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The land imprinter
[''US Patent 4,195,695.''](_blank)
(1980). is a
no-till
No-till farming (also known as zero tillage or direct drilling) is an agricultural technique for growing crops or pasture without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till farming decreases the amount of soil erosion tillage causes in certai ...
device for establishing
grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
cover
Cover or covers may refer to:
Packaging
* Another name for a lid
* Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package
* Album cover, the front of the packaging
* Book cover or magazine cover
** Book design
** Back cover copy, part of co ...
in
arid
A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...
environments and
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
s.
The imprinter consists of a metal roller, with steel angles welded to the surface in various configurations.
[Stevens, R. and Monsen, S. B. (2004)]
Mechanical plant control
in ''Restoring western ranges and wildlands, vol. 1.'' Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-136-vol-1, 65-88. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service: Fort Collins, CO. The angled teeth of the imprinter cut through weeds and brush to form a
mulch
A mulch is a layer of material applied to the surface of soil. Reasons for applying mulch include conservation of soil moisture, improving fertility and health of the soil, reducing weed growth and enhancing the visual appeal of the area.
A m ...
, while the teeth press seeds of grasses and other plants into the soil. The imprints remain stable for approximately two years.
[Doer, B. D. (1986)]
Technical report EL-86-43: Land imprinters
''Section 8.2.7., US Army Corps of Engineers Wildlife Resources Management Manual,'' July 1986 Final Report, Department of the Army, US Army Corps of Engineers
, colors =
, anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day)
, battles =
, battles_label = Wars
, website =
, commander1 = ...
: Washington, DC. During that time, imprints funnel water toward seedlings, protect them from wind, and concentrate nutrients for plant growth.
Desertification
Much of the world depends on grassland for the grazing of domestic livestock.
[Wrobel, M. L. and Redford, K. H. (2010). "Introduction: A review of rangeland conservation issues in an uncertain future," in ''Wild Rangelands: Conserving Wildlife While Maintaining Livestock in Semi-Arid Ecosystems'' (eds J. T. du Toit, R. Kock and J. C. Deutsch), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK.] Due to
overgrazing
Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...
, erosion, and other environmental factors, half of the world's rangeland is now lightly to moderately degraded, and 5% is severely degraded.
[Brown, L.R. (2008). ''Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization''. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: New York.] Desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...
is expanding and threatens one-third of the world's dry land.
[Montgomery, D.R. (2007). ''Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations'', University of California Press: Berkeley and Los Angeles.]
Plants and their root systems increase the quantity and size of
macropore
In soil, macropores are defined as cavities that are larger than 75 μm. Functionally, pores of this size host preferential soil solution flow and rapid transport of solutes and colloids. Macropores increase the hydraulic conductivity of soil ...
s in
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...
, allowing rainwater to infiltrate.
[Dixon, R. M. (1995). "Water infiltration control at the soil surface: Theory and practice." ''Journal of Soil and Water Conservation'' 50 (5), 450-453.] When ranges and grassland are overgrazed, soil becomes stripped of cover plants.
Denuded
Denudation is the geological processes in which moving water, ice, wind, and waves erode the Earth's surface, leading to a reduction in elevation and in relief of landforms and landscapes. Although the terms erosion and denudation are used interch ...
soil has reduced macroporosity, reducing water infiltration and leading to
runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
.
[Dixon, R. M. (1990)]
Land imprinting for dryland revegetation and restoration
in ''Environmental restoration: Science and strategies for restoring the Earth'' (ed J. J. Berger), Island Press: Washington, DC.
Infiltration
The natural state of
grassland
A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...
is rough and open. Plants create small crests and troughs in the soil surface, making it rough. Root systems create macroports at the bottom of the troughs, into which water can infiltrate. At the same time, the small ridges allow air to escape.
[Dixon, R. M. and Peterson, A. E. (1971). "Water infiltration control: A channel system concept." ''Soil Science Society of America Proceedings'' 35, 968-973.]
Desertification causes the soil surface to be smooth and closed.
Reduced soil macroporosity inhibits infiltration. Rainfall cannot infiltrate through macroports, and air becomes trapped.
A sealed soil surface prevents rainwater infiltration, partly because air contained within soil macropores cannot escape, and water is unable to displace the air.
[Dixon, R. M. (1989)]
Air-earth interface model for restoring riparian habitats
''Proceedings of the California Riparian Systems Conference'', September 22–24, 1988, Davis, CA.
Imprinting
Imprinting reverses the
desertification
Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. It is the spread of arid areas caused by ...
process by pressing V-shape imprints into the soil with steel angles on a heavy roller.
[Dixon, R. M. and Carr, A. B. (2004). "Land imprinting standards for accelerating succession past the exotic weed stage." ''Proceedings of the 16th International Conference of the ]Society for Ecological Restoration The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) is a conservation organization based in the United States, supporting a "global community of restoration professionals that includes researchers, practitioners, decision-makers, and community leaders". Th ...
'', August 24–26, 2004, Victoria, Canada. Rainwater then funnels into the troughs of the imprints, where the water infiltrates into the indentation and air exhausts from the crests.
Seedlings are protected from wind, and organic material is concentrated at the base of the troughs to provide nutrients to the seedling.
Wind protection attenuates evaporation at the base of the seedling, maximizing water availability to the plant during the rainy season. The seedbed may remain dry for some time before water infiltrates and germination occurs. In the meantime, the stable imprint protects the seed from
wind erosion
Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian, pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets). Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials ...
and desiccation from exposure to the sun.
[Roundy, B. A., Winkelb, V. K., Khalifab, H., and Matthias, A. D. (1992). "Soil water availability and temperature dynamics after one-time heavy cattle trampling and land imprinting," ''Arid Land Research and Management'' 6 (1), 53-69.]
Broadcast seeder
A broadcast seeder, alternately called a broadcaster, broadcast spreader or centrifugal fertilizer spreader (Europe) or "spinner" (UK), is a farm implement commonly used for spreading seed where no row planting is required (mostly for lawns and me ...
s can be attached to the frame assembly or grain boxes mounted in front of the imprinting roller, so that seed is dropped in front of the roller which presses the seed into the soil.
The weight of the imprinter can be adjusted to be appropriate for various soils and planting conditions by filling the roller and ballast tanks with water.
Uses and limitations
The land imprinter was initially developed to
revegetate desertified land in the southwestern United States and has been used to plant 20,000 hectares of land with grasses and other plant species in
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
.
Imprinting is most effective on
loam
Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...
soils that have some moisture but are not wet, which can cause soil to become compacted into the imprinter teeth.
Imprinting has been conducted on slopes of up to 45% grade. For those applications cables can be used to tow the imprinter up the incline.
The land imprinter is not well adapted for shallow soil or extremely rocky soil and is not well suited to mulching large stands of brush.
Large shrubs must be chopped or removed prior to imprinting.
The land imprinter is typically used directly on unprepared soils, without initial
tilling Tilling can mean:
* Tillage, an agricultural preparation of the soil.
* TILLING (molecular biology)
* Tilling is a fictional town in the Mapp and Lucia novels of E. F. Benson.
* Tilling Green, Ledshire, is a fictional village in Patricia Wentwo ...
. The heavy roller and angled teeth crush weeds and brush into mulch, which remain as a nutrient base for new seedlings. Accordingly, it can be used on land that has been burned either intentionally or in
wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...
s, where remnant vegetation should be retained.
Imprinting is best suited for seeding on loose soils, and where there is either no existing
plant cover
The abundances of plant species are often measured by plant cover, which is the relative area covered by different plant species in a small plot. Plant cover is not biased by the size and distributions of individuals, and is an important and oft ...
—or light to moderate brush cover—before planting.
Haferkamp and colleagues compared
seed drill
A seed drill is a device used in agriculture that sows seeds for crops by positioning them in the soil and burying them to a specific depth while being dragged by a tractor. This ensures that seeds will be distributed evenly.
The seed drill sow ...
planting to imprinting on loose and firm seedbeds on a
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
big
sagebrush
Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west.
Following is an alph ...
and
needlegrass The term needlegrass may refer to any of several genera of grasses, including:
*'' Achnatherum''
*''Aristida'' (three-awns)
*'' Hesperostipa''
*''Nassella''
*''Stipa''
*''Triraphis''
See also
* Spear grass (disambiguation)
* Wiregrass (disambigua ...
habitat. Drilling produced more seedlings on firm seedbeds, whereas imprinting produced two times more seedlings on loose soils, compared to drilling.
[Haferkamp, M.R., Ganskopp, D., Miller, R.F., and Sneva, F.A. (1987)]
Drilling versus imprinting for establishing crested wheatgrass in the sagebrush - bunchgrass steppe
''Journal of Range Management'' 40 (6), 524-530. Haferkamp and colleagues used brushbeating plus disking to create the loosened soil treatment in that study.
Ripping or chisel plowing can be used as alternatives to disking when soil is deeply compacted, as they are less destructive to soil components than disking.
The land imprinter creates microdepressions in the soil that effectively reduce erosion and runoff.
[Anderson, R. (1981). "A story in two parts: Advance of the barren earth, technology for reversing desertification," ''Rangelands'' 3, 47-50.] Imprinting has been found to be superior to drilling at research sites in
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
,
[Clary, W. C. and Johnson, T. J. (1983). "Land imprinter results in Utah," in ''37th Annual Report, Vegetative Rehabilitation & Equipment Workshop, Albuquerque, NM'', pg. 23-24, USDA Forest Service, Equipment Development Center: Missoula, MT.] and superior to chaining after aerial broadcasting on burned seedbeds in
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
.
[Ganskopp, D. C. (1985). "Success of broadcast seeding on untreated, imprinted and chained rangelands," in ''Special report - Oregon State University, Agricultural Experiment Station'' 743, pg. 4-6. ]Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...
: Corvallis, OR.
References
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American inventions