Utilizing roots, time, and erosion to terrace steep hillside

Their is around 5 acres that makes a 100' elevation gain at about 45 degree slope. Basically there's alot of land that is very steep and south facing. I'm hoping to cultivate berries, fruit, nuts and various perreniels on the hillside and put a road in down the hill.

I'm seeing this as a low priority, but would like to start installing some earthworks that would make the terracing project easier down the road. The idea would be to plant some trees in the pattern i would like the road terraced, so that the tree roots will begin to stabilize the hillside, and make it easier to cut the path/small road later.

To help the trees get established on the hillside and need less watering I'm planning to:
1. Make 3' diameter bundles out of 8' long 1/2" diameter broadleaf maple poles that I will be thinning from other parts of the land
2. Stake the bundles to the hillside
3. dig a large impression uphill from the bundle, throwing the dirt onto the bundle to help the wood break down and become a sponge.
4. Dig 8' swales off the side of the impression, drawing water to the impression
5. Plant DA/NF cover crops in the impression
6. 2 years after the impression has been prepped with cover crops, and the bundle has dissentigrated into a large water sponge i'll plant in some trees and bushes.

Questions:
Do you think it's worth it?
What trees would you use that have good root systems for stabilizing hillsides?
Do you think crab apples or other fruit trees will be benefited or hindered from the large rotting bundle of maple?

Thanks for the input.

peace,
warren

Mapping

Hello,
So I'm doing some initial mapping and have been playing around with all kinds of mapping programs, gps tools, and basically anything that would keep me from running around this somewhat large dense thicket of forest land with a long measuring tape and sight level. My current goals of this initial map are: identify plant communities, trails/roads, property lines, soil types, major features, and basic map for design work. When I get to the dam and swale phase I'm sure I'll be renting the ol' laser level and such. As fun as that may be, it seems like a gps and google earth will get us what we're looking for at a minimal cost. We've avoided subscribing to google earth plus because it won't interface with our holux m241, nor would it export a track to the gps(kind of lame).

The process we've currently developed:
1. Take our small holux m241 GPS device to record tracks and waypoints
2. download them onto my computer using BT747 and save them as a KML file
*This program will access the kind of GPS chip our holux device has, MTK, and offers us interfaces to it that the very basic device doesn't offer. It also allows us to download the tracks AND waypoints and converts it into KML(google earth language). BUT it's not so user friendly, it took our programmer a couple hours to figure out the finiky glitches of the program. As a non-programer I wouldn't have been able to operate the program. If anyone has a more user friendly free program to download tracks and waypoints i'd love to check it out.

3. Open the KML file in google earth. Our initial playing around has found that our GPS has about a 5' accuracy.

Then i use google earth tools to make polygons or paths to overlay over the imported GPS data. I find that the native google earth tools are easier to make changes to. Another cool google earth thing I was able to do, was import and add as an overlay a free topographic map my county has provided that has 20' contours: http://www.co.cowlitz.wa.us/gis/atlas.html
Then print from Selected Folder in My places, which i've arranged to print all the plant communities i've polygoned, etc. So this has been the low-tech mapping we've been playing around with.

So, anyone have advise for a better way to import tracks and waypoints into google earth?
Also importing the coordinates into google earth seems to be working, but using it's polygon tools seems a little clumpsy. Does anyone have advise on a better program to import these maps into for a more interactive landscaping type program that would give more tools?

Thanks,
warren

remote sites, cisterns, and watering in

The conundrum goes on.
How to remotely water and protect newly planted nut and fruit species?

I am planning to build a small cistern to water in a cluster of nuts, berries and fruit trees that could be reached by a drip irrigation system connected to the near by cistern. The lingering question is how to build a small cistern for fruit and nut trees I would like to establish on the perimeter of the land and in small patches not near the larger cistern.

The other benefit to the clustering is we can build a deer fence around the whole patch, and not around each individual tree in remote locations.

The current idea is somewhat high energy. Place 3 x 55 gallon drums in areas near where these would be planted, let them fill up with water over winter, and once or twice a week hand dip out water during the dry summer to water them in.

The better situation, would be to down size plans and focus only on the cistern, OR better yet try to design a creative automated drip system.

Brainstorms so far:
1. Develop a wicking system that slowly draws water out of the barrels
2. Have the barrels set up on a timer and gravity drip irrigation

Any ideas on how to water in plants in areas not near water sources?

Upcoming Events

November 21st
Planting the Harvesting Camp

Join us at Twisted Hazels Orchard for a late Fall harvesting camp discussion and planting of nut trees and berry bushes.

9:00am-noon Site orientation and harvesting camp discussion

Lunch Break

1:30pm-5:30 Planting

contact warren.cascade@gmail.com for details