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This content was posted on  12 Jul 24  by   Joe Brewer  on  Medium
Dreaming of the Ogallala :: The Second Day

Dreaming of the Ogallala :: The Second Day

We continue exploring what it would take to #RegenerateTheOgallala…

On our second day, we went out into the landscape to feel the southern edge of this massive groundwater system that spans from Amarillo, Texas all the way north into Nebraska and Wyoming. This is the beginning of the high plains and an arid region that fundamentally depends on infrequent rainfall for all who live here.

In the morning, we visited ponds where trees have grown high around their edges to provide shelter and shade We observed the sandy soils and smooth rocks that piled up here in alluvial spans of river flows to create the massive sponge of land that absorbs so much water.

Talk of regenerating such a massive groundwater system includes exploring how to restore watersheds and flatter grooves in the land that locals call playas It is about reintroducing native species like the iconic buffalo. There is need to restore soils and eventually bring the extraction of water for surface irrigation to an end.

And of course, there is the return of prairie savannah and all the perennials who can dig deep roots into the earth. To dream at these scales is to imagine a bioregional future for the people who live on the Great Plains. It is to explore how harmonious lifeways can emerge as industrial agriculture and fossil fuel mining eventually go extinct.

We hold these dreams not because they are easily achieved, but because they are the necessary future of this place if humans are to still be here a few hundred years from now.

Onward, fellow humans.

Joe Brewer is co-founder of the Design School for Regnerating Earth as well as a co-founder of Barichara Regenerativa. You can follow him on Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram and support his work directly on Patreon.

Tagged with :

design, Dreams, education, ogallala, regeneration
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