Field Tools for Soil Bioengineering

A practical guide to the cutting tools, digging tools, and planting bars used in soil bioengineering work, based on David Polster's field teaching material.

Good soil bioengineering work depends on good field kit. The species choice and installation pattern matter, but crews also need tools that cut cleanly, open holes at the right depth, and let the planting material reach dependable moisture with minimal unnecessary disturbance.

Adapted from David Polster's field-teaching material on soil bioengineering tools and is meant to complement the more biological guidance on harvesting cuttings.

Most field kits break into three categories:

These are the tools used to harvest dormant willow, cottonwood, dogwood, and other live material cleanly.

The goal is not simply to remove stems quickly. It is to:

In practice, that usually means a combination of hand pruners, loppers, pruning saws, and other cutting tools sized to the plant material being harvested.

Once the material is on site, the next constraint is often the ground itself.

Compact till, coarse gravel, dry embankment soils, and dense fill do not always accept live stakes easily by hand. Crews often need:

These tools are especially important on:

Planting bars deserve their own category because they are one of the most useful specialty tools in the soil bioengineering kit.

A good planting bar lets crews:

Planting bars are especially effective when crews are installing dormant cuttings into moist subsoil beneath a compacted surface. They help translate the biological requirement into a field operation: the cutting has to reach the zone where it can root successfully.

Tool choice should follow site conditions, not habit.

On a soft streambank or moist shoreline edge, crews may be able to work efficiently with lighter cutting tools and simple planting bars.

On a hard slope, denser kit is often needed. Pilot-hole tools and heavier bars become more important because the surface layer can prevent the stake from ever reaching usable moisture.

On gravel-bar and coarse alluvial sites, tools that can open deeper holes or support excavator-assisted placement matter far more than generic hand planting approaches.

Tool choice directly affects:

That is why a strong field program treats tools as part of the method rather than an afterthought.

Adapted from the legacy PES presentation "Tools for Soil Bioengineering" used in field teaching and crew training.

The original PES tool deck breaks the field kit into cutting tools, digging tools, and planting bars. That structure maps well to the way crews actually work: harvest first, open the ground second, and install material to depth.

Planting bars help crews reach moisture quickly and consistently with minimal excavation.

Soil bioengineering needs surprisingly little equipment, which is a large part of why it is so cost-effective. Most of the work is done by hand. This is the toolkit David Polster refined over four decades of fieldwork across British Columbia.

Most of soil bioengineering is done with hand tools. For harvesting and trimming cuttings, David Polster relied on three: the Silky Zubat hand saw, which cuts nearly as fast as a chainsaw without the protective gear; Felco #2 pruners for fine trimming; and Bahco Pradines loppers for the heavier stems. Good tools keep a small crew productive and make clean cuts that root better.

Digging tools: pick and grub-hoe types for breaking ground.

The large planting bars are custom-fabricated from steel. A bar driven into the slope makes a pilot hole so a live stake can be pushed in without crushing its cambium against rock, the difference between a stake that roots and one that fails. On firmer ground a tapered bar reaches the moist subsurface a cutting needs to survive its first summer.

The whole kit fits in a truck.

• Polster, D.F. 2021. Living on the Edge: A Manual for the Restoration of Drastically Disturbed Sites. Polster Environmental Services Ltd.

Photographs documenting the tools and equipment used in soil bioengineering practice, from harvesting live cuttings in the field to installing wattle fences and brush layers. Effective bioengineering requires specialized knowledge of both tool selection and application technique, particularly for working in steep terrain and riparian areas.

Soil bioengineering tools and equipment, field documentation

Soil bioengineering tools and equipment, field documentation

Soil bioengineering tools and equipment, field documentation

The right tools make the difference between a productive installation day and a frustrating one. Soil bioengineering work on steep, rooted terrain requires tools that can handle compacted and rocky soils. A standard contractor's toolkit, picks, rock bars, loppers, and spades, covers most situations, though each site demands some adaptation based on soil conditions, plant material diameter, and slope gradient.

Picks and grub hoes are essential for loosening compacted soils and rooted ground on steep slopes where mechanical excavation is impractical. The grub hoe is particularly effective for clearing a work surface before planting, breaking up the root mat that prevents cuttings from being driven to adequate depth. On some sites, loosening the surface layer is the difference between a cutting reaching moisture and desiccating in the top few centimetres.

We can help interpret the conditions on your slope, streambank, shoreline, or disturbed site and recommend the right combination of soil bioengineering methods.