June 2025

By Ben Ouaou
2025 Jill and Stanley Jankowski Science and Conservation Intern

Santa Fe Botanical Garden’s June 13, 2025 workshop gathered a sold-out group of participants from the local area eager to engage in a set of restoration projects within the Garden’s Piñon-Juniper Woodland section. Led by Ecotone owner Jan-Willem Jansens and involving SFBG’s horticulture director Linda Churchill, the workshop included a total of eighteen participants, some already involved in the Garden’s network of dedicated volunteers.

Some interested in learning how to better manage their own properties amongst the northern New Mexican landscape and all invested in restoration of the piñon-juniper woodland ecosystem more broadly, the participants gathered for this training over a five-hour period. Jan-Willem began the workshop with a brief, informative overview of the piñon-juniper woodland and characteristics of its restoration.

Here, he explained that human use has likely led to a loss of most woodland soil over the past few hundred years. Climate change producing more intense precipitation combines with this factor to erode piñon-juniper hillsides at the detriment of the entire ecosystem. Fortunately, landscape ecologists and other committed professionals like Jan-Willem can provide tools to aid this ongoing dilemma. Jansens described how stopping water from washing minerals and organic material downhill is key, through both the construction of rock dams at easily erodible areas and the addition of seeds to kickstart the regrowth of depleted soil. Covering the soil using mulch and a “lop and scatter” technique, where dead tree branches are cut and scattered –actually placed carefully–across the floor, provides further protection by preventing wind erosion from carrying off fine particles. 

After this introduction, participants were ready to split into groups and get started on various forms of rock dam construction at several pre-flagged sites throughout the Garden’s Piñon-Juniper Woodland. At most sites, one-rock dams were built at areas where water channels  erode soil more quickly. These dams slow down water flow and trap sediment.

One site included the construction of a media luna, or “half moon” shaped structure that spreads water as well as slowing water movement. Unlike the one-rock dams, which maintain a low point in their center to prevent bank erosion, the media luna was particularly tricky to construct because all rocks must be flush with each other.

Another site included the construction of larger rock sills around a series of catchment areas that will slow water runoff from the Piñon-Juniper Woodland’s higher trail to its lower trail. At this and other sites, builders were careful to work around cryptobiotic crust and seedlings previously planted by the Garden. Patches of grass, though important not to uproot, also promote erosion control through implementation into rock structures.

After participants were given a chance to review their work, Jan-Willem demonstrated how to properly rake and seed the surrounding barren soil with a dryland native grass blend. Participants used their remaining time to practice seeding as well as a modified lop and scatter technique in which woody ree branches are placed with their lateral branches pointing downslope to further aid in water distribution.

In all, the workshop was a thorough success, allowing participants to walk away more knowledgeable and able to care for their local ecosystem while SFBG’s Piñon-Juniper Woodland received long-term benefit from the care of these skillful individuals.