Streams have changed, can we change them back?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- Stories from old timers reveal substantial changes to our streams. Can native plants help to reverse this? Elizabeth Steele explains the importance of getting rain water into the soil and how native plants influence stream health. By getting water into the soil, it can be released slowly into the stream long after a storm, resulting in stronger, healthier stream flows. This can create better habitat for endangered stream life, and a healthier stream for people to enjoy.
For more information, please visit our website at HamiltonNativeOutpost.com
One thing I would note is that the Ozarks were once thick with beavers. It's said that you couldn't travel a mile of even the smallest creeks due to all the beaver dams and the thickets they made.
That being the case, all the work in the world on the upper slopes will only do so much. You're right that the streams have changed, but it's not all about the plants growing on the hills. By building what are known as Beaver Dam Analogs, you can have your streams running year round, those BDA's holding back water, aerating it, and raising the water table. Not only do the BDA's create water storage on-site, but the moderate the flow so that you have less-pronounced storm surges, less erosion of the banks, and a much richer Riparian Zone.
For folks raising cattle and the like, slowing the flow, letting that water stay on your land longer, is a tremendous boon. BDA's do that, and the investment is rather minuscule compared to what you get in return.