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:
SAWS Wins Battle to Control Wastewater It Releases Into San Antonio River
“This is a huge and positive development for water quality in the lower Guadalupe River, its bays, estuaries, wildlife, and fisheries.”
Miracle in the Nevada Desert
Beaver and cattle are symbiotic. Together they can turn desert into wetlands. NOTE: this post was originally published on April 19, 2017, and then reposted on September 9, 2021
The Diesel-Powered Beavers of the Big Hole
Irrigation canals have many unintended benefits on wild habitats and animals.
Growing Rain in the Desert
As discussed below, “More available moisture on the landscape would mean more moisture in the atmosphere. More atmospheric moisture would mean more rain…”
Soil for Water
Learn more about NCAT’s Soil for Water project, working to capture and hold more water in the soil. “Your soil health is going to keep you in business. If you take care of your soil, […]
Can Beavers Restore Far-West Texas?
Two so-called invasive species, cattle and beavers, have the power to restore desert habitats. NOTE: this post was originally published to this site on April 12, 2017 AND on August 26, 2021.
Diversity of Life at a Beaver Pond
Posted to Vimeo by Susanna Kamon, who writes, “A compilation video of some of the wildlife that visited a beaver pond in New Hampshire over a six-month period. The series shows beavers, river otters, […]
Allan Savory and the Science of Tracking
Over the last 60 years, Allan Savory has at different times worn a wildlife agency shirt and crest, his country’s military battle camouflage, the formal attire of a parliamentarian, and rancher’s dungarees. His in-the-bush and […]
Farming Sustainably with Regenerative Agriculture | Restoring Paradise
Regenerative agriculture offers a future for sustainable farming of meat in line with nature’s needs, by using holistic management and organic/biodynamic practices and even sequestering carbon in the soil – so important in our response […]
Why US Ranchers Are Becoming Beaver Believers
As described in the article blow, the US is bringing back nature’s best firefighters: beavers.
Photographer Captures Saskatoon Beaver Bursting Through Ice ‘Like Superman’
A Saskatoon-based beaver has become a viral video star after a local photographer and nature enthusiast recently filmed it bursting through an ice-covered pond. NOTE: this video was originally posted to this site […]
Drought Busters 101 : A 21-Minute Video on Desert Grassland Restoration
“Drought Busters” is an inexpensive, quick, physiologically and economically sustainable method of habitat and wildlife restoration. We call it Drought Busters because it increases effective rainfall by rebuilding soil fertility and the soil’s ability to […]
Plug and Spread Made Easy
This is a 4-1/2 minute video about the “Plug-and-Spread” method of harvesting water from gullies. Water harvesting including Plug and Spread, in combination with Keyline sub-soiling, wild animal impact and planned grazing of cattle are […]
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 […]