Like many of us, I grew up rambling through open meadows on horseback and splashing in freshwater ponds. Today, as a land and livestock manager, a lot of my life looks similar to when I was a kid. But these days, I appreciate water a lot more. Growing up in the southeastern US, creeks, and ponds were everywhere. But since I’ve worked on ranches in Western states like California, Montana, and New Mexico, I’ve learned that flowing water is not a given. Cycles of severe drought followed by deadly deluges are increasingly common. And while the ranching industry continuously improves its range management, expanding our skills as water managers will only reward us in the future.
One approach to water stewardship that has been rapidly catching on in recent years is called “low-tech, process-based design.” Other terms exist too—Natural Infrastructure in Dryland Streams, Induced Meandering, and Low-Tech Erosion Control all describe an approach to erosion mitigation and wetland repair that prioritizes simple structural solutions that are built predominantly by hand with materials from the local environment and that work with natural processes to expand their own function. In contrast to large, expensive stream repair projects heavy on concrete, cross-agency cooperation, and arduous permitting, the process-based design creates biological infrastructure.
I like the term “process-based design” because it’s general enough to encompass a variety of techniques and materials, and because it so elegantly captures the purpose of these structures and interventions: to work with the inherent physical and biological dynamics on site to achieve changes that help the landscape be more resilient to flood and drought, create better habitat, and to hold water for longer. Like good grazing management, process-based design can replace a vicious cycle with a virtuous one.
Examples of process-based design include rock structures such as “One Rock Dams” that slow and pool water, inducing deposition on the dams that grows vegetation and further slows water. Another is Beaver Dam Analogues, which can be built in places with no active beaver colonies to create pools, ponds, and kickstart wetland plant life where an intermittent stream or coulee once flowed.
These structures can look like many things. Some will resemble elegant and artistic rock installations, and others might look like a bunch of kindergarteners got together to build a fort in a muddy puddle. Regardless of their design and appearance, process-based design can kickstart restoration and repair in areas easily overlooked, even by the most ardent grazing planners.
Process-based design can also have a big part to play outside of perennially flowing groundwater. Strategies like fishscale mulch, rock run-downs, and on-contour brush dams can all effectively reverse erosion. Anticipating where water will flow in heavy precipitation events can guide where we design structures to manage fast-flowing water, turning it from a soil-stripping liability into a grass-growing boon.
The benefits of these structures to ranchers are myriad. By slowing and spreading water, we’re effectively irrigating the surrounding land and growing more forage. The structures keep water on the land longer during significant rain or snow melt events, which helps water recharge the aquifers beneath and around the stream instead of passing them by.
The benefits for our downstream neighbors are essential too. Process-based design structures can initiate a biological and structural change in streams, coulees, and arroyos that absorbs much more water than would otherwise be the case, releasing it into the watershed more slowly and safely. This benefits fish and other aquatic species downstream, but it can also save property and lives in the process. The more a stream slows, spreads, or meanders, the more of this ultra-absorbent, carbon-rich soil it’s building.
The hangup is that these structures can be expensive to install, if only in terms of time, something that is generally in short supply on commercial ranches Wetland health usually does not make the high priority list, and is often neglected year after year. And, while improved grazing generally corresponds with better wetland health, sometimes streams need special care, with more sensitivity to animal impact and grazing duration than the surrounding pasture.
Fortunately, funding opportunities are expanding as more agencies recognize the value of process-based design. My husband Sam and I have been able to leverage EQIP cost share funding to pay for my work installing our stream structures. Here in New Mexico, Zeedyk structures, Post Assisted Log Structures, and Beaver Dam Analogues are funded under Practice Code 643—Restoration of Rare or Declining Natural Communities.
We were the first private ranch or lease to utilize these funds, and we were pleasantly surprised by the results, as were the NRCS agents we work with. After just one season of rest from grazing, the rock structures I installed caused the stream to meander, pool, and rehydrate its immediate banks, growing new forage and flowers. This spring, we will be installing more One Rock Dams and Beaver Dam Analogues in a stretch of creek that flows year-round but is only grazed by cattle when we wean in October.
In some cases, complete protection of streams may be necessary to restore their health, at least for a while. But wetlands evolved with impact. Before those who came before us fenced and privatized this land, herds of elk and bison flowed freely through what we now call riparian areas. I’m sure in some years they appeared severely denuded, and in other years weren’t impacted at all. The plant species that express in these places have a long history of severe grazing, heavy mechanical impact, deluge, drought, and periods of unfettered growth.
Very few of our flowing streams are completely excluded; instead, we prioritize growing season rest and concentrate our grazing and access into the dormant season. On our lease here in New Mexico, an extensive ranch ranging from 6400 to 9200 ft, some stretches of our streams have been enclosed in “riparian pastures” ranging from approximately 90 to 2000 acres. With the abundance of forage and cover that grows in these well-hydrated areas, they make good places to fenceline wean calves or calve out heifers. The diverse and deep forage is a good place for weaned and baby calves to knock around and bed in. And we have been establishing alternative drinking sources that cattle often prefer to stream water anyway, further mitigating over-impact on the stream while maximizing the nutrient-cycling benefits of hoof impact and herbivory.
On most ranches in the American West, wetlands and areas with an ephemeral flow generally comprise a very small percent of the total land area. Yet they pack a huge punch in terms of biodiversity and forage growth. As climate patterns continue to become erratic and opportunities emerge on the horizon for ranches to be financially rewarded for biodiversity gains, wetlands are worth paying attention to more now than ever.
Wetlands on working lands are my deep passion, and I’m committed to helping anyone eager to make a change on land they manage. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if I can support you. In the meantime, check out my
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