Prioritizing Water and Access in Infrastructure Layers of Permanence

Understanding the Scale of Permanence

There's a misunderstanding about how to order the infrastructure decisions on a piece of land. Many landowners start by drawing straight lines based on where equipment works easiest or what looks good from the porch. Over 50 years ago P.A. Yeomans developed the Keyline plan based on his understanding of soil and how it develops, using what he called the Scale of Permanence to guide agricultural land design.

Regrarians, developed by Darren Doherty, adopted Yeomans' work and refined it for different landscapes. The infrastructure and development layers in order of permanence are water, access, forestry, buildings, fencing, and energy. These sit ahead of the management layers of soils and economy. The idea is to approach each layer according to how readily it can be changed after it is in place.

Why Water Is the First Infrastructure Layer

Climate can hardly be manipulated at all, except in small microclimates or through changes in evapotranspiration. Geography can be altered only slightly. These are the most permanent layers, so every design needs to embrace them and work inside the framework they provide rather than fighting them.

Water is the first layer in the infrastructure sequence because it is more permanent than the elements that follow. Once water systems are established they become the foundation that later choices must complement. Designing with water first helps the whole landscape work with natural flows instead of forcing patterns that create problems years later.

Treating Access as a Water Feature

Access, especially roads, comes immediately after water in the Scale of Permanence. We often fail to think of roads as a water feature, but they decidedly are one. When heavy rain hits, we all recognize how water flows across a road, sometimes cutting into it, incising channels, or turning the surface into a slippery mess.

Building roads with the flow of water in mind lets them help direct water where we want it with minimal erosion. This is one practical way the early layers inform everything that follows. Considering access in light of water from the beginning prevents expensive fixes and sets clear limits for where other infrastructure can go.

How Water and Access Inform Forestry, Buildings, Fencing, and Energy

The best designs take the complete context into account before the blade starts cutting up the landscape, before the first fence post is driven, and before the first foundation is laid for a building. When water systems and access are decided first they naturally shape the practical placement of forestry, the siting of buildings that need reliable access and water, the layout of fencing that works with the established contours and flows, and the positioning of energy elements that come last in the infrastructure layer.

It is not that aesthetics, views, or ease of using implements should be tossed aside. They need to be considered in light of the Scale of Permanence so we avoid the challenges that arise when we force a preference over the natural use and flow of the landscape.

Starting Where You Are for a More Resilient Landscape

Few of us can start with a clean slate. Most properties already have some roads, fences, or buildings in place. Even so, we can begin where we are by re-examining the water and access layers and adjusting future decisions to work with them instead of against them.

In our experience this approach leads to a much more resilient landscape, greater production, higher carrying capacities, and healthier animals. The healthier landscape tends to smooth out the highs and lows of weather as the land adapts to take the greatest advantage of the climate we are given.