Re: Frank and keylines

[Toby Hemenway <hemenway@jeffnet.org>]

 --- Frank wrote:
>> My concern is that over time gorges and drainages ways at the bottom of
>> slopes often divert water where it is not needed or desired.
And Loren responded:

> Perhaps by observing where the water goes and what
> it does, what grows there, what animals use it for drinking or washing,
> you can learn what *does* need or desire water in these places,

One of the eye-opening points that P.A. Yeomans made in "The Challenge of
Landscape" is that water and gravity combine to create landforms that move
water quickly downhill; most landforms could be thought of as delivery
devices to move water as rapidly as possible into rivers. Keyline makes
subtle changes (mostly by keyline plowing) that keep the water on the land
longer. The keyline designs that I've seen don't change the watercourses
(thus affecting wildlife) so much as slow the water down on the way to and
through these watercourses. The long-term effect of this is to build soil,
enhance habitat, and re-establish former springs that haven't flowed since
the land was first cleared (we are talking about farmland here). If
anything, application of keyline will create far more places for animals to
drink and bathe. So I think you can have your cake and eat it too, which I
believe must be written down somewhere as a basic permaculture principle.

Toby