Today’s show is about the second layer of designing resilient homestead properties. Last week we started with the basic principles of holistic whole-site water system design. This week, we build on that with the basic principles that guide holistic access design and implementation across broadacre landscapes.
- Paradigm
- Access can be an asset or liability – depends on design and maintenance
- Every linear foot of access has a maintenance bill attached to it – design with this in mind!
- Access should ideally improve hydrological function, at the very least be neutra
- Access can be an asset or liability – depends on design and maintenance
- Access Patterning Questions
- Where do you / your animals / wildlife need to go?
- Animals move between water, food and shelter.
- What kinds of activities are/will be performed there and along the way?
- What modes of transport does the route need to accommodate at which times of the year?
- How should the access route be patterned and constructed to create the lowest possible maintenance profile while providing the necessary functionality?
- Where do you / your animals / wildlife need to go?
Access DO’s and DON’Ts
- DO
- Minimize the use of impermeable hardscapes
- Drain road surfaces early and often
- Best Chance, No Chance, First Chance, Last Chance
utilize grade changes
- Best Chance, No Chance, First Chance, Last Chance
- Cross valleys perpendicular to water flows
at right angle to flow in riffles if driving through
across dam walls (check dam, earthen embankment) - Follow ridge lines where appropriate (least drainage pressure)
- Crown or slope the road surface appropriate to the context
- Crowned = center of the road higher than both edges – generally 2-4% – drains to ditches on one or both sides
- Insloped = drains water from road surface into the uphill cut bank – road is effectively holding water in the ditch
- Outsloped = road sloped to downhill fill edge, discharges over a broad surface
- DON’T
- Install roads following valley bottoms = this is short-sighted!
- Transfer water from one watershed to another
add grade changes w/ appropriate outsloping or cross drains! - Let roadways become entrenched! These cannot be drained effectively and will continue degrading – this is basically a creek!
- Drive on a road when conditions aren’t appropriate!
Show Resources
- Vehicle Access Drainage Prescriptions
- Incised Drainage Rehabilitation
- Episode 27 – Basics of Whole-Site Water Systems Design
Getting started designing your homestead?
START HERE: Enroll in the Minimum Holistic Goal Creation Mini-Course today for free. This is the ONE THING that will make everything else easier or unnecessary on your homesteading journey! 100% Free
Upon completing this course you will have a crystal clear idea of who and what resources you have to work with, your desired Quality of Life that your homestead has to provide for, and what you will need to produce and the conditions required to sustain that production to meet your Quality of Life needs.
Music by Alex Grohl
