Looking for land assessment and design help with a project in high sierra

Hello permies
I am looking for some professional help for a permaculture project in high sierra. I am in process of planning and acquiring a smallish (<5acre) piece of land , near coleville CA (or in/around 395). I need some one to help me out with the land assessment , to give some advice if the shortlisted lots are good fit for permaculture project or not. I would need this person's help for longer term as well ,like post land acquisition earth work (swell,pond etc) , plant choices etc. Some one who is near by (high sierra/nevada area) and familiar with local resources will be very helpful.

If you are aware of anyone who can help with this, please share their contact
Much appreciated
ranjib

I hope someone on the forum will speak up and be the prefect solution for you.

Another suggestion would be to talk with the local earth movers, backhoe operators, etc, especially since you mentioned a pond.

Most of those folks are fairly knowledgeable in assessing the land.

They might not have a permies attitude though I bet they know their stuff.

Hi Ranjib, I may be able to help get you going in the right direction(s) at least. I've looked at parcels in that area before as well, it's a nice location and setting. I'm currently focused further north in Cal, but could possibly do some work for you there or make a connection to others in the region.

Off the top though, knowing a little about the conditions there, I am curious what you are prioritizing in terms of "permaculture" outputs or results. Many enthusiasts jump right to food systems as the flagship undertaking, which, in that climate and setting could be very challenging. I might suggest instead aiming first for good resilient satisfying habitat - including the human favored sort - and integrating edible features slowly as fitting and feasible, following smaller experiments and successional niche building (growing microclimates).

I can help strategize, assess candidate properties, and offer design consulting for site planning including buildings, infrastructure, water/earth works etc. Message me contact info if you'd like to discuss! Good luck finding your sweet spot and digging in

Ranjib,

I'm on the other side of the Sierra Nevada. I don't know your conditions and even conditions of my neighbor 20 m above my elevation are quite different than mine.
I agree with Ben, try to focus of other aspects. I hardly produce any food and already loaded tons of money into that. My climate does not support most of the vegetables and anything comes with great difficulty and I have a lot of water and deep and supposedly good loamy soil (but really poor when compared to midwest soils). I focus on sheep raising - they multiply quickly and have enough forage on neighboring lands. Their manure mixed with wood chips is improving my soil. Then fruit trees, especially quinces, pears, plums, peaches, mulberries, olives and figs. Fruit bushes are failure - even grapes. From vegetables I can grow cucurbits, swiss-chard, fennel and dill. For everything else it's too sunny, too hot and too cold with late/early freezes. Even okra is failing here. Chicken hardly lay any eggs in summer/fall months.

Try to get some sheep/goats and start with planting trees. You can also look at native species, but they have to really fit your climatic zone. For me the natives were mostly failure as they love oak savanna and my microclimatic valley is grass savanna. Sometimes moving the plant to a different spot on your land may mean survival or death.

Try to develop shaded areas as soon as possible if the land is lacking them. I was growing figs on the gentle slope of my land and even this hardy tree, under irrigation and with mulching was being destroyed by the sun. The figs that I planted in the morning shade of eucalyptus already produced the first year.
 
When you plant the fruit trees/bushes, please amend the the soil that will go to the hole with manure, chips, organic matter. I was following suggestions, to plant trees in the same soil that was removed from the planting hole, but the poor soil was retarding the growth. The tree needs good start in the difficult conditions. Once it survives the worst first two years, it will be strong to reach deeper. I have also tested it on grape cuttings this year. Out of 110 planted in not amended holes only 5 survived. The same cuttings planted in a better garden soil, that got a lot of manure and chips showed survivability at 80%.
Use the planting cages to protect roots from gophers. The openings can not be bigger than 1/2", otherwise they will destroy the root system of the young tree.

The sad thing and also exciting is that you have to find out what grows on your land  in mountainous and sparsely populated areas.

Anne Miller wrote:I hope someone on the forum will speak up and be the prefect solution for you.

Another suggestion would be to talk with the local earth movers, backhoe operators, etc, especially since you mentioned a pond.

Most of those folks are fairly knowledgeable in assessing the land.

They might not have a permies attitude though I bet they know their stuff.

Thank you Anne

I would recommend the following checklist:

1. Water.
Check if the land is in good water area.
Is it drinkable right from the well or needs some treatment? If the latter is the case please do not buy such a land. You will be relying on chemicals/filters for entire life. Watering with salty water will pollute your soil.
How deep are the wells? Deep wells will be expensive and usually will have lower yield.
What are the average yields of wells in the area? If it's less than 5 gallons per minute then it's problematic to irrigate.
Does it have some stream? If it does not dry out in dry season, it may be a great asset.
What is average precipitation? If it's less than 20 inches then things start becoming difficult.
Does it get snow that stays on the ground? In some cases it may be a positive asset that would help growing for example winter grains.

2. Terrain.
Is it steep? If it is, then usually the soil will be very shallow.
Does it have visible rocks? If it does then the soil will be very shallow.
Is it located in some valley? If it is, then it's possible that you will have to deal with temperature inversions, experiencing late (even very late) and early freezes and then possibly a lot of night freezes throughout the winter,
Does it have southern or northern exposure? In places with too much sun, northern exposure is preferable to grow anything without too much difficulty.
Does it have vegetation? If it does it means there is some water and then potential shade for your plants. However if the land is part of a forest or just has a lot of trees, you will have to cut some and dig the roots and it's a lot of work.
If the terrain is very rugged, it will be expensive to develop it - cut the building pads, build driveways.
Is it located in flood zone? Seems like something not important, but after I saw the rain in 2023 and the tiny creek I have turned into rushing 8 meter wide stream, destroying the banks, pulling big pieces of lumber, damaging fences, then I changed my opinion

3. Soil.
Is it deep? You can use USDA soil maps to find out what is there.
Does it have gravel or too much clay in its profile? Both are limiting factors.
Does it have adverse chemicals that will make it too alkaline?

4. If your job or lifestyle requires to have the phone, check if you are in area covered by some cellular network.

5. How far is it to nearest normal grocery store?
How far is it to some home improvement stores, quarries, lumber yards?
Is the access road passable by heavy trucks that may bring your building materials or concrete, or drill the well, etc?

6. Wildlife.
Does the area have bears, pumas? If it does, you will have to deal with them at some point, especially if you grow something tasty (plants, honey, animals).

Cristabal has given you a great checklist.

I especially like #4 and #5:

4. If your job or lifestyle requires to have the phone, check if you are in area covered by some cellular network.

5. How far is it to nearest normal grocery store?
How far is it to some home improvement stores, quarries, lumber yards?
Is the access road passable by heavy trucks that may bring your building materials or concrete, or drill the well, etc?

To me this is important because if you are to far from local craftsmen and the local earth movers they might refuse to give estimates or even come out to do the work unless you can find someone else needed the same work so that  two jobs make a long drive worth it.

This happened to us.  We are a 60 mile round trip to the nearest gas station.

We bought a shell of a house and then had to do all the work ourselves because no one wanted to finish the house for us.

The backhoe operator said he would come out for $750.00 if I could find someone who also needed work done.  We ended up renting a track-hoe, instead.