Erosion and Land Care

After a big storm, Little Thunder trotted up the hill to check his favourite lookout. He stopped in surprise. The ground had a deep, muddy gash running straight down the slope.

"Spike! Suzy! The hill is broken!"

The dogs raced up beside him. Spike sniffed the bare patch. "It's not broken. It's eroded. The rain washed the topsoil away."

"Where did it go?" asked Little Thunder.

Suzy pointed down to the creek, which had turned brown. "Into the water. And topsoil is the best soil for growing grass."

Back at the shed, Spike set up a model to show them. He filled three trays with soil and tilted them like little hills. The first tray was bare. The second had grass growing on it. The third had small rows of soil running sideways across the slope.

"Now, the storm," said Suzy, pouring a watering can over each tray.

On the bare tray, muddy water gushed down and carried the soil away. On the grassy tray, the water came out almost clear. On the tray with sideways rows, the water slowed down and soaked in.

"The grass roots hold the soil like fingers," said Spike. "And those sideways rows are like contour banks. They stop the water from rushing straight down."

"What about wind?" asked Little Thunder.

Suzy switched on a fan and blew it across a dry tray. Dust flew everywhere, and Little Thunder sneezed. Then she stood a row of tiny toy trees in front of it. The dust stayed put.

"Windbreaks," she said. "Rows of trees that slow the wind."

The next weekend, the whole farm got to work. They planted native grasses on the bare hillside, built a small bank across the slope and planted a row of wattles along the fence.

By spring, the hill was green again, and the creek ran clear.

Little Thunder lay at his lookout, chewing a stalk of grass. "Thank you, roots," he said. "Keep holding on."