posted 7 years ago
Hi Mike. Welcome to permies.
I think what you want to do is take a look at the slope. Look at how seasonal debris is acting right now. What you want to do is as many cheap, simple things as you can to affect erosion patterns and hydrology as you can.
I would suggest, if you aren't in an area of extreme fire risk, that you start laying deadfalls and fallen trees and logs on contour across your slope, making traps for debris and eroding soil. This will help you start building soil in place, helping water to seep down into the ground close to where it falls, as opposed to running straight down your slope and carrying away any loose soil. If you are placing access paths, make sure they are on contour as well, or are shaped such that they take into account what the water will do. An improperly designed or placed access path will definitely cause you serious erosion problems in the worst case hydrological scenario, so be careful.
As you may have read elsewhere on this site, placing logs and branches on contour across slopes is like making swales, except above ground. This will essentially set your land up to make little on-contour terraces as the logs and branches act as dams, trapping sediment and organic matter that would otherwise continue downhill. Over time, you may discover that the terraces themselves offer enough access that you don't need to build a path, but just to clear it.
What is the makeup of the forest? I would suggest looking into what the natural understory is. This will be important for choosing species to plant, but is also crucial for another part of your design. I would suggest that you see what the low growing native plants are, those perhaps with dense root mats. What is growing on your slope right now, helping to keep soil where it is? Because whatever it is, unless it's poison oak or poison ivy, or any one of a number of plants whose defensive mechanisms rely on hurting you, those plants, whatever they are, are what you want more of if you're at all concerned about erosion. Bonus points if they either fix nitrogen or produce food.
You have time, though, from your post. I would plan out what tree species fit in with the native plant life, or what natives exist that can fit into your design to feed you rather than introducing non-natives that will likely need more attention. As this is something you are doing on vacations and won't be there to water every day to nurture finicky establishing trees, the establishment phase is probably better started with natives. For instance, if I were in a situation like yours but in the boreal/temperate hardwood transition zone that I am used to, I would probably be looking at mulberries. Cane berries like raspberries and blackberries would feature prominently, and blueberries as these are all natural pioneers in the boreal forest any time you disturb the land or a tree falls. I would look to any native shrub that fixes nitrogen, but in a pinch, should there be none available, I would choose something shrubby and drought-tolerant from your hardiness zone, even if its not native, something that coppices well would be perfect, as you could prune them all down when you visit, adding to the extant forest litter with a nitrogen-flush chop-and-drop.
By the time you have these established, and you've done a season of chop-and-drop with your nitrogen fixers, you should be able to see signs of the changes you're making. I think that's when you either double down on the techniques you've started with, to make the soil you will eventually have deeper and richer, or start thinking about planting fruit trees.
I would plant from seed in your case. You want only genetics that will thrive on their own, and the best way to do that is to plant from seed. The individuals that germinate obviously will do so because the conditions will be favourable to their specific needs, and so will be less likely to die because you're not there to water them. I would plant them within 10 to 12" up slope of the contour dams. That will ensure the greatest depth of soil and the greatest potential to harvest trapped moisture. You're basically planting in a swale beside a nurse log. This will also add structure to the terraces over time as the root mats build up.
Please keep us updated, and if you have any questions, there are many intelligent, helpful people here on permies that love to help.
-CK
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
-Robert A. Heinlein