David M. Boje
Nov 16, 2015 Mgt 375v & BA 550

Congratulations

I live in Permanent Desert that is dying!

It was once upon a time GRASSLAND, short grass prairies, now is mesquite and creosol bush land
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Now Rio Grande River so dry we call it RIO SAND http://www.latimes.com/videogallery/76892670/News/New-Mexico-drought
THE DROUGHT IN NEW MEXICO, 2013 LA TIMES Video http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-me-parched-20130806-dto-htmlstory.html
article

 “Carpeting the landscape in lush waves, Black Grama grass had long been the signature of the 140,000-squaremile Chihuahuan Desert. But overgrazing and persistent drought have hit hard here, reducing the grass to small, stiff tufts, sparsely spaced .” LA TIMES & NMSU ACES
 From Grama Grass to the Mesquite & Creosol Bushes

As vegetation dies off and the process of desertification accelerates,

Biodiversity continues to decline
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The Watershed at risk
 Crops failing
 Animal stock dying https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWphWBmApA
1:32 Allan Savory Discussing Desertification and Climate Change, in New
Mexico as MICRO CLIMATE dies MACRO CLIMATE CHANGES
Allan Savory Discussing Desertification and Climate Change. Shot in New
Mexico on the banks of the Rio Grande near ...
HD

22:20 – BEST 20 minutes you could spend in 375 550!
TED Talk: Allan Savory How to fight desertification and reverse climate change

Desertification Allan Savory points

We have New Mexico environment with months of rain, followed by months of no rain
 2/3rds of world is desertifying
 The water falls on our New Mexico Desert, runs off, and evaporates

Look at soil in grass land, it is covered with bareness, and water runs off, leaves soil bare
 Everyone knows over-grazing leads to desertification  We were wrong  shot 40,000 elephants to sustain land  Why are national parks desertifying
 Cattle grazing creates grass changes  So what causes desertification 
Make soil bare, and its cooler at night and hotter in day – Why is desertification getting worse? The grazing animals develop herds to be safe from predators, keep dung-ing & moving, trampling,  cover soil, mulch, permaculture – while controlling herd size  reverse the desertification in BLM desert areas NOW  planned grazing  holistic planning to increase crop yeilds  work with nature at low cost to REVERSE the desertification & climate change  take us back to pre-industrial levels by caring for grasslands!

 “… kick a toe into loamy soil or drag a boot heel across the desert's crust, leaning down to squint at the tiny excavation.
 Try that maneuver in New Mexico these days and it yields nothing but bad news in a puff of dust .” (LA
TIMES)

 “All of New Mexico is officially in a drought, and threequarters of it is categorized as severe or exceptional.

Reservoir storage statewide is 17% of normal, lowest in the West.
 Residents of some towns subsist on trucked-in water, and others are drilling deep wells costing $100,000 or more to sink and still more to operate .”

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Low crop yields are NORM in New Mexico
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Live stock levels 1/5 th of NORMAL
 Recent MONSOON rains won ’t make a dent in the long-cycle of drought in New Mexico

ARE THESE CHANGES A PERMANENT RESULT OF
CLIMATE CHANGE?
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OR IS IT JUST POOR ECO-HABITS of RUN AWAY
OVER CONSUMPTION CULTURE?

 “Wildlife managers are hauling water to elk herds in the mountains and blaming the drought for the unusually high number of deer and antelope killed on New
Mexico's highways, surmising that the animals are taking greater risks to find water .”

Many of trees in Albuquerque are dead, and water restrictions are effect, so cannot water them

 WATCHED
 6:39
 by DenkmalFilm
 6 years ago
 15,040 views
 Website: http://www.denkmalfilm.tv/index.php?page=agrarrebell-
2&am...DVD: http://shop.denkmalfilm.tv/main_bigware_34.php?

 ▶ 37:09
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1rKDXuZ8C0
 Jun 17, 2013 - Uploaded by Mat stiddard
 DISCLAIMER - All credits go to Geoff Lawton and his
Permaculture team

▶
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvje_5IVjmo
 Sep 18, 2013 - Uploaded by Andrew Millison
 Join Andrew Millison in 2013 as he travels back to
Arizona and revisits several Permaculture projects installed

Becoming Sustainable 101-
Sonoran Desert Permaculture 1 …
 ▶ 2:00
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDRpyN9XgGE
 Jul 7, 2008 - Uploaded by Quynn RedMountain
 Meet Dan Dorsey of www.sonoranpermaculture.org
talks about his 'ahaa moment' that set him on

 ▶ 3:15
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CS0qeBl3zQ
 Sep 20, 2013 - Uploaded by homesteadonomics
 Here is part two of the rainwater corn project detailing the addition of native squash to our corn growing area

Greening the New Mexican desert using permaculture end …
 ▶ 8:28
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sNtl9Bew3o
 Sep 11, 2013 - Uploaded by daimyo5
 Second part of the greening the desert experiment using the principles of Permaculture.