On Nov 20, 7:32*am, Jonathan Cook wrote:
Wolfgang wrote:

"DaveS" wrote in message

http://perso.ch/arboretum/man_tree.htm

Very nice.

including, not surprisingly, our own peripatetic Johnny Appleseed (aka
Jonathan Chapman).

I'm from Ohio and one of my grandparent's was a Chapman...

anyone who has seen a denuded landscape turned into a forest (or vice
versa, as is, unfortuately, more often the case) can testify to the
existence of real miracles.

Down here (in the upper elevation hills, not the desert), a Bouffier
who would restore the land _would_ be cutting down trees, working on
clearing the endless square miles of juniper trees and restoring the
grasslands. It's grass that would bring back the springs, not
trees...trees suck the ground dry.

Jon.

True enough for those landscapes meant to be grasslands, sage steppe,
savanna, etc. And I am doing a little work to encourage some of the
Palouse prairie natives. like the Bunch grasses, Idaho fescue, Prairie
junegrass etc. Over-seeded about 5 acres with Bluebunch Wheatgrass
(Agropyron spicatum) and have a war going with invasive Star Thistle
and a little push mower. So, as in many things, all or nothing is not
where it is at. Even in forest there are the native grasses and forbs
etc that play their role and within the forest damn few mono-cultures
can persist without a reaction, usually negative. I am sure there are
exceptions but these heuristics are what I work with.

Having said the above, on the Palouse much of the river bottoms were
forested (and still are in lots of places) populated with cottonwood,
alder, willow, and remnant Ponderosa, etc. and all manner of deciduous
shrubs. That is what keeps the river water cool after it leaves the
mountains and creates a cold water, oxygenated trout fishery. The
Ponderosa and plants like the desert buckwheats etc are usually back a
bit from the water courses, on the lithosol, but where their roots tap
into the sub irrigation. Tree-wise I am focused on the Ponderosa, and
nearer to the river, willow. Shade, shade, shade, and thats how the
cooler water should extend the trout water further and further down
thru the wheat country.

There are a few places i would like to re-establish some camus like
was there when L&C walked thru 200 years ago, along a Nez pierce
trail, and there is a significant ponderosa remnant nearby that I
would like to see extended thru my neighbor's, and my place.

Along the remaining tillable land now in Wheat, I have moved back in a
strip further from the river and am starting to plant ponderosa to the
field side of a road/dike opposite a site where the river wants to
move. Part of me says do what you will river, another part says
resist. So this planting is a compromise. In any case most of the
wheat field stays.

Jon, I don't recall the species mix, but as i recall the "bosque"
associated with the river and the pueblos from Albuquerque up thru
Taos and in some other areas is a similar kind of landscape. Anb per
your comment about the Junipers. . . we had a similar program in Utah
lo these many years ago, where-in the invasive Piny-on and Juniper was
"chained down" to restore grazing areas in the valleys and foothills
South of Provo.

All this jawing might make what i am doing sound like a bigger deal
than it is. Mostly it's an old man's hobby. You can barely see the
effects of my work so far. What impresses me is the work some of the
farmers are doing. And most of what I am doing has benefited from
advise from farmers, the water trust and a Walla Walla
environmentalist ("conservationist" is a better, less hot button word
in SE Wa). These folks have planted miles of river edge, and their
practices affect thousands of acres. They work within a very
structured econ/govt/climate/science environment that can grate on
their common sense of independence. But IMHO they are our natural
allies.

BTW Bob W. occasional Roffian, knows lots about the forest lands in
this part of the country.

Dave
OK, plant a tree, AND/OR a native grass.