Cryptobiotic Soil Crust · The Permaculture Collective

Jun 27 (edited) in General

Cryptobiotic Soil Crust

Is anyone else interested in soil crusts?

The Walla Walla Valley may be an oasis, but my acres are on a dry riverbed with no natural water source, so we wouldn't naturally be a riparian zone. We have good water rights and get irrigation water from the Walla Walla River and have a well for our home water use, but when I think of permaculture's "zone 5" (that's the zone left natural correct🤔) I am not sure what to aim for.

20 years ago I lived in sage brush terrain (shrub steppe?) and had a view of it from my kitchen window. I was amazed by the way the colors changed when it rained. It wasn't until just recently that I started reading about soil crusts and realized that some of that amazing color must have been from the crust waking up in the moisture!

I grew up in Los Angeles, CA - so I didn't grow up hiking in this area, and also because this valley has been farmed for so long, I'm not sure what it was like in is natural state! I do see mosses that dehydrate when dry but spring back to life when it rains or I turn on the hose so I've wondered if I could foster a semi-arid/high dessert/shrub steppe type border along the road edges of our land. (We have a street on two sides of us.) Could I transplant in some mosses & lichen? Could I responsibly take a small sample from existing biocrust somewhere and help it get established? I've read that it can take centuries for it to form naturally!

This is not an urgent question as it is a long term goal I'd like to aim for, but I have been wondering about it for a while and most people just give me a blank stare when I try to work it in to conversation.😅

I'm attaching photos of "natural" areas of our acreage vs irrigated areas so you can see the contrast. Fyi, we did not get the berries mulched this year as they are a "side hustle," so time is limited. (Anyone else recognizes the evil genius taking root in the 4th photo? 🌱😈🌱)

https://www.usgs.gov/centers/southwest-biological-science-center/science/science-topics/biological-soil-crusts

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