Archive for October 29, 2010
Woodchip Berms
by Dr. Christian Meuli, La Resolana
Wood chip berm at La Resolana
Woodchip berms are the easiest and most useful rainwater harvesting practice I use. The evolution of this method began in 2002 when the risk of wildfire in New Mexico became extreme and the pine-bark beetle became epidemic in our pinon-juniper forests.
At La Resolana in Edgewood, thirty miles east of Albuquerque, the forest had grown so thick that little snow and only some rain could reach the ground due to the extremely dense tree cover. These trees also shielded the ground from the sun so that few grasses and shrubs could grow beneath them.