Revegetation and Erosion Control

Native plants prevent erosion

This is the man-made slope alongside Southwest McCarran Boulevard between Lakeside and Plumb. We used native grasses, shrubs and trees to prevent erosion on the freshly graded slope, at the same time restoring beauty to the landscape without irrigation.

Work on this slope, accomplished by two local contractors within a period of three years, took into consideration...

stockpiling and replacing soil,
different seeding mixes on the northeast and southwest facing hillsides,
planting tublings that are just now starting to mature. Some of these are Mountain Mahogany, Siberian Pea Shrub, and Russian Olive. See these and others just east of Greensboro Drive.

Erosion Control is any practice that reduces wind and water erosion. It can include engineering approaches such as rip-rap (covering a hillside with rock), retaining walls and terracing. Plants are used for long-term, low-cost erosion control. In some erosion-control projects, we are not concerned with beauty or with harmonizing the site with the surrounding habitat, only with controlling erosion. Image: ?

Revegetation is, quite simply, covering the ground with plants. In this case, erosion control is one objective among many. Others include providing habitat for wildlife, improving water quality, providing food for livestock, providing a covering for recreation, or creating a beautiful vista. The area may be irrigated or not, depending on the objectives and the plants chosen. Again, we select plants to perform their intended purposes, not necessarily to blend into the surrounding landscape.

Restoration, on the other hand, has as its objective to return a scarred surface to its original condition. Native plants play a central role, and, to a lesser extent, we work at reshaping the land to resemble its original character and using boulders as "desert pavement." In many cases, the landform and soils have been altered so drastically that we have to consider other plant groupings and methods of establishment.

We at Interpretive Gardens have designed and installed many examples of all three approaches -- erosion control, revegetation, and restoration.