Recovering lost knowledge: traditional practices for a safer future

For decades, coastal areas in California like Rancho Palos Verdes didn’t improve drainage systems or reinforce slopes with deep-rooted vegetation to slow down landslide risk. Is it too late?

Any Spaniard over 40 remembers the name of one tiny mountain village in the Aragonese Pyrenees: Biescas. They don’t recall the name because the place is picturesque or pleasant (it is) but because a lack of modern permitting allowed locals to open a popular camping in a flash-flood-prone area.

And, sure enough, a bigger-than-normal storm arrived one day,…