Building Healthy Soils with not so primitive Biological Mechanical Components

File Under: Bad Religious Dogma - or would that be Fogma ?

What if Agriculture after World War II had the same blank Cheque funding for it's own 'Manhattan Project', instead of going down the Green Revolution path brought to us by today's Toxic Know-It-Alls ?

image: USBG.GOV

See this guy over here on the right ? He is Agricultural Ecologist, Dr Jerry Glover who with the help of photographer Jim Richardson of the National Geographic Society and Sculptor Steve Tobin known for his nature exhibits put together a beautiful underground visual of what root systems  in healthy pristine prairie soils actually look like. In so doing, they revealed an unknown hidden world and understanding of a complex root infrastructure that the average person above ground couldn't possibly otherwise visualize or imagine. But for the moment, I'd like to explain why most soils don't actually look like this in nature anymore. Mostly, the reason soils today are in poor condition has to do with the so-called scientific modern day enlightenment which has since 1914 -WWI (but especially since 1950), tried indoctrinate all of us into accepting how & why nature is so horribly flawed, badly designed, terribly inefficient and that only their technological innovations of this world's elites will save us from it's primitive foundations. But are the microbiological things of our natural world really all that primitive ? Interestingly other responsible scientific research is beginning to find out that this type of flawed worldview is itself untrue and in many cases caused irreparable damage in some areas. At the end of this post I'll talk a little more on the above exhibit. But here is a short introductory clip:

"Plant roots are vital components of the earth's ecosystem. They are necessary for all plant growth, including the production of food and nutrients for humans and many other organisms. However, as root systems are out off sight, their beauty and importance often go unnoticed. Exposed: The Secret Life of Roots showcases the presence and importance of roots through visually stunning root representations using the work of agricultural ecologist Dr. Jerry Glover, sculptor Steve Tobin, and photographer Jim Richardson."

(Source)

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So where did Humans go wrong when it comes to Soils & Land Management ?

Image typical of deep soil chiseling of Imperial Valley fields

(Imperial Valley Subsoil Chiseling)

For 20+ years I traveled from my mile high home in the San Jacinto Mountains above Palm Springs California all the way to Imperial Valley at least once a week, sometimes twice. Often while driving to work in early mornings in summer when I'd pass a field like the one above and world see the farmland subsoil deeply cut into and chiseled as the one above in the photograph. I'd also see parked next to the plowed field the very farm implement or deep plow apparatus responsible for the large gouges in the Earth sitting idle like the one at right here. The landscape down there is an ancient sea bed where the soils are a very fine almost clay-like in structure. Periodically if such deep tillage isn't undertaken, this ground remains hard packed like adobe. The water percolation is almost nil in worst case scenarios when they attempt to flood irrigate. Such deep tillage and later light tilling with smaller plows afterwards are necessary for the soils to restore back to that fluffiness of structure for not only better water percolation, but also crop plant root development. This Southern California valley is a major industrial farming area where a single corporate farm entity may may own land in the 1000s of acres. There is no life to these soils in the healthy microbiological sense. Such industrial farming strategies and practices are what destroy the soil microbial community. Advertisements from Tillage implement companies extol the wonders of their soil ripping products to their potential farmer customers by illustrating how they can prevent stagnant water build up from heavy storms or common flood irrigation practices which no longer percolate into impervious soils. But there is far more that keeps the soils lifeless other than constant regular tillage, that would be the overuse and abuse of synthetic chemicals. 

Image: Blue-Jet SubTiller advertisement

image: business recycling Australia

For decades the soils of this ancient lake bed of Imperial Valley on both sides of the border between the USA and Mexico have been drenched in synthetic fertilizers of all kinds. Herbicides, fungicides and insecticides applied either from the ground or the air also contribute to this damage. Taken altogether, these too kill the healthy soil biology as does excessive uses of plowing and other deep subsoil tillage. This is why these desert valley soils are mostly sterile and strictly mineral based in their structural make up and colour. Pick up a handful of Imperial Valley soil and you will not find any of the rich black soil common with most natural systems. Chemicals, like excessive plowing also help to favour noxious weeds by eliminating the very checks and balances nature has used for 1000s of years to keep weeds under control. Interestingly, all these industrial farm mismanagement practices are identical to other irresponsible land mismanagement practices used by the US Forest Service and Timber Industries. Take the photo  example below of this ridgeline in the Trabuco Ranger District of Cleveland National forest in the Santa Ana Mountains of Southern California which has been stripped of it's mycorrhizal hosts (chaparral) and completely replaced by weeds which thrive in a bacterial system of soil creation. Destroy above ground mycorrhizal hosts and you destroy the underground mycorrhizal grid and allow a bacterial system to replace it which favours weeds, particularly those weeds we call Ruderals. 

Image - Chaparral Institute

Image: Chaparral Institute

Somewhere back in the 1960s-70s, it was ignorantly assumed that stripping most all major ridgelines of their chaparral was a great idea for a major firebreak to control any future wildfire event. However, this replacing of the chaparral plant community (which is host to mycorrhizal fungi) by these regular control burns, vegetative mastication, synthetic chemicals, and/or bulldozing actually allowed a bacterial underground system to be created which favoured invasive grasses and other noxious weeds like cheatgrass, mustards, radishes, star thistle, etc. This turned out to be a huge backfiring mistake. Oddly enough those ignorant irresponsible practices are the exact mirror image of industrial farming methods which create far more problems than they were originally meant to solve. The result for the forestry was not stopping wildfire, but rather the creation of a mismanaged landscape scenario which actually fed worse wildfire condition scenarios than preventing them. If the idea was to slow down wildfires, the true reality resulted in speeding up their spread. From that point the domino effect gets worse. Take for example the usage of slurry type phosphate based fire retardants used in stopping fires. Would you believe this actually spreads Cheatgrass and other runderals ? Take a look below.

Photo by Jed Little

A year after the Fourth of July fire on Mount Jumbo, a long green line of cheatgrass is visible where fire retardant was dropped. The red slurry retardant allows some exotic weeds to replace native grasslands, according to preliminary results of a study by Salish Kootenai College and the University of Montana. Now read this portion I've quoted below from the online journal, The Missoulian:

"The study raises the possibility that the red slurry, while helping to slow a wildfire's advance, could ultimately worsen grassland fires by promoting the growth of cheatgrass, one of the most flammable invasive weeds in the West."

"According to preliminary results, the retardant's fertilizerlike nutrients significantly increased cheatgrass and tumbleweed mustard, both exotic annual species, at the expense of native perennial grasses on the mountainside."

"The invaders benefit from the jolt of nitrogen and phosphorous in the slurry, which native and exotic perennials largely ignore because they are accustomed to nutrient-poor soils. Cheatgrass and tumbleweed mustard didn't spread where the fire burned alone, but they exploded in areas that were burned and hit with retardant, the study found. The two invaders have spread from 51 percent to 88 percent on Mount Jumbo since the retardant was dropped, although two perennial invaders, spotted knapweed and Dalmation toadflax, decreased."

(Source - Missoulian)

I literally hate going for a hike and receiving the nasty end of an assault of stickers from walking through a mismanaged field infected by a  Cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) invasion. These stickers in boots and socks are so incredibly annoying that you need to stop periodically to take the boots off and clean both boots and socks to regain your sanity. They can also be dangerous to your pets and other domestic animals. If that is true, then it is also true that their overwhelming presence is not good for wildlife either. Now there were a couple of interesting things referenced in that article by the Missoulian. Notice that these annual plants [ruderals = Cheatgrass, Mustards, Radishes, Tumbleweeds, etc] thrive in a nutrient enriched soil from the presence of excessive amounts of synthetic inputs deliberately applied to soils [for whatever reason or purpose], while the perennials that were   referenced in the article like Spotted Knapweed & Dalmation Toadflax have actually decreased. So why was that ? Are not those two plants also noxious invasive weeds ? Yes they are, but they are not ruderals, they have mycorrhizal roots and mycorrhizal fungi will disconnect in the presence of excessive synthetic nutrient inputs. They are invasive weeds in the sense that they originate from eastern Europe and Asia. Minus the checks and balances from their former ecosystems they then thrive and spread in North America. But they are also mycorrhizal hosts. Clearly human ignorance which breeds irresponsible decision making in so many areas of life have snowballed to the present out of control domino effect we find ourselves in. We are battling Nature instead of working with nature for a solution with an elite few making a profit off the misery of others. Nature has always had the most efficient solutions for balance and high yield success through it's genetic programming for 10s of 1000s of years irrespective how anyone says it originally got that way. Now take a look at another area [land restoration projects] which once again illustrate the how the overuse or reliance on mechanized innovations and synthetic chemicals cause setbacks and delays in plant community restorations. This example below comes from the Coachella Valley which is also located in Southern California just north of Imperial Valley. About the year 2001 a report came out on the success of ridding a desert oasis area known as 1000 Palms of an invasive tree called Tamarisk which dried up the streams and ponds and ruined the environment for the native palms and other desert oasis plants and animals which depended upon them for food and shelter. There were several methods and techniques employed like bulldozing, synthetic Chemicals and old fashioned hand clearing. There were two outstanding references of an observation which serve to illustrate the two superior & inferior methods for success from a single sentence in that whole report at the bottom in the last paragraph that spoke volumes to me. As far as I know, I am the only one who has ever caught this important gem of an observation:

"Most areas were cut by hand, thereby selectively cutting out the tamarisk while leaving the native shrubs unharmed. Only a 7.5 acre (3 ha) section that was heavily infested (> 95%) was cleared using a bulldozer."

"In the 7.5 acres (3 ha) that was bulldozed, natives established much more slowly than in the hand-cleared areas."

(Source)

So two main techniques employed at this restoration site. One was the commonly used conventional mechanized version by way of large industrial piece of equipment we call a Bulldozer with rippers and the other was the use of volunteers to hand clearing and selectively cut out the cancerous invasive plants within the ecosystem and leaving only the healthy native ones. Okay I get the Bulldozer because it is fast and efficient at eradication and the clearing by hand takes recruiting otherwise busy volunteers and a lot of sweat. But okay so what ? It's the long term goal that we are looking at here if indeed there is a noble goal. One leaves a healthy intact mycorrhizal grid under the ground with cover and the other sterilizes the landscape as some sort of clean slate or blank canvas ready for natives to be replanted by spreading seed on the ground and raking it in to germinate and rebuild the ecosystem. One fixes the situation more permanently with little maintenance afterwards and the other being a quick fix will have to be revisited again and again, year after year and still not get it correct. I immediately recognized the differences and reasons for both success and failure [or delay]  because of my own practices on my acreage up in the San Jacinto Mountains which tower over the Coachella Valley. Prior to moving onto my land in 1985, the previous owner had cleared with Bulldozer two large patches of chaparral down to the clean decomposed granite. Other areas were cut and cleared by hand. In all those 20+ years of living there, the cleared areas by Bulldozer always experienced a fight with weeds and attempting to plant any chaparral natives back over the cleared patches of land was always a lengthy process with only a few ever making it. However, in Chaparral area where some places required removal by hand, the ground never suffered. In fact where I would remove a single shrub to make room for a tree seedling to be planted, establishment success was always 100% as opposed to maybe 20%-30% on the bare soils. The reason of course was that the new seedling was instantly inserted into a healthy mycorrhizal grid which hydrated and nourished the young delicate seedlings and the other area had no grid for successful tree establishment which left seedlings to their own struggle for survival, hence the highest failure rates. This was the same method I followed after helping my former landlord Ken Dawson of Terwilliger establish a forest in the chaparral a few years previous. His property was in the Terwilliger part of Anza Valley and considered at the edge of high desert. It was mostly Chaparral covered [Manzanita, Sugarbush & predominently Redshank or Ribbonwood]. 

image mine: 2013

Large specimens of all three chaparral species were left intact by use of a small scale one man backhoe [the size of a small garden Kubota tractor] which was expertly used to surgically remove any unwanted vegetation to allow space for bare root tree planting without damaging other healthy shrubs. All the San Bernardino National Forestry officials & the Nursery at L.A. Moran up at Davis where we purchased those bare root pines said it would never work, especially if we didn't strip clear the land bare from competing brush. The reality of course is that the responsible science-based research being done today has found that the "Survival of the Fittest" religious dogma no longer holds water. The truth is that in mycorrhizal networked ecosystems, there is a mutual cooperation of all the organisms to ensure the health and survival success of all the members of the plant community system.  The chaparral plant community also has some of the deepest plant roots known to bore through impossible soils. They perform an amazing biological function of physics called hydraulic lift and redistribution of soil moisture which I'll reference below. The ONLY time this is  found in conflict is when the wrong soil conditions allow ruderals to invade a mycorrhizal system which has been destroyed through bad land management. Tilling, synthetic inputs, excessive use of fire, and last but not least irresponsible overgrazing by domestic animals with no wild instinct smarts to move on all contribute to long term damage.

image: mine 2013

As you can see the Chaparral, in this case Redshank or Ribbonwood is still intact and thriving, yet so are the Jeffrey and Coulter Pines. The soils on this particular property are extremely shallow with many boulders and fractured rocky soils under the ground. Still the system is a giant success because of replicating nature, even if we didn't realize the full impact and knowledge at the time in what we had done. I later went back and inoculated some areas with an ecto-mycorrhizal fungi from Plant Health Care Inc called Tree Savor Injectable which contains only a single species of Pisolithus tinctorius, which is an ectomycorrhizal fungi. The needle holding capacity of most all those pine trees were 4 or five years which is excellent proof of the system's self-sustaining function even during this present west coast drought which has hit all of California. I'll post a link below in references.

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Collective Intelligent of the Enlightened Higher Lifeforms versus the Primitives ???  

Image Dr Wendy Taheri

So what is it exactly that is going on under the ground that makes these specific instances either a  success story or miserable failure ? It is the practices that either a landscaper, gardener, farmer or forester chooses to employ along with other methods of sound or irresponsible land maintenance. Many believe that the Scientific advances of our modern world are the only thing that will save mankind. But the exact opposite is true. Take for example the image at the right here of agricultural soil which has been worked decades utilizing all the modern day science-based tillage practices coupled with Synthetic inputs. The round spheres are fungal spores and these were culled from 25 grams of industrial agricultural soil. The photograph was taken by Dr Wendy Taheri who is a Research Microbiologist who today spends time educating and helping American Farmers who are hungering for a change. BTW, those tiny white round dots are not spores at all, but nematode eggs. Now compare that photo with the photograph below.

Image Dr Wendy Taheri

This photograph here at left is a mere one gram of healthy natural prairie soil as compared to the contrasting photo above which you may remember was 25 grams of industrial agricultural soil. Notice the difference in spore biodiversity count and the high density concentration ? This could also be illustrative of most any forest soil or holistically managed farm commercial soils where large diversity of perennial cover crops are used as hosts which encourages diverse numbers of these endo-mycorrhizal fungi. The above result is where no tillage was practiced and no chemical inputs were ever touching this soil. The bottom soil photograph is the result of supposedly primitive microbes [according to the religiously driven scientific dogma] and the top photograph is the result of science-based industrial agricultural practices of intensive plowing, synthetic chemical inputs [fertilizers, herbicides, fungicides & insecticides] and last but not least the GMO plants which are believed to be improvements on nature's flaws by the Biotechnology industry. All of these brought to us by superior higher collective human intelligence. I can only imagine that the ongoing choices by the majority of farmers, landscapers, foresters and the average home gardener is the imaginary misunderstanding & assumption that the holistic biomimetic practices are more work and sweat with little results to show for the hard work. The reality is that it's the exact opposite. To conclude, let's go back to Dr Jerry Glover's National Geographic Gallery.

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Now the Gallery below of the art show I opened up with Dr Jerry Glover and National Geographic

National Geographic & Dr Jerry Glover

Here, Dr. Jerry Glover works in a soil pit at the Land Institute in Salina, Kansas with a garden host fitted with a jet nozzle to expose what the rooting structure on two entirely different plants look like. On the left, we see the deeper roots of a perennial wheatgrass are displayed, while on the right we see the more shallow roots of an annual wheat are visible. Notice the side by side contrast below ? The exhibit theme was to demonstrate how the bulk of a prairie grass plant exists out of sight, with anywhere from eight to fourteen feet of roots extending down deep into the earth. Now why should any of that matter ? Besides being incredibly larger in size, these hidden root mass infrastructures accomplish a lot in storing carbon, nourishing soil, increasing bioproductivity, and preventing erosion.  Unfortunately, most of these productive, perennial grass functions of the past are more rare than they once were. This is because they have been replaced by ruderals (annuals) which live a mere few months (six months if lucky).

Common annual variety of annual Wheat here are contrasted next to perennial Wheatgrass. Notice perennials, which come back year after year have a root system which will grow to a depth of few meters, while the annual varieties perhaps a mere foot. This is also illustrative of all ruderals versus perennials in the wild setting. A farmer or rancher with a pasture of abundant diversity of perennials is going to weather the dry season or even drought much better than say those common western states pastures where short lived ruderals such as cheatgrass and other annuals [runderals] reign supreme. This is why many western rangelands and pasture can only have a limited use early in the year. What is most important to a pasture is having a large biodiversity of perennial plants dominating the vast area which encourages an underground  microbiological community of beneficial mycorrhizal fungi and healthy nitrogen fixing  bacteria to allow the soils to breathe. Any rainwater falling on such a landscape will fully percolate into the earth as opposed to running off. This is important to underground storage of water to be tapped into later in the dry season. In times of heavier rainy seasons, several meter deep root infrastructures may also facilitate a process called hydraulic descent which may also help restore underground aquifers and replenish natural springs. The other being hydraulic lift & redistribution, but more on that below. Again, these are also things which even many farmers who do practice  biodiverse perennial cover crops may be completely ignorant  themselves of the full line of services being accomplished by perennial plant root systems other than mere water percolation through healthy aggregated soil alone. More on that phenomena below. But here is a link to the root system galley:

(National Geographic Deep Root Gallery)

Now take as another example the common picturesque California Oak Savanna settings that are often romanticized in photos. 

Image - Mine (2013)

Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve (Oak-Grassland Savanna)

This photo above is in my home San Diego County in Southern California. While it is picturesque, the historical view with these Englemann Oaks would have had low interior sagescrub or chaparral growing all around it as opposed to these nonnative grasses. These grasses were created by ranchers in the early years to raise cattle. But land management practices from northern Europe and back eastern United States just never worked out here in the west. Africa had the same problems with Europeans ignorant of local ecosystem functions imposed northern European land management practices with domestic livestock which had disastrous consequences. The Cheatgrass dominance in the west also has negative implications in the fight against climate change. Cheatgrass and other ruderals are the worst in terms of carbon sequestration. In 2006, researchers found (Here) that the invasion of cheatgrass in the West had turned some areas from carbon sinks to a net source of carbon. The invasion of cheatgrass and all nonnative ruderals altogether have released up to nearly nine million tons of carbon into the atmosphere and will likely release far more as time goes on. Throughout the California Savannas where Cheatgrass and other ruderals now dominate, many areas often burn annually and actually thrive as a result of this constant burning, whether prescribed, accidental or intentionally set fires. They also have a lousy shallow root system which means that far less carbon is stored in underground root systems than was once true of the native perennials like chaparral or even biodiverse species of prairie plants in true Savannas. There is something else the ruderals cannot assist in accomplishing and that is both hydraulic life & redistribution of water for the beneficial function of the entire system. Aside from the loss of a mycorrhizal grid underground network there is something else missing. These two subjects are mostly a mystery of sorts to most people, but they are important phenomena to have an understanding of if your farm, ranch landscape, gardening or habitat restoration project are to be a success. Admittedly, even scientists do not discuss much about the phenomena to the public in general.

Importance of Hydraulic Lift & Redistribution

This is one natural phenomena which most likely no longer functions properly if at all in most modern day farm pastures and Ranch grasslands and sadly there is not a lot of discussion about it. Those old growth plant root infrastructures provide an invaluable service in the summertime of hydraulic lift and redistribution of water resources from deep in the earth up to the surface layers. But only certain specific plants with the deepest root systems can perform this task of drawing up water, sending it laterally toward other plants by means of the mycorrhizal grid for the night time benefit of other shallower rooted plants. This is the reason some holistically maintained pastures, even in traditionally dry western geographies have a healthy green even during the dry season. The animated illustration below often used by Professor Todd Dawson reveals how the system actually functions.

But there is even more than hydraulic lift at play here. Some way somehow the water has to be driven deeper than mere soil percolation would allow. This is where an reverse in hydraulic function of root systems must come into play.

What has happened to Hydraulic Descent ???

I once read where researchers once discovered something interesting about the common Mesquite Tree of the deserts in the southwestern United States. When the tree is dormant and not visibly growing above ground during the winter rainy seasons, they perform a phenomena called hydraulic descent where their root systems collect as much surface rainwater percolation as possible and pump it deep into the earth. Now, Mesquite & other desert trees and shrubs have some of the deepest taproot systems known in the world. They can actually bore through the earth down to a depth of a couple hundred feet. Please take note of the animation above. What effect has the loss of this phenomena had on large aquifers and natural springs ? How much does such a phenomena have on actually benefiting groundwater recharge beyond helping pasture to maintain green ecosystem viability during the dry season ? What practical applications can be applied in biomimetic inspiration in creating technological innovations such as irrigation systems which save water as opposed to the present wastefulness we have now ? My reasons for bringing the subject of hydraulic lift - descent & redistribution into the discussion is that they cannot be ignored as a naturally occurring phenomena either in the wild, farming, landscaping & gardening. When w landscaper prepares a design on any new project, all such consideration of these remarkable mechanisms alone with the microbiological nanomachines we've looked at earlier should be considered for the long term viable life sustaining system you are wishing to establish. Same with the farm, ranch or habitat restoration. People need to think in terms of their projects being a living mutually cooperating biological machine. While it's wonderful that farmers, professional landscapers and your average home gardener are thinking in terms of practicing a holistic biological approach minus the chemicals, it's also important to widen out and have a peripheral view other other factors that provide checks and balances into the system. For example attracting the beneficial predators both large and small. I'll provide more links below in references. 

So let's recap what we know!

All plant ecosystems basically work and function identically with a little a little tweaking taken into account for climate and geography. The purpose (don't look at the term as a dirty word) of annuals is important in that when land is disturbed they quickly cover the ground. Most of their capabilities are offensive with very little resources being used in defenses against predators. Creating an abundance of seed to replicate themselves is what they do, but irresponsibly land manage and you provide an out of balance scenario for them to explode upon the landscape. All Tree, Shrub and Prairie systems are heavily mycorrhizal. Mycorrhizae in all systems of management dislike over fertility or nutrient abundance. Bacterial systems limit root infrastructure and in farming excessive synthetic nutrient inputs are nothing more than a numbers game where it is hoped that 20-30% sucks in somewhere around the plant. Because mycorrhizae is mostly absent from such systems, weeds (ruderals) thrive and more synthetic inputs are needed to rid the system of unwanted plants that nature would have otherwise kept in check. Excess synthetics end up percolating into the earth polluting groundwater or as runoff into aquatic systems during the heavy part of the rainy season creating further pollution and ecosystem disruption. All areas of human endeavour when it comes to plant system management like habitat restoration, forestry, farming, ranching, landscaping right down to home gardening either benefit or suffer depending on how closely you mirror your techniques to how nature really works. Tillage is also another limiting and damaging practice to mycorrhizal soil structure. Limiting tillage as much as possible will maintain this life sustaining system underground which in reality is not so primitive after all as science would have you believe. Take all of these micro-organisms away and see how time we higher lifeforms have left to live. If life truly is a mere mistaken bundle of compromises, then what the heck, maybe the Biotechs and Agro-Chemical companies are doing nothing wrong and we should just accept the consequences of putting our faith and trust in these toxic know-it-alls. 

In Conclusion: The Winners & Losers

New technological advances by mankind's Elites have seemingly made life easier for the rest of us when we only look at them from an on the surface viewpoint. These bio-innovations created in some high security lab however have put mankind and the natural world at risk. The fate of the world is being placed into the hands of unaccountable elites in bed with powerful political interests who speak from one side of their mouths of their products being the result of ethical responsibility while at the same time being obsessed with the pursuit of fame and personal enrichment out of the other side of their mouths. The problem is our messed up world is the result of a gross lack of Bioethics. These people know full well what their products are doing, but their strategy is to play the dumb card. When a newer consequence strikes, they simply create another synthetic solution to treat the symptoms while totally turning a blind eye to the cause. The pharmaceutical industry works the same way, but hey, are the also not related ? So from a short term monetary, fame, glitter and glory standpoint there are certainly those who appear to come of the winners. Farmers are also the real losers, not the agro-chemical corporations. If any farmer actually becomes truly informed, educated and understands that most of their success is in changing practices as opposed to spending vast amounts of money on synthetic inputs along with magic seeds, these giant corporate entities would fold. Can you now understand the reasons for vast amount of financial resources being funneled into these damage control public relations lobbying by corporate business interests ? The vast majority of other lifeforms including humans will also lose out in the end. I know of no real solution as far as implementing or reversing the damage done on a massive global scale. You all read the News lately, so you tell me. That doesn't mean the information and understanding on how to use the clean viable information doesn't exist. It does. But there always seems to be something powerfully negative out there to throw the proverbial wrench in the works. The best that can be done is for those few individuals who actually get it to make practical application of what they know to use out on the farm, ranch, landscape or garden and allow the light of success to do the talking for you.

 How long can people really keep trusting these fallible researchers to be bio-ethically responsible ? Ask yourself, what's been their track record thus far during this modern age of enlightenment ?

Some Further Reading References

http://www.californiachaparral.com/threatstochaparral.html

Dawson Property Forest Establishment 1983

Hydraulic Life & Redistribution - Hydraulic Descent

Roots: 'Hydraulic Lift and Redistribution'

Hydraulic Descent: An Ecosystem's Tool for Filling Vast Underground Reservoirs

Why Streams still flow in California's officially designated "Exceptional Drought" zone 

Deep Root Irrigation based on Hydraulics Behaviour in Ecosystems

Deep Irrigation Methods for Training Deeper Rooting networks

This area below will remain open for any updates to add

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Attention Eco-Activists: Why not challenge yourself to restore the Land that was Lost ?

Question: Why don't Eco-Activists save things closer to home in their own backyards ???  2nd Question: Why do so many of them rarely  volunteer for any kind of restoration projects closer to home ??? 😒

All over the planet we are overwhelmed with all manner of Activist Protest movements to save anything. Now that's commendable, but I've never seen so much angry activism over so many different types of issues in almost every corner of the globe all at once. For the purpose of this post, let's narrow down the angry list to one specific area of concern. This would give us Nature and our Earth's various eocsystems. In almost every protest chant when it comes to ecology or environmental issues, you most often will hear, "We need to Save this Area for future generations."  Okay, I can most certainly understand and appreciate the emotional take here and at times I too have lamented about what has happened to some of our most beautiful and pristine wildland areas, especially in Southern California where such places have a bad misfortune of disappearing at an alarming rate because it is deemed more important to grow the economy. But for all the angry protesting, politicking & finger pointing blaming ideological opponents for the ruin in some National forest or other wilderness area, I often times see things closer to home which are almost always overlooked as a better opportunity to make an incredible improvement. These areas are so close that if they were rattlesnakes they'd be dead. Here is an example of what I'm talking about, an area I once always considered the Yosemite of Southern California, Rancho Cuyamaca State Park. Now should that have been saved and set aside ? Absolutely, it's a perfect example of doing the right thing and no one would argue against the decision to set aside that area as a park or preserve. But unfortunately, in an instant of time in October 2003, the Cedar Fire consumed everything about that Park so completely, that most all old growth forest is gone forever. Most people now living and for generations to come will never see that beautiful area ever again as it once was. With climate change now at full steam ahead, it's highly doubful the majority of trees will ever achieve old growth status. Now while I find that such places are worth saving, there are clearly other regions closer to Home (city urban areas) which have long since been written off by such activists as having little worth, value or nothing more than a lost cause because the area visually appears so degraded, we can only write it off as a loss. This type of thinking is nothing more than a con. The California Native Plant people are constantly pushing homeowners to dump their lawns and plant natives. Yet numerous hills and strips of land in between urban housing and commercial development areas are ignored as having no value whatsoever. Let's look at some of these target areas for saving which capture more attention by Eco-Activist organizations, but which most people have never heard of. 

Update August 2018 - Duke University News

Duke University put out a study about how many locations are chosen for Wilderness or National Park designation. Surprise Surprise, it's got nothing to do with those locations being precious biodiversity hotspots. Mainly it's because of their emptiness & lack of human development (wildness as far as the eye can see). Of course that remoteness and lack of public recognition soon changes when Outdoor Gear manufacturing companies like Patagonia, Black Diamond, etc masquerade as an Ecology Champion in order to market more of their outdoor products. Soon the championed wilderness or Monument they fought to have designated (saved from human activity) is suddenly inundated with their customers only to later find the landscape ruined and in more danger than previously advertised.

"Protecting half of Earth might not be necessary, but would it be sufficient given the current trends of protection? The predilection of national governments is to protect areas that are “wild,” that is, typically remote, cold, or arid. Unfortunately, those areas often hold relatively few species. Our analysis shows that protecting even as much as half of the world's large wilderness areas will not protect many more species than at present."

Duke University: Protect Key Habitats, Not Just Wilderness, To Preserve Species

Take the Example of Bears Ears National Monument

Artwork - Jim Styles

 

THE FUTURE? BEARS EARS NATIONAL ‘MONEY-MINT’ and More Facts & Opinions…by Jim Stiles

The article in The Canyon Country Zephyr is worth the read

Photo - Mine

This is just one of many island-like Hills which are located within the El Cajon city limits. But you'll also find many in other parts of San Diego and Riverside Counties. Most of the native chaparral has long since been gone, replaced by non-native invasive weeds from the European Mediterranean or Northern Africa regions. This particular hill was stripped many years ago of native coastal sage scrub and planted with the common Red River Eucalyptus gum trees from Australia which was common practice almost 100 years ago. You can see the living and dead remnants of Eucalypts on the top of this hill and the numerous cut stumps of those which were harvested. Still, the native chaparral plant community never did really come back, but there are a few surprising hold overs. 

Photo - Mine

On this Hill east of Gillespie Air Field is a hold over of times past. This is a native Prickly Pear Cactus which surprisingly has gotten much bigger since I first encountered it in 2002. Still, you can see the overwhelming smothering of the non-native invasive weeds. However further down below near the Mobile Home Park, there is a rather large healthy colony near some large granite boulders and smooth  flat granite bedrock where Metate Grinding Holes are located. No doubt the natives may have planted these some centuries back when their village was present. I've also noticed most native metate locations will also contain one, two or three Mexican Elderberry. This area is also next to a natural spring within the trailer park which has been capped. Want to find a former native encampment or village site ??? Then keep a keen eye out for these specific plants.

Photo - Mine

This California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica) is being overwhelmed and smothered by the heavy weedy intrusion of the non-native grasses like this cheat grass and non-native wild Black Mustard from the Mediterranean. This particular plant is the ONLY specimen on this entire hill. I know because I have thoroughly searched this entire hill for others. It is a main target featured plant when saving and setting aside habitat for the California Gnatcatcher, such as the conservation area on Rattlesnake Mountain to the north of this location which the rules demanded that open space be set aside during the construction of the Sky Ranch Housing Development. We always wondered if one day some developer would come along and turn those mountains into another Mount Helix rich folks paradise to the south, but the mandated open space totally prevented that from happening.

Toxicodendron diversilobum, Western poison oak or 
Pacific poison oak (syn. Rhus diversiloba)

Finding this plant for the first time back in 2002 was a wonderful surprise and an unexpected shock at the same time. But interesting none the less because it further intrigued me as to what the orignal historic vegetation content of this hill was really like a century ago. Such a plant as this one (Poison Oak) I've only associated with areas of high moisture content and usually on on the north side of a mountain. The Rattlesnake Mountain chain to the north of this Starlight Hill location and would have been an ideal location for this plant because of it's many springs, seep and cienegas. And yet, from all my decades of hiking all around up there on Rattlesnake Mountain, I have never once stumbled across this native Poison Oak species high up there.

Close up view of the Poison Oak foliage

Just a few further comments on this plant which I consider a strange anomaly of sorts because there is none of this that I have ever found along all of the mountain ridges of the Rattlesnake Mountain chain. In almost every instance where I have ever encountered it when out hiking on So-Cal, I have never found it in such a dry hot south facing slope location before. It has always appeared to be in areas of higher moisture content. One clue as to why it survives and does so well here is the fact that there are several granite boulders outcroppings all over this small hill in El Cajon as is also the case with other such hills to the east and south of here. It's these geological rock features which fascinated me years ago and inspired the use of many rock or other similar hardscape features which can act as a sort of mulch to prevent moisture loss and they also tend to concentrate rainfall allowing for such unique areas to have a higher water content than any of the surrounding soils. So in drought years there is no problem. Even in drought years you get a little rainfall, but in this geological feature it becomes concentrated. An illustrative comparison would be noticing the lusher higher growth of vegetation along desert highways as opposed to plants out away from the pavement. Runoff does concentrate and benefit those plants near by closer to the road. Such natural features can actually create a micro-climate effect of sorts which will allow plants to grow where they normally would not succeed. I hope to document and photo some areas in Riverside Co as prime dry hot locations where plants which normally require a heavier moisture  content not only exist, but actually thrive in these locations. Still, this Poison Oak plant was unexpected by me when I first encountered it and my pondering or meditation kicked in as to where this plant's ancestral heritage came from, much like the Rattlesnake Mountain single Lemonade Berry tree colony I've written about previous at one single location on all that big mountain chain. Such pondering triggers other questions, like, "What was the climate like way back when ?" or "What was the entire complete plant community like at one time ?" Another kool feature to keep in mind when it comes to seed collection or gathering cuttings, this could have unique genetic qualities useful in some habitat restoration projects as this plant's internal system may have engineered some important drought tolerant qualities into it's DNA that others may not have. Other clues as to past wetness are given the fact that, at the very foot of this small hill there are some exposed flat granite smooth bedrock with Metate grinding holes and these near a once well known Artesian Spring at the bottom of this rock platform, it's probably safe to assume that native Coastal Live Oak were also present in abundance as well as they once were on the alluvial fans emerging from cnayons at the foot of Rattlesnake Mountain which were stripped and planted with citrus orchards. Take a close look at the area of the once Native American encampment or village site of times long past.

Photo - Mine

This is the granite bedrock site of the native American Metate grinding holes. Notice the Prickly Pear Cactus which no doubt was part of the native's pantry and out of this picture frame to the left are some abundant examples of Mexican Elderberry, also a common plant near these village food preparation sites. The weedy invasive plants have a tougher go of it here, although they are still present.

Mexican Elderberry (Sambucus mexicana) 

Just above the historic Native village site. Actually this small chaparral tree is very common in and around the rocks here on this hill. I find it ncredible how Europe is so crazy about their Native Elderberry Trees and local Californians pay them no mind nor give them a second thought as a cultivated found source like the Natives did. Not even the majority of so-called Native Plant enthusiasts.

Now maybe I should get to the point of my post here. I have always found that most Save Nature Activism Groups never give many of the city locations a second look. Mostly these are written off and ignored by the majority in favour of more eye candy appealing locations which still contain native flora. Not everyone has this worldview, but certainly the majority view these locations as worthless and beyond hope and yet, these are right there in their own neighbourhood backyards. I look at such weedy locations as a challenging blank canvas to be restored to what it once was. Of course doing so means you must dump the conventional modern day enlightenment wisdom in plant healthcare (which generally comes with a price tag on it) and actually replicate what nature actually does. I'm happy that there are many who are nature lovers, love hiking and suchlike, but there is more to loving nature than mere surface knowledge. I often find that many greatly lack deeper practical application of what they see or observe on their short or long hikes. By practical application, I'm referring to their own personal garden and landscape projects. There are many who don't understand the basic fundamentals of plant growth in nature and that there is clearly more to buying a plant at your local Native Plant Nursery and plugging it into the ground. Conventional Care as espoused by the Commercial Garden Products (like Drip Irrigation, etc) industry will kill the natives and often shorten the life of other non-native Nursery Grown plants. I also find that while many are willing to support a cause, even if it's merely clicking the "LIKE" button on an Eco-Activist Facebook page or being hooked into giving a donation, most never consider personal commitment by investing personal time and energy with involvement on restoration work projects. This is too bad, because even if you fail at something in terms of a project commitment, you also learn from that valuable experience. Weeding out the conventional bad old school science-based wisdom is a tough thing to over come. It's a complete turn around from things you've been taught & raised to believe and indoctrinated to place your faith in without questioning. Maybe we should call the hands on workshop a deprogramming experience. You know, things like dumping chemical fertilizers and installing a permanent irrigation infrastructure, believing all the while you are doing something for the plant's own good ? But gain understanding of how the natural world actually works and you'll never go back to that failed conventional modern day wisdom which is presently killing our planet Earth.

Image from Google Earth

Actual Area is east of Gillespie Field airport in El Cajon CA

A healthy chaparral or coastal sage scrub plant community is a mycorrhizal one. On the other hand, the weedy type annual plants (wild radish, black mustard, cheatgrass, yellow star thistle, etc) generally come  from a flood plain with it's bacterial system where most of the nutrients wash down from the higher locations and collect and settle on the valley floors. In the old days, weeds never really got a foothold on mountainous areas or foothills, but times have changed as these areas have become richer in nutrient content, no doubt as a result of various pollution components by mankind which have gradually accumulated over the decades to allow for this unnatural succession of invasive non-native annual plant community to take over. Not to mention the complete disappearance of the healthy mycorrhizal community which outcompetes weedy ruderals for nutrients that keeps the weeds in check. This is where I took it upon myself while working there to experiment with a portion of that Starlight Hill that I have revealed to you in any of the photos. First thing that has to be dealt with on such a location is what I consider a radical extreme measure of dealing with any heavy weedy system in a swift kick blow to the weedy plants themselves. First step would be to use a weed eater or Fishing line power trimmer to cut down as far to the ground as possible any and all weeds. dead or alive. Next, while I don't like chemicals, in some extreme cases where used properly and not over done, products like Roundup can be used after the next rainy season growth appears. After this initial extreme KILL, heavily mulch these areas to suppress the newer weeds from appearing on the area to be re-established with chaparral or any other native plants from any area of the globe being restored. In the old days, most southern facing slopes had a sterile decomposed granite soil base spaced between the individual plants with the plant's own dander or mulch underneath it's own vegetative drip line. This is not the case now. In fact you cannot allow any bare spaces between plants for a few decades, given the changes which have taken place on our once pristine natural world. Allow these spaces and weeds will fill in these spaces. So keep these areas between plants mulched until they grow large enough to merge with each other. What I did on this hill project was plant both native Chaparral and native tree species, with the exception of a few non-native Mediterranean trees which can take drier conditions. Also remember, this hill site was to never have an irrigation system, so proper healthy natural establishment done the right way in the beginning was a must. The native chaparral plants I used were Lemonade Berry, Californian Holly (Toyon), Cleveland Sage, etc.

Importance of understanding the Mycorrhizal Grid

Image from updated Google Earth (2018)

Image- Ryan Cummings (2011)

The photo above has been updated from Google Earth street view at the end of Marlinda Way in El cajon, California at the foot of Rattlesnake Mountain. When I was a child in the late 50s & early 60s, the flowers here to the right were the main players. There were loads of TidyTips, California Poppies, Lupines, Blue Bells, etc. All of them have been replaced by Black Mustard, Yellow Star Thistle, Wild Radish, Cheatgrass, etc. All non-mycorrhizal non-native invasive plants which have change the soil microbiology from a mycorrhal one to a bacterial one. These plants do this when they invade and through their root exudates release chemicals which disrupt the chemical signally for symbyosis to take place between host plants and the mycorrhizal fungi. Decades ago industrial commercial agriculture planted Black Mustard between rows of grape vines and trees in orchards. Believe it or not Mustard are one of the best fumigants for soil, not only removing both good and bad fungi, but also root nematodes which would attack both orchard trees and grapevines in the vineyard for which farmers would have to employ otherwise toxic chemical fumigants to accomplish the same thing. But the farmers never really dealt with the mustard before it goes to seed and therefore Mustard escaped into the surrounding wild hillsides much like the photo below of a Northern California Vineyard.

Image - Naomi's Garden Blog

Image - Jade Meadow Farms

The photo of course is beautiful and picturesque, but it has also brought ecological consequences with the practice. Such invasive plant escapees have replaced the native California wildflowers and coastal sage scrub shrubs. Many modern biodynamic organic farmers are practicing the use of sheep to graze the mustard, not only in vineyards, but also in massive Solar Farm fields. This provides an alternative to other damaging science-based practices requiring synthetic pesticides. In so doing, farmers have the vines higher up on the trellis and using stubby legged Babydoll Southdown Sheep for this purpose. When I was in vocational agriculture and studying sheep, the larger taller breeds like Suffolk along with the stockiness of Hampshire were the focus because of meat production. Certain other breeds were dying out only saved through people who were champions of such breeds. How wonderful some people helped save those breeds and new purpose has been discovered for their use. This is where you also need to correct the soil's microbiology back to a mycorrhizal one in a restoration project. Decades of neglect ensure almost no beneficial mycorrhizal fungi existed to maintain healthy plantings. First, you need to understand and realize that out there in the untouched Natural world where plant communities are very healthy, there is an underground network grid on all mycorrhizal sites which interlinks all the plants that are coupled to it. This grid or network can range from the smallest lichens to the largest trees in any forest ranging from 100s of miles on out to 100s of miles of prairie. So it is imperative that a good fungal species blend of mycorrhizal mix be added at the very moment of planting for a good healthy start and to change the underground soil infrastructural makeup to something which will allow the plants to succeed. IMPORTANT: DO NOT listen to those who criticize inoculating the soil at planting. Actually you only need to inoculate the plant, not all the soil. The fungi will move throughout the soil. Often their biased view is that it's not necessary to inoculate because the fungal spores are just out there everywhere in the air. Forget it. If it were really there, the invasives would not have been so successful. The native trees I planted, believe it or not were Tecate Cypress and Coastal Live Oak, both of which thrived immediately. Non native trees were mostly volunteers of Aleppo & Canary Pine which were already around the properties below in the housing that was maintained by the company I worked for. What can I say is this, they were free and after all, it was only an experiment anyway. Even if failure were to happen, this was a major learning expreience. The first couple years the plants were babied with once a week watering the first several months down to once a month the second year. After that no more water. Such a watering strategy replicates what I learned here:  

Lessons Learned from the Bajadas (Alluvial Fans)

Okay, so below is a photo of  basically what the once weedy area looks like today below here. Keep in mind both sides were nothing but fire prone weeds before.

Photo - Mine

This is looking up the Landscape and Maintenance Service road for which plants were established on both sides of the road to provide privacy screening for the work of chipping and gravel and soil dumping which was necessary for the normal Park maintenance. Often times such areas are unsightly branches and trimmings piles and it detracts from the tidy cleanness of the Park Community. At the top where the road turns left, you'll notice the Tecate Cypress which actually provide a good green screening, Aleppo Pine is easy to identify and many of the small trees are actually Toyon and Lemonade Berry. Cleveland Sage is to the right.

Photo - Mine

This is looking back down the maintenance road. Notice the Silver Agave on the right. I collected that back in the 1990s from the Huachuca Mountains above Sierra Vista Arizona and brought it down we me when I left Anza CA. This Agave was actually growing on the forest floor up there under trees when I first discovered it. It originally was the size of my fist when I collected it. It was one of the pups around a bigger one.

Cleveland Sage (Salvia clevelandii)

This is on the south side of the maintenance road

Aleppo Pine (Pinus halapensis)

This is on the north side of the maintenance road opposite from the previous picture of the Cleveland Sage. Only weeds appear to be some Sow Thistle, but not much more. Continued use of mulch keeps them in check. These Aleppo Pine Trees here are 8 years old. There is absolutely no irrigation. My previous experiments in Anza California in dealing with the interconnections of a strong mycorrhizal grid network underground between a large group of pine trees are clearly present here as you can see these trees are  exceptionally healthy with little or no irregation. This underground interconnected network between all the tree root systems can shunt water from lower reaches where some irrigation from the Park may be transported uphill to the trees at the higher elevations above. The front Office and pool are of the Park has some extremely large Canary Island Pines for which somehow became colonized with Pisolithus tinctorius truffles. Every Spring the truffles appears and I'd collect them. Most of the Pisolithus tinctorius inoculent used on this hill came from those truffles I collected. Now the only water is the little rain from winter's rainy season which has been mainly drought. When planting trees and shrubs, remember to mulch heavily. It suppresses weeds and breaks down slowly by the fungi which feed the nutrients back to your plants.

Tecate Cypress ( Cupressus forbesii )

These trees are actually larger than they appear here in the photo. I had to stand back quite a ways to include all of them. The lower tall slender one is almost 20 foot in height as it is much much lower at the bottom of the bank. All of them show no signs of slowing down to a comfortable growth. None, with the exception of the lower one receives any watering. The lowest one may have roots near some irrigated plants nearby.

Photo - Mine

Same Tecate Cypress, but now viewed from below the bank. All of the Tecate Cypress were also colonized with mycorrhizae. The soil is decomposed granite with some adobe red clay and very little organic material. Only organics are the mulches place around the rooted areas.

Lemonade Berry (Rhus integrifolia)

This is a large chaparral shrub and was given to me by the Company's owner to plant where I wished. This specimen came from Scripps Ranch area. I really was unsure if it would take as it had been in a one gallon pot for a long while after being transplanted from the wild. It looked stunted and could easily been written off, but fortunately, a good mycorrhizal mix is mostly all that was needed. To the right and on the back of the bush is wild cucumber vine growing up into the branches. How fortunate for the wild cucumber to fiend an old friend where most others are lacking.

Coast Live Oak  (Quercus agrifolia)

Of all things that would disappoint me, is the sorry condition of the Coastal Live Oak as upsetting, but it's still alive. When I last visited here in July of 2011, the vegetation was healthy, thick and dense. Now the leaves are half green and half brown, almost as if poisoned with Roundup. Not sure how sensitive it's roots are, the new maintenance person may have sprayed to heavily dose of roundup around it to maintain the rid the area of weeds around it. Still it has been a success otherwise as I heavily inoculated it with various Ectomycorrhizae , in particular Pisolithus tinctorius. There is a volunteer Texas Umbrella or China Berry Tree growing to the right of the tree and it has wild Cucumber Vine growing up into it. I'll have to work on this area with permission of course.

Photo - Mine 

Looking up at at the once weed infested hill from across the street below. I actually have a photo back in Sweden of this hill before anything was done, but I'll have to scan it at a later date and post it. The transformation is remarkable and possible for any location. I have actually got some conventional camera photos of this area before much was done, but I'll have to scan them and upload here later. 

Photo - Mine

Looking down from the hill at the restoration project below. This is looking directly south towards Mount Helix in the southern end of El Cajon Valley.

Cleveland Sage (Salvia clevelandii) - Howard McMinn Manzanita
(Arctostaphylos densiflora) - Big Berry Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca)

These were planted on along the top of a wall to replaced the conventional dying Retail Nursery plants which had outlived their usefulness. They were inoculated with mycorrhizae mix from Dr Mike of Mycorrhizal Applications Inc and no supplementary water is necessary with the exception of some periodic deep slow watering once or twice in the summer.

Howard McMinn Manzanita and Bigberry Manzanita

Well to mostly sum things up, anyone can create a small project like these and go far farther that what I did if they get up. The experience is a fun learning thing. I'll have to photograph and post some of the plants I installed on my mum's property which is a third of an acre. The Cleveland Sage and Manzanita, which by the way is "Canyon Sparkle" ( Arctostaphylos insularis) does exceptionally well here in interior valley HOT El Cajon CA. Yet is is advertised as a coastal cooler climate plant. Of course the soil is a very deep sandy loam and roots are deep. A mulch is always kept around the roots and of course it was heavily inoculated with mycorrhizae at time of planting. No summer watering has ever been necessary after the first couple of years. Most watering is rainy season ground storage and maybe some slow soak winter soaking for later usage throughout the year. It resides next to a Cleveland Sage and both look so natural. Incredibly, I now understand why this "Canyon Sparkle" or Island Manzanita got it's name. The newer foliage is exceptionally  glossy bright green and does reflect an awesome amount of sunlight on a bright sunny day. Of course the older foliage is a bright beautiful green anyway. Still! I've noticed more and more that the Freeway planting projects are going mostly native now around here locally. Good for them and us. Here's the post on my mum's place: 

"Canyon Sparkle" Manzanita

One of the best non-profit organizations, which actually does do a hands on restoration and education program is the,  Back to Natives Restoration, group out of Orange County in Southern Califonia. You won't find the long time traditional in your face activism tactics like civil disbedience, foul language, threats etc comon among many of today's groups. Mainly they education young people and to be honest, I've never seen an organization like this that attracts so many volunteers as this group. This is refreshing, because environmentalism has gotten a black eye where most causes are based and identify with something they hate as opposed to something they are for or love.

https://www.backtonatives.org

image - PBS

Still Interested in Environmental Activism ???

Then stop being distracted by the plethora of environmental non-profits who promise if you donate to them, join in their monkey wrenching covert schemes or trust their "Occupy" worldview of overthrowing an ideology they hate which will make the world a better place and challenge yourself to restoring a local urban area landscape they have written off as unsalvageable decades ago. Nature has always had the tools for turning things around again. You may find it will require some outdoor time which must be purchased away from your time wasting routine of lurking on many worthless Facebook sites, but that will be a healthy thing. You remember, like the old days pre-internet ??? Start with your own backyard or local habitat beautification project. It's local and it's not that far to go from a time and expense-wise point of view as far as fuel is concerned. Areas of local restoration could include the entire restoration of the San Diego River riparian corridor from Mission Trails Regional Park all the way to El Monte Valley in Lakeside California. Or anywhere else on the planet where the misuse and abuse of Science by profit obsessed corporate entities has caused environmental ruin. Here's an example of what hard working volunteers are doing within the urban areas of San Diego County.

Artist picture of Walker Preserve entrance
(Walker Preserve Trail Santee)

Earth's Internet: "Santee's River Walks: Mast Park & Walker Preserve"

Lakeside River Park Conservancy

Time Out Post: Guerrila Habitat Improvement