wattle gabions for stabilization of banks and hillsides

I saw this illustration elsewhere on the internet and thought it would appeal to Permies. It looks like a lot of work, but something that could be done without machinery in a lot of places.

Are the woven circular baskets what is shown as the square bins holding the rocks?  Is the basket made of living willows?  It seems cool, but I'm not sure I understand it yet.

I agree with Burton. If the illustration showed rectangular baskets like what is on the hillside illustration, it might be more clear. Maybe round willow gabions would work just as well though. If i were doing it, I might place a layer of compost for roots of the willow to establish at strategic points. In my area with 100” winters of rain and 10” days, unless I build a proper pond and spillway, I generally do not try to stop water, just deflect and spread it. This seems to be a nice way to do so that gets stronger over time. I have also made very roughly woven woody debris structures that catch sediment behind them, or form vernal pools in right topography.

I hadn’t noticed that they were rectangular solids in the one diagram of them stacked. I thought they were just cross-sections. Maybe they used modern wire gabions for that illustration but are saying you could do it with small woven plant-matter instead.

I suspect the illustration is AI generated and not checked very well.
Using willow for bank stabilisation used to be a pretty common process. I suspect that's why so many willows grow along the banks of the Thames in it's floodplain through Southern England for example. The chinampa of Mexico also had willows to stabilise the bank. I'm not sure if the weaving bit will always be needed - probably if you have a really tall bank like that.
I'll see if I can find some more examples..

Here's some nice pictures of woven reinforcements:

all from https://www.peaktraditionalfencing.co.uk/our-services/willow-spiling/ nice to see it's still a thriving technique!

stabilising a drain

terracing a bank

willow reinforcements starting to grow along a streamside path

None of these are baskets though, just wattle fences.

I suppose the interstitial space between round willow gabions could be filled with rocks, or woody debris and a bit of soil for planting wetlands species. I mainly just saw it from a teacher’s POV and how it might get misinterpreted. Still a great post and idea in my opinion.