The dirt on dirt: Flood recovery starts from the ground up for Washington farmers

The waters may have receded from last month’s widespread flooding, but the hard work of recovery is just beginning. Local farmers are cleaning up and replacing things that were swept off in the waters — starting with soil.

It’s fallow season at Ryan Lichttenneger’s farm in Fall City. Come spring, he hopes the fields will be full again with greens and grains.

But today, they’re mostly bare. In the farm’s staging area, the only area that didn’t flood, there are remnants from the catastrophic event: a green school bus, a white trailer, and some farm equipment — items that neighboring farmers brought over to keep safe.

On one side of the farm, Lichttenneger shows where they had dug out the radicchio, carrots, and celery before the field filled with water.

“You can see what it’s done,” Lichttenneger said. “It loosened up the soil so much even though there’s some crop residue on top, that water came through over the road here and got a little bit of speed and washed out the entire layer of soil.”

He traces the length of the row, where the water likely flowed. At the end of the row is a heap of dirt.

“Some of it went ‘swish’ and piled up,” Lichttenneger said. “I’m going to grab the tractor and scoop up a couple of buckets and we’ll put it here.”

He’s also trying to salvage what’s left of the garlic plants, covering them with fresh compost and a blanket of straw.

For farmers like Lichtenneger, the loss is more than just dirt.

“I’ve been farming in this spot for almost 12 years and I’ve spent those 12 years adding minerals, adding fertilizers, micronutrients, macronutrients, biologicals to try to boost the effectiveness of the soil — and when that can just wash away in a matter of hours, it’s devastating.”

This is the flood’s hidden damage. Healthy soil is crucial and determines how crops will do.

“You can think of healthy, fertile soils as the foundation that keeps civilization afloat, yet we take it for granted and treat it like dirt,” said University of Washington professor David Montgomery, who focuses on earth surfaces, including dirt.

He says floods can be beneficial — the water provides a fresh injection of minerals that helps to restore soil health. But that also depends on the size of the flood.

“The bigger the floods you get, the more violent they tend to be just because you have more water flowing faster, and that gives them more power, more energy to do damage to the landscape,” Montgomery said.

And often, the water also carries undesirable stuff in its path.

“You don’t want the plastics, you don’t want the oil, you don’t want runoff from roads,” he said.

Montgomery says the kind of flooding that’s ideal would be like filling and draining a bathtub —slowly.

“One of the worries in terms of the direction the climate seems to be going in this region is we’re getting more variable weather and we’re getting bigger floods more often,” Montgomery said. “And that’s not a good thing.”

Last month’s flooding was considered historic. Nearly 89,000 acres of crop fields in 13 counties were affected, according to initial estimates by the state’s Department of Agriculture. The agency says the full impact won’t be known until well after this year’s crop season.

Back in Fall City, Ryan Lichtenneger has started restoring the soil in his farm.

He points to a mound of compost in the staging area. He’s part of a text chain of area farmers who notify each other about where they’re getting their compost. They’re picky because a bad batch can carry invasive weed seeds, plastics, and diseases. But this one from Snohomish has good telltale signs.

“These are cap fungi growing out of the top,” Lichttenneger said.

He scoops out a handful of dirt and points to the white thin strands.

“That’s mycelium that’s really beneficial for the soil," Lichttenneger said. "Worms have found their way in.”

These organisms and healthy bacteria are like probiotics for the soil.

He’ll also plant cover crops and add organic materials. But the best part during this quiet season is picking out seeds and crop planning.

“It gets you excited and your blood pumping, thinking about the new growth and what’s possible.”