Trees in the Badlands

I started to say desert, but there's another whole subset.  Badlands.  Mostly on the western Great Plains.  Places where the weather is totally unpredictable, yearly rain might be 20" if we're lucky.  No predictable monsoon season.  Summer brings fierce, unfiltered sunshine that cracks the ground.  Winter could be mild, or sub-zero.  And regular scouring winds.  

We have rural water and are better off than some.  We are, however, prone to inconsistancy in watering.  Does anyone have any sage advice.  I thought of this while I was reading a post about re-establishing trees on Greece with seeds and tubes or something like that.   It was 30 pages and I just wasn't up to that today. LOL. I study and observe every incidence I see where trees have sprouted in my area.  Usually in an area that's nicely protected on the north side of cover.  What if there's no cover to start with?  So much of our land in the western pains was turned to farming.  It's hard to even see what it would have been like before the turn of the 20th century.  Need inspiration.

First off, I'm not from your ecosystem, but I have travelled through some with similarities. So these are just thoughts to explore:

1. Is the wind consistently from approximately the same direction? Where that is the case, I have observed that there tends to be a "shrubby tree" layer, that takes the brunt of the wind, often with tough forbes and grasses supporting the shrubby trees, and that more desirable trees, can be started in the lee of the "sacrificial" plants.

2. There is a possibility that some sort of hügelkultur might help with establishing wind breaks. However, in general, if you're trying 'slow' the wind, you are better to use permeable surfaces rather than solid ones, and have multiple rows as well. However, hügelkultur may be part of a water retention system.

3. With regards to water, Brad Lancaster has done wonderful work and I would read what you can about it: https://www.harvestingrainwater.com/
I don't know how similar/different his ecosystem in Tucson, Arizona is to yours, but the way the Mesquite tree harvests rainwater is amazing to me. It definitely wouldn't like my ecosystem, so I have to admire it from afar. If you follow the link above, there are lists of native food trees, shrubs etc for Tucson further into the site.

4. If you can find those trees you've observed and take pictures, that might help members help more. Certainly the Lancaster site talks about "planting the water first for long term success", however he's up-front about the trees needing support for the first 3 year. If you can get shorter, smaller plants established first, that might make the need for support less. In Brad's case, he's trying to get a strong visual effect from the get-go, to keep volunteers positive. If you can 'plant the water' and then start with a pile of native seeds rather than plants, that could make a difference.

Good luck with your efforts, and hopefully more permies will contribute ideas who know more about what you're facing.

My climate is on a different continent, but quite similar, the driest part of Bulgaria. What I see there is that trees tend to do well once established with deep roots. I'm planting from seeds rather than trying to plant seedlings or young trees, for that reason. They need a good tap root and I believe that's best with direct seeded trees. My main issue is that I can't get to my land as often as I want, rainfall is sparse and minimal from May to September, summers are very hot, and I can't reliably provide water to my growies.

I find the tree seeds sprout well, but the summer sun is as much of an issue for the seedlings as water. Those soft baby leaves just shrivel right up. Shade will be my priority for the next lot I plant. A good takeaway for me from Kouros's very long thread on tree planting from seed in arid regions of Greece is the benefit of finding drought tolerant low-growing plants to provide shade and act as nurse plants for the tree seedlings as they grow. He had some success within planting other seeds along with the tree seeds. Look at what does grow well locally that might fit the bill, forbs or small shrubs that can protect the baby tree seedlings from sunburn and slow the water loss. My mistake last summer was cutting down the weeds from around the tree seedlings, not realising how much they needed the shade the weeds gave them.

Basically, the best advice is what Jay said!

I got some pictures on my walk yesterday that I'll try to get posted.  I brought home honey locust, catalpa, ash and hackberry seeds, all growing untended in an old shelter belt.  I'm excited to try planting in the ground.  I've got plenty of stones for rock mulch, which works really well here.

What you write reminds me of where I live.  Lots of juniper and oak trees of all varieties.

What trees are native to your area?  Those are usually safe options.

When I saw the title I thought you would be in South Dakota.

For inspiration:

AI said, `Before settlers arrived, Greer County, Oklahoma was primarily a vast, open grassland with rolling plains, dotted with occasional streams and primarily used as a hunting ground by Native American tribes like the Kiowa and Comanche, with large herds of bison roaming the area; the landscape was largely untouched by human development, with the North Fork of the Red River marking a significant geographical feature

Anne, our natives include mesquite (I live in the southern part of the county on the far northern edge of they're historic native range), hackberry, bois d' arc, honey locust, black locust, cottonwood, red cedar, persimmon, a few American plum (mostly Chickasaw Plum bushes), scattered oaks including live oak in places along with shinnery oak (a very interesting plant), desert willow in the southern part of the county, a few ash that I've seen along the Salt Fork and in an old shelter belt just down the road.  That makes it sound like a perfectly reasonable place to grow trees LOL.   A brief history lesson, Greer County along with Harmon, Jackson and a portion of Jackson Counties originally belonged to Texas.  Everything west and south of the North Fork of the Red River.  Texas christened it all Greer County right after the civil war and it was pretty much left to the Comanche, Kiowa and outlaws until the 1880's when the cattle trails moved west and the ranchers came.  By the 1890's farmers had moved in, breaking out lots of land that should have been left as prairie.  There were no railroads till close to the turn of the century, therefore no coal for the stove.  The tree population was pretty well decimated, even to the point of settlers sneaking over the North Fork to Indian lands to cut wood.   "Bird poop trees" began to sprout up along the fence lines and homesteaders planted shade and fruit trees.  In the 1930's the very first shelter belt in the United States was planted in Greer County and there were still quite a few of them up until the late 1990's when they started to falter from lack of management and farmers began to clear them to get just a few more acres for cotton and peanuts.  Fortunately, even though we still have way too much land under cultivation, we're seeing more farmland being converted back to range.  Most of it's way overgrazed.  And here we are, or at least me, trying to figure out how to put it all back that way it was before we started messing with it.

Great Plains Shelter Belts - Wikipedia
Old Greer County Texas

Probably half of our county, the western half, is red clay breaks. I live pretty close to the edge of those.  The whole county is challenging, more so now then in the past, when it comes to growing things.  It's surprising the difference between the closest town to the northeast of us and where I live.  Like the breaks, the sun is intense, rain is scarce and the wind can be really harsh in both warm and cold seasons. My "flower bed" is populated with cactus, native grass, prairie flowers and succulents.

Anne Miller wrote:
When I saw the title I thought you would be in South Dakota.

For inspiration:

AI said, `Before settlers arrived, Greer County, Oklahoma was primarily a vast, open grassland with rolling plains, dotted with occasional streams and primarily used as a hunting ground by Native American tribes like the Kiowa and Comanche, with large herds of bison roaming the area; the landscape was largely untouched by human development, with the North Fork of the Red River marking a significant geographical feature

I have no direct experience here, but from what I've been reading, cactus (in particular prickly pear) is a great support species for trees.

The idea is to put down a cactus pad to the south-west of your tree seed, so that it gives afternoon shade. You could adapt this idea to make mini wind shelters as well.

The cactus should be stuck in the ground upright, with the cut end facing to the side. It will take root on its own. In addition to mulch, it will eventually act as a tiny water reservoir.

See this thread for inspiration: https://permies.com/t/1160/14353/Reforestation-Growing-trees-arid-barren#2503469. The specific post I linked talks about a scientific paper on the subject.

One thing I'm trying in a much less harsh climate (north FL) is deep rooted figs.

From what I've read, figs have adventitious roots, like a tomato, so you can plant a 4 - 5' tree 3 - 4 feet deep and it will be getting moisture from roots deeper down as it runs out surface feeder roots.
Adventitious means capable of sprouting roots from any node.

I've done one tree that way to experiment.
I just planted it this season but it seems quite happy with the arrangement.
It's a 4' tree buried 3'.

Reading up on dry farming like the CA tomato growers may yield some ideas.

I've read the dry tomato farmers working really marginal land with no dew set or anything to provide moisture during the season have waited until the end of their brief rain season then do things like dust mulching repeatedly to hold the water where it is underground as opposed to evaporating. That dust breaks the capillary action (wicking) of the moisture, which holds it below that dust layer.

Other thoughts would be to mimic what rocks do for a planting with earth berms (wind shelter, condensing moisture, heat) or perhaps deep dug bowls to plant at the bottom.
My memory of where you are seems to think there are no rocks there.
There are threads here on all those.

Dave, I’ve had a heck of a time with figs. I think your technique warrants checking out.  I’ve also read about people cutting 4ft long small diameter cottonwood branches and burying them 3 ft deep.  I noticed the ones right here have got buds on them.  I thought that was weird, but I may go ahead and cut some to try since they seem to think it’s spring.  You’d be surprised about the rocks.  We have lots of limestone and gypsum rock along with the most wonderful weathered mulching rocks just laying around on the side of the road.  They always dig up new ones when they blade the road.  

I never can get my photos to show up from Google Photos, but here’s a link to a picture.

Rocks

I have a friend who has land in the Nevada desert with an average rainfall of 6 inches. She is only there intermittently. I gave her a couple of waterboxxes for her to plant trees with a few years back.
She just sent me pictures of successful saplings.

https://www.groasis.com/en/products/stop-using-drip-irrigation-and-use-the-waterboxx-to-plant-trees-vegetables-and-bushes-with-less-water

I've been through more northerly badlands, but have never tried to grow there, so have no direct experience.

We get an average of about 450 mm of rain (18") and another 100 mm of "rain equivalent" as snow giving us around 21" of average annual precipitation.

Do you have any slope to work with?  If so, swales and berms may be a good option for you.  If you were able to bury some organic matter (probably ideally wood, but softer material would work toward compost faster) in the base of the berm, that will help to retain moisture and build better soil.  Geoff Lawton regularly notes that swales and berms are tree growing systems and that eventually the trees take over the work of the swale.

Aside from that I'd generally suggest that whatever organic matter you can get into / onto the land will help build soil.  

Since they are well adapted to the locale, I'd probably start with seeding some of the prairie plants.  As they establish, it would help create a better environment for woody shrubs, which would then lead to supporting trees.  I'm finally coming to accept that it will be better for me to work with succession (hopefully speeding it along somewhat) rather than attempting to plant trees into the dirt as a first step, then struggling to get them to survive.  The more life we get in the soil, which will create more support, should give us better success with trees in the longer term.  They say patience is a virtue...I guess I'm not that virtuous.

Judy, I'm due west of you in Albuquerque with similar wind-blown soil loss, zero trees when I bought the house, only subsoil, mostly tumbleweed. The property here is an acre which is easier to rehabilitate than a large farm property. On this small property, over 50 trees are now thriving (hopefully, this will inspire you to keep going).
On how many acres of land would you like to plant trees? Have you sketched a permaculture design for your property that you could share with readers?
To make tree recommendations, it would help to know your soil type. To get started with that, here is a Greer County soil map, 1932
The ideas and information given so far are very helpful. To help us get more specific, please give a few more details about your site.

I'd make sure you're getting the most out of the rain that falls on the land, both through building healthy soil and earthworks to soak in and retain water. Depending on your situation, the earthworks could range from small swales to larger scale earthworks. Some good resources for that are Mark Shepard's book "Water For Any Farm" and the Water Stories community run by Zach Weiss.

Consider using 'seed balls' to spread and reain seeds until they germinate. Covered on this site somewhere.

My dog and I are still tenting on my land.
Besides the acres of sagebrush, stinging nettles are growing down at the draw. I love both of these food plants. My dog eats them too, though not without meat.
I was going to build a dome house, but I have watched wofati videos and feel like I would be better off building it instead. It’s more labor intensive, but the trade off in having herbs on my roof is a big selling point.
My biggest issue with a wofati is in acquiring the logs for the build. We have none for miles and miles.
Perhaps I’ll stick with the dome.

https://www.youtube.com/@dustupstexas