mitigate the risk of
avalanche in winter. Many small berms can achieve the same runoff
coefficient as large berms, but without the bumps that would be inhibit
winter sports.

Earthquakes

Changes in the weight on the tectonic plates from the accumulation of snow,
and the melting of it uncontrollably back into the ocean was the cause of
small 2.0 magnitude earthquakes in California. The runoff coefficient
improvements may be negligible in the majority of scenarios, but it be one
of the few options to mitigate some earthquake scenarios. Imagine bending a
rod of metal all the way so the two ends touch, it may stay connected in
one piece, but alternating the bending back and forth with small bends can
split the rod of metal into two pieces. Using trench berms designed for
spring-melt catchment allows the mass of the water to penetrate into the
terrain, keeping the mass in the plate longer. This mitigates the back and
forth movement, which otherwise “may be the straw the breaks the camel's
back.”. [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.vl4mwi1diwzd>
[2]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.glc1q4h6z5pn>



Written by Jared Eglinski

contactjaredeglinski@gmail.com for more information

www.jaredeglinski.com for other ‘works-in-progress’

Support further development via Patreon
<https://www.patreon.com/bePatron?u=4457524> or Paypal
<http://paypal.me/jaredEglinski>


<End of ‘mostly finished’ part of the document, the below this point are
topics under heavy construction, with images, examples, and notes>

Part II

Urban

<Grey house retains rainwater, the berms are ideal for agroforestry, brown
house drains into ocean>

Some utility companies charge landowners a drainage fee based on the lands
rainwater runoff coefficient. The average suburban home in Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada is charged $0.46 per square meter, or around 300 dollars a
year. This ‘fee’ is supposed to be spent on infrastructure, and erosion
repairs. This runoff contributes to the problems listed in the previous
section. The landscaping can be done with all recycled materials, organic
waste, and construction debris for the soft retaining walls.

These applications improve the score in the coefficient scale, saving the
owner from fees. The new landscaped zone provide perfect micro ecosystems
to grow edible food forests. This
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/10y7nZgBgCLaokpywYyILcSSXoJJ33WAufiAbXx3HhDI/edit>
Document explains turning a typical property into a productive ecosystem.

<aquaculture properties>


<Edging: image in process>

Edging is a significant concern in a urban design (not including large
parks or rural due to costs). Edging can be very labour intensive,
depending on edging choice, it may require 50% of the labour and material
costs for an entire project. Edging can also be made at no cost or use
recycled materials. Edging can be the aesthetic difference between looking
manicured or nature-chaos. Edging can be built up to increase the amount of
elevation of a ‘raised bed’ and the capacity of organic material that can
be fed into the system (compost). Or, edging can be dig-down, level with
the original soil/grass to easily allow a lawnmower (automated or not) to
pass over, without having to use a ‘weed-whacker’ to clean up the edges. Or
combine both raised and lowered edging to get the best of both aspects. On
the other side of the spectrum, edging can be made from a berm of compost
and planted with strawberries

Edging creates ‘zones of control’ without an edge, you may have a crossover
between the strawberry groundcover and the grass lawn. The crossover is not
a problem to the environment, but it is more of a concern for some people
who like manicured aesthetics.

<attached images> An edge can separate grass from agroforestry, and
optionally, another edge can be made as the grow zone transitions into
regular forest



Rural and Farmland

The rainwater that falls on each square metre of land is worth more retail
value than the small amount of profit grown in corn, wheat, and other grain
crops. The common unsustainable conventional methods of agriculture produce
up to $0.10 per M², while over $2.00 of water can be harvested
(approximately $4.20 including hidden costs from utilities). Improving the
water efficiency of the area with a mix of keyline plowing, trench and berm
agroforestry, and ponds increase agricultural yields in a regenerative
manner that will build topsoil each season and support flora and fauna
biodiversity.

Adding swales and/or keyline plowing is the most basic upgrades to
industrial agriculture land. Adding ponds is a optional upgrade, a bottom
pond is recommended. A solar pump connected to the bottom pond allows the
harvested water to be pumped up to the higher swales during the dry season.
Depending on the scenario, the water pumped up may return through the
subsoil to the bottom pond, creating a cycling action, like a giant
aquarium and filter system.

Adding ponds to the swales, or at least a top pond and bottom pond, enables
the opportunity for ‘aquaculture’ farming. The growing of fish and plants
together.  This is the most efficient and ethical form of animal protein
production, Fish require 15% of the food inputs that cattle do. First, this
is because they are cold blooded and do not waste energy to keep warm.
Second, they float, and use very little energy to maintain daily functions.

A aquaculture system can get away without feeding the fish at all and let
nature do it. By planting trees around the water that produce nectar and
pollen that attracts insects, as they age, some insects end up falling into
the water to feed the fish. Tilapia are a type of carp that are omnivores,
and will eat any surplus vegetation that enters the water. This is not
intensive high input farming,it is low maintenance, low inputs, and
holistic protein production.



The edge (rural, urban parks)

A perimeter edge of agroforestry (polyculture orchard) may be established
to aid in windbreaks, creating a sense of privacy, or living thorn walls to
protect the farmers interior production.  Humans originally did not draw
their borders based on watershed, so the perimeter edges will not have the
moisture of the interior trenchberms and keyline areas. This means a apple
tree in the trench berm will likely be more productive that an apple tree
planted on the edges. The edge can be irrigated, or diverted moisture by
the trench berms if the designer is creative enough. This perimeter can be
a low maintenance naturalization zone. Building habitats for pest controls
species like wasps and birds are ideal in this zone as well as pollinators,
like a bee hive (add note/link how to build a *appropriate* bee hive).

Species to grow building materials like pine trees timber, bamboo for
construction are ideal in the perimeter as they may require less water than
the apple tree would requires. Human biological waste is often used in
agriculture already, the perimeter edge is a good place to invest this
nutrient if you do not want to use it within the edible production zone.

For green space in cities where grassland meets forests, berms made from
compost, or the cities leaves and grass clipping can be laid to build up
nutrients to feed the forest. Mushrooms will thrive in this material and
connect to the trees, where they will take the nutrients from the organic
waste berm and symbiotically exchange the nutrients with the trees for
carbohydrates (sugars via photosynthesis) in return. On a side note, the
organic waste should also be laid out on contour to make organic berms
(without the trench) within the forest to help distribute heavy rain
events, prevent erosion, and add nutrients. <add illustration>

Cover crops should be established on the organic berm edges. Potatoes would
be a good example, they will protect the berm, grow prolifically to protect
the berm from sun and erosion, establish a soft foliage barrier, and most
importantly, fill the berms full of a calorie rich food source that can be
harvested (great for an emergency) or left to sprout back next season.

Living Walls, impenetrable barriers and Thorn barriers edging.

In many cases, land caretakers may want to prevent wildlife from entering
or other people, The cost of building a fence or a stone wall is much
higher than growing one. A ‘dead’ wall such as stone, brick, wooden fence,
aluminium, and any other material are always in a state of decay. Resulting
in a constant investment for maintenance and repairs.

Using the similar preparation method described above. In

Single season annual plants vs multi year perennial plants

Annual plants are generally less efficient compared to perennial plants.
Annual crops required labour to be reseeded each year. Annual plant waste
energy having to regrow a new root system every season, and the root growth
and access to the soil nutrients are limited by their short life cycle.
Perennials keep most of their roots over winter, allowing them to bounce
back each season and reuse the previous year's growth. Trees are the best
example, where their roots can access nutrients much deeper than wheat.
Alfalfa as an example of a perennial herbaceous crop that can grow roots as
deep as 15 meters, where wheat may only root 1.5 metres deep.

Examples Rural: <each of the following will have illustrations = more time.>

Each example generally follows the same pattern to maximize the utilization
of sun energy, water, and the soil nutrients. 99.9% of land on earth is not
flat, so all examples are made with a slight slope to articulate terrain
diversity. No land is equal, but these examples are generalized to be 100
meters by 100 meters.

Design for climate:

(extreme conditions are not covered here as they are likely uninhabited
already, and can be extrapolated from the following examples)

Average:

Arid

Tropics

Temperate

Design for Desired Product:

For Bees and polyculture orchard

For Conventional crop ‘cooperation’ (monoculture crops mixed in with
polyculture agroforestry)

For Marijuana and Hemp

For Food

For forests/nature/wildlife (-/+ hunting)

<note, insert somewhere in the document, that farming has been less
attractive to new generations, for me, maybe it was because it looked
desolate, nothing like a living healthy system, and boring, like watching
paint dry over and over again. The upgraded method of polyculture,
aquaculture, systems is bustling with diversity change and growth. This to
me is like watching a new episode of a entertaining tv show every day I
look at the ecosystem, and to think I can earn a living while doing it,
increasing the yield each year, in a regenerative system). How I imagine
farming twenty years from now, being the
caretaker/designer/planner/overseer, using automation for the undesirable
repoetative labour, while using your observations to tweak the system for
desired results, living with the system, instead of exploiting it.

Note II Farming mentality, ‘my dads, dads, dads, dad did it this way, so
how I do it.elaborate on psychology, education, cooperation[or not])>


Part III

Municipal Concept examples <theory, under construction>

Iceland

25,000,000 m2 watershed. 20,000,000 m3 annual precipitation potential.

Capital Reykjavik 125,000 population. At 7m3 per person per month.
10,500,000 m3 consumption per year. This one water treatment edible forest
would produce almost twice the city's water needs, entirely with renewable
energy and minimal maintenance, possibly saving the residents $40,000,000
CAD per year. The Northern face trench berms have the potential to produce
over a $1,000,000 in local produce.

Iceland. Turn the land into a filter and slow release water storage
mechanism. Slowing the waters descent into the ocean. Add seeds and let
nature grow into a forest. This is the skeleton concept. The size trench
and berms in the basin are limited to what can be safely constructed and
soil composition. Because the soil is holding the water, expensive dam
structure are less required. A single large Trench Berms should be around
the base of the mountain to catch the external runoff at the ‘key point’
(where slope turns convex-to-concave shown in pink in the image below)

This ‘keypoint’ is ideal for the trench and berm around the mountain. The
trench can be filled with the municipal waste from Reykjavik 15 km away to
feed the ecosystem.

The low level coastal farmland should have surplus water from the river
outlet go into large trench and berms with agroforestry. These farmland
area trench and berms can be excavated two meters wide and 50cm depth.

5,000,000 m2 of sunside. With a potential of $125,000,000 of food potential
of municipal organic waste is used.

Fauna

Salmon: (Theory) Sections of The trench berms could be designed in a way to
provide a holistic spawning ground for Atlantic Salmon. By compacting and
sealing a section of the trench nearest to the stream, laying gravel, and
having a solar pump to keep the water levels ideal. The aquatic gravel beds
can be a safe zone for Salmon to spawn. Pacific Salmon die after spawning,
but not all of Atlantic Salmon do, this provides the opportunities for
mature Salmon to spawn more than once. Check Dams/gabions are a key element
to the stream, and they make perfect salmon ladders to assist the fish in
their ascent up to the spawning area. Salmon that do perish are a high
nitrogen and trace mineral nutrient source for the elevated ecosystem.

Predators: (Theory) It would be an interesting experiment to see if a large
omnivore (facing extinction) could live self sufficiently in an isolated
system. as an example of employing nature, a couple bears (grizzly or black
bear) in the system can pull salmon from the spawning beds to leave on land
to add nutrients instead of using a human to do the same job. Bear feces,
and salmon corpse add nutrients to the system and are efficiently utilized
by being disperse horizontally throughout the trench berms, instead of
washing away back into the ocean. Having a predators (instead of human
employment) to pull out the salmon corpses from the spawning beds would
prevent eutrophication of the water system and anaerobic bacteria. Arctic
fox may serve the same purpose.

Vegetarians: The Icelandic Horse, Goats, or reindeer may be added to the
system (with or without the polar bear) once the trees have matured for an
example of production of self sufficient protein in the form of wild game,

Flora:

The Trench and berm sections would have around 5 pioneer nitrogen fixing
species for every productive edible species of tree. Mixed in with some
evergreens.

Between the trench berms would be nectar producing wildflowers, to support
pollinator species, such as the honey bee and other native insects.

http://www.iceland.is/the-big-picture/nature-environment/vegitation-wildlife

“When Iceland was first settled, it was extensively forested. According to
the late 12th century Íslendingabók, Ari the Wise described Iceland as
"forested from mountain to seashore"...steps have been taken to halt
erosion by afforestation, reseeding and fencing off land to keep out sheep…
Only about a quarter of Iceland has a continuous plant cover today. ”

http://www.skogur.is/english/forestry-in-a-treeless-land/

Mexico

Pachuca, North America 2400m Elevation.

Pachuca

Utilities

Water Cost

$4.37CAD per M³

$30 per person per month for wastewater treatment, and wastewater drainage
based on 2.5 persons per home

Stormwater Drainage

$0.47 per M² (at 0.5 runoff coefficient average)

Construction

Size, slope, shape, soil composition, climate factors,  material
availability, tool availability, machine availability, are all variables
that dictate shape the specific techniques. Potential for danger is present
like any other engineering project. The fact remains that any desired
result can be built by hand, and can be designed for the young and the old
to participate, or for heavy machines. Standard safety precaution with hand
tools, power tools and machinery are always required.

Spillways: <diagrams should be included due to the safety concerns of the
trench/berm spillway aspect, urban and rural, the different perspective
angles> Spillways are a feature of a trench-berm where the excess water in
a heavy rain event is allowed to spill over in a desired area. A spillway
is a part of the trench-berm where the berm is slightly lower, so as the
water filled evenly across the breadth of the trench-berm, it will fill and
eventually start to spill over the designated spillway, which is made by
having the berm-part of the trench-berm slightly lower. How much lower is
directly influenced by the size of the trench-berm, distance between
trench-berms, and the ‘expected’ volume of a 100-year-storm event in that
specific geological region. Spillways in general should always be built on
the ridge, *not* the valley, allowing the water to spread out and disperse
to pacify the flow, instead of concentrating its volume in a valley. The
berm of a trench-berm is *not* compact, soft and permeable, if a
trench-berm does not have a spillway, during a heavy rain event where it
exceeds the holding capacity of the berm, it will eventually find the
weakest point of the swale, spill over it, and erode a section of the berm
away, this can cause flooding and can be dangerous. Spillways are a safety
feature, as well as a method of guiding surplus water where it can be
safety dealt with. The spillway can be designed many different ways,
seeding it with grass (unmowed) is a ideal way to prevent erosion during
the spill.

In a urban property, a spillway will be less critical, but should be
designed to prevent the water harvest from building up to the point where
it back fills and comes near any structures. Usually a home is built on a
tiny hill in a property to prevent flooding, allow the spillways elevation
to be below the level of which the water in a heavy rain would come near
the home

In rural design, Spillways are required, otherwise a heavy rain event may
cause a berm failure, leading to more failures in lower trench-berms, which
may have catastrophic effects.

Contact a civil engineer, or certified permaculture designer to focus on,
and approve the spillways of a project.

Inoculation

A microbial inoculant of bacterial and fungal spores increases the nutrient
cycling potential of an ecosystem. Actively-Aerated-Compost-Tea is a liquid
spray application of a microbial soup that is specifically designed for
microbial species *diversity*. Every trench berm, and keyline plowing
application benefits from microbial inoculants, and should have it sprayed
wherever fertility is desired, on leaves, roots, soil, keyline incisions,
and excavations.

The concept is to spray 20,000 *different* species of bacteria, and only
the one or two species that are ideal to live on that leaf, will be the
ones that survive and inhabit the leaf living symbiotically with the
plants. These bacteria compete for space with undesirable infections, other
bacteria pull nitrogen from the air and sequester it into a liquid form
that provides a free fertilizer. Mushrooms physically connect to the roots
of plants, mining for minerals form rocks with acid, and harvesting water
to send it up to hundreds of meters away to trade with the plants for
sugar. Symbiotically the organisms provide services for each other that
they can not do on their own. The largest organism on Earth is a fungus in
North America.

Moisture rich trench berms  can be filled with organic waste, seeded and
planted with trees, as this system matures, the spores germinate, and
consumes the organic

Remineralize

Biology is build from the periodic table of elements. The most common
elements are generally the most abundant, life on earth is a reflection of
the building blocks available in the ecosystem. Plants are made from
Carbon, water, and oxygen, and then the Primary three fertilizers Nitrogen
Potassium and Phosphate, but from there is around twenty different trace
minerals, such as zinc, magnesium, cobalt and copper. That are essential to
healthy cellular growth.

Wherever a trench or a keyline plow has disrupted the soil, adding these
nutrients will help ensure a vigorous healthy resilient ecosystem will
follow. There are plenty of sources, and methods to get these types of
fertilizers, but to simplify, kelp, or ocean algae are abundant in all of
these nutrients, and bringing the surplus of mineral density from the
ocean, up onto the land replicates how nature does it with the life cycle
of nutrient dense salmon

Fill with organic waste/compost

On-Contour-Trench-Berms

Keyline Plowing

Gabions

Dams



Hand Tools

Basic

With the exception of urban hardscapes, the The minimum equipment required
to achieve a 0.1 runoff coefficient on nearly every terrain on planet can
be achieved with a pickaxe, an A-frame to measure ‘level’ made from three
sticks, string, and a rock.

It is mind blowing that we have had the technology to do this for thousands
of years, even before the sword.

Hammer, chisel, shovel - square spade - scoop - garden, rake  flat - leaf,
fence pole digger, long spike, sprayer, pruners (sizes), multitool,
axe/hatchet/machete, edging tool, hoe, sheers, saw, broom+dustpan

Power tools

Power drill, sawsall

Machines

A wide range of machine can do the job of swales. Some machines are better
suited for specific terrain compositions and slopes. A common backhoe
tractor is versatile for most swales. Bulldozers for large applications, or
through forested land. Road graders may be used in some flatland prairies.

Small urban: Aerator, Turf cutter, Mini excavator, Powered wheelbarrow,
Wood chipper

Rural: Backhoe, Grader, Bulldozer, Excavator, Spiderhoe, Earth mover,
?Belley Scraper?

Regional: Mining operation equipment, specialty.


Cost

There is a lot of diversity throughout the world but for the sake of
throwing out a general number. A typical unobstructed landscape with
machine access cost $100 per hectare, for fuel to do a few passes with a
machine to sculpt the trench and berms, or keyline plowing

The cost variables include but are not limited to,

Environmental factors Terrain shape, slope, soil depth, vegetation density,
climate patterns

Tools available, machines, maintenance and repairs,

Cost of labour

Fuel for both human and machine

Laws.



Accountability

It is unlikely people are maliciously intending to harm themselves,
ecology, economy, local and global community. 97% of the land causing the
problems is rural agriculture. 3% of the land is considered urbanized
spanning over 75,000 urbanized settlements larger than 1km2. This leaves
the responsibility on the consumers (everyone), retailers, educators,
municipal, provincial, and federal governments, and farmers themselves.
Lack of knowledge is the problem, and internet access in rural farms is
limited. … [1]
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QFRCaNya-6SBTBGAMG8fAqXRGktS_E9LjsRshAC-Fos/edit#bookmark=id.61i0nkbbaju8>

Federal (Canada)

http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/about-us/minister/?id=1369864009036

Provincial (alberta)

https://www.alberta.ca/premier-cabinet-oneil-carlier-bio.aspx

Urban Municipal director Parks and recreation Diane Enger

https://stalbert.ca/cosa/contact/departments/recreation-parks/

Rural Agricultural managers Alyssa Hutchings (temp)

https://www.sturgeoncounty.ca/Services/AgricultureServices/tabid/171/Default.aspx

Agriculture Educators (University of Alberta) Stanford Blade
https://www.ualberta.ca/agriculture-life-environment-sciences/about-us/facultylecturer-directory/stanford-blade



Observation; Salt, Pyramids, and their ‘on contour construction’ all
connected to water.

Terraces are the pinnacle of water efficient terrain, but they amount of
energy put into shape the land is at least ten times higher than swales,
reducing their ‘return on investment’ value, but this is what can be
achieved with will and time.

<Topics under construction>


Links References and Citations

Engels J (20170331) “WHY WE USE SWALES AND HOW TO DO IT APPROPRIATELY”
<https://permaculturenews.org/2017/03/31/use-swales-appropriately/>
Permaculture Research Institute of Australia. Retrieved
20171028.Crouch D “Swales
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University of Cincinnati. Retrieved 20171031Heimbuch J (20151209) “9
examples of terrace farming around the world”
<https://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/9-examples-terrace-farming-around-world>
Mother Nature Network.



No hard science past this point. DATA Dump, Speculation, Pseudoscience and
Notes


Agriculture, was the primary technology that enabled nomic foraging and
hunting civilizations to grow food, to enable being stationary, this led to
technologies such as the home, pottery, and our cities today.

Modern civilization moves to agriculture 2.0 with the technology of
rainwater absorbent geoengineering.

The the difference between was old agriculture caused erosion, decay, and
more scarcity as time passess, whereas new agriculture builds soil,
regenerates, and generates more abundance as time passess. The shift from a
civilization of dystopia to utopia.

compost




Images


Ancient civilizations on every continent around the globe understood the
importance of ‘level’ construction. From their structures to their
landscaping.

Machu Picchu

Teotihuacan. Image from Graham Hancock's Quest for the Lost Civilization.
Youtube <https://youtu.be/T5DNvYMtkyk?t=5431>

‘Mural of “great Goddess of Teotihuacan”. With two figures pouring in water
from animal skins. Water is pouring from her hands with a large tree behind
her

Screenshot from a childhood video game. Secret of Mana. Pseudo - science
‘Manna’ is also the name of a substance that is the concentrated trace
mineral extract from salt.

Map from 1560 Cusco With level pyramid like structure with water, with more
water through the streets, the artist even drew in the water leaving the
city walls into the river system. Sebastian Münster



Inca Agriculture

Huchuy Qosqo







Overpopulation Perspective Mentality

This mentality is detrimental to individuals and society. If people see
themselves as the problem, and their neighbours as problem, it is hard to
live a happy life when everyone is perceived as the enemy. Children are
being raised to believe they are part of ‘a cancer’ that is destroying
their home. Towards the global organism, through design and efficiency, a
person can be a parasite or a symbiote.

It is possible for a family to live on a urban plot of land that generates
biodiversity, .

The 0.1 rainwater runoff coefficient project that ran for one year with its
two practitioners.

http://www.ab-conservation.com/downloads/grants/Research_Needs_Paper_by_Dr_%20Boyce.pdf

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/12/polar-bear-starving-arctic-sea-ice-melt-climate-change-spd/

Feeding wildlife may be illegal, but generating the conditions for the land
to support the wildlife is not.

1955 Keyline video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deuW1pdwbdY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W72y_us2Sbg (links in description)

“Foodproduction101” <http://foodproduction101.com/tag/swales/>

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25138 - Unexpectedly large impact of
forest management and grazing on global vegetation biomass

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/political-instability-and-weak-governance-lead-to-loss-of-species-study-finds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qanat

Numbers to extract m3 of water to carbon and energy consumption

http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa9b89/meta
https://cwee.shinyapps.io/greengov/

California succeeded in saving 524 000 million gallons (MG) of water (a
24.5% decrease relative to the 2013 baseline) over the mandate period,
which translates into 1830 GWh total electricity savings, and a GHG
emissions reduction of 521 000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents
(MT CO2e)...equivalent of taking about 111 000 cars off the road for a year.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2018/01/18/mad-max-scenario-cape-town-run-out-water-90-days/#73d2fa354143
 Mad Max Scenario: Cape Town Will Run Out Of Water In Just 90 Days

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/forget-about-oil-alberta-is-poised-to-become-the-province-of-marijuana/article37757086/



https://www.fcc-fac.ca/en.html Farm Credit Canada



http://www.clickbeforeyoudig.com/ (noise pollution section)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/feb/03/scientists-discover-ancient-mayan-city-hidden-under-guatemalan-jungle

http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-news/alberta-ramps-up-fight-against-pine-beetle

https://phys.org/news/2018-05-beavers-good-reveals.html

Beavers creating conditions for cleaner water

ADDITIONs:

The practical future of terraforming

Programming, algorithms, GPS, automated machinery to terraform Earth, today
so we may then terraforming planets tomorrow. The image below;

Has the contour lines displayed at 10 meter intervals in pink, and the
waterflow in blue.

This information, with the monthly rainfall values, monthly temperatures,
soil regolith data,  is all that is needed for a program to suggest where
it thinks the best placement for trench/berms, gabions and keyline plowing
should be (terraces can be involved too, but require more energy to level,
better for preparing for urbanization). This means with <GPS> and <IPS>
technology with today's existing automated farming equipment, we can
unleash heavy machines (grader, dozers with rippers or yeomans and
articulating blades) into the land that been classified as degraded (30% of
earth) to allow it to regenerate. Ideally, these machines can be EV
(electric vehicle) versions with solar/wind charging stations, minimal to
no human personal or labour required. (assumption: {can analyse the number
later} a single tractor may permanently repair one square kilometer per day
on average, depending on many variables)

<Show image(s)> a square kilometer (or 1 mile section) technically only
requires a minimum of three trench berms. They may be huge, but still, only
three. Or a keyline plow could be etching hundreds of on contour(or
on-keyline) micro trenches, available machinery, soil type, and climate are
all variables that guide the choice of machinery and strategy.

After measuring, and the choices between trench berms and keylining has
been made, the machinery can move and and sweep the the land, utilizing all
the water, reducing erosion to zero overnight, and recharging the water
table and creeks.

Trenchberm and Keyline differences: Mixing the two may be ideal in most
cases. But if it one or the other, each will have a different effect, but
both utilizing all the water. Trenchberms will create strips of
(agroforestry, where even in barren land, the trench-part of the trench
berm will be full of vegetation, (food for life, and decomposition into
topsoil), the space between each trenchberm will likely stay barren
relative to the trench, however, over time, down from each
on-contour-trench-berm more and more vegetation will establish, as their
roots can access the replenishing water table. Keyline plowing will allow
grasslands to establish, wildflowers, and other groundcovers, ‘pioneer’
trees will follow, which will one day perish and become nutrient and
topsoil for a final (natural) permanent canopy forest to establish. The
trenchberms focus the water into the trenches and the earth, where keyline
plowing everything with micro trenches spreads of the water evenly. The
collected water in the trenchberms allow for larger plants like trees,
where the spreading of the water with keyline will generate many times more
small plants over a larger surface. They will likely dry out in the dry
season, dying and becoming protecting for the soil against the suns rays,
wind, and rain impacts which all cause erosion. (mass landscapes covered in
small succulent-species of plants would be interesting, mass production of
peyote, maguey, agave, and other).

(mixing both applications is best, because in the cause of a
100-year-rain-event, the keyline plowing may become saturated, allowing it
to spill into the trench berms. Both methods are back-ups, and safety
features to each other. Trench berms are important to have in the mix for
their ability to hold moisture longer throughout the season. For example, a
trenchberm may have surface moisture year round which is essential for a
lot of animal and insect life, but the keyline plowing may spread out all
the water and utilize it in plant production (more surface area), leaving
the surface of the soil dry. Given enough time, both systems will have a
surplus of water year round.

Sat info, or automated drone LiDAR can measure the land,

FAQ:

. Diamondillius

Hey, I was very interested by your post and have bookmarked the paper you
are writing to read at a later date, as that topic seems very interesting
to me, however I was wondering if I could ask some questions to deepen my
understanding on the subject matter.

I want to preface my questions with the note that I have yet to read your
paper where it may be covered and I have little to zero knowledge on the
subject matter, and am currently just interested in a layman's kind of
understanding on the subject matter to get me a bit of frame of reference,
especially if I do delve deeper into the matter.

1) Do you think you could give a super basic ELI5 of this concept? Reading
the abstract and the post make me still a bit unsure of exactly what this
all means and entails.

2) It sounds at a glance like a lot of these techniques have been
relatively common knowledge for a long time but just not implemented. Is
that correct, or are these new developments?

3) What general costs would be associated with undertakings like that?
Large-scale landscaping sounds like it would be a very expensive task, even
if the immediate ROI is significant.

4) This, as a person with zero knowledge on the matter, has kind of the
sounds of the 'too good to be true' situation. Could the benefits be being
exagerrated or are there potential downsides to this concept such as
disruption of local environments?

5) If it is as positive as said, what have been the main hurdles preventing
places from implementing measures such as this? Can it be done on a more
small-scale basis such as as a project by a local county? I would assume
farming communities in specific would love to take any possible advantage
they could have.

6) Are there any organizations/politicians pushing for this that would be
worth looking into, or further places one could go to read about it?

Sorry for the boat load of questions out of nowhere, just figured you sound
pretty passionate about this and thought you might enjoy the task of trying
to inform someone who has interest but no knowledge.

Thanks!


>1) Do you think you could give a super basic ELI5 of this concept? Reading
the abstract and the post make me still a bit unsure of exactly what this
all means and entails.

When rain falls, it can cause erosion by impacting exposed soil, or erode
river bank walls because the rain water continues to grow larger.

Link
<https://www.youtube.com/edit?video_referrer=watch&video_id=itP-eltBo30> to
a 90 second video articulating the concept applied to a pile of dirt, Two
examples. This turns the land into a water sotrage mechanism that slowly
release and filters water over time as the subsoil is rehydrated. Water is
life, so when land is mismanged and it rains, the rain can be a destructive
force due to poor land management. With the integration of level-contour
trench and berms ( or micro trench and berms) the land becomes fertile and
productive.

A puimp requires energy to push water up, so when the water flow is
reverse, going down, it *can* be used to generate electricity, therefore
stored water equals value.

>2) It sounds at a glance like a lot of these techniques have been
relatively common knowledge for a long time but just not implemented. Is
that correct, or are these new developments?

There are some old cultures (listed in the doc) that have applied the same
or similar techniques to achieve the same result of ‘higher water
abosption, utilization, and reduced material erosion’. The techniques have
been dotted around the world, but I think it is the strategy, the
combination of techniques that has been evolving exponentialy in the last
few decades, allowing people to comprehend and visual the scope of the
potential

>3) What general costs would be associated with undertakings like that?
Large-scale landscaping sounds like it would be a very expensive task, even
if the immediate ROI is significant.

#PersonalOpinion This form of land management is the lowest hanging fruit
throughout that applies to every civiilization accross the globe.In my
opinion, the costs are the cheapest, highest return on investment ratio of
any eco-susatinability-renewable project on earth. Examples:

A: I can spend pennies upgrading a square meter of terrain to utilize 99%
of the rainwater, and add municipal waste streams such as compost, or
treated toilet nutrient reclaimation. Dump in municipal grey water, and you
will have a square meter of land that will generate $25 per year in food
value, every year (or timber, carbon farming, biofuel)

B: Practical implementation cna be done in days by hand with ancient tools,
or in moments with heavy machinery. Todays machinery can be automated, and
eletctric, with self charging stations, meaning this proces can be
widesprea, automated, at a minimal cost once the machines have been
enleashed. Since the process i required to be physically applied a minimuym
of one time, one community (or philathropist/kickstarter) could fund the
startup, and the machines could continue applying the
‘regional-pattern’(meaning a patterns that is deisnged for the local
climate, terrain types, rainfall, etc {variable data for an algorythm})

C: I have built these with pick axes (after)beers with a group of friends.
Costing as little as human labour and calories

(assumption) I think once mass application of the process has been achieved
(something a single municiapality could master and document, representing
their climate) the costs could be less than a $1000 per acre with local
easily accsible machinery cheaper with electric vehicles and automation).
Human clories and human labours for ten peeople for eight hour day should
be able to ‘terraform’ and acre in a day.

D: Ancient Rome, or todays Military discipline and budgets could swiftly
and efficienctly apply the ‘terraforming’ to their nations in a (subjective
opinon-reword) short  time.

>4) This, as a person with zero knowledge on the matter, has kind of the
sounds of the 'too good to be true' situation. Could the benefits be being
exagerrated or are there potential downsides to this concept such as
disruption of local environments?

(personal Anedote) I have seen a physcologist regarding the topic, it is so
big of an eephant-in-the-room that it is all I thin kabout when I am not
focus on other daily tasks.

It is my safe assumption, that once a organization (municipality, military,
corporate entity) perfectsthe aplication on rural and urban scenarios that
this will be the fastest ‘re/evolution’ since the dawn of invention of
agriculture. (but with todays machines, automation, communication
technology and free/open source information, and computer modelling) I
Believe the momentum will grow epxonential and provide the foundation for
the ‘next age’ for the civilization as it move from scarcity into
abundance. Paving the way for utiopia-aspects f society, and more resources
freed to improve quality of life and global projects such as space-tech
(link to isaac youtube series about future techs, both land and space)

Potential downsides?.

Little to none. Sure a deserty mountain may slowly (or quickly) be changed
to a rainforest, but that dsert mountain was likely a rainforestm or even a
jungle at some point in time in the last 14,000 years. Ther es a good hance
that human/land interaction has made the lad less fertile, reducing the
lands capacity for biomass. Which we can return to similar or better
condiitons than to any previous state of being in the last 14,000 years

(ever the desrt of australia was once a forest. And central canada was
under an ocean, and another time under thick sheets of permanenet ice. We
are allowing nature (and humans) to utilize the water to holistically
generate fertility, life, biomass, biodiversity, water utilization, etc.

In theory a hundred years from now we could have geoengineered the world to
support giant draongflies again. This may be percieved as a downside to
some, or amazing to others. Subjective opinions.

I have scoured this topic for nearly a decade, Not once have I doubted that
this, or any planet that has rain  any ‘advanced species’ such as humanity
will, without a doubt, have these techniques applied to the vast majority
of their land. Even on Mars when they kickstart that atmosphere, a dome on
the moon or the growing space on the Proposed O’Neill Cylydars ({the most
practical Space Habitats} explained by Isaac Arthur on YouTube
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTDlSORhI-k> 34 min) the same
level-contour landscaping will be used to maximise efficiency (solar input,
water and nutrient cycling)

>5) If it is as positive as said, what have been the main hurdles
preventing places from implementing measures such as this? Can it be done
on a more small-scale basis such as as a project by a local county? I would
assume farming communities in specific would love to take any possible
advantage they could have.

Main Hurdle(s) and a thousands answers (one or a combination of the
following three, money, time wasted spamming municipalities/states/national
levels of government or land to DIY and start the momentum)  Probably a
budget of <100,000 dollar (‘easy mode’ minimum) to properly fund an
educational documentary (edutainment) of orgnaizaed people implementeing
these projects (on any scale) with time lapse, documented results. (really,
just authority to manipulate the land is the most ‘strange’ hurdle.
Creative Commons licensing so the process can be copied and redistributed
freely via online distribution. Otherwise, gener

>6) Are there any organizations/politicians pushing for this that would be
worth looking into, or further places one could go to read about it?

None that I am aware of. If I findn one that comprehends the cause and
effects I would be happy to work with them. ({generalization}Note:
university trained engineers, at least the majority of them were trained in
the past to do the exact opposite of harvesting and slowly releasing water,
most of them are trained to dispense of the water as quickly as possible,
which in relity is just dumping the problem onto the person down the
watershed from them, which egenrates a exponentially growing porblem for
the people below, eventually becoming a problem for everyone as the effects
are felt in the ocean. So, it is a strange topic to bring up. (personal
anecdote) the (ex) Director of Environment of Saint Albert stated that
having brown rivers is ‘perfectly normal’ and dismiessed the idea of having
clear waters that we can use, instead of a toxic river going through the
heart of the city. A perspective I run into often is that poeple have their
view of what the world was like 10, 100, years ago, but the Dir of
Enviroment did not take into consideration how the land was al forests
before it was clear for to grow wheat 200~ years ago, before cameras.


Thanks to SparklingLimeade