Like so many things humans develop to be “good”, rangeland imprinters have a tendency to be used as a tool for potentially “bad” purposes. That said CSR, Inc has built its very own rendition of an imprinter for use in its restoration activities. I would propose that all CSR, Inc might use it for is good, but there are some that would worry, and for good reason.
Like clean efficient energy provided by nuclear power, imprinters can produce some level of havoc if used improperly on a landscape. Specifically, Biological Soil Crusts (BSC) would be highly susceptible to damage from this type of equipment.
In restoration the first rule employed is simple enough: “disturbance is the enemy”. Reduce disturbance and you will effectively be getting farther faster with regard to your restoration efforts.
Imprinters are used to create divots in disturbed soil surfaces to capture water in either its solid or liquid state, and allow the micro topography to aide in the germination and maturation of vascular plant materials. It has also been discovered that imprinters can effectively crush standing sagebrush impacting the canopy and subsequently allow the understory to “open up”.
This was originally done to promote grasses in stands of old, densely populated areas of Sagebrush and Rabbit Brush, specifically to gain forage value from the landscape. In these types of situations the disturbance causing the overstory (Sagebrush, Rabbit Brush) is often times overgrazing. Overgrazing effectively disturbs the ground making the presence of BSC difficult to detect. I have previously written about a spray-on BSC product that we have developed for use in arid lands. This is yet another “tool in the bag” to help mitigate overgrazing and fire disturbance cycles.
I digress; imprinters simply do more good than bad when used in the right way and under the right conditions. It is widely accepted that in addition to aiding the establishment of native grasses, using imprinters on decadent sagebrush stands promotes forb diversity; forb diversity promotes pollinators and so on and so on.
This does not and should not imply that imprinters have no baggage with their use. Like nuclear power, the knowledge of waste or the flippant use of a resource/tool can cause more problems than it fixes. This should impress on the users a need to work out a solution before they create a new problem.
Both nuclear power and rangeland imprinters are tools and provide great resources for use, only if applied in such a way as to eliminate question with the back end results. Nuclear power needs a safe depository for the waste it creates and imprinters have no business being used for rangeland improvements in areas with intact and diverse native flora and fauna.
Be mindful of pixie dust, as I have yet to find any available, and always remember the first rule of restoration, “less disturbance = faster and more effective recovery”. I hope I have inspired you to consider making divots in your next restoration effort, and get behind funding nuclear power as a cleaner resource than coal for your lights (and now cars).
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