Environmental Restoration
is the deliberate attempt to speed recovery of damaged areas.
It ranges from practical and economic attempts to simply restore
some productivity to degraded grazing lands, to the attempt to
return full ecosystem function and structure in protected
ecosystems. Restoration is needed virtually everywhere humans have
been active past the hunter-gatherer stage. A third of the surface
of the earth is afflicted with land degradation or desertification
and this affects almost a billion people. Every year 6 million an
additional hectares are completely lost to production according to
U.N. estimates and 60% of the rangeland, 60% of rain-fed croplands
and 30% of irrigated croplands are at risk. Protecting and restoring
damaged lands requires an understanding of ecology, economics,
psychology and culture.
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| Understanding Disturbance |
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The puzzle we are trying to solve in planning for restoration is
understanding both above and below ground structure and function. Water and nutrient limited
arid and semi-arid ecosystems tend to be very brittle and easily damaged,
and even minor disturbance can lead to profound and long lasting changes.
Understanding the changes that have occurred is essential to plan a
successful restoration project. More
(Includes Further Reading List.) |
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| Desert Restoration - Steps toward Success |
| The ten-step program for successful restoration of deserts |
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| Buried Clay Pot Irrigation |
| The book Fan Sheng-chih Shu describes the use of buried clay pot
irrigation in China more than 2,000 years ago. It is likely buried
clay pot irrigation had been used for many years before this
description was published. Current practices remain much the
same. More
(Includes Further Reading List.) |
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| Deep Pipe Irrigation |
| Deep pipe irrigation can be especially useful on slopes and in
crusty soils where surface applied water will run off. It increases
the ease of watering remote sites and has been very effective in
land restoration projects. More
(Includes Further Reading List.) |
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| Microcatchment Water Harvesting |
| Microcatchment systems provide many advantages over alternative
irrigation schemes. They are simple and inexpensive to construct and
can be built rapidly using local materials and manpower. More
(Includes Further Reading List.) |
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| Soil Pitting to Improve Arid Land
Revegetation |
| Soil pitting is a practical and proven surface modification
treatment to improve water infiltration and retention and reduces
evaporation and increases surface storage and the time available for
infiltration to occur. More
(Includes Further Reading List.) |
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| Soil Solarization |
| Solar energy can be used to kill weeds, weed seeds, and pathogens
in garden and restoration sites. Solarization is often as effective
as herbicides, fumigants, and other hazardous and expensive pest
control methods. More
(Includes Further Reading List.) |
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Nitrogen Pollution
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The impact of nitrogen additions on ecosystems - now observed in
many areas of the world. The best long term study is the Rothamstead
Plots in England. Most of the problem is from fossil fuel combustion
for home heating and cooling and automobiles. More
(Includes Further Reading List.) |
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| The
Tumbleweed Centennial in the Antelope Valley, California |
| Presented at 1996 CalEPPC Symposium (California Exotic Plant Pest
Council) |
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| Soil
Ecology and Restoration Group (SERG) |
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The research emphasis of this group is on ecosystem dynamics of arid and
semiarid lands. Theoretically analysis of fundamental processes and
structures is complemented by applied research in dry land restoration.
The primary focus is on soils and belowground processes in arid and
semiarid ecosystems with emphasis on microbial ecology and
plant-microorganism relationships. More |
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