permaculture

[Kevin Topek 2019 <ktopek@att.net>]

Dear Mary Beth,

When I was younger, I managed a damn we built for a 3 acre lake. Loblolly 
Pine trees would grow along it, naturally seeded. I would cut the pines off 
the damn as seedlings. We encouraged only grasses to grow on the damn, which 
was mowed 1-2 times a year. The damn is still in place, holding the lake, 57 
years later.

Kevin Topek
Permaculture Design LLC
permaculturedesign.net
713.206.2400
ktopek@att.net



> On Nov 15, 2021, at 1:21 PM, Mary Beth Berkley <murbith@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> Can anyone give me any feedback on planting on dams.  As I understand it,
> you should never plant anything with extensive root systems on a dam, nor
> should you plant anything that will provide so much cover that animals
> could create burrows that might weaken the dam without your being aware of
> it.  All of the mainstream literature that I can find says to plant grass
> and keep it mowed.  I tend to think that there must be a better way,
> perhaps planting low growing pollinator plants (a foot or shorter) and
> checking regularly for signs of animals moving in.  Does anyone have any
> experience with this question, or know where I might get some good advice?
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Mary Beth
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