Watercourse Restoration
Water is life, and not just for humans.
The land and ecosystem depend on the sustaining force of water. Unfortunately, many of our watercourses have been heavily degraded by a variety of influences including: mining, over-grazing, forest encroachment, beaver extirpation, and a general practice of fire suppression and exclusion.
This degradation manifests as incised stream channels, dry surrounding floodplains, the loss of meadows and the rapid departure of water off the landscape. Plants and animals that depend on a healthy riparian zone around a watercourse then suffer due to this reduced or complete loss of habitat. A landscape that does not hold water well is less able to slowly release water back into springs, creeks, and rivers downstream later in the season. A dry landscape becomes a fire-prone landscape.
As a part of our land stewardship services, we are able to “repair” various types of degraded watercourses using low-tech process-based restoration techniques.
These techniques largely rely on utilizing vegetation from the surrounding area to create structures in the watercourse that slow down the water, catch sediment, and allow a greater saturation of the surrounding land. These practices complement our selective thinning operations and post-prescribed fire activities, but can also be done independently.
Once the structures are installed, they begin their work, and over time, create a well-saturated riparian environment that supports a unique diversity of plant and animal species. The benefits of slowing and storing this water in the surrounding land literally trickle down the entire system.
Let's bring life back to the land
with watercourse restoration.
