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