The critical piece of equipment for such journey is the hat, creating shade by which to focus on the obvious. Other than that, less is more.
The first impression is how deep this shallow stream had become. In some places, it is chest-deep, despite a summer and fall of scant rain. I had never seen such pools of water on this farm and couldn't resist their invitation. We believe we are tending to the soul of this land by peeling back the channelized streambanks and replanting them in willows and sycamores. This greatly reduces erosion of soil and muddying of waters, enabling aquatic species to thrive. In the picture above, you can see the difference between the two streambanks. We sloped the near side this summer and will broadcast native seeds of herbs and shrubs this winter, with trees to be planted in March. The far side of the bank, left as is, will continually erode and incise, forever degrading quality of water for fish and mussels. We will remedy that problem next summer.These mollusks showed up during my stroll. It would be interesting to know if we could seed other native varieties, with clean enough water.Willows are a key species for stream life. Those on the left are three years old and plantings on the right are two years old. Willows are primary feed for beaver, and as you can see, beaver have followed their stomachs and are setting up shop in this willow rich environment. In the past year, five beaver dams have been constructed along 10,000 feet of renovated streambanks, planted with willow livestakes over the past three years. The willow trees are not big yet, but they are obviously big enough to provide material for dams and food. It is amazing to witness how beavers also move rocks and fenceposts into construction of their dams. We don't see lodges, however, and suspect the engineers are lodging in streambanks, with underwater access.As beavers raise water levels in the creek, they are providing perfect service for our newly planted trees in the uplands above. Capillary action is wicking stream-water uphill, raising the water table to closer reach of roots of trees. Beaver dams have tripled the width of the stream, killing some of our new plantings, which is fine. The question becomes how high will beaver build these dams? Will the dams withstand intense rainstorms and runoff? Will they raise the water another 8 feet, which would begin flooding newly planted trees. It is unlikely they will reach that height, but time will tell. |