Foggy Stream

“Water and water vapor influence in the most significant way the climate on Earth. Despite this fact, its role in the atmosphere is one of the least researched and rarely discussed questions.”    -Water for the Recovery of the Climate - A New Water Paradigm

It is not common knowledge that water (not carbon) dominates the earth’s climate.    While the molecule carbon dioxide (not the element carbon) in the atmosphere has an amplifying warming effect, it is water that plays the major role.    It is with this understanding that we have the best chance of affecting the stability of the climate in the near term as the carbon dioxide now in the atmosphere will have a long lasting effects.   

“As the planet warms, there is more evaporation from the oceans; so we’re getting more rain, but it’s coming down in extreme damaging storms. They’re not equally distributed, so along with more extreme flooding there are also more severe droughts. We’re already locked into getting more weather extremes. Our point of agency depends on our capacity to buffer these extremes.” - Walter Jehne

We as a regional community have agency in the hotter months of the year by affecting the small water cycle and local temperatures by way of well hydrated vegetation. For arid or brittle environments, the more water we can hold onto during the rainy (snow) times to mitigate the dry times through shade and transpiration of vegetation, the better we will be able to manage the extremes that climate change produces.    Keeping vegetation and land hydrated also reduces fire risks.

“Therefore, water surfaces, soil saturated with water and vegetation all play an important role in the circulation of water on land. Functional vegetation fulfills the function of a valve between the ground and the atmosphere. It protects the ground from overheating, and thus drying out, and optimizes the amount of evaporation through the help of transpiration through the many pores (stomata) on the leaves. Vegetation well stocked with water thus has a significant cooling effect and air- conditioning capability. Vegetation—its amount, type and, last but not least, quality— significantly influences surface runoff in watersheds, too. Through deforestation, through agriculture and through urban activities, the amount of water on land has changed. Humanity is thus unwittingly changing the flows of massive amounts of water and energy.”    -Water for the Recovery of the Climate - A New Water Paradigm

Water has always been a major limiting factor for life in the West.    Much energy has gone into providing water to metropolitan areas and agricultural endeavors.    Like the Romans and others before us, engineering feats have been accomplished to move large amounts of water across vast distances.     New factors such as protracted drought and less snow pack are putting stress on the carrying capacity of this land and the environment.    There is less out there to get water from.

If we intend to remain in this land, and thrive in this land, we need to address our water constraints from the added extremes of climate change.    Much of what will be discussed can be applied to many environments but have a particular benefit for brittle environments or Mediterranean environments or environments with seasonal rain fall.    By understanding the power of thermal energy manifest through water we can make a difference.

There is much information in various places that we can reference.    We humans have a long history of water management - Some good, some bad.    We will try to distinguish between the two and learn from past success and try not to repeat the failures.

We’ll step back from the macro level and focus on the more regional and local level where we live.    We’ll keep coming back to this concept of small is beautiful (E. F. Schumacher) not just for water resource management but for many aspects of our live support systems.   When small is practices, small mistakes are made and easily corrected.    Good small practices decrease the possibility of major catastrophic events from happening.    When small is practiced, small success can be duplicated.    Small duplicated is a distributed approach.    Good small practices duplicated over and over again results in great change, a great movement and great quality of life.

We’ll start with first principles.   

“Slow Water” – Erica Gies

“Slow it. Spread it. Sink it.” – Brock Dolman

The concept of keeping water where it falls as much as possible has tremendous benefits. This issue of climate change with more severe droughts and more severe rainfall events is the main reason we want to develop better means of keeping water where it falls. The issue of severe erosion and storm disasters, including loss of life, is one major reason. And the other is to use that water in the dry times. Keeping the water where it falls helps the water cycle to be more stable. Hydrated soil and ground helps springs to regenerate and aquifers to regenerate and maintains a better base flow in streams in dry seasons.

The methods we practice will improve the environmental outcome in both extremely wet and extremely dry conditions.    Don’t worry.    You’re not stealing water from others downstream.    That water will eventually get to them and at a better time in the season when they need it most.    We will think in terms of improving the base flow of streams in the dry times and decreasing the storm water flows in streams during heavy rain events by focusing on the fundamental concept of “Slow it. spread it. Sink it.”.  It turns out the same methods work to achieve both objectives.    Other objectives of replenishing aquifers and hydrating the land will also be achieved as a result of the same methods.    Given that water is so important for the process of photosynthesis and photosynthesis is so important for the process of sequestering carbon and improving fertility, this all has a positive feedback loop.

One method we’ll focus on in order to retain water is the improvement of soil fertility.    Water retention and soil fertility go hand-in-hand.    One promotes the other and on it goes.    This concept is sometimes refereed to as the soil carbon sponge.    Healthy soil can retain as much as 10 times its weight in water.    Healthy soil has a high percentage of carbon.    Building healthy soil sequesters carbon.    When we destroy our soils, like much industrial agriculture and clear cut logging is doing, we destroy the means by which more water can be held to the land and replenish underground water sources.   

Our focus on promoting perennial polyculture to help provide our food needs fits nicely with improving the soil carbon sponge.    There is a synergy that takes place between focusing on these practices.    When we engage in good practices of perennial polyculture we improve soil fertility, soil hydration, soil carbon sequestration, cooling during peak summer months through evapotranspiration and shade, reduce soil erosion and increasing biodiversity.    All of these improvements have a positive feedback affect that improve each other even more through time if managed well.

The polyculture of old growth forests can suppress the impact of fires and the impact of clear-cut logging and replanting with monoculture trees produces dry conditions in the forest and increases fire potential.

“British Columbia has just 20 percent of old growth forests remaining. A beautiful intact watershed remains in Wet’suwet’en territory, and they are working to save it. Meanwhile, scientists are showing how intact forests reduce forest fires by keeping the land moist, absorbing floods, generating rain and preventing drought. “Thinning” forests is not the answer to reducing fire intensity, they say.”    “Scientists have shown that industrial logging can increase fire intensity in forests by drying out the land.” - Erica Gies

Introduction of beavers into areas where they once were numerous can also hydrate land and create areas of shelter for wildlife in cases of fire.    We can simulate the work of beavers creating different types of water retention structures such as beaver dam analogs.

If we want to positively impact the hydrology of our watersheds we don’t necessarily want to focus on the rivers directly but rather we look at the higher elevations in the landscape. We work from the top of the water catchment down.    We only look at the Rivers to see the effect of our upper landscape work. Focus on base flow of the rivers in the dry season and on storm water high-flow of the rainy season. The key to a healthy lower watershed is to prioritize rejuvenating the upper watershed.    Improving stream base flow starts in the upper watershed.

There are a variety of methods we can use in addition to those mentioned above:   one rock dams, Leaky wears, Zuni bowls,     swales, rain Gardens,    ponds,    Silt collection basins to mitigate erosion.

There are instances where it is desirable to clear areas in the forest from trees and underbrush.    It is important to create defensible space around habitable structures in rural areas.    Prescribed burning and cultural burns can also be beneficial in maintaining a healthy ecosystem by reducing fire load, improving fertility, and making room for beneficial plants to thrive. Fire Mountain Animals or lack of animals on the land also plays an important role.    Plants and animals have coevolved.    Where wild animals are no longer in abundance It may be desirable to use domestic animals to manage the land in an ecologically beneficial way.    Domestic animals such as goats, sheep, chickens, geese and pigs can assist us in reducing fire load and underbrush while improving fertility of soil as part of an ecological land management approach.    The slow burn of animal digestion is a great way to deal with much of this combustible material and get it back in the ground where it can benefit the soil microorganisms.    Ducks, geese and pigs are also good at helping to seal a leaking pond.    Designing Silvopasture concepts into the lay of the land can also be a way to preserve the ecology while helping to provide food and income where needed.    A combination of native plants and introduced food production plants can be beneficial.

There is an endless amount of ecological services we can provide to a community and there is much to say and explore but this introduction will be a good starting place.

Join the cause!    Sunnyside Artisans can provide ecological services to land owners in the local area. Get in touch by contacting SunnysideArtisans@gmail.com

Small sample of Inspiring references:

www.usgs.gov/media/videos/re-greening-a-dryland-watershed

www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/science-transformed-a-dry-streambed-oasis

oaec.org/our-work/water-institute/

www.waterstories.com/

www.waterholistic.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/white-paper-nwp_water_for_climate_healing_white_paper_web_2023_final.pdf

bio4climate.org/speaker/michal-kravcik/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=michal-kravcik

www.harvestingrainwater.com/

www.coolingtheclimate.earth/ quiviracoalition.org/techguides/

www.rehydratecalifornia.org/watch.html goatapellifoundation.org/about-us/

calpba.org/

www.stephenpyne.com/