Groundwater lessens wildfires

Are you in an area where smoke from wildfires are happening? Around the world there are more and more areas experiencing wildfires.

We are not helpless. There is something we can do to lessen these wildfires in our local areas that not many people are talking about it.

The solution involves groundwater. The reasons are several. One is that groundwater will hydrate the landscape more, when tree roots bring up groundwater. Two, groundwater can supply streams with more water in the dry season. The riparian (vegetation) zone around the river can be a buffer to wildfires. Third, groundwater creates rain. Tree roots bring up the groundwater and evapotranspire it into the air to increase the moisture in the air to create clouds. See the recent article “Groundwater creates rain” on this. Fourth, groundwater is brought up by the trees to create more humid winds which are less likely to fan wildfires.

There are multiple ways to increase groundwater. One is through earthworks like terraces and swales (that you learn about in permaculture). A second way is through increasing the soil carbon content so that the soil can absorb more rain. A third way is restoring forests. A fourth way is permeable concrete. A fifth way is restoring wetlands. And there are a number of managed aquifer recharge methods like flooding farms.

The key step to getting your local bioregion to start looking at this groundwater solution to wildfires is to raise awareness, and to create discussion around this.

There are a number of ways you can spread the word. One is to talk to your friends and strangers a like about this issue. A second is to educate yourself about this issue and then start giving talks about it at your local library or school etc. You don’t have to be an expert yourself. You can say you are not an expert on this topic and invite discussion because you think it is of importance. A third is to write to your local council member, fire department, land managers fire prevention groups etc about this topic. A fourth is to table at farmers markets and local festivals on this topic. You can have articles printed out. And you can also educate people about various aspects of groundwater, and its importance to lessening wildfires. And you can talk to them about various strategies to improve aquifer levels, like the earthworks of permaculture, swales, terraces and ponds. You can have permaculture books, and other manuals that show how this can be done. A fifth is to create a group of you that start planning and strategizing together around this topic as a team.

You can create your own artwork for stickers and cards for outreach. I’ve also created some stickers and cards of the picture “Groundwater lessens wildfire” (at the start of this article), if you would like to use some of these.

There’s a lot of stuff in this newsletter, that you can use to educate yourself more on the issue. See the article “Groundwater creates rain”, “The secret life of groundwater”, “Groundwater, soil, and trees work together to dampen extreme water cycle fluctuations”, “Halting our drought-fire-flood path to desertification : Zach Weiss interview”,and “The plan to replenish our aquifers: Helen Dahlke interview”, There are various ways of slowing water will help replenish aquifers. See the article “Slow water”. The key is that when we have big deluges, that the land is set up to absorb all the rain to turn into groundwater.

There are videos like this animation about the drought-fire-flood cycle that Water Stories produces.

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