WEBVTT 00:00:02.419 --> 00:00:06.506 This is the most dramatic example of 00:00:06.506 --> 00:00:09.134 change within a short period of time. 00:00:09.509 --> 00:00:10.927 You're witnessing the beauty of Cave 00:00:10.927 --> 00:00:12.345 Creek. There's a mile of 00:00:12.345 --> 00:00:13.722 this creek on the property. 00:00:13.722 --> 00:00:16.099 And when we purchased this ranch, it 00:00:16.099 --> 00:00:17.392 wasn't even on the listing. 00:00:18.017 --> 00:00:19.519 It was only within the matter of about 00:00:19.519 --> 00:00:22.063 two years that the seeps started to 00:00:22.063 --> 00:00:23.690 rehydrate this landscape. 00:00:24.107 --> 00:00:25.483 When we thought about regenerating this 00:00:25.483 --> 00:00:26.443 land, we really thought 00:00:26.443 --> 00:00:27.736 about the soil health principles 00:00:28.153 --> 00:00:30.363 and what that really meant for fixing 00:00:30.363 --> 00:00:32.323 water cycles and nutrient cycles. 00:00:33.575 --> 00:00:35.285 After about two years, we started seeing 00:00:35.285 --> 00:00:36.828 water show up in this dry 00:00:36.828 --> 00:00:37.912 creek, which our neighbors 00:00:37.912 --> 00:00:40.457 had said hadn't flowed in 40 plus years 00:00:40.457 --> 00:00:40.999 and they never 00:00:40.999 --> 00:00:42.333 anticipated it flowing again. 00:00:42.751 --> 00:00:44.627 It really proves that we have fixed that 00:00:44.627 --> 00:00:45.587 water cycle in certain 00:00:45.587 --> 00:00:46.671 parts of our property 00:00:46.796 --> 00:00:47.839 that have made this 00:00:47.839 --> 00:00:49.591 retain the water for so long. 00:00:51.426 --> 00:00:52.844 So there's a term called effective 00:00:52.844 --> 00:00:54.429 rainfall and essentially it 00:00:54.429 --> 00:00:56.181 boils down to your ability to 00:00:56.431 --> 00:00:57.724 efficiently capture and 00:00:57.724 --> 00:00:59.225 utilize and hold rain. 00:00:59.601 --> 00:01:01.269 When rainfall is able to infiltrate into 00:01:01.269 --> 00:01:03.271 the soil and go deep down, 00:01:03.730 --> 00:01:06.191 it's going to be refilling our dry creeks 00:01:06.191 --> 00:01:07.692 through seeps and springs. 00:01:08.651 --> 00:01:10.737 Contrast this to conventional management 00:01:10.737 --> 00:01:13.364 of land. You get a deluge, a flash flood, 00:01:13.823 --> 00:01:16.117 you get tons of runoff, sediment, topsoil 00:01:16.117 --> 00:01:17.452 in the nearest creek. 00:01:18.328 --> 00:01:19.829 Water is rushing through there. You're 00:01:19.829 --> 00:01:20.705 not holding any of it. 00:01:20.705 --> 00:01:22.874 It's all leaving the property and then 00:01:22.874 --> 00:01:24.709 the sun comes back out and in three days, 00:01:24.751 --> 00:01:25.460 they're back in a 00:01:25.460 --> 00:01:27.212 perpetual state of drought. 00:01:27.587 --> 00:01:29.339 And so when we get four to six inch rain 00:01:29.339 --> 00:01:30.590 events, we're getting a lot of 00:01:30.590 --> 00:01:32.050 infiltration up on the land 00:01:32.258 --> 00:01:34.344 and our creek is remaining really stable. 00:01:34.677 --> 00:01:36.805 Really thanks to the bison and the hard 00:01:36.805 --> 00:01:37.639 work that they're doing 00:01:37.639 --> 00:01:39.182 to stabilize our grasses 00:01:39.182 --> 00:01:41.059 and grow more grasses and help stimulate 00:01:41.059 --> 00:01:42.811 those roots and have 00:01:42.811 --> 00:01:44.312 more water infiltration and 00:01:44.312 --> 00:01:46.606 through the beautiful aggregated soil and 00:01:46.606 --> 00:01:47.816 allow that water to 00:01:47.816 --> 00:01:49.943 really stay within it and 00:01:50.026 --> 00:01:52.403 recharge these springs and seeps. 00:01:56.032 --> 00:01:58.326 This is one of the spots where the seeps 00:01:58.326 --> 00:01:59.786 are actually coming up. 00:02:00.286 --> 00:02:01.579 About half a mile up from 00:02:01.579 --> 00:02:03.122 here, it's completely dry. 00:02:03.414 --> 00:02:04.749 So the ranch is now the 00:02:04.749 --> 00:02:06.042 headwaters of this creek. 00:02:06.334 --> 00:02:07.669 And it's so sad because I mean like 00:02:07.669 --> 00:02:09.087 really this creek should 00:02:09.087 --> 00:02:10.338 be miles and miles long, 00:02:10.338 --> 00:02:11.881 but it really starts here and now flows 00:02:11.881 --> 00:02:12.924 from our property forward. 00:02:13.383 --> 00:02:15.051 This creek, this water, 00:02:15.760 --> 00:02:17.929 it offers me so much hope. 00:02:18.596 --> 00:02:20.181 If what we were able to accomplish in 00:02:20.181 --> 00:02:20.932 such a short amount of 00:02:20.932 --> 00:02:22.392 time can be replicated from 00:02:22.892 --> 00:02:25.311 ranch over ranch over ranch, like our 00:02:25.311 --> 00:02:26.396 future and our children's 00:02:26.396 --> 00:02:27.647 future is so much brighter.