Friendly Flock

The Feedback Loop

Nature is constantly changing, she can change fast or very slowly. Usually we only notice the changes that come fast. If for example a plant community in our field is slowly changing to something less desirable (like a plant species that might indicate soil degradation), we usually notice it when its already dominating our field.
If we know in advance what is happening we can react to the changes.
This is why it’s very important to monitor the changes in our environment we are managing.
We have an objectif so we build a plan to achieve it, monitor the impact of our actions control the plan and if needed replan.

La nature est en constante évolution, elle peut changer rapidement ou très lentement. Habituellement, on ne remarque que les changements rapides. Si par exemple une communauté végétale dans notre champ change lentement vers quelque chose de moins désirable (comme une espèce qui pourrait indiquer une dégradation du sol), on le remarque généralement quand elle domine déjà notre champ.
Si on sait à l’avance ce qui se passe, on peut réagir aux changements.
C’est pourquoi il est très important de surveiller les changements dans l’environnement que nous gérons.
On a un objectif donc on construit un plan pour l’atteindre, on surveille l’impact de nos actions, on contrôle le plan et si besoin on re-planifie.

The Monitoring

In the monitoring process we need to look at 4 key indicators that will tell us about the health of the land.

1. The health of the mineral cycle: The mineral cycle is important for cycling minerals from organic matter back to the plants or other organisms. To know if the mineral cycle is functioning effectively we need to look at :
   • Soil cover: How much bare ground do we see? Is there litter on the ground and is it oxidizing or decomposing?
   • Insects: Are there signs of earthworms, dung beetles, etc..?
   • Soil testing: We did a biological soil analysis that I will explain in more details when we get the results.
     
2. The health of the energy flow: The energy flow is how effective solar energy is converted into food for the animals and other organisms. To know if the mineral cycle functions well we need to look at:
   • Soil cover: Is the soil covered with green living plants or not?
   • Plant leaves: Leave size (small or large) and colour.
     
3. The health of the water cycle: The water cycle shows us how effective water is cycled in the soil. Because it’s not the amount of water falling onto the ground that counts but how effective it is infiltrating and stored in the soil.
   • Soil cover: Is the soil covered with green living plants? (transpiration of plants vs evaporation)
   • Infiltration rate: How fast is water infiltrating into the soil?
   • Soil testing: Organic matter content of the soil.
   • Erosion: Signs of erosion like visible roots or signs of soil movement.
4. The health of the community dynamics: Community dynamics describes the never-ending change of species and their interaction with each other.
   • Soil cover: Is the soil covered with living and dead plants?
   • Wildlife: are there signs of wildlife ?
     

As you might have noticed all of the 4 processes are connected. The health of one affects the others.

We did set up 3 monitoring sites across the ranch. In the next article I will describe what we have observed and how we installed them.

Comme vous avez pu le remarquer les 4 processus sont connectés. La santé de l’un d’entre eux affecte les autres.

Nous avons effectivement mis en place 3 sites de surveillance à travers les pâtures. Dans le prochain article, je décrirai ce que on a observé et comment on les a installés.