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Techniques
used to stabilize the soil and rehabilitate the land
 Contour-Felled
Logs
Burned trees
are cut down and logs are laid horizontally across the hillside. Most
of the logs are 8-14 inches in diameter and held in place by wooden stakes.
A small trench may also be dug on the uphill side of the log to collect
water and store sediment.
Hand Trenches
In the same
area as the contour-felled logs, crews used hand tools to dig more small
trenches uphill from the logs. These horizontal trenches also caught water
and dirt as it flowed down the hill.
 Contour
Trenches
A mini-excavator
is used to dig larger horizontal trenches along the hillside. These trenches
are usually 2-3 feet wide and 2-3 feet deep. Every 30-50 feet, dirt is
piled into the trenches to create a dike. If a trench breaks, the water
and soil would stop at the dike and not continue down the hill.
 Straw
Wattles
Wattles are made of
straw wrapped in a mesh that will break down in sunlight. They are about
8 inches in diameter, 25 feet long and weigh about 35 pounds and placed
horizontally across the hill. Stakes hold them in place. Wattles slow
the water and soil moving down the hill and provide a good seed bed for
future seedlings.
Tilling
From time
to time horizontal strips of earth will be tilled 6-12 inches deep to
allow water running down the hill to soak into the ground. This also provides
a good seed bed. Bands of undisturbed earth are left between the tilled
rows allowing plants surviving the fire to resprout.
 Straw-Bale
Check Dams
Dams made of three or more straw bales are built across gullies to slow
water and soil as they wash downhill. The straw bales are wrapped in wire
mesh to help hold them together. Then they are covered with a strong cloth.
The straw and cloth are porous allowing water to seep through but collects
the sediment behind the dam. There are usually 3-8 dams per gully. As
the water runs down the hill, its velocity is slowed as it is routed from
basin to basin behind each dam.
Sediment Ponds
and Basins
Ponds and basins
are built in gentle stream channels or at the base of hills to trap and
store water running downhill. As the water sits in the pond, it soaks
into the ground while providing a water supply to wildlife in the area.
Seeding A rangeland
drill pulled by a tractor is used to seed many burned areas. Round disks
cut furrows into the ground and seeds are dropped from long tubes behind
the discs. Chains dragging behind the tractor help cover the seeds with
soil so they sprout.
 Some
seed, such as sagebrush seed, is aerially seeded from a bucket carried
below a helicopter. It is usually dropped onto snow-covered ground to
the seed will stay moist and will sink into the ground as the snow melts.
Some seeding is sometimes
done by volunteers using hand-held spreaders. They are followed by other
volunteers who raked the seed into the ground.
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