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Interview with a native plant pioneer Jeff Hart: revegetating levees in the Delta

Posted by: Maven on March 16, 2010 at 5:17 am

From the Conservation Maven:

“In the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta of California, there are few investments more precious – and more fought over – than levees. Levees protect farmland below sea level from inundation and erosion, prevent saltwater intrusion into the freshwater rivers that provide irrigation and drinking water for much of California, and stem the rise of floodwaters during the rainy season.

They also, unfortunately, often entail the elimination of riparian and marsh habitat when constructed and maintained. Conventional wisdom has decreed that vegetated levees are more subject to failure; tree roots are considered a kind of slow-motion pick ax that weaken levees and make them more prone to failure.

Since the early 1990s, Jeff Hart has been challenging that conventional wisdom, combining research, botanical knowledge, and an array of GIS and other technical Broken levee along the Sacromento River being repaired.skills to revegetate levees with native plants in ways that actually make them stronger. … “

Read this interview with Jeff Hart from the Conservation Maven by clicking here.

March 16, 2010 · Filed Under Levees

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