Agroforestry

Newsletter Outlook

SNOW

HEAT

FLOOD

SNOW HEAT FLOOD

3 5 10

WIND

VOLUME 22 ISSUE 1

Kate MacFarland

National Agroforestry Center

Lincoln, NE

Residents of the US and other countries 

are increasingly facing extreme 

weather events such as droughts, 

intense storms, and wildfire. Agroforestry 

provides many opportunities to help 

mitigate and adapt to these events through 

establishing practices that lessen their impact 

on crops and livestock. This newsletter 

examines a range of agroforestry practices 

that can be employed, including riparian 

forest buffers, silvopasture, windbreaks, alley 

cropping, and forest farming. 

Some of these articles focus on direct 

interventions that landowners can take to 

lessen the impacts of extreme weather events 

on their land. A number of agroforestry 

practices can be used to reduce fuel loads 

and make landscapes more resilient to fire. 

Riparian forest buffers can be used to lessen 

the impacts of severe storms and flooding.

Windbreaks can be used to distribute snow, 

increasing water availability in the face of 

drought. Silvopasture can help reduce stress 

on livestock at times of extreme heat.

Other articles in this newsletter focus 

on the role of agroforestry in reducing 

greenhouse gas emissions. Producing 

feedstock for biofuels that replace fossil 

fuels can reduce greenhouse emissions. 

New tools are being developed to measure 

how much carbon is sequestered through 

implementing agroforestry practices on 

farms and ranches. 

Agroforestry practices have multiple 

benefits, achieving landowners’ goals for 

income creation, food production, habitat 

improvement, or water quality, while 

simultaneously providing opportunities 

to mitigate and adapt to extreme 

weather events. This newsletter seeks 

to share information about many of 

these opportunities. ]

Inside

BREAKING NEWS

...(Lincoln, NE) Agroforestry Mitigates Extreme Weather Effects...(Homer
The USDA National Agroforestry Center has two new staff members. Kate 

MacFarland will help lead the Technology Transfer team at NAC with her 

experience in organic farming, community planning and biomass utilization. 

Joseph Banegas will lend his creativity and experience in publication and 

graphic design, as well as social media and web content.

2 Inside Agroforestry ] Volume 22, Issue 1

Farmers, ranchers, woodland owners, Tribes, and 

communities are no strangers to the sometimes 

devastating impacts caused by drought, flood, wind, 

heat, cold, and wildland fires. Regardless of what 

your crystal ball says about the number and extent 

of future extreme weather events, the impacts could 

be very significant — especially given the need to 

provide more food, fiber, and bioenergy that will be 

demanded by a growing global population -- and the 

reality of trying to accomplish this from essentially 

the same agricultural land base we have today.

I urge natural resource professionals to “up their 

game” regarding agroforestry as a tool to mitigate the 

impacts of extreme weather events. In this issue of Inside 

Agroforestry you will learn about how landowners, 

including Tribes, are putting trees to work in the face 

of extreme weather and wildfire. At the same time, they 

may offer “teachable moments” to make the case for 

integrating agroforestry into a producer’s operation.

I am retiring from the USDA Forest Service in 

January 2014, so this is my last NAC commentary. 

The past four years as NAC’s Director have truly been 

the highlight of my 35 years with the Forest Service! 

Looking back, I am very proud of the NAC team and 

how we have worked with so many partners in the U.S. 

and Canada to provide the agroforestry information 

and tools requested by natural resource professionals. 

I believe there is an increased awareness of agroforestry 

and its benefits across the U.S., as well as in Canada and 

globally. Eight USDA agencies are now working together 

on the Agroforestry Executive Steering Committee to 

guide implementation of the USDA Agroforestry Strategic 

Framework. I encourage you to read the recently released 

Agroforestry: USDA Reports to America, Fiscal Years 2011-

2012. The report and much more is available on USDA’s 

new agroforestry web pages: www.usda.gov/agroforestry

I will continue working to advance agroforestry 

in my next chapter. One area I intend to focus 

on is national certification of agroforesters. I look 

forward to perhaps working with you on this and 

other ways to advance the science, practice, and 

application of agroforestry. Best wishes in 2014! 

Sincerely, 

Andy Mason

Extreme weather – means “game on” for 

agroforestry professionals!

Joseph Banegas

Information Assistant

josephpbanegas@fs.fed.us

NEW FACES @ NAC Secretary’s Report

Kate MacFarland

Assistant Agroforester 

kdmacfarland@fs.fed.us

On October 28, 2013, Agriculture 

Secretary Tom Vilsack released 

the first-ever report on USDA’s 

role advancing agroforestry. 

Agroforestry:USDA Reports to 

America details how agroforestry 

practices are helping farmers, ranchers 

and woodland owners enhance 

agricultural productivity, protect the 

environment and increase profits. 

The report is available at http://www.

usda.gov/documents/usda-reports-toamerica-agroforestry-brief.pdf

NAC Director’s Corner

A commentary on the status of agroforestry by Andy Mason, NAC Director
Extreme weather events and changing 

weather patterns are increasing drought 

risk in some parts of the world. One 

way to adapt to this risk is by increasing water 

availability from snowfall. On the Canadian 

Prairies and the northern US Great Plains, snow 

is an important component of annual precipitation, 

sometimes contributing over 40% of the total. 

Although snow that is still on the ground in the 

spring infiltrates into the soil or runs off, during 

the winter much of the snow is transported by 

wind and lost. The loss from snow being blown 

and transported has been estimated to result in 

losses of up to 30 to 75% of annual snowfall in 

prairie and steppe environments.

Agroforestry practices like windbreaks, which 

create obstacles on the landscape, can reduce 

the amount and distance of snow movement 

and moisture loss. To reduce snow movement, 

agroforestry practices should take into account their 

effects on snow hydrology.

Snow trapping is a major reason that shelterbelts are 

planted around farmyards, along farm roads, and 

along major highways. Trapped snow is also an 

important contributor to 

improved crop yields near 

shelterbelts and provides 

recharge of surface and 

groundwater.

In a study in 

Manitoba and 

Saskatchewan 

over 15 winters 

between 1996 and 2011, researchers found that 

landscapes with shelterbelts had 29% more snow water 

equivalent than unsheltered landscapes. The annual water 

loss from fields protected by 220 yard wide shelterbelts 

was calculated to be up to half an inch less than similar 

unsheltered fields. They also found 

that water availability decreased beyond 

about 440 yards leeward of a shelterbelt, 

suggesting that placing shelterbelts less 

than 440 yards apart would be most 

helpful. Water loss averaged 6.8% per 

year, with a maximum of 12%. These 

losses were lower than estimates in some 

previous studies because of weather and 

site conditions. 

The results of this study show 

that landscape-level planning can be 

used to manage snow distribution. 

Agroforestry can be used to keep 

snow where it is needed and prevent 

snow accumulations where it is not 

wanted. Dense shelterbelts less than 

about 440 yards apart are efficient 

snow traps and are useful for recharging 

groundwater, surface water reservoirs, or 

wetlands. Using shelterbelts to collect and 

distribute snow is most effective when shelterbelts are 

closer together; shelterbelts that were closer than 220 

yards apart were more effective than more widely spaced 

shelterbelts. Agricultural producers need to decide on a 

spacing between shelterbelts that will balance the benefits 

of snow conservation with the practicality of field sizes 

large enough to accommodate their farm equipment. The 

increased water availability from snow, especially during 

years of drought, represents a way to help drought-proof 

the prairie region in the face of the possible effects of a 

changing climate. ]

Adapted from: Kort, J., Bank, G., Pomeroy, J., & Fang, 

X. 2011. Effects of shelterbelts on snow distribution and 

sublimation. Agroforestry Systems, 86(3), 335–344. 

doi:10.1007s10457-011-9466-4

 Volume 22, Issue 1 ] Inside Agroforestry 3

John Kort, Retired

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Agroforestry Development Centre

Indian Head, SK
Farmers are increasingly growing switchgrass, along with 

other new crops, to produce biofuels. Many of these 

crops can be grown in agroforestry systems, and their 

yield may be increased through this arrangement. Any fuel 

derived from plant biomass is considered a biofuel. Ethanol 

produced from corn and biodiesel produced from soybeans are 

the top biofuels produced in the United States. The U.S. biofuel 

market arose from economic and national security concerns, 

as well as a concern about climate change that is increasing 

extreme weather events. By supplying the transportation sector 

with feedstocks that are less carbon-intensive than fossil fuels, 

growing switchgrass can help to mitigate climate change. 

The energy needs of the United States are too high to 

be met solely by corn ethanol and soybean biodiesel. For 

example, using the entire 2008 U.S. corn and soybean 

crops to produce biofuels would meet only 18 percent 

of the U.S. transportation fuel demand. However, other 

materials can be an important piece of the puzzle. 

Cellulosic ethanol can be made from nonedible parts of plants, 

unlike conventional corn- or sugar-based ethanol. Forest biomass 

and grasses such as switchgrass are promising feedstocks for 

cellulosic ethanol. 

In particular, switchgrass has many characteristics that make 

it a desirable cellulosic ethanol feedstock. Switchgrass can be 

grown with minimal fertilization, and it produces high yields 

even on marginal soils. It is highly tolerant of flooding and 

drought and has the potential to produce 1,000 gallons of 

ethanol per acre, which compares favorably with corn and 

sugarcane. However, growing a crop dedicated predominately 

to the relatively new biofuel market carries economic risk. 

Agroforestry management systems can be developed to 

integrate switchgrass and forest production. In such systems, 

switchgrass would be grown as a biofuel feedstock within 

alleys between trees. Once switchgrass reaches a near-mature 

state by its second year, it can be harvested annually. The trees 

can be harvested occasionally as traditional forest products 

when they reach merchantable size, and the tree branches 

can be collected and marketed as biofuel feedstocks. 

The diversity in products and vegetation offered by such systems 

would reduce economic risks associated with entering a new 

market, maximize yields by optimizing the use of growing space, 

and improve environmental services such as wildlife habitat, 

capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil 

and protecting water quality from nutrient pollution. Several 

projects are under way by LSU to develop the blueprint for this 

management system of growing switchgrass in rows between 

loblolly pine trees. The purpose of these studies is to develop an 

agroforestry system for producing switchgrass for biofuel in an 

upland soil typical of north central Louisiana. Switchgrass was 

planted between rows of newly planted 2-year-old loblolly pine as 

well as between the rows of 13-year-old and 24-year-old loblolly 

pine soon after a thinning – or partial harvest – of the plantations. 

In all pine plantation ages, switchgrass was established between 

trees by first applying the herbicide glyphosate followed by 

disking the soil and then broadcast-seeding Alamo switchgrass. 

Significantly more switchgrass cover was found by the end of the 

first growing season beneath the older trees than between newly 

planted loblolly pine. Furthermore, the quantity of switchgrass 

cover increased with the number of trees, up to a point. These 

results illustrate a beneficial influence of shading on switchgrass 

establishment. Competing vegetation is an impediment to 

successful switchgrass establishment because of relatively high 

variability in the dormancy period of switchgrass seed once in the 

soil, which allows competing vegetation to become established 

before the switchgrass germinates. At the Hill Farm site, crabgrass 

was much more abundant where pine shading was absent than 

in plots with pine shading, suggesting that the shading provided 

some beneficial competition control for the switchgrass. 

Studies at the Hill Farm Research Station have shown that 

average switchgrass production without fertilization was 2.5 tons 

per acre per year, with a maximum of 3.5 tons per acre per year. 

Planting loblolly pine at 300 trees per acre, with row widths of 20 

feet to facilitate switchgrass production, has yielded an average of 

14 tons per acre of pulpwood by an age-13 thinning operation. 

Research on agroforestry systems for Louisiana is expanding. In 

March 2009, a new study was established near the LSU AgCenter 

Macon Ridge Research Station in Winnsboro, La., to explore 

growing switchgrass in alleys between eastern cottonwood trees. 

The purpose of this study is to develop an agroforest system for 

producing switchgrass and cottonwood as biofuel feedstocks on a 

4 Inside Agroforestry ] Volume 22, Issue 1

Michael Blazier

Hill Farm Research Station, LSU

Homer, LA

Perfect Pair for Biofuel: 

Switchgass 

 & Trees

Michael Blazier in a test plot of switchgrass at the Hill Farm Research 

Station near Homer, LA. (Photo by Mary Ann Van Osdell)
soil characteristic of the marginal-quality 

soils found within the lower Mississippi 

River alluvial valley. While the region has 

abundant soils well-suited to agricultural 

production, some soils require too much 

irrigation and fertilization to produce 

conventional crops profitably. Switchgrass 

and eastern cottonwood, however, can 

thrive on such soils with relatively little 

fertilization and no irrigation. Cottonwood 

can grow as much as 8 feet in height 

per year on such soils and can yield 

as much as 700 gallons of ethanol per 

acre. Cottonwood and switchgrass were 

successfully established, and energy yields, 

water quality and soil properties associated 

with this agroforestry system will be 

monitored in coming years. ]

Adapted from Blazier, Michael. 2009. 

Perfect Pair for Biofuel: Switchgrass and 

Trees. Louisiana Agriculture Magazine: 

52(4). http://www.lsuagcenter.com/en/

communications/publications/agmag/

Archive/2009/fall/Perfect+Pair+for+Biofuel+

Switchgrass+and+Trees.htm

 Volume 22, Issue 1 ] Inside Agroforestry 5

Boyd Kidwell

Contributing Editor, Progessive Farmer

Cary, NC

Shade plays an important role in Brian Tomazi’s cowcalf operation near Cuba, Mo. Over the past few years 

Tomazi has thinned the hardwood trees at the edges of 

his grazing paddocks and moved his fences back 150 to 

200 yards to take advantage of additional grazing areas.

The Missouri cattleman says his 70 cows and their calves 

respond well to a pattern of cooling off under the shade 

trees, grazing across open pasture, visiting a water source 

and grazing their way back to shade. After weaning, Tomazi 

backgrounds groups of calves in his intensive grazing setup.

“The animals use shade to regulate their body temperature. 

After they cool off in the shade, they go back out and 

graze until they’re full and hot again,” says Tomazi.

To provide extra shade, Tomazi thinned his hardwoods 

to a distance of 20 to 30 feet between trees. In an effort to 

allow better air circulation, he trimmed lower limbs to 20 

feet off the ground. After applying lime and fertilizer, he 

planted fescue and clover for a new grass stand. Paddocks 

now have up to four acres of additional grazing area.

The combination of thinning competing trees and 

fertilization has increased the growth of remaining hardwood 

trees and the oaks produce bumper crops of acorns to attract 

whitetails. Tomazi and his family are avid deer hunters.

Tomazi’s calving season runs from Aug. 15 to Oct. 15 and 

he keeps expecting cows in paddocks with plenty of shade.

“Before we had access to this much shade, I lost a few 

calves from cows that gave birth in direct sun in hot weather. 

Given a choice, my cows have their calves in a cool, shady 

area during the early part of the calving season,” says Tomazi.

Research backs up the Missouri cattleman’s observation 

that shade improves beef production. In a recent study 

by University of Missouri researchers, weight gains for 

calves given shade were slightly better (2.06 pounds/day 

vs. 1.79 pounds/day) than for calves without shade.

The big improvement from shade was demonstrated 

in the pregnancy rate of cows at the end of the study. 

The pregnancy rate for cows offered shade was 88% 

compared to only 50% for cows with no shade.

“We suspect the lower pregnancy rates in groups with 

no shade are the result of heat stress causing cows to 

slip calves,” says Missouri Extension specialist Dusty 

Walter, a Midwest authority on timber and cattle. ]

Cuban Cows

Have it Made in the Shade

A view in one paddock showing open grass, shaded grass and 

the adjacent ungrazed woodlands. (Photo by Brian Tomazi)
Using Agroforestry Techniques and Tribal Values

to Mitigate Wildfire Danger

6 Inside Agroforestry ] Volume 22, Issue 1

I

mpacting airline flights, threatening 

homes, and causing weeks of smoky 

air, wildfires are a dramatic part of 

summer in much of the western United 

States. In fact, they are becoming larger 

and more intense as climate change 

decreases winter snow pack and causes 

more severe droughts in forests that are 

ready to burn. Thus, it is increasingly 

important for landowners to manage 

their lands with fire in mind.

Landowners demand much more 

than fire-safety out of their properties, 

however. They want to grow food, timber, 

herbs, and flowers. They want to host 

barbeques and birthday parties. They 

want to create habitat for wildlife and 

enjoy nature close to home. And they 

want places of beauty and comfort. 

Agroforestry practices can help 

landowners turn their properties – 

whether they are small suburban woodlots 

or large farms – into landscapes that 

accomplish their goals and improve 

their quality of life, while also protecting 

themselves from catastrophic wildfire.

Dense Vegetation – 

A Potential Fire Hazard

Frank Lake is a Forest Service scientist 

who has been called to work on many fires 

in northern California, where he lives. In 

the past few years, he also transformed 

his own property from an unmanaged 

woodlot, densely crowded with scraggly 

Douglas-fir, madrone, chinquapin, oak, bay 

laurel, and tanoak trees – and a fire waiting 

to happen – into a fire-ready forest farm, 

using native edible plants to supplement 

his vegetable garden and small fruit and 

nut tree orchard. Beyond his property gate, 

many of the forests near Lake’s home are at 

high risk of fire because fires have not been 

removing young trees and understory brush 

(the “fuels”) as frequently as historically 

done by Native Americans. Meanwhile, 

naturally ignited lightning fires have also 

been suppressed, and thus, a large amount 

of fuel has built up in these forests. When 

fire does ignite in the dry summer months, 

it burns more intensely than would be 

the case if there had been more frequent 

understory burns. This makes it all the 

more important for Lake and his neighbors 

to “fire-safe” their own properties.

Tribal Perspective

Lake, of Native American ancestry, has 

learned how the Karuk and other tribes of 

the area traditionally understood the forest 

landscape, and used fire and other practices 

to manage it for food, medicine, firewood, 

building and basketry materials, and to 

reduce the risks of catastrophic wildfires. 

To convert his 5-acre property from a 

dense woodlot into a useful, beautiful, 

and fire-safe forest farm, Lake is putting 

traditional ecological knowledge from 

the local tribal Elders back into practice. 

He is also incorporating concepts and 

skills he learned through his professional 

experiences working in the Forest Service 

and from people practicing and teaching 

permaculture and agroforestry in northern 

California and southern Oregon. These 

experiences help him decide which 

trees to cut down, which species and 

forms to nurture, when and how to use 

prescribed burns, and how to harvest 

and process the resulting products. 

Step 1: Evaluating the

Existing Landscape

To start Lake first evaluated each tree 

and shrub around the house and garden for 

its ecological and cultural functions – from 

fire safety to food and basketry materials. 

He did this in zones, starting close to the 

house and working outward to create 

mosaics of “defensible space” that would be 

separated by footpaths and dirt trails that 

Colleen Rossier

National Agroforestry Center

Frank Lake

US Forest Service 

Orleans, CA

Forest Service scientist Frank Lake’s yard contains raised beds of evergreen 

huckleberries, native hazelnuts, and serviceberries (foreground), Douglas-firs and 

his garden of fruit trees, vegetables, and chickens (mid-ground), and forest edge of 

tanoaks and more Douglas-firs (background). (All Photos by Frank Lake)

PROTECT YOUR LAND
serve as fuel breaks while allowing Lake to 

manage all parts of his property year round.

Through his assessment, he decided 

to keep most of the mature older tanoak 

trees, large Douglas-fir trees and other 

hardwoods, but to remove the brushy 

understory since it could serve as hazardous 

fuel were a fire to ignite. Similarly, the 

Karuk and Yurok Tribes would have favored 

trees that provided acorns, firewood, 

basketry and building materials around 

villages, camps, and along trails. Tribes 

would have burned beneath the trees at 

certain times of year in zones to foster 

the growth of edible and medicinal plants 

and mushrooms while reducing pests and 

pathogens, creating access for hunting and 

gathering, and protecting these resources 

from the hotter and more severe fire 

that could ignite if vegetative fuels were 

allowed to build up over many years.

To help his property realize its greatest 

potential, Lake also incorporated his 

understanding of the microclimates across 

the landscape into his design. He did 

this by knowing the different soils on his 

property and which patches get the greatest 

amounts of light and experience frost over 

the course of the year. Understanding his 

landscape in this way, he is able to grow 

plants that require minimal maintenance 

and each play several roles: increasing 

privacy, providing wild and domestic 

fruit and nuts for his family and wildlife, 

producing stems for basketry and adding 

color to the property through the seasons. 

Step 2: Putting His Plan into

Action: Thinning and Burning

Lake worked with the Orleans-Somes 

Bar Fire Safe Council and neighbors to 

do the thinning and burning needed to 

make his property safer. The prescribed 

burning also favors the native plants that 

Lake’s family uses and have been used 

by Karuk and Yurok for generations. 

Again, they worked in zones, first clearing 

the immediate area around his house. 

Next, they cleared understory trees and 

brush along the property boundary and 

emergency access routes. They thinned 

more heavily on the southern side of 

his property to increase light to his 

garden and young fruit and nut trees. 

As they thinned, they separated the 

resulting wood into piles of firewood and 

building materials (e.g., shed poles), and 

burned the limbs and foliage in piles. In 

some of the openings created by felled 

trees, they seeded old burn piles with native 

forbs and grasses while in others they 

planted wild berries or cultivated varieties 

of native fruit and nut shrubs, such as 

serviceberry, elderberry, and hawthorn. 

In this way, Lake designed his fire-safing 

treatments to enhance his garden as well. 

Step 3: Native Plants for

Minimal Maintenance

The edible native plants Lake grows 

include evergreen huckleberries, 

gooseberries, service berries, elderberries, 

hazel, and several varieties of raspberry 

in adjacent gaps and under a canopy of 

tanoaks that provide acorns and Douglasfirs and madrones that provide firewood 

to heat his home in the winter. Lake 

now burns small, low-intensity prescribed 

fires beneath his acorn trees to get rid of 

the infertile and bug-ridden acorns that 

the trees drop first. This ensures that he 

gets a higher quality harvest, while also 

hastening the return of nutrients to the 

soil, and creating a fuel break. After the 

burns, he gathers tanoak acorns and 

shares them with Yurok and Karuk family 

and friends who make acorn soup, a 

“medicine food” that is an essential part 

of ceremonial meals. While traditionally 

burned in the fall, Lake is doing research 

to determine what times of year are best to 

burn under acorn trees given the changed 

forest conditions of the past century. 

Lake has also built raised beds for his 

cultivated and wild berries. In the beds 

farther from the house, he transitions his 

garden into the forest edge, enhancing 

the “ecotone” with native trees, shrubs, 

vines and ferns that he grows for food, 

basketry, regalia, dyes, and more. 

Terraced areas among the rock beds are 

planted with medicinal and food plants. 

Many of these are wild geophytes, such 

as brodiaeas and lilies, which have 

edible bulbs and beautiful flowers that 

attract pollinators. 

Step 4: Sharing the Knowledge

 Lake incorporates many other 

traditional practices in the maintenance 

of his forest farm, and he also wishes 

to share this knowledge with the 

tribal youth in his community. 

Thus, in 2007, Lake partnered with 

a newly founded collaborative effort 

between the Karuk Tribe and University 

of California-Berkeley, to revitalize 

traditional Karuk forest management 

techniques through research projects and 

youth education. In 2012, the Karuk/

UC-Berkeley Collaborative was awarded 

an Agriculture and Food Research 

Initiative grant from the USDA’s National 

Institute of Food and Agriculture. As one 

component of that grant, Lake and others 

are doing research projects to measure 

the effects of traditional practices, such 

as prescribed burning on the quality and 

quantity of traditional foods, such as 

acorns, hazelnuts, and huckleberries. 

The Karuk youth are participating in 

some of the monitoring efforts as well as 

the prescribed burning done on private 

lands by the Fire Safe Council and the 

subsequent harvesting of culturally 

useful plants. It is absolutely critical 

to engage the youth today so that they 

can continue the generations-old Karuk 

traditional agroforestry management 

practices to reduce fire risk, while also 

enhancing the food, fiber, and fuel 

resources of the forest. Many others 

outside of the tribe also have much to 

learn from these important techniques. ]

Before thinning After thinning

 Volume 22, Issue 1 ] Inside Agroforestry 7
Riparian forests 

provide many 

recognized ecological 

benefits, including 

shading the stream to 

reduce temperature 

fluctuations, providing 

organic matter input to 

the aquatic ecosystem, 

and absorbing pollutants 

such as excessive 

nutrients from runoff or 

subsurface flow. Woody 

vegetation is also highly 

effective for stabilizing streambanks and 

reducing erosion under normal streamflow 

conditions. Streambank erosion is a 

natural adjustment process of rivers, but 

lateral migration rates of the channel can 

be accelerated by reducing the resistance 

of bank material or increasing the velocity 

of the water. During flood events woody 

vegetation reduces streambank erosion 

by slowing streamflow speed (and thus 

erosive energy), trapping sediments 

and debris in the stems and trunks, and 

holding the soil with woody and fine root 

systems. This is called flood attenuation. 

Riparian woodlands do not reduce 

flooding, but they reduce the damage that 

floods can cause. Even fallen tree trunks, 

depending on their orientation, can help 

deflect current away from the bank. 

Figure 1 is a photograph of Hickory 

Creek in Butler county Kansas which 

clearly demonstrates the effect of bank 

vegetation on erosion. Note in the 

foreground, where crops are grown 

right up to the bank, rapid erosion and 

bank sloughing is evident, resulting in 

a vertical unstable cut bank. Contrast 

that with the background area, which is 

heavily wooded, with a gently sloping, 

stable bank, with little erosion evident.

Streambank channel erosion varies 

with channel morphology and position. 

Erosion rates are typically highest at 

the outside bends, whereas sediments 

may be deposited on inside bends, 

where velocities are slowest. Erodibility 

depends on bank height, the ratio of 

root depth to bank height, bank angle, 

soil surface protection and soil texture. 

Stream discharge varies 

greatly with precipitation 

and other weather 

events (snowmelt), and 

numerous climate change 

scenarios point to more 

episodes of extreme 

weather in the future. 

Will riparian woodlands 

continue to protect 

streambanks effectively 

even under extreme 

flooding conditions? To 

answer that question a 

study was conducted 

to examine the effect of 

the Flood of 1993 on 

the Kansas River. That 

flood was classified as a 

500 year event, due to 

the extremely high flows, 

but a similar event was 

also recorded in 1950 in 

this same watershed in 

northeast Kansas. The 

Kansas River basin covers 

about 60,000 square 

miles in three states, and a 40 mile reach 

was studied just east of Manhattan, KS. 

Aerial photos of the river were compared 

from December 1992 (pre-flood) to 

December 1993 (post-flood). At data 

collection points every 500’ landcover 

vegetation types in a 100 foot wide zone 

were classified from the 1992 photos. 

The following categories were used, 

forest, crop, grass, or single tree-row. 

The categories were based on what the 

dominant land cover type (>51%) was 

observed, either woody vegetation, crop 

field or grass land. Sites classified as 

single tree-row had at least a single line 

of trees on the bank, adjacent to one of 

the agricultural land uses. Erosion and 

deposition amounts were estimated by 

measuring the perpendicular distance 

from the 1992 streambank to the 1993 

streambank. Data were collected at 

204 streambank points, with 96 points 

classified as forest, 47 as grass, 37 as crop, 

4’

10’ 0

50

100

150 -150’

-78’

8 Inside Agroforestry ] Volume 22, Issue 1

Charles J. Barden and 

Wayne A. Geyer

Kansas State University

Manhattan, KS

Figure 1. Hickory Creek, Butler County, south 

central Kansas. (Photo by Phil Balch)

Continued on page 11

Figure 2: Soil 

erosion and 

deposition along the 

Kansas River
 Volume 22, Issue 1 ] Inside Agroforestry 9

Responding to demand generated by the 2012 US-Canadian 

Windbreak Renovation and Innovation Conference, NAC assisted 

Kansas Forest Service and NRCS to conduct the Southern Plains 

Windbreak Renovation Workshop in Dodge City. The emphasis 

was on increasing landscape resilience to extreme weather events.

Kate MacFarland was hired as NAC’s 

Assistant Agroforester in August 2013. Kate 

comes to NAC after two years in USFS 

State and Private Forestry - Cooperative 

Forestry, working on woody biomass 

utilization. Previously she has worked on 

agroforestry and other natural resources 

issues at a variety of organizations.

The USDA National Agroforestry Center (NAC) Update highlights annual accomplishments of 

products, programs and research. For more information about the USDA National Agroforestry Center 

visit http://nac.unl.edu or contact the Center at 402-437-5178, ext 4011.

Technology Transfer

Agroforestry Academy

NAC supported the first-ever Agroforestry Academy, developed 

and delivered through a Sustainable Agriculture Research Grants 

(SARE) grant awarded to the University of Missouri in partnership 

with NAC and the Mid-America Agroforestry Working Group. 

This seven-state pilot “train the trainer” workshop provided 

agroforestry training and generated input from natural resource 

professionals on how future training can be best accomplished. 

A second Academy pilot will be held in Minnesota in 2014. 

The success of the academy has encouraged the working groups 

in the northeast and northwest to consider similar training. 

Spanish Translations of Working Trees Info Sheets

NAC worked with NRCS in Puerto Rico to develop Spanish 

translations of NAC’s “What is Agroforestry?” and “Income 

Opportunities” Information Sheets; adding to NAC’s available 

Spanish publications.

eXtension Forest Farming Community of Practice

NAC continued its support of the eXtension Forest Farming 

Community of Practice; the website lets practitioners, extension 

agents, and others share information and ideas. Through an agreement with Virginia Tech, working with Cornell and the Southern 

Research Station, NAC supported the production of two video 

series on non-timber forest products that were put on YouTube. 

Southern Plains Windbreak Renovation Workshop

Joe Banegas was hired as NAC’s Information 

Assistant in November 2013. Joe left his 

position as Assistant Director with Crossmen 

Productions, Inc. a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit 

organization. There he took an active role 

in marketing and communications, as well 

as managing the day-to-day logistics. 

Staff Updates

National Agroforestry Center

Update 2013

A Partnership of the Forest Service and Natural Resources Conservation Service
FY2013 Requested Publications

CFAR Presentation by NAC Researcher

NAC researcher Michele Schoeneberger 

was invited by the National Coalition 

for Food and Agriculture Research 

(CFAR) to present an overview of how 

agroforestry can be used to create resilient 

and profitable farms and landscapes 

under erratic and extreme weather events 

to Congressional staffers and NGOs.

Research

Creating Climate-Smart Ag Landscapes through Agroforestry

At the at the 68th International Soil and Water Conservation 

Society Annual Conference in July 2013 in Reno, NV, NAC 

researcher Gary Bentrup presented research carried out with 

NAC researcher Michele Schoeneberger and other colleagues 

related to agroforestry opportunities to create landscapes that 

reduce greenhouse gases and increase climate resilience. 

Indexes for Targeting the Placement of Vegetative 

Buffers in Agricultural Watersheds 

In January 2013, NAC scientist Mike Dosskey and other 

colleagues published a paper in the Journal of the American 

Water Resources Association. This paper compares and 

contrasts different indexes that target specific locations for 

riparian buffers. To test the indexes, they were applied to 

watersheds in Missouri and New Jersey. 

Dosskey, Michael G., Zeyuan Qiu, and Yang Kang, 2013. 

A Comparison of DEM-Based Indexes for Targeting the 

Placement of Vegetative Buffers in Agricultural Watersheds. 

Journal of the American Water Resources Association 

(JAWRA) 49(6):1270-1283. doi: 10.1111/jawr.12083

Resources in the Continuous Living Cover Toolbox

In November 2013, NAC researcher Gary Bentrup presented 

at the Green Lands Blue Waters conference in Minneapolis, 

Minnesota. Gary’s presentation described how integrating 

continuous living cover into agricultural landscapes involves 

designing appropriate practices on both the whole farm and 

landscape scales. The presentation described a sampling of 

farm and landscape-level tools available to achieve farmer, 

landowner, and community goals.

Totals

Argentina

Australia

Canada

Chile

China

Colombia

Cyprus

Egypt

Ethiopia

Greece

India

Indonesia

Italy

Kenya

Latvia

Macedonia

Malaysia

Mexico

Netherlands

Pakistan

Papua NewGuinea

Portugal

Slovakia

South Africa

Spain

UAE

U.K.

Vietnam

Countries Serviced

67,719 Distributed Worldwide*

*Does not include technical notes, newsletter, displays, slide shows or videos

Working Trees Info Series

Alley cropping 2,543

Forest Farming 2,748

Heat Stress 994

Income 2,704

Riparian Forest Buffers 4,060

Silvopasture 774

What is Agroforestry 3,039

Windbreaks 2,382

Other

Windbreak Series (set of eleven) 5,783 

Windbreaks for Conservation 1,007 

Miscellaneous 7,089 

Conservation Buffer Guides 559 

CanVis 273 

Working Trees Series

Agriculture / Spanish 5,052

Communities 3,512

Energy 3,317

Livestock / Spanish 4,202

Livestock-SE / Spanish 60 

Living Snow Fence 1,977

Silvopasture 3,908

Wildlife 5,957

Water Quality 5,216

10 Inside Agroforestry ] Volume 22, Issue 1

14,711 

(255 International) 

33,201 

(208 International) 

19,244 

(100 International) 
Agroforestry is all about Working Trees 

for ....well, work! And while they are 

working, whether protecting crops, 

livestock, farmsteads and/or 

roads, enhancing water quality, 

holding soils in place or 

generating more income 

from nontimber forest 

products, timber or 

hunting revenues, 

they are also working 

to address climate 

change mitigation. 

They do this by 

sequestering 

carbon (C) in 

woody biomass 

and soil, as well 

as reducing other 

greenhouse gas 

emissions. And, 

even though this 

work occurs no 

matter what the 

landowner’s primary 

goals are, it is a 

contribution well worth 

accounting for. Mitigating 

greenhouse gases and 

adaptation to extreme weather 

events go hand-in-hand. For 

instance, a windbreak put in place to 

mitigate the impacts of a weather extreme 

on production provides the additional benefit of 

Michele Schoeneberger

National Agroforestry Center

Lincoln, NE

and 24 as single tree-row. Thus, 59% 

of the banks had at least some trees.

Land-cover vegetation significantly 

(p<0.01) affected the lateral movement 

of the streambank. Both forest and 

single tree-row vegetation types 

collected soil, with mean deposition 

of 10’ and 4’ respectively, which were 

not significantly different from each 

other (Figure 2). Grassland sites lost an 

average of 78’, while crop field sites lost 

an average of 150’! Surface acreage of 

the lost agricultural land was estimated 

for each mile: Grassland lost 9.4 acres, 

and cropland lost 18.2 acres. The latter 

is equivalent to losing about a quarter 

section of land for every 10 miles of 

stream length running through crop 

land. Thus, even during a 500-year flood 

event on a major river, the presence of 

trees in the riparian zone made a clear 

difference in the lateral migration, 

erosion, and deposition of sediments. 

These results show that woody 

vegetation is highly effective for protecting 

streambanks even during severe flooding. 

Standing trees slow water velocity, thus 

reducing the energy available for erosion, 

and allowing disposition of flood-borne 

sediment. Greater rooting depth along with 

larger and stronger roots also helps stabilize 

the soil mantle. To protect agricultural 

land in the face of extreme weather events 

such as flooding, natural stands of timber 

should be left standing on streambanks, 

and riparian buffers containing trees should 

be established in areas where trees are 

absent, to reduce streambank erosion. ]

Volume 22, Issue 1 ] Inside Agroforestry 11

sequestering 

C, which in turn 

ultimately determines 

the long term health and 

productivity of the soil. 

By accounting for the carbon 

being sequestered through agroforestry 

practices, landowners can better 

understand how big a contribution 

these practices can play in reducing their 

greenhouse gas footprint, as well as possibly 

provide a productive, profitable avenue for 

participating in future potential C markets. 

However, measuring these contributions 

can be challenging. Other tools often do not 

include agroforestry practices. In addition, 

they may not measure carbon sequestration 

at a scale that is meaningful to landowners. 

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation 

Service, in collaboration with the Natural 

Resources Ecology Laboratory (NREL) at 

Colorado State University, has created a userfriendly, web-based tool called COMET 

(CarbOn Management Evaluation Tool) 

to help farmers and ranchers do just that. 

In fact, the latest version of this tool, 

COMET-FARM (www.comet-farm.

com), was just released this summer.

COMET-FARM can help 

producers calculate how much 

carbon their land’s soil 

and vegetation can 

remove from the 

atmosphere. 

The tool also will 

help producers calculate 

and understand how land 

management decisions impact 

energy use and greenhouse gas 

emissions. “The unique thing about 

COMET-Farm is that it allows the 

people who know the most about what 

is happening on the land – the farmers 

– to use very sophisticated technology to 

quantify greenhouse gas emissions but with 

an easy-to-use online system,” said Keith 

Paustian, professor in CSU’s Department 

of Soil and Crop Sciences and leader of 

the COMET-Farm development team. 

The tool allows users to input information 

about soil characteristics, crop rotations, 

tillage, fertilization, and the location of their 

land. COMET-Farm then estimates carbon 

sequestration and greenhouse gas emission 

reductions associated with conservation 

practices for cropland, pasture, rangeland, 

livestock operations and energy.

COMET-FARM does not currently 

support agroforestry. The prior version, 

COMET 2.0 (www.comet2.colostate.

edu) does and can be used to compare 

how carbon sequestration and 

greenhouse gas emissions can 

be altered at the farm-level 

through inclusion 

of agroforestry

practices. A recent workshop, hosted by 

USDA NRCS, NREL and the USDA 

National Agroforestry Center, 

brought together a team of 

COMET and agroforestry 

experts to identify key 

information gaps and 

potential sources of 

data and expert 

knowledge 

necessary to 

refine the 

agroforestry 

module. 

Support for 

agroforestry 

and other 

woody 

systems, 

like 

orchards 

and 

vineyards, 

is scheduled 

to be added 

in late 2013. ]

 

Adapted from: 

“Researchers create 

online tool to estimate 

greenhouse gas reductions 

through conservation agriculture.” July 12, 2013. http://phys.

org/news/2013-06-online-tool-greenhouse-gas-reductions.html

Advancing the

agroforestry

 omponent in limate hange

Continued from page 8
Upcoming Events

Mission

The USDA National Agroforestry Center (NAC) 

is a partnership of the Forest Service (Research & 

Development and State & Private Forestry) and the 

Natural Resources Conservation Service. NAC’s staff 

is located at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE. 

NAC’s purpose is to accelerate the development and 

application of agroforestry technologies to attain more 

economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable 

land use systems by working with a national 

network of partners and cooperators to conduct 

research, develop technologies and tools, establish 

demonstrations, and provide useful information to 

natural resource professionals.

Policy

Opinions expressed in “Inside Agroforestry” are those of the author and do 

not necessarily represent the policy of the USDA Forest Service and the USDA 

Natural Resources Conservation Service. The U.S. Department of Agriculture 

(USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis 

of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital 

status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic 

information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual’s 

income is derived from any public assistance. (Not all prohibited bases apply 

to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for 

communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) 

should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD). To 

file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 

1400 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call toll free 

866-632-9992 (voice). TDD users can contact USDA through local relay or the 

Federal relay at 800-877-8339 (TDD) or 866-377-8642 (relay voice). USDA is 

an equal opportunity provider and employer.

“Inside Agroforestry” is published by the USDA National 

Agroforestry Center. Phone: 402-437-5178; 

Fax: 402-437-5712.

•		 Keith Cline, Acting NAC Director (202-203-1393)

•		 Michele Schoeneberger, FS Research Lead (ext. 4021)

•		 Richard Straight, FS Lead Agroforester (ext 4024)

•		 NRCS Lead Agroforester - vacant

•		 Kate MacFarland, FS Assistant Agroforester (ext 4012)

• Joseph Banegas, Information Assistant/ 

 “Inside Agroforestry” Designer (ext 4014)

http://nac.unl.edu

February 5–7, 2014

PASA’s 23rd Annual Farming for the 

Future Conference

State College, PA. 

http://conference.pasafarming.org

February 18-20, 2014

Longleaf Academy: Longleaf 101

Cheraw State Park, South Carolina

http://www.longleafalliance.org/events/

sc-ll-101-february-2014 

February 27-March 1, 2014

Minority Landowner 8th Anniversary 

Conference 

Greenville, SC

http://www.minoritylandowner.com

April 1-4, 2014

Drought in the Life, Cultures, and 

Landscapes of the Great Plains

Lincoln, NE

http://www.unl.edu/plains/2014-

symposium-drought

April 12, 2014

Shitake Mushroom Culture Workshop

Greenbank, WA

Pre-registration required

http://snohomish.wsu.edu/forestry/

mushroom.htm

For more upcoming events, visit our

website calendar: http://nac.unl.edu/

events/index.htm

Natural Resources 

Conservation Service

Inside Agroforestry PRSRT STD

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VOLUME 22, ISSUE 1

12 Inside Agroforestry ] Volume 22, Issue 1