Water Management
The quality and quantity of water available in America is directly correlated to the condition of the land.
The land, when covered with diverse vegetation, also serves as a sponge, slowing rain as it hits the land, funneling it into aquifers below or filtering it as it runs into streams, rivers and lakes. Well-managed riparian areas, where the land meets the water, are crucial interfaces between the land and the water.
Land condition affects saltwater as surely as it affects fresh water. Rivers flow to the sea. The estuaries, some of the world’s most productive and important ecosystems, occur where fresh water meets saline water. Their long-term health is only as good as the fresh water flowing into them.
Latest articles
Read more about water management practices:
Healing the Land with One Hundred Thousand Beating Hearts
Healing the Land with One Hundred Thousand Beating Hearts” is an inspirational short film that discusses regenerative agricultural practices on a Georgia farm. This dying farm was regenerated using multi-species grazing in which all […]
The Science of Holistic Planned Grazing
Those who believe that Holistic Planned Grazing is not supported by science should watch this presentation by Dr. Richard Teaque, formerly of Texas A&M. About Savory Institute: Grasslands represent 1/3 of the Earth’s terrestrial […]
This Place Wanted to Be a Wetland’: How a Farmer Turned His Fields Into a Wildlife Sanctuary
Farmers creating wetlands…
Drought Busters: Restoring Desertified Desert Grasslands
We call the combination of wild animals, planned grazing, water harvesting, and Keyline subsoiling “Drought Busters”. Drought Busters is cheap, fast, poisons no plants, kills no animals, and increases the numbers and diversity of both. […]
Britain is Restoring Ancient Farmland ‘Ghost Ponds’. Here’s How They’re Recovering Its Dwindling Biodiversity
As reported below, in England the number of once-common farm ponds has dropped by half over the last few decades. Like beaver ponds, farm ponds are biodiversity “powerhouses”. Awareness of their ecological importance is growing, […]
California Aims to Tap Beavers, Once Viewed as a Nuisance, to Help With Water Issues and Wildfires
Quoting the article below, “There’s been this major paradigm shift throughout the West where people have really transitioned from viewing beavers strictly as a nuisance species, and recognizing them for the ecological benefits that they […]
Keyline Desert Ranch
This video is about Keyline soil restoration on a desert ranch in Northern Mexico. Keyline “flood-flow” channels are combined with Keyline contour ripping between “flood-flow” channels. Both channels and rip patterns are on contours […]
The Role of Ruminants in Environmental Health
An excellent video from the Savory Center for Holistic Management, in Zimbabwe. The thinking described is largely missing from the management of our public ranges, forests, and national parks, even though ALL […]
The Incredible Hulik and His Beavers
Biologist Tomas Hulik spent more than 300 days and nights in the wild riverine forest along the river March, separating Slovakia and Austria. After that, Rachel, the matron of this beaver territory, allowed him to […]
‘Rewilding’ Horses Aims to Mitigate Wildfires, Reduce Insured Losses
Wild Horse Fire Brigade’s Natural Wildfire Abatement and Forest Protection Plan is designed to relocate wild horses from Bureau of Land Management facilities into the wilderness, an effort designed to reduce the size and intensity […]
5,000 Years Later, Beavers Return to the High Plains of West Texas
As discussed below. “Beavers were later trapped and exterminated nearly to extinction during the North American fur trade, which … contributed to the destruction of critical wetlands that moisturized dehydrated landscapes, supported biodiversity, and lowered […]
Dropping the Fences, Episode 2: RAIN
After reading the signs, Johnny’s predictions of good rain come true after seven years of drought. Within weeks the veld is transformed in a great renewal as seeds that have lain dormant for years come […]
What is Holistic Management?
From the Savory Institute. The Savory Institute’s mission is to facilitate the large-scale regeneration of the world’s grasslands through Holistic Management. The organization’s educational consulting activities are turning deserts into thriving grasslands, […]
Lake Powell is Filling Up – With Mud
The basins behind America’s dams are filling up with sediment and the dam structures are aging. As discussed in the article below, this problem is acute at Lake Powell, the enormous reservoir created by the […]
Releasing Beaver on the Fall River in Idaho, 5-Miles from Yellowstone Park
This video of Pitchstone Waters’ second beaver release during the summer of 2020 contains excellent remarks by staff of the Idaho Fish and Game Department. Releasing Beaver on the Fall River in Idaho, near […]
Cost-effectively Wildfire Grazing Steep Ground With Lava Flows (Talus Field) by Wild Horses
“As discussed in this video, so-called ‘invasive’ horses – actually North America’s oldest native species, can reduce wildfire and restore habitat in areas unreachable by any other large grazer. Watch this 1-minute video and judge […]
Re-Establishing Beaver in an Idaho Meadow
At Pitchstone Waters Ranch on the Fall River in Idaho, we have been preparing beaver release sites for over a year. Here are our first 4-transplant beavers. The big ones weigh 80-pounds! Our profound thanks […]
Artificial Beaver Dams Are Catching on in Idaho
How and why to build artificial beaver dams. Any property with small streams should consider these. The authors say, “We visited two very different streams in Idaho to learn how beaver dam-like structures can […]
Re-introducing Beaver on the Escalante River Watershed in Utah
An excellent explanation of the importance of beaver to any watershed. NOTE: this post was originally published to this site on July 13, 2020
Leave It to Beavers
“As discussed in the article below, “Beaver dams are why some ecologists insist that beavers may be able to help remedy the effects of climate change. Beavers build dams, which create ponds, which create ecosystems. […]
Releasing Beavers in Idaho
Fifth in a series about reintroducing beaver on the Fall River in Idaho, 5-miles Southwest of Yellowstone National Park. NOTE: this post was originally published to this site on June 15, 2020