USGS Study of adjacent watersheds, confirming the value of 20,000 check dams!

Imagine if we could train animals to build check dams for us!

Imagine if we didn't eradicate the beavers and muskrats that already know how to do that.

Most of the world does not have beavers or an equivalent species. Here in the UK the eurasian beaver has recently been reintroduced, but even in locations where it is established, it is not expected to make the mega-structures that the American beavers make. They tend to make more modest features on, or adjacent to, existing water ways.

But loose rock check dams are pretty much applicable universally. If your environment has rocks you can put one up in an hour. Keep doing that regularly over decades and you can transform an ecosystem.

I also like, from the commentary, his motivation for building these in the first place. He built a few to protect some paths from washing away. He observed the grass was greener and thicker around them, so he built more. Being open to observation and learning from your environment is to me the heart of the permaculture ethos.

Some of our members have some excellent threads on this subject.  What I like most is seeing their progress:

https://permies.com/t/51421/Creek-repair-brush-dams

https://permies.com/t/53556/Creek-repair-rock-dams

https://permies.com/t/91217/Submerged-dams-swales

https://permies.com/t/49443/Step-wells-sand-dams-suqakollos

https://permies.com/t/202087/Swales-bunds-puddles-terraces-meanders