Seed Balls – The World in Your Hands

AUTHORS:
Kevin Buckley, Craig Martin: Volunteer Task Force
Laura Patterson: Los Alamos Public Schools

GRADE LEVELS: 4-6

OVERVIEW OF LESSON PLAN:
Students will construct seed balls in the classroom, then in a burned area, collect data on the ground cover and distribute seed balls to increase ground cover and reduce soil loss and transportation of sediment to streams. The same students or a different group can return in several months to the site of seed ball distribution and evaluate the success of the seed ball project by collecting ground cover data.

SUGGESTED TIME ALLOWANCE:
One hour in the classroom, two hours in the field

SKILLS:
Communication
• Work cooperatively in groups, state opinions, & discuss reactions
• Read and follow directions
• Use study skills of giving and following directions, being responsible for work

Mathematics
• Use basic operations to solve problems
• Generate and solve word problems by using real data
• Explain mathematical thought processes both orally and in writing
• Understand the relative magnitude of numbers
• Solve problems with ratios, proportions & percents

Science
• Study regeneration and renewal
• Explore past scientific and technological changes, predict future needs, and create a product to solve a problem
• Predict, observe & record environmental changes & reactions of organisms to changes over time
• Examine the impact of humans on a natural habitat

Teacher Background Information

On May 4, 2000, the National Park Service started a prescribed burn on Cerro Grande peak within Bandelier National Monument. The burn, a 300-acre meadow at 10,119-ft elevation, was located about 3.5 miles west of the laboratory boundary in the headwaters of Water Canyon and Canon de Valle. The intent was to burn a small grassland area to protect the surrounding forests from future fires. Unfortunately high winds, ranging from 27 to 54 mph. transformed this prescribed burn into a huge and devastating wildfire burning 235 structures in its path and leaving 400 families homeless as well as charring more than 47,000 acres of forest in the Los Alamos and Jemez Mountain areas. Recovery efforts have been slow, but certainly promising, as one can see the landscape beginning to show signs of growth as native plants and grasses gradually begin to fill in the once blackened hillsides.

Due to the fire and now the onset of drought, our forests will have a hard time recovering in a natural way. Many volunteers have donated countless hours reseeding and mulching, and their efforts have made a positive impact. In severely disturbed areas such as ours, germination of seeds is often quite difficult however. The wind blows the seed away, rain washes the seed, and rodents, birds and insects consume much of the exposed seed. The dry air and heat also diminishes the viability of the seed embryos.

Re-vegetation can prove to be very expensive and time consuming. Efforts have been made in the last few years to try a different method of reseeding that is not only relatively inexpensive but has proven to be extremely effective and is low maintenance. This method, referred to as seed balls, is the original creation of Masanobu Fukuoka, a Japanese scientist and farmer, who is considered the founder of natural farming. The seed ball concept is simple, and applies perfectly to our burnt forest conditions. Seeds are encased in a ball of red clay and humus. The clay protects the seeds from the drying sun, rodents, birds, and insects until the opportune rains come. The rains melt the clay, allowing the seeds to sprout in a mini-environment of nutrients found in the humus and clay. Although only a percentage of sprouted seeds will take hold, the profusion of thousands of these balls, each containing a surplus of seeds, will more than adequately cover nature’s requirements to make it work. Seed balls have four components – seed, humus, red clay, and water. A seed mixture of plants that belong together in forest guilds is created. In the correct proportions, the seed mixture, humus, clay and water are mixed, and small (1/2”-1”) clay balls are formed. They are dried for a few days, and then are ready for broadcasting on the forest floor. It takes about ten seed balls per square yard to do the job.

Post-fire studies demonstrate that increasing vegetative cover is the most effective way to reduce soil movement. Rain washing across barren slopes not only moves soil down hill, but it deposits sediment in stream channels. This can lead to an increase in sediment load and decrease in water quality.

Constructing seed balls as a classroom project is not only fun and educational, but gives children the opportunity to take an active part in the process of restoring their community.

OBJECTIVES:
Students will:

1. Discuss the aftermath of the Cerro Grande Fire, with an emphasis on volunteer efforts in the community to reduce erosion.
2. Work cooperatively in groups of two to construct seed balls
3. Distribute seed balls at a designated burned site
4. Evaluate ground cover as it relates to soil erosion

ACTIVITES / PROCEDURES:
1. WARM-UP: In a class discussion students share the changes they see in the landscape in the last two years after the Cerro Grande Fire. Brainstorm observations and list positive effects, such as greening, and negative effects, such as erosion. Ask students if any of them have been involved in any volunteer efforts, such as planting trees or spreading straw. Discuss the benefits of community involvement and why it’s important for them to be involved.

SEED BALLS: HOW TO MAKE THEM

Materials:

Classroom Supply Student Kit
Clay Mixing bucket (label as such)
Sand 1 cup measuring cup
Compost ¼ cup measuring cup
Seed mix drying tray (label as such)
Water
Containers for materials
Container for dried seed balls
Hand washing buckets

Students should work in pairs
12 kits are needed per classroom

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES:
1. Teach your family how to make seed balls
2. Take seed ball project to the local Senior Citizen Center
3. Conduct a seed ball experimental plot near your school

EVALUATION/ ASSESSMENT:
Students will be evaluated based on written journal responses, participation in class discussion, cooperation with team members, and creation of seed balls

PERFORMANCE STANDARDS – SCIENCE

NM SC 4th 11.8.1 Students will participate in a nature walk and record evidence of regeneration and renewal.

NM SC 5th 1.1.1 Students will explain which characteristics of the natural world make its future behavior predictable. Describe some characteristics of the natural world that make its future difficult to predict.

NM SC 6th 4.5.1 Students will explore environmental changes that could have a local or global impact.

NM SC 6th 11.1.2 Students will predict, observe, and record environmental changes and reactions of organisms to changes over time.

NM Sc 6th 11.6.1 Students will identify environmental changes affecting the diversity and balance of an ecosystem: suggest alternative approaches that are less intrusive.

NM Sc 6th 11.6.2 Students will analyze the impact of humans on a natural habitat.

RESOURCES:
Jim Bones, Tesuque, NM
http://www.seedballs.com

How Effective Are Seed Balls: Ground Cover Evaluation

Ground cover or vegetation is important for protecting the soil from erosion. The leaves of the vegetation help to break up the impact of the falling rain. The roots of the vegetation help hold the soil together. Seed balls are made to increase the amount of ground cover. You will be estimating the amount of ground cover along three (3) randomly chosen transects.

Step 1. Make sure each person in your group knows he or her job:
One person will walk the transect (walker).
One person will identify the ground cover (observer).
One person will record the ground cover on the data sheet (recorder).

Step 2. The walker gently tosses a pen or pencil over their shoulder. The direction the pen or pencil is pointing is the direction of the transect. A transect is a straight line that is walked and the ground cover is measured on.

Step 3. The walker takes two steps along the transect. The observer will look at what the ground cover is directly in front of the walker’s right foot. The ground cover choices are; vegetation, rock, soil. The observer will announce the ground cover and the recorder will mark it on the data sheet.

Step 4. Repeat step 3 nine (9) times for a total of ten measurements.

Step 5. Repeat step 2 and then repeat step 3 for a total of ten measurements.

Step 6. Repeat step 2 and then repeat step 3 for a total of ten measurements

This will give you a total of 3 transects with 10 measurements each, for a total of 30 measurements.

Step 7. Total up each column of ground cover on each transect (vegetation, rock, soil).
Divide the total of each column by 30 (the number of measurements).
Multiply this number by 100 to give you percent ground cover of each cover type.

Extension: Soil scientists use a simple way of calculating the amount of soil that rain can wash away on an acre of land. They measure the percent cover, then multiply that number by 8.4. The product of those two numbers is an estimate of the number of tons of soil that will wash away in a year.

Take your average percent cover and multiply it by 8.4 and record:

Tons of soil lost per acre: ________________________________

Soil scientists believe that less than 5 tons of soil lost per year is acceptable.

Is your calculated soil loss on the study site acceptable?

Do you think seed balls will help reduce soil loss? How?

Think of some other ways the soil loss could be reduced at the study site.