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| writing:rough_mounding [2026/02/22 01:39] – [Similarities in Agriculture] JacobCoffinWrites | writing:rough_mounding [2026/06/26 02:28] (current) – JacobCoffinWrites |
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| By contrast, rough mounding makes the land a bit less pleasant for humans - the terrain is rough, soft, and challenging to walk on, with many small climbs up and down or past the hummocks and through occasionally-wet pits. As it recovers it fills in with brush and new growth sapling trees. In some ways, it's not as intuitive as a yard or park but these aren't generally intended to be human spaces. They're a tailored fit for the plants and animals that thrived here in the past. | By contrast, rough mounding makes the land a bit less pleasant for humans - the terrain is rough, soft, and challenging to walk on, with many small climbs up and down or past the hummocks and through occasionally-wet pits. As it recovers it fills in with brush and new growth sapling trees. In some ways, it's not as intuitive as a yard or park but these aren't generally intended to be human spaces. They're a tailored fit for the plants and animals that thrived here in the past. |
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| To some extent, rough mounding is part of a wider rejection of modern human landscapes. Practices like beaver dam analogs, sponge cities, and rough mounding all focus on restoring preexisting conditions and slowing the movement of water and catching it in place, allowing it to permeate the ground again. This seems to represent an acknowledgement that the continent was teeming with life balanced in complex ecologies before several hundred years of colonization tried to 'civilize' it. An attempt to restore, or at least more closely mimic, the way this land and its habitats were shaped and saturated for millennia. And because these are the habitats most native species evolved to find their niche in, it's no surprise that they often start to recover almost as soon as we nudge things back in this direction. | To some extent, rough mounding is part of a wider rejection of modern human landscapes. Practices like beaver dam analogs, [[https://www.wired.com/story/los-angeles-just-proved-how-spongy-a-city-can-be/|sponge cities]], [[https://www.npr.org/2026/05/03/nx-s1-5806062/washington-tribe-restore-wetlands-fish|levee removal]], and rough mounding all focus on restoring preexisting conditions and slowing the movement of water and catching it in place, allowing it to permeate the ground again. This seems to represent an acknowledgement that the continent was teeming with life balanced in complex ecologies before several hundred years of colonization tried to 'civilize' it. An attempt to restore, or at least more closely mimic, the way this land and its habitats were shaped and saturated for millennia. And because these are the habitats most native species evolved to find their niche in, it's no surprise that they often start to recover almost as soon as we nudge things back in this direction. |
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| ====Similarities in Agriculture==== | ====Similarities in Agriculture==== |
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| For a similar practice applied to agriculture, and restoring degraded soil in drylands, take a look at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Za%C3%AF|Zaï (aka tassa) from the Sahel region in Africa]]. This is a traditional farming practice which was reintroduced in the 1980s where people dig pits in less permeable soil to catch water and concentrate compost/manure. In examples which include the excavated soil being used to form small dykes on the downhill side of the hole, the similarities are striking. | For a similar practice applied to agriculture, and restoring degraded soil in drylands, take a look at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Za%C3%AF|Zaï (aka tassa) from the Sahel region in Africa]]. This is a traditional farming practice which was reintroduced in the 1980s where people dig pits in less permeable soil to catch water and concentrate compost/manure. In examples which include the excavated soil being used to form small dykes on the downhill side of the hole, the similarities are striking. |
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| | {{:writing:zai_pits_niger-fao-3775475773.jpg?direct&300|}} {{:writing:zai-pit-microcatchment-system_lg-803522122.jpg?direct&300|}} {{:writing:zai-pits-echo-1024x577-2318178794.jpg?direct&300|}} |
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| | {{:writing:wef-zai-pits.png?direct&400|}} |
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