SWAPA+H

One of our conservation planning paradigms is to look at SWAPA+H resources: soil, water, animals, plants, air, and humans. Understanding how these things function together helps us develop stronger, more effective conservation plans.

Soil

Basic geology of the Beavercreek farm area

September 30, 2013 Tom Salzer

The rock under your property influences soil fertility, slope stability, water availability, and even which native plants grow there. Our Beavercreek farm can be seen on the Geologic Map of the Oregon City 7.5′ Quadrangle, Clackamas County, Oregon (a higher resolution map is available here), at the intersection of South Beavercreek […]

Water

Rain and runoff at the farm

September 29, 2013 Tom Salzer

It has certainly been a wet and windy weekend at Roaring Creek Ranch!  The upper pond was nearly full, but the lower pond was several feet below full…until this storm arrived. The animals are wet, but they quickly move into the shelter of the barn during the heaviest rains. We learned […]

Farm Status

Applying lime with a fertilizer cart

September 26, 2013 Tom Salzer

District staff recently applied 10 tons of pelletized lime to 5.6 acres of grass field at the Beavercreek Demonstration Farm. That is an application rate of about 1.78 tons/acre. We used a fertilizer cart from Wilbur Ellis to do this, because we wanted to see how this device might work […]