Sepp Holzer's 500 Hectare Project in Kazakhstan

These are Sepp's project plans for a 500 hectare Holzer Permaculture project in Kazakhstan.

First the Analysis of the Water Household


Strategic Water Retention for the site


Full Project Plan


Closeup of the Community Center


A Cross Section


And an artistic perspective


All project plans are copyrighted and all rights reserved, Sepp Holzer and Jens Kalkhof. SeppHolzer.at

I always love looking at his plans. It will be exciting to see actual pictures as the project progresses. I hope that you will have some to post in the future.

Nice post, thanks for sharing that.

Wow that has a bunch of water retention!

Following the watercourse with my eyes made me a bit dizzy.

Hey Zach, can you tell me more about this project?

Is it desert or mountains or what?

Does it have rivers and streams to supply the water?

Do you know any more of the specifics about the design? What made him decide to put the city center at what appears to be the top of the elevation or water flow? Will the city get enough water in that location or will some of it be piped back up from further down in the elevation? Did he leave the natural area at the bottom of the flow / elevation for those large 100 year events, to protect the people from building in that sort of flood zone?

You all will have access to such bountiful apple scion wood! How can Westerners become more involved?

Miles Flansburg wrote:can you tell me more about this project? Is it desert or mountains or what? Does it have rivers and streams to supply the water?

I'll admit I don't know as much about this project as I'd like to, but I'm happy to share what I do.

It is in the a valley in Kazakhstan, surrounded by mountains. Cold climate, long winters, from what I understand it is a very analogous climate to Montana. For this project there is some surface flow, but the majority of the water is hidden subsurface flow, indicative of a degraded watershed. I would imagine 5,000' to 7,000' elevation, but I'm not positive.

One thing that Sepp said in Montana that surprised me was how he knew this landscape was man made desert, as opposed to a natural desert. He said that without the mountains, and with the limited rainfall, it may make sense for the landscape to look like it does. But with the mountains there, there is more water in the mountains give us more water than we could ever use. That the valleys are so sparse, this is due to management, not the natural conditions.

Later I learned that 2/3 of the entire Gallatin Valley used to be wetlands. The Native American tribes in the area all claim the valley as a sacred grounds, and it is home to a pre-contact site in the Madison Buffalo Jump. It used to be known as the valley of flowers where natives would travel from all over Montana to collect medicines that were unique to the valley. This is what the Gallatin Valley looks like today:



This is very similar looking overhead, and analogous landscape to Sepp's project in Kazakhstan.

Jen Shrock wrote:What made him decide to put the city center at what appears to be the top of the elevation or water flow? Will the city get enough water in that location or will some of it be piped back up from further down in the elevation? Did he leave the natural area at the bottom of the flow / elevation for those large 100 year events, to protect the people from building in that sort of flood zone?

I think your spot on with the city center at the top of the property. Ridges and high points are great places for structures, having the community center towards the top would provide flooding security as well as the most stable building conditions. With the amount of water moving through and being stored in this landscape there should always be plenty of water. He always plans for the most catastrophic rainfall events, so the landscapes he creates are sure to last for generations.

Jonathan Frame wrote:How can Westerners become more involved?

My understanding is that he is working for the Government in Kazakhstan, unfortunately I don't know of any way for westerner's to get involved.

What region of Kazakhstan? Near Almaty and the Tian Shen mountains, source of our modern apple?

It is indeed in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan, birthplace of the modern apple.

Fascinating project. Interesting use of the current terrain to join waterways. Have to admit curiosity how much earth moving he will need when I look at the original contours and try to match them to the ultimate plan. If I understand the layout, it would seem the main waterways will be fairly minimal, with large space for water retention and flood control, so I imagine in dry times it would be like many wetlands. At a grade of 1:2000, the water flow would be pretty slow (much like the flow through a swamp), so I am guessing the edges will have loads of vegetation and the life that follows. One thing I am not clear about, why the 3m berms on the borders? Is there a wind related reason like Sepp often uses or just for limiting noise / access or something else entirely?

Mike, your pretty spot on with your analysis. The 3m berms help with the severe winds that the region receives. It also provides more surface area of growing space and drier micro climates for the plants that need it. With this kind of action your really cleaning out a lot of the erosion that has happened because of poor land use, widening the water ways leaving areas for retention. So this sediment is used as giant growing beds, providing wind protection and a wide variety of micro-climates.

Fascinating!
Do you know anything about local building traditions in the region - is there a Kazakh form of natural building?
Active natural builders, either traditional or revival?
Are there permaculture communities and practitioners already on the ground, or is this a top-down initiative to try it out and spark a cultural shift?

-Erica

why not key line? cost will be outrageous on the broad acre without it

This looks like an amazing project.

I found this additional picture in this other thread with some of Sepp's plans for other projects from around the world.

https://permies.com/t/40534/Sepp-Holzer-project-plans-world



It's so amazing to me the scale of this project. 500 hectares or 1,235 acres, wow that's a lot of land.

Anybody know about any updates for this project, or have any pictures or videos of it?

Douglas Crouch wrote:why not key line? cost will be outrageous on the broad acre without it

Keyline  ... as in the pond and broadacre design?  Or, as in keyline plowing?