Prepare for death. You cant take the forest with you. Look into Islam. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) knew about the greening of the desert in the future when it was all just dust and rocks. The desert in Saudi Arabia is starting to turn green now. He also knew about the expansion of the universe and he was illiterate
Hello Josh. I'm a life long Texan who lives in the Chihuahuan Desert on the Tex/Mex Border. I'm an experienced river guide with 16 years of total experience, my specialty was plants and their medical or practical uses. From the appearance of your land, it looks as though you are in the Chihuahuan Desert and the plant you had originally thought was Cat Claw looks like it may be a plant called Condalia. I'm interested to see what becomes of your project and am willing to help in any way I can! Good luck to you.
@@dustupstexas I've watched more of your videos and you are just on the other side of Alpine from me. Yes, Condalia is more of an arid bush than Catclaw but the smell of the Catclaw blossoms are wonderful! From what I remember (and this is off the top of my head), Condalia can be used to relieve gastrointestinal distress and colic in babies. It's also easily confused with what is called Javalina Bush.
This is the kind of stuff that may ultimately save the planet. A million of these small efforts to restore an ecosystem, regardless of the motivation, go a long way toward making a positive global impact. Keep up the good work! To anyone reading this comment: DO SOMETHING! Pick up a piece of plastic when you're out walking, turn off a light, use a rake instead of a gas leaf blower. It's in our hands.
The ecosystem Shaun is working with doesn’t need to be restored. Nature made it that type of ecosystem, not man. But yes, I see your point. We can make so much more of our planet habitable for people.
"Restore an ecosystem"? That area IS that ecosystem, there's no "restoration" to be done. If you're talking about changing the ecosystem into something different, then perhaps.
@@5thGenNativeTexanHe mentioned before that the area historically was ranches, it's where the Mexicans crossed over to work in America to work in those ranches, however constant grazing degraded the soil. It did a negative feedback loop, less grass, more exposed soil to get eroded, less soil leads to less grass,the remaining grass keeps getting grazed, and it gets worse and worse.
@@jameschristophercirujano6650 My family has lived in the area since the early 1800's. It's always been like this, for hundreds of years before we were there.
Your definitely on the right track for restoring your property. One thing if you don't mind me saying. I've learned from trial, and error that the smaller rocks in the dams get washed down hill. The solution we used was to lock the stone's together like a puzzle. It's so frustrating to see all your hard work washed away in an instant, but at the same time it's a learning experience. I wish you all the best!
Agreed. Locking the rocks together is the way to go. Also tapering the dam on the uphill and downhill side. At least he is starting at the top of the watershed and there are multiple structures in a short distance. Two definite pluses. This would be much easier to do if there was an excavator chucking substantial rocks down the hillside and the crew could muscle them into place.
I assume like a dry stone wall. They have been made in europe for centuries. Some are centuries old and still stand, even in flood areas. I can't do it properly, though, its not easy.
This makes sense....sounds like you are basically describing sorting in geology? Lighter/smaller material is carried by moving water easier than heavier/larger material.
@@johncandy2916 Never is a bit hyperbolic. Are you one of those people who thinks the earth is 6000 years old? You of course understand that every millimeter on earth was once nothing but volcanic hellscape devoid of life and water, right? Also, are you arguing with the term "re-forest?" Or the concept of terraforming? If you could explain what mechanism plants use to determine their longitudinal coordinates, so that they know whether it is okay to grow, that would be swell.
I know you are working, and is hard. But please take some group picture. It will be so great to look at how it all started after 5-10 years. A group picture of you guys with the first pile of rocks that one guy called "monument" would look sick
@@dustupstexas videos of before & after work would be nice record of what happens & then going back later to see changes after rain & some vegitation has time to grow.. What you are doing with this project & to keep it ongoing is one of the best things you can do to improve & regenerate your land & well benefit those with property below yours. You are doing the right things & ignore the naysayers.
When I first started (desert), I had backhoe guy dig my ditches in a curve on the slant of the hill (permaculture learned on line). Planted seedlings in pots. Dxd with cancer, put pots at intervals on top high edge of ditch before chemo and radiation put me under. When I was well enough many months later I was delighted to discover that they had all grown into baby trees and rooted into the ground without me! (Still in now split open pots to this day!) The only water they got was the very little we get in desert from God. Those trees are now the main source of shade closer to the house in my backyard I have nothing but native desert trees. Right kind are also excellent food sources!
I am just binging on your videos and must say that when I watched the first one the first thoughts that came to my mind was that there seemed to be pretty clear valleys and erosion gullies which was a clear sign that a lot of water was flowing on your property at times and check dams were an obvious choice: - no lack of rocks - check dams are much more flood resistant than swales - even if they do not stop water, they will reduce erosion and slow the water down an enormous lot allowing a very large amount to sink into the ground - the added moisture in the soil should allow you to start planting a few trees and/or large shrubs which will further increase the amount of moisture due to the reduced evaporation Those valleys are an excellent focal point because they are choke points where a very simple intervention can have immediate and large benefits whereas swales and/or bassines will require way more mechanized work over a larger surface area. Is the canyon that is visible on some of your drone videos also on your property? If it was I would try to add some check dams there as well and attempt to divert some of its flow into your flats even via a very small channel (if legislation allows of course). It's clear that the soil does not seem to be very amenable to a temporary pond of some kind but even then it may be worth thinking of a way to locate an appropriate place to isolate a pool of water and figure out a way to "waterproof" the soil so it does not soak immediately. Even a temporary water pool will have an enormous impact, attracting all kind of wildlife which will contribute to enriching the soil. This said, it's clear that sandy soil is not really appropriate for that but if your budget afforded enough digging and transporting some clay, I would at least give it a thought.
The canyon is a protected waterway. I'll be using equipment to test out ideas for water retention. Although it's mostly sand, the bedrock is shallow. Any water that infiltrates stays in range of plant roots
@@dustupstexas Gotcha, so that excludes direct intervention on the canyon. I see on the Google Earth map that one of its tributaries is on your property, is that one also protected? If not, then you could try to make it a demonstrator (if your time and budget allows) so that in a few years you may go to the EPA and try to convince them of an intervention in the canyon using the results obtained on tributary as proof that this would improve its situation. Given that any positive water management intervention will increase the quantity of water provided by the canyon they may lend you an ear and could be interested in funding a project. Another thing: if you can interest a research team from USGS or a local university to have a look at your project you may be able to convince them to put a few sensors on your site and use it as a demonstrator study. That would definitely increase your chances of convincing the EPA that an intervention on the canyon would be fruitful. To keep in mind once you get things started on your side. 😉 This USGS video shows exactly one such study measuring the hydrological/ecosystemic effects of a series of rock dams installed in a valley by a couple : th-cam.com/video/c2tYI7jUdU0/w-d-xo.html. Shallow bedrock is nice for sandy soil indeed, the contrary would make it pretty hard to retain water near ground level. An advantage of sandy soil is that your water slowing earthworks do not need to be very deep since once stopped, water will soak relatively quickly. Once you get the cycle started and get organic matter into the ground and the soil starts to acquire a colloidal structure and a bit of ground cover your terrain's response to rain events will become exponentially effective. What would help a lot is fast growing nitrogen fixing brushes that you can quickly and often coppice: the cut branches will act as a mulch to protect from erosion and evaporation as well as incite fungi to develop and the roots will degrade and provide structure to the soil and fertilizer for the next growth cycle. Trees may not be necessary (or even possible) in the short term but quick growing and drought/coppice resistant brushes would be great.
It's so cool what you're doing. Yes please, more often updates. Please have video trail cams that capture a rain event as well. This would please everyone very much to see the water that is caught in real time. I would guess you would gain valuable input as well, because I assume you will not be there most likely?
Anything retained in the topsoil will be lost to evaporation within a day or 3. The goal is to cultivate a deep water table 6' to 10' down that can't just evaporate. Cultivating a topsoil comes later.
@@TheBrothergreen agreed getting water captured to begin charging or saturating subsurface soils is essential but even that is several phases down the road. If you think this is going to be accomplished with day trips and overnight stays your dreaming. At a minimum some sort of camp should be established with a few pole barns for shade, storage and water entrapments. Several holding large tanks, equipment, spare parts, fuel tanks etc. are also necessary. I don’t know Shaun’s initial goal but 320 acres is his canvas which is a lot of rocks, sand, berms, holes, swells and physical work and time. Willy Nilly is simply pissing money away.
@@TomBTerrificSir, what is your background that you feel confident enough to neg everything? It sounds like you're saying that nothing can happen without an engineering battalion. "The perfect is the enemy of the good."
The smell you smell when it starts to rain is the Larrea tridentata AKA Creosote plants, when it gets wet it emits that smell. Creosote is the black coating on telephone poles and Rail Road ties, they use it to help preserve the wood.
@heathh5657 You're correct about the smell, it's generally called petrichor and is created almost anywhere by a (bacterial?) molecule called geosmin. Creosote brush in the southwest adds it's own amazing scent. Recently I learned Creosote for telephone poles is an unrelated substance derived from crude oil. It just shares the name. If it's disappointing, know that I proudly touted that "fact" for years before learning it was a case of poor naming :(
Shaun, you should get about 300 Chinese immigrants in from the province of Zhenjiang. They are experienced / successful in recovering semi desert landscapes. Cheaper than a tractor !
Shaun like I said you got grit. Plant 3 or 4 trees desert willow, madrone, cottonwood, retama at your camp. Bury a 30gal collapsible water bladder above them run drip lines. May give them cover for a few years. At least you'll find out what will survive. Fill water is all you'll have to do or replant different species. A guy on the Medina hwy tx native nurserie sells small madrones.
@@dustupstexas they grow in canyons around Kerrville. That arroyo you're working is deep. They grow in big bend , never know. Think they need TLC to get established. Only place to get them is Natives of Texas Nursery, 10$ in 1gal pot.
Some quick thoughts: these gabions (metal shielded or not) are likely going to pay the highest dividends at the start and should be a focus; also, you may need to raise them in 1-4 years based on erosion, but that maintenance cycle slows down as well. Terracing is great but can be done wrong, whereas the bathtubs, or deep zai pits or crescents, are hard to mess up and can be iterated upon. I'm impressed with what you're accomplishing and happy you have put time into these small check damns. Thanks for the video.
That young man is such a work horse! What a blessing to have help like that. Also, an idea: you can plant agave and sotol, maybe nopales, as useful low water use crops.
The easiest and best soil conservation tool is a old tire! Just toss then into the wash out flat against the face of the soil. They will collect copious amounts of soil in a heavy rain. Three years later the tire will be buried. Ask the soil conservation rep. He will tell you that they work great.
You don't have a village to pull off this project like the folks in India or China but it is just as worthy! Andrew Millison and Geoff Lawton would be proud!
To the guy at 10:33. As someone that grew up around there..there is zero wrong with leaving the land as it is. There is a tradition and mystic to the land in West Texas, and while nothing is wrong with building it up, there is nothing wrong with leaving it as is.
Show me. The area 10 miles north of me was a permanent forage and watering stop on the San Antonio to El Paso trail. Think about how much grass has to grow to feed horses in the same spot almost daily
My great grandfather and grandfather worked sheep drives in that general area. My grandfather said the land was beautiful, green and nothing like it is now.
I'm the "grass guy" from the online group. I posted a comment earlier, but it seems to have disappeared. I enjoyed getting a closer look at some of the plants in this video and it's exciting to see a bunch of dams getting put in just in time. I hope you'll get some good rains this season to test them out.
I have a laser leveller which has been super useful finding contours for swales. They're expensive, but they do work very well, and you'll find your eyes often lie about slopes.
There's a visual illusion, it probably has a name but I don't know it, that's shown up in a couple of spots here in Michigan. Stop your car on a particular hill, put your transmission in neutral, and it slowly rolls UP the hill. Has something to do with the horizon fooling the eye ... the hill is actually a gradual downward slope. Fun to introduce visitors to. One used to be marked on the map, but it caused so many traffic problems for a local church on Sundays, they complained and it was removed from state maps. Any local restaurant though, or other local business, can direct you. One is called Gravity Hill, tho that's not the one I wrote about.
@10:19 "The thing that surprises me is that people can let land get like this and leave it like this" - Not sure if this gentleman has done his homework. This land was like this for a very long time; long before people have had much of any influence on it. It is a desert and will remain a desert as long as this area remains downwind of the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Not to be a downer, but i was beginning to think i was the only one who thought this was pointless. Desert climate all rocks. There's a reason nothing grows in west texas
@@joeduren2182 Don't read me wrong. I wouldn't be subscribed to Shaun's channel if it didn't interest me. I believe he does have a chance and a big challenge. Plants do grow in West Texas, but it is a harsh environment and to do what he is doing must be researched well.
Very cool to see! I think you've made the right call to start with some holes and check dams. I'm not sure if you've seen the video I recommended to you a few months back, but this is exactly what I've had in mind to get you started. Low budget, material is already there, and a bunch of volunteers to help you out. Perfect! I'm already looking forward seeing how this will evolve in a years time. Keep it up and keep us informed! :-)
You could try growing a grassy plant that does good in heat, for making mulch, then will be compost, and so making soil Just a theorical idea from what I know 🤔
13:30 Old Rugged boots. I bought a pair of the South Arican hand-made boots from Amazon. They're made out of soft brushed leather tops and a nice solid sole. In the back they have a South African flag tag sewn in. I wish the pair fit my wide feet which were a bit too wide. Sorry, I had to return them. If you have medium sized feet, these would have been very comfortable shoes. Having seen them first hand, I still recommend them.
I saw a documentary on yt about a program where volunteers built small dams with sticks, like beavers would. Bevears are very usefull for water retention. You can copy them with logs and sticks are the same as good as stones, but lighter :-) Also maybe you dont have it innthe desert .
I don't know if you have access to free wood chips (chip drop) but I would fill the dirt bathtubs up with wood chips. That would allow the water to enter but help keep the moisture in the ground.
Like that you got volunteers already helping you, great going forward with the project. Not sure about the terrace idea if you get a lot of flash floods, the swales are a cheaper and easier option with less risk. Plus planting bushes seeds are much easier. As for todays 29 small dams is a really good start. Looking too watching more .
Have you thought of a dug out vs tents? Old timers dug root cellars that stayed at a constant 54F range. Just be careful of critters moving in when you're away, like snakes.
I like the bathtub idea. And was going to suggest small step dams in any channels as well. I hunt waterfowl in Northern California and love what they do up there in national forest in low spots, and any ponds or lakes that dry up seasonally they dig big donut trenches putting the dug out soil in the middle. Basically making a bunch of islands with a moat around them. They work great for catching and keeping water for the dry times. They work great, low surrounding area grows moist soil plants and the islands grow prairie grasses and bushes. Pretty cool system. You can zoom in on National forest land in Modoc County (far NE corner) of California on google earth to see examples. Just another catchment idea to ponder on. I just got to this channel so I’m watching my way up from the beginning. Cheers
It would be less erosion if you could get the rocks from flat areas rather than the slope. You need something to carry them that can handle the slope. start with a wheelbarrow and get machines later. Also starting from the top is good or the rocks will wash away. When the dams silt up, add more dams.
Sometimes the little projects are the best for the land... We live in southeast Arizona and the teachings the natives gave the original pioneers are still in practice good luck and we love what your doing
I'm so glad you are starting at the top of the watershed and building structures close together. Next time you have an event I suggest you supply wheelbarrows, picks and digging bars. There are always good rocks that you just can't get under with your fingers. THe little ones are good for chinking, but unsupported, they will wash away in the first monsoon event. Think about efficiencies. Having the excavator on site would be a HUGE help. Make the most of those labor hours. 😊 Are you mapping the positions of every structure and numbering with a distinct code as you go? Then mapping with GIS? That will be really valuable if you want to analyze progress and what works vs doesn't work. If these leaky weirs don't wash out I imagine each one will fill up in a year - then you can build the next 19" on top of last years sediment. And you wind up with giant sand reservoirs that will produce and support a spring at the bottom of the arroyo at some point. And each sand reservoir will support trees.
We had a flood event and all that got trapped was a tiny amount of sediment in my first dams. It's the top of the watershed. There isn't that much to trap
@@dustupstexas As the trace sediment fills the leaks in the dam, sediment capture will increase over time. OR, if you want to increase sediment capture and further slow the rate of flow, line the upstream face with geotextile. I thought I saw a roll of it in the video. All of the leaky dams survived intact? Were you there when it rained? It would be very interesting to see the amount of water retained and the sediment load exiting the lowest leaky dam. Personally, I don't care for the idea of carving large terraces in the existing topography. Much prefer the bund approach - which seems to be working, yes? Happy for you! 😊 Best of luck!
I do erosion control plans every day. Rock check dams are a great start. Problem with the way your going about it is that even those small rocks are stabilizing that incline. I wont be suprised if you start getting reels on the incline. Also you might want to but some wire wrap or silt fence. But you're on the right track If you want to disturb more, get some coconut fiber erosion control mat. You can staple them into hillside and itll keep the soil in place. If you install them well, you can remove them and reuse them later on.
I'm planning to terrace. I think I mentioned in the video not wanting to dig for rocks for that reason. I know how bad the erosion gets out here. If I wasn't going to terrace, I would've started the dams in the slopes instead of in the channel
You are talking about planting trees, its like going to college without finishing high school. You need to cover the ground first and create soil. Sedum sp. is a good plant group (they can live long without water) to start with. Can you make a video with few statistics: average temperature day/night ; air humidity day/night... Love the project!!❤❤
1.1k like 6 hours after publishing! Beyond the quality of the video, there is clearly something in the topic you adress and your peruse that triggers great interest among a wider public!
nice thing about the series of dams is it slows the flood and less likely to wash out. Plus a downstream dam might trap the hydroplastic flow from an upper collapse.
I was scanning through the comments and all I can think of is bringing card board, bags of grass clippings, garden debris, etc. and add little bit between the rocks. It would decompose, and maybe blend with the silt?
I was in the Boy Scouts and I did a similar project in the Italian Alps where we lined the banks of a small stream with rocks ro prevent erosion. So this is heading in the right direction. I think you are going to use multiple ideas for different parts of the property. Also depending on the Troop, you may coordinate Scouting projects and Eagle Scout projects to break off smaller bites to growing your forest. 🤔
The Rocks can be used to create more shade on the land. If they are stacked to walls along the high ridges they will give shade, living space, and catch the wind and dew.
That things looks great for filling sandbags fast. Couple recommendations…might be better to use adjustable wrenches instead of the channel locks…so your fasteners/ bolts stay nice. When using channel locks, if you find they are opening as you use them, then it means they are too “small”…oh wait you just finished doing that “open those channels up more” lol
I think this is my favorite episode yet. I don't know how many times ive watched it. I'd like to take a 2 week vacation and go there to just build checkdams. I'dlike to see what sort of evolution of prefered method wins out. Deliberately stacked flash flood proof or "we have 320 acres to cover so just toss rocks in the channel." I've been binge watching any video that mentions Bill Zeedyk. I question how much actually translates to Dustups condition.
Shaun, I'm absolutely loving your vision. I know the satisfaction you get from working with your hands, but it'll wear you out. A nice piece of used equipment would be worth it's weight in gold. Some sort of fund raising plan to get a piece of machinery out there is something people would get behind, I think.....I think it would be worth a shot?
You're getting close to 100 thousand subscribers, there is no turning back now. Failure is not an option. Lol. You'll be successful, all it takes is water.
the rock idea is brilliant - best idea yet! /// you might want to set up a guest registry to allow people to sign it and maybe give a brief history of themselves?
I was building swales on an 8 acre horse ranch, I began to fill the swales with mulch and wood chips. And as I did so I used the wood chips to make pathways to ease my work load. Time to build paths
Oh nice, things are happening! The next rain event will probably test your constructions and show if there's room for improvement. The lessons and learning probably never stop.
Ever thought about hauling an old container out there and make a container home/storage shed? Make every trip worthwhile and carry a truck load of chicken manure and cow manure to enrich the soil. Bromliade plants are also good for hot climates since they hold water in them and can withstand heat.
A container in 106F heat with a UV index of 13 sounds more like an oven. But, we did something today along those lines that's a lot more temperature friendly. Coming soon...
@@dustupstexas you put a roof over it, containers are fine, I live where 106 is a typical summer temp, plenty of container homes, you just need to get the sun off them....
A year later and he's got some guys throwing rocks in a ditch. Unless he commits to something and starts actually working that valley won't look any different in 5 years.
@dustupstexas it's a process and your going to learn as you go. People just love to hate and Troll because they have nothing else better to do. Anyways thanks for the update I can't wait to see the next video. Take care!
Correct. I'm trying to speed it up. I had two in place before the last storm and they did well. I mentioned early in the video a but of silt accumulated behind them
I think the terrasses will work out great. I remembered a video about the Tamera Ecovillage in Portugal where they where using a simple tool to plan their terrases. They build a wooden A-shaped frame and hung a weight on a thread from the top marked the level on the horizontal part and started to level the terrain by hand and shovels using the the trees and bushes as waypoints for their steps so they did not need to change the growth and use its roots as part of the support structure. Maybe your voluntees can make this faster than trying to build and mantain the infrastructure to get heavy machinery to the place.
yes collecting rocks and creating check dams and stuff seems a good choice to me. Although I would also terrace the steeper parts and use the "bathtubs" in africa south of the Sahara in Senegal for example they use these half moon diggs, i would put them on flatter parts because there the water will run slower than on the steep parts
its so nice to see sombody take a very generationall problem, and fixing it, knowing full well, that it will takes a lot of years to build Soil... Its so great to see your projekt prosper... keep it up, it will be very educational for so many people in the future
Really cool. Not to put additional expense into your project, but drone footage would be great. Each episode that you do work, it’d be nice to get a view of the property and see what your work looks like. Get some perspective of everything you’re doing and what you want it to look like. Thanks!
Maybe if you are thinking of purchasing equipment buying a backhoe might work better as you get the big bucket for bugger jobs like the bath tubs and a excavator bucket for the swale/contour type work. Hope this helps, I love what you are doing :)
Hey Shaun, any consideration on underground stormwater retention systems? With the little valleys you have, you could flatten the area, install the chambers, and backfill to top with the soil around it. Maybe that would hold water in an area better and let it leech out over drought times?
Move the front loader on your skid steer to areas with the best rocks while people load them. Then move and dump where you want them and return. Much, much faster.
@@dustupstexas Even a tractor with a front loader would work great out there. You end up doing as much as you can with your equipment and would use it everyday you are out there. Your application is perfect for owning a tractor (or skid). Plus, it’s a lot of fun.
Lining rocks on the grade coming down the hills sort of like a swale. This will also trap organic material. Without digging up the soil and possibly causing erosion.
Invite a group of detectorist out to detect along your gullies and as they are looking can stack rocks and you may even find tou have some small gold on your place that could help you. Detecting along the gullies and side walls and building some rock dams as you go would be great but i am in Australia. Anyway doing a great Job just keep it going.
Realistically I have 20 to 30 years of life left, I'll be watching you to see your progress....... Keep filming
No one knows the time of their passing. You may have 20-30 seconds left. Find Jesus while you have the chance. All else is meaningless.
Prepare for death. You cant take the forest with you. Look into Islam. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) knew about the greening of the desert in the future when it was all just dust and rocks. The desert in Saudi Arabia is starting to turn green now. He also knew about the expansion of the universe and he was illiterate
Hello Josh. I'm a life long Texan who lives in the Chihuahuan Desert on the Tex/Mex Border. I'm an experienced river guide with 16 years of total experience, my specialty was plants and their medical or practical uses. From the appearance of your land, it looks as though you are in the Chihuahuan Desert and the plant you had originally thought was Cat Claw looks like it may be a plant called Condalia. I'm interested to see what becomes of your project and am willing to help in any way I can! Good luck to you.
I have lots of both. Condolia outperforms where the water is a little less available. Catclaw owns the big washes
@@dustupstexas I've watched more of your videos and you are just on the other side of Alpine from me. Yes, Condalia is more of an arid bush than Catclaw but the smell of the Catclaw blossoms are wonderful! From what I remember (and this is off the top of my head), Condalia can be used to relieve gastrointestinal distress and colic in babies. It's also easily confused with what is called Javalina Bush.
This is the kind of stuff that may ultimately save the planet. A million of these small efforts to restore an ecosystem, regardless of the motivation, go a long way toward making a positive global impact. Keep up the good work! To anyone reading this comment: DO SOMETHING! Pick up a piece of plastic when you're out walking, turn off a light, use a rake instead of a gas leaf blower. It's in our hands.
The ecosystem Shaun is working with doesn’t need to be restored. Nature made it that type of ecosystem, not man. But yes, I see your point. We can make so much more of our planet habitable for people.
"Restore an ecosystem"? That area IS that ecosystem, there's no "restoration" to be done. If you're talking about changing the ecosystem into something different, then perhaps.
@@5thGenNativeTexanHe mentioned before that the area historically was ranches, it's where the Mexicans crossed over to work in America to work in those ranches, however constant grazing degraded the soil. It did a negative feedback loop, less grass, more exposed soil to get eroded, less soil leads to less grass,the remaining grass keeps getting grazed, and it gets worse and worse.
@@jameschristophercirujano6650 My family has lived in the area since the early 1800's. It's always been like this, for hundreds of years before we were there.
@@5thGenNativeTexan He is very near the Rio Grande though. Is it still that degraded near the river?
Your definitely on the right track for restoring your property. One thing if you don't mind me saying. I've learned from trial, and error that the smaller rocks in the dams get washed down hill. The solution we used was to lock the stone's together like a puzzle. It's so frustrating to see all your hard work washed away in an instant, but at the same time it's a learning experience. I wish you all the best!
Agreed. Locking the rocks together is the way to go. Also tapering the dam on the uphill and downhill side. At least he is starting at the top of the watershed and there are multiple structures in a short distance. Two definite pluses. This would be much easier to do if there was an excavator chucking substantial rocks down the hillside and the crew could muscle them into place.
I assume like a dry stone wall. They have been made in europe for centuries. Some are centuries old and still stand, even in flood areas. I can't do it properly, though, its not easy.
This makes sense....sounds like you are basically describing sorting in geology? Lighter/smaller material is carried by moving water easier than heavier/larger material.
You can’t reforest something that was never forest.
@@johncandy2916 Never is a bit hyperbolic. Are you one of those people who thinks the earth is 6000 years old? You of course understand that every millimeter on earth was once nothing but volcanic hellscape devoid of life and water, right?
Also, are you arguing with the term "re-forest?" Or the concept of terraforming? If you could explain what mechanism plants use to determine their longitudinal coordinates, so that they know whether it is okay to grow, that would be swell.
I know you are working, and is hard. But please take some group picture. It will be so great to look at how it all started after 5-10 years.
A group picture of you guys with the first pile of rocks that one guy called "monument" would look sick
I keep trying to remember to take photos, but my brain is overloaded doing physical work while also filming everything.
@@dustupstexas videos of before & after work would be nice record of what happens & then going back later to see changes after rain & some vegitation has time to grow..
What you are doing with this project & to keep it ongoing is one of the best things you can do to improve & regenerate your land & well benefit those with property below yours. You are doing the right things & ignore the naysayers.
When I first started (desert), I had backhoe guy dig my ditches in a curve on the slant of the hill (permaculture learned on line). Planted seedlings in pots. Dxd with cancer, put pots at intervals on top high edge of ditch before chemo and radiation put me under. When I was well enough many months later I was delighted to discover that they had all grown into baby trees and rooted into the ground without me! (Still in now split open pots to this day!) The only water they got was the very little we get in desert from God. Those trees are now the main source of shade closer to the house in my backyard I have nothing but native desert trees. Right kind are also excellent food sources!
Great story!
I am just binging on your videos and must say that when I watched the first one the first thoughts that came to my mind was that there seemed to be pretty clear valleys and erosion gullies which was a clear sign that a lot of water was flowing on your property at times and check dams were an obvious choice:
- no lack of rocks
- check dams are much more flood resistant than swales
- even if they do not stop water, they will reduce erosion and slow the water down an enormous lot allowing a very large amount to sink into the ground
- the added moisture in the soil should allow you to start planting a few trees and/or large shrubs which will further increase the amount of moisture due to the reduced evaporation
Those valleys are an excellent focal point because they are choke points where a very simple intervention can have immediate and large benefits whereas swales and/or bassines will require way more mechanized work over a larger surface area.
Is the canyon that is visible on some of your drone videos also on your property?
If it was I would try to add some check dams there as well and attempt to divert some of its flow into your flats even via a very small channel (if legislation allows of course).
It's clear that the soil does not seem to be very amenable to a temporary pond of some kind but even then it may be worth thinking of a way to locate an appropriate place to isolate a pool of water and figure out a way to "waterproof" the soil so it does not soak immediately. Even a temporary water pool will have an enormous impact, attracting all kind of wildlife which will contribute to enriching the soil. This said, it's clear that sandy soil is not really appropriate for that but if your budget afforded enough digging and transporting some clay, I would at least give it a thought.
The canyon is a protected waterway. I'll be using equipment to test out ideas for water retention. Although it's mostly sand, the bedrock is shallow. Any water that infiltrates stays in range of plant roots
@@dustupstexas Gotcha, so that excludes direct intervention on the canyon. I see on the Google Earth map that one of its tributaries is on your property, is that one also protected? If not, then you could try to make it a demonstrator (if your time and budget allows) so that in a few years you may go to the EPA and try to convince them of an intervention in the canyon using the results obtained on tributary as proof that this would improve its situation. Given that any positive water management intervention will increase the quantity of water provided by the canyon they may lend you an ear and could be interested in funding a project.
Another thing: if you can interest a research team from USGS or a local university to have a look at your project you may be able to convince them to put a few sensors on your site and use it as a demonstrator study. That would definitely increase your chances of convincing the EPA that an intervention on the canyon would be fruitful.
To keep in mind once you get things started on your side. 😉
This USGS video shows exactly one such study measuring the hydrological/ecosystemic effects of a series of rock dams installed in a valley by a couple : th-cam.com/video/c2tYI7jUdU0/w-d-xo.html.
Shallow bedrock is nice for sandy soil indeed, the contrary would make it pretty hard to retain water near ground level. An advantage of sandy soil is that your water slowing earthworks do not need to be very deep since once stopped, water will soak relatively quickly.
Once you get the cycle started and get organic matter into the ground and the soil starts to acquire a colloidal structure and a bit of ground cover your terrain's response to rain events will become exponentially effective.
What would help a lot is fast growing nitrogen fixing brushes that you can quickly and often coppice: the cut branches will act as a mulch to protect from erosion and evaporation as well as incite fungi to develop and the roots will degrade and provide structure to the soil and fertilizer for the next growth cycle. Trees may not be necessary (or even possible) in the short term but quick growing and drought/coppice resistant brushes would be great.
This has easily become my new favourite series to wait for each episode.
Ready to see how this will evolve over longtime.
Same 😂❤
It's so cool what you're doing. Yes please, more often updates. Please have video trail cams that capture a rain event as well. This would please everyone very much to see the water that is caught in real time. I would guess you would gain valuable input as well, because I assume you will not be there most likely?
I'd love to catch the rain on film. I've been here so many times during rain. But none of the rains were heavy enough to flood
I think this is actually happening. HYPE!
So excited to see how it goes!
I think adding native grasses is the key to a stable soil and water retention.
Anything retained in the topsoil will be lost to evaporation within a day or 3. The goal is to cultivate a deep water table 6' to 10' down that can't just evaporate. Cultivating a topsoil comes later.
Anything below 2' should be protected from evaporation
@@TheBrothergreen agreed getting water captured to begin charging or saturating subsurface soils is essential but even that is several phases down the road. If you think this is going to be accomplished with day trips and overnight stays your dreaming. At a minimum some sort of camp should be established with a few pole barns for shade, storage and water entrapments. Several holding large tanks, equipment, spare parts, fuel tanks etc. are also necessary. I don’t know Shaun’s initial goal but 320 acres is his canvas which is a lot of rocks, sand, berms, holes, swells and physical work and time.
Willy Nilly is simply pissing money away.
@@TomBTerrific I suggest a bulldozer is required and a final pond to catch all the water so it won't leave the property.
@@TomBTerrificSir, what is your background that you feel confident enough to neg everything?
It sounds like you're saying that nothing can happen without an engineering battalion. "The perfect is the enemy of the good."
Since i'm following Geoff Lawton and Andrew Millison for a long time I thank youtube for recommending me your channel! Instant subscription.
The smell you smell when it starts to rain is the Larrea tridentata AKA Creosote plants, when it gets wet it emits that smell. Creosote is the black coating on telephone poles and Rail Road ties, they use it to help preserve the wood.
Rain changes the ionization of the air. It also forms O3 when it reacts with sunlight. That can also change the smell.
@heathh5657 You're correct about the smell, it's generally called petrichor and is created almost anywhere by a (bacterial?) molecule called geosmin. Creosote brush in the southwest adds it's own amazing scent.
Recently I learned Creosote for telephone poles is an unrelated substance derived from crude oil. It just shares the name. If it's disappointing, know that I proudly touted that "fact" for years before learning it was a case of poor naming :(
Shaun, you should get about 300 Chinese immigrants in from the province of Zhenjiang. They are experienced / successful in recovering semi desert landscapes. Cheaper than a tractor !
Shaun like I said you got grit. Plant 3 or 4 trees desert willow, madrone, cottonwood, retama at your camp. Bury a 30gal collapsible water bladder above them run drip lines. May give them cover for a few years. At least you'll find out what will survive. Fill water is all you'll have to do or replant different species. A guy on the Medina hwy tx native nurserie sells small madrones.
I don't know much about madrones
@@dustupstexas they grow in canyons around Kerrville. That arroyo you're working is deep. They grow in big bend , never know. Think they need TLC to get established. Only place to get them is Natives of Texas Nursery, 10$ in 1gal pot.
Some quick thoughts: these gabions (metal shielded or not) are likely going to pay the highest dividends at the start and should be a focus; also, you may need to raise them in 1-4 years based on erosion, but that maintenance cycle slows down as well. Terracing is great but can be done wrong, whereas the bathtubs, or deep zai pits or crescents, are hard to mess up and can be iterated upon.
I'm impressed with what you're accomplishing and happy you have put time into these small check damns. Thanks for the video.
That young man is such a work horse! What a blessing to have help like that. Also, an idea: you can plant agave and sotol, maybe nopales, as useful low water use crops.
Seamus is a tank. Dude is welcome out here anytime!
And, I already plan to establish agave and expand the prickly pear
@@dustupstexasSebastisn is also a tank, but a little bit of an indoor cat.
The easiest and best soil conservation tool is a old tire! Just toss then into the wash out flat against the face of the soil. They will collect copious amounts of soil in a heavy rain. Three years later the tire will be buried. Ask the soil conservation rep. He will tell you that they work great.
You don't have a village to pull off this project like the folks in India or China but it is just as worthy! Andrew Millison and Geoff Lawton would be proud!
To the guy at 10:33. As someone that grew up around there..there is zero wrong with leaving the land as it is. There is a tradition and mystic to the land in West Texas, and while nothing is wrong with building it up, there is nothing wrong with leaving it as is.
It wasn’t always like this though, it became this way through overgrazing. He’s trying to take it back to how it was 200 years ago.
@@sethbracken I was curious why he was saying that, I forgot Shaun mentioned that.
@@sethbracken Parts of it yes, but not the whole of West Texas, even in the archives of Sul Ross a lot of West Texas is as it is now.
Show me. The area 10 miles north of me was a permanent forage and watering stop on the San Antonio to El Paso trail. Think about how much grass has to grow to feed horses in the same spot almost daily
My great grandfather and grandfather worked sheep drives in that general area. My grandfather said the land was beautiful, green and nothing like it is now.
I'm the "grass guy" from the online group. I posted a comment earlier, but it seems to have disappeared. I enjoyed getting a closer look at some of the plants in this video and it's exciting to see a bunch of dams getting put in just in time. I hope you'll get some good rains this season to test them out.
There's a reasonable chance next week!
TH-cam does that all the time. Very unreliable.
ur a real salt of the earth guy shaun, keep it up
I have a laser leveller which has been super useful finding contours for swales. They're expensive, but they do work very well, and you'll find your eyes often lie about slopes.
There's a visual illusion, it probably has a name but I don't know it, that's shown up in a couple of spots here in Michigan. Stop your car on a particular hill, put your transmission in neutral, and it slowly rolls UP the hill. Has something to do with the horizon fooling the eye ... the hill is actually a gradual downward slope.
Fun to introduce visitors to. One used to be marked on the map, but it caused so many traffic problems for a local church on Sundays, they complained and it was removed from state maps. Any local restaurant though, or other local business, can direct you.
One is called Gravity Hill, tho that's not the one I wrote about.
NYC here... Been watching from day 1. Wishing you all good things and great success!!!
You can do it!
@10:19 "The thing that surprises me is that people can let land get like this and leave it like this" - Not sure if this gentleman has done his homework. This land was like this for a very long time; long before people have had much of any influence on it. It is a desert and will remain a desert as long as this area remains downwind of the Sierra Madre Mountains.
Except, no, it wasn't like this. It was a desert forest, then it was repeatedly overgrazed by cattle ranchers until it can't recover on its own.
Not to be a downer, but i was beginning to think i was the only one who thought this was pointless. Desert climate all rocks. There's a reason nothing grows in west texas
@@joeduren2182 Don't read me wrong. I wouldn't be subscribed to Shaun's channel if it didn't interest me. I believe he does have a chance and a big challenge. Plants do grow in West Texas, but it is a harsh environment and to do what he is doing must be researched well.
@@veramae4098 A desert forest? This area has been like this since WAY before any cattle ranchers even existed.
Desert doesn't mean devoid of life. This isn't the natural state
Very cool to see! I think you've made the right call to start with some holes and check dams. I'm not sure if you've seen the video I recommended to you a few months back, but this is exactly what I've had in mind to get you started. Low budget, material is already there, and a bunch of volunteers to help you out. Perfect!
I'm already looking forward seeing how this will evolve in a years time. Keep it up and keep us informed! :-)
Now we just need the monsoon to cooperate
Building up the water pressure in the soil. Excellent!
Time lapse cameras of the rains coming in, the bath tubs catching and spilling over. It would also be an amazing asmr video too.
You could try growing a grassy plant that does good in heat, for making mulch, then will be compost, and so making soil
Just a theorical idea from what I know 🤔
13:30 Old Rugged boots. I bought a pair of the South Arican hand-made boots from Amazon. They're made out of soft brushed leather tops and a nice solid sole. In the back they have a South African flag tag sewn in. I wish the pair fit my wide feet which were a bit too wide. Sorry, I had to return them. If you have medium sized feet, these would have been very comfortable shoes. Having seen them first hand, I still recommend them.
Thanks for giving them a try!
Good use of existing rocks.
I saw a documentary on yt about a program where volunteers built small dams with sticks, like beavers would. Bevears are very usefull for water retention. You can copy them with logs and sticks are the same as good as stones, but lighter :-) Also maybe you dont have it innthe desert .
I appreciate your hard work in trying to restore this beautiful land back to its glory. Your heart is in the right place.
Salt bush mate salt bush,Ausie salt bush,loves the heat the cold the wet everything.I am sure it would be in Texas already as it is great cattle feed
I don't know if you have access to free wood chips (chip drop) but I would fill the dirt bathtubs up with wood chips. That would allow the water to enter but help keep the moisture in the ground.
Like that you got volunteers already helping you, great going forward with the project. Not sure about the terrace idea if you get a lot of flash floods, the swales are a cheaper and easier option with less risk. Plus planting bushes seeds are much easier. As for todays 29 small dams is a really good start. Looking too watching more .
Have you thought of a dug out vs tents? Old timers dug root cellars that stayed at a constant 54F range. Just be careful of critters moving in when you're away, like snakes.
My soil is too shallow for that
I like the bathtub idea. And was going to suggest small step dams in any channels as well.
I hunt waterfowl in Northern California and love what they do up there in national forest in low spots, and any ponds or lakes that dry up seasonally they dig big donut trenches putting the dug out soil in the middle. Basically making a bunch of islands with a moat around them. They work great for catching and keeping water for the dry times. They work great, low surrounding area grows moist soil plants and the islands grow prairie grasses and bushes. Pretty cool system. You can zoom in on National forest land in Modoc County (far NE corner) of California on google earth to see examples.
Just another catchment idea to ponder on. I just got to this channel so I’m watching my way up from the beginning. Cheers
It would be less erosion if you could get the rocks from flat areas rather than the slope. You need something to carry them that can handle the slope. start with a wheelbarrow and get machines later. Also starting from the top is good or the rocks will wash away. When the dams silt up, add more dams.
There's zero chance of getting a wheelbarrow full of rocks down those slopes with any degree of control.
p.p.s. plain brown cardboard down low and partly in each check dam. Biodegradable. Definitely going to catch a lot. Will leach moisture gradually.
Sometimes the little projects are the best for the land... We live in southeast Arizona and the teachings the natives gave the original pioneers are still in practice good luck and we love what your doing
Thank you!
This is sooooo\damn exciting .......... YES!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰
I'm so glad you are starting at the top of the watershed and building structures close together. Next time you have an event I suggest you supply wheelbarrows, picks and digging bars. There are always good rocks that you just can't get under with your fingers. THe little ones are good for chinking, but unsupported, they will wash away in the first monsoon event. Think about efficiencies. Having the excavator on site would be a HUGE help. Make the most of those labor hours. 😊 Are you mapping the positions of every structure and numbering with a distinct code as you go? Then mapping with GIS? That will be really valuable if you want to analyze progress and what works vs doesn't work. If these leaky weirs don't wash out I imagine each one will fill up in a year - then you can build the next 19" on top of last years sediment. And you wind up with giant sand reservoirs that will produce and support a spring at the bottom of the arroyo at some point. And each sand reservoir will support trees.
We had a flood event and all that got trapped was a tiny amount of sediment in my first dams. It's the top of the watershed. There isn't that much to trap
@@dustupstexas As the trace sediment fills the leaks in the dam, sediment capture will increase over time. OR, if you want to increase sediment capture and further slow the rate of flow, line the upstream face with geotextile. I thought I saw a roll of it in the video. All of the leaky dams survived intact? Were you there when it rained? It would be very interesting to see the amount of water retained and the sediment load exiting the lowest leaky dam. Personally, I don't care for the idea of carving large terraces in the existing topography. Much prefer the bund approach - which seems to be working, yes? Happy for you! 😊 Best of luck!
The part with the rocks flying in from behind the camera, you're way ahead of hollywood.
I do erosion control plans every day.
Rock check dams are a great start. Problem with the way your going about it is that even those small rocks are stabilizing that incline. I wont be suprised if you start getting reels on the incline. Also you might want to but some wire wrap or silt fence. But you're on the right track
If you want to disturb more, get some coconut fiber erosion control mat. You can staple them into hillside and itll keep the soil in place. If you install them well, you can remove them and reuse them later on.
Also I live in Bedford. Id love to meet up.
I'm planning to terrace. I think I mentioned in the video not wanting to dig for rocks for that reason. I know how bad the erosion gets out here. If I wasn't going to terrace, I would've started the dams in the slopes instead of in the channel
You are talking about planting trees, its like going to college without finishing high school.
You need to cover the ground first and create soil. Sedum sp. is a good plant group (they can live long without water) to start with.
Can you make a video with few statistics: average temperature day/night ; air humidity day/night...
Love the project!!❤❤
I never said I was going straight to trees. That's an end state
Have you thought about adding logs or wood chips/ chip drop or planting grass/acacia seeds?
I think acacia is invasive. Should strict with native spieces. But the woodchips are good idea.
I already have a lot of whitethorn and Catclaw acacia. They just need more water
Success to you
You had some serious Rock'n Roll there 😅
1.1k like 6 hours after publishing!
Beyond the quality of the video, there is clearly something in the topic you adress and your peruse that triggers great interest among a wider public!
nice thing about the series of dams is it slows the flood and less likely to wash out. Plus a downstream dam might trap the hydroplastic flow from an upper collapse.
MMMMmmm Ramming rocks . Good luck with your endeavors
I was scanning through the comments and all I can think of is bringing card board, bags of grass clippings, garden debris, etc. and add little bit between the rocks. It would decompose, and maybe blend with the silt?
I do that when I drive, but it's be great for others to do
That's a good way to introduce weeds and bugs that shouldn't be there, be careful...
Amazing purposes , unbreakable efforts
Excellent work! I can't wait to see footage of some of this stuff when you get some heavy rain!
Happy to seeing your progress
Yucca is the plant at 11:20 with the tall stem. We have them in the big thicket in SE TX.
What he said was right, sotol, not yucca. There are yuccas out there too for what it's worth
I was in the Boy Scouts and I did a similar project in the Italian Alps where we lined the banks of a small stream with rocks ro prevent erosion. So this is heading in the right direction. I think you are going to use multiple ideas for different parts of the property. Also depending on the Troop, you may coordinate Scouting projects and Eagle Scout projects to break off smaller bites to growing your forest. 🤔
The Rocks can be used to create more shade on the land. If they are stacked to walls along the high ridges they will give shade, living space, and catch the wind and dew.
That things looks great for filling sandbags fast.
Couple recommendations…might be better to use adjustable wrenches instead of the channel locks…so your fasteners/ bolts stay nice.
When using channel locks, if you find they are opening as you use them, then it means they are too “small”…oh wait you just finished doing that “open those channels up more” lol
cool channel man i dig it
After it rains, what your smelling is creosote bush. It’s such a refreshing smell.
I think this is my favorite episode yet. I don't know how many times ive watched it. I'd like to take a 2 week vacation and go there to just build checkdams.
I'dlike to see what sort of evolution of prefered method wins out. Deliberately stacked flash flood proof or "we have 320 acres to cover so just toss rocks in the channel."
I've been binge watching any video that mentions Bill Zeedyk. I question how much actually translates to Dustups condition.
Check-dam --- that is what I was thinking. Cool, so much progress.
This is so fascinating to watch. Simple approach, but makes so much sense. I cheer every gradual change you affect.
Shaun, I'm absolutely loving your vision. I know the satisfaction you get from working with your hands, but it'll wear you out. A nice piece of used equipment would be worth it's weight in gold. Some sort of fund raising plan to get a piece of machinery out there is something people would get behind, I think.....I think it would be worth a shot?
Heck....even just a wheelbarrow would be a good start:)
I talked about getting equipment in the episode
Already have one, but a wheelbarrow on a 20% grade... With rocks in it?!? No thanks
You're getting close to 100 thousand subscribers, there is no turning back now. Failure is not an option. Lol. You'll be successful, all it takes is water.
We send prayers for rain
the rock idea is brilliant - best idea yet! /// you might want to set up a guest registry to allow people to sign it and maybe give a brief history of themselves?
This is fascinating. I'll eventually catch up to the most recent videos. I wish I had discovered this channel a year ago.
I was building swales on an 8 acre horse ranch, I began to fill the swales with mulch and wood chips. And as I did so I used the wood chips to make pathways to ease my work load. Time to build paths
Oh nice, things are happening! The next rain event will probably test your constructions and show if there's room for improvement. The lessons and learning probably never stop.
Well said!
Congratulations on building your tribe. This is how civilizations start.
Ever thought about hauling an old container out there and make a container home/storage shed? Make every trip worthwhile and carry a truck load of chicken manure and cow manure to enrich the soil. Bromliade plants are also good for hot climates since they hold water in them and can withstand heat.
A container in 106F heat with a UV index of 13 sounds more like an oven. But, we did something today along those lines that's a lot more temperature friendly. Coming soon...
@@dustupstexas you put a roof over it, containers are fine, I live where 106 is a typical summer temp, plenty of container homes, you just need to get the sun off them....
@@dustupstexas glad to hear you have an alternative. I've seen where persons just insulate the containers to deal with the heat issue.
Be sure to get drone footage of the area and surrounding area for documentation purposes. You'll want records of progression over time.
Already doing that, but I'm stoked to share the 3D drone maps that we made yesterday
How cool! Very excited to see the progress. Just imagine we're the valley will be in 5 years.
Keep it up!
A year later and he's got some guys throwing rocks in a ditch.
Unless he commits to something and starts actually working that valley won't look any different in 5 years.
If I jumped right into it a year ago, I'd have spent 45k on washed out berms. I make no apologies for taking time to make better decisions
@dustupstexas it's a process and your going to learn as you go. People just love to hate and Troll because they have nothing else better to do.
Anyways thanks for the update I can't wait to see the next video.
Take care!
Can we get some video on how the dams have worked i.e. showing them during and after a rain event. Trail cam?
I'm sure we will. I believe this presentation is almost real time so I'm sure once it rains footage of it will ensue..
Correct. I'm trying to speed it up. I had two in place before the last storm and they did well. I mentioned early in the video a but of silt accumulated behind them
You are speaking my language when you said Bulldozer! Old guys like me don't chuck rocks so well. Haha. Best always
I think the terrasses will work out great. I remembered a video about the Tamera Ecovillage in Portugal where they where using a simple tool to plan their terrases. They build a wooden A-shaped frame and hung a weight on a thread from the top marked the level on the horizontal part and started to level the terrain by hand and shovels using the the trees and bushes as waypoints for their steps so they did not need to change the growth and use its roots as part of the support structure. Maybe your voluntees can make this faster than trying to build and mantain the infrastructure to get heavy machinery to the place.
Send those volunteers my way
yes collecting rocks and creating check dams and stuff seems a good choice to me. Although I would also terrace the steeper parts and use the "bathtubs" in africa south of the Sahara in Senegal for example they use these half moon diggs, i would put them on flatter parts because there the water will run slower than on the steep parts
hope you can capture a rain occuring out there. Good luck!
its so nice to see sombody take a very generationall problem, and fixing it, knowing full well, that it will takes a lot of years to build Soil...
Its so great to see your projekt prosper...
keep it up, it will be very educational for so many people in the future
I am happy to see such a progress in one video. I hope that the water will stay in the ground in the near future.
Human desert beavers. Could you train rockchucks to do the labor? Have fun!
🤣
Really cool. Not to put additional expense into your project, but drone footage would be great. Each episode that you do work, it’d be nice to get a view of the property and see what your work looks like. Get some perspective of everything you’re doing and what you want it to look like. Thanks!
My gimbal motor is broken on the drone
Awesome. Slowly but surely.
Tiger nuts are ideal for desertic areas, shows great results in arid area in Spain and in the Sahara desert.
Elephant grass will help as well
I'm in zone 8. Elephant grass is 9 and above
Maybe if you are thinking of purchasing equipment buying a backhoe might work better as you get the big bucket for bugger jobs like the bath tubs and a excavator bucket for the swale/contour type work. Hope this helps, I love what you are doing :)
Hey Shaun, any consideration on underground stormwater retention systems? With the little valleys you have, you could flatten the area, install the chambers, and backfill to top with the soil around it. Maybe that would hold water in an area better and let it leech out over drought times?
I think is a great solution, honestly.
It's called a sand dam and it's a very important part of the strategy
It's coming along great 👍
Good job on the check dams!
Move the front loader on your skid steer to areas with the best rocks while people load them. Then move and dump where you want them and return. Much, much faster.
I've had to rent a skid. I don't own one
@@dustupstexas Even a tractor with a front loader would work great out there. You end up doing as much as you can with your equipment and would use it everyday you are out there. Your application is perfect for owning a tractor (or skid). Plus, it’s a lot of fun.
What a kind guy :)
Check damn n volunteers are the ticket.
Nobody let it get like that. It's always been like that
Great stuff Shaun! I look forward to you videos. More drone overview shots would be great too.
My gimbal motor is acting up...
@@dustupstexas 🙁 Sorry hear that. It seems like things break extra fast and are hard to repair out there.
Lining rocks on the grade coming down the hills sort of like a swale. This will also trap organic material. Without digging up the soil and possibly causing erosion.
Invite a group of detectorist out to detect along your gullies and as they are looking can stack rocks and you may even find tou have some small gold on your place that could help you. Detecting along the gullies and side walls and building some rock dams as you go would be great but i am in Australia. Anyway doing a great Job just keep it going.
You have very nice and big playground there.
Agreed!