WALL STREET JOURNAL AWARD and INTERVIEW   In   2007,   the   Wall   Street   Journal   recognized   the   importance   of   land   imprinting   by selecting    The    Imprinting    Foundation    for    an    Innovation    Award    presented    at    a conference in Redwood, California (Wall Street Journal 2007). The   series   of   award   application   questions   asked   by   the   Wall Street    Journal    (WSJ)    and    The    Imprinting    Foundation    (TIF) responses   briefly   summarize   the   development   of   land   imprinting during the past 30 years. This series follows:

Imprinting Foundation

•   WSJ: What, briefly, is your innovation? TIF   :   Land   imprinting   is   a   new   method   and   machine   that   is   directed   to   reversing   the world's   number   one   environmental   problem:   land   desertification   or   degradation   (also global warming). •  WSJ: What is the current situation in the field in which your innovation appears? TIF:   Land   imprinting   has   already   restored   vegetation   on   more   than   40,000   hectares (100   thousand   acres)   of   degraded   land   in   the   Desert   Southwest   where   it's   the   only method   that   always   works.   But   where   imprinting   has   to   compete   with   the   well institutionalized   seed   drills   in   more   humid   regions,   the   new   idea   has   been   difficult   to introduce. •            WSJ:   What   is   the   problem   with   this   situation   that   your   innovation   is   seeking   to address? TIF:    Land    imprinting    reverses    global    land    desertification,    land    degradation,    and global   warming   by   restoring   the   hydrological   properties   of   the   soil   surface-micro- roughness    and    macro-porosity-to    rehydrate    the    degraded    soil    for    vegetation establishment and atmospheric CO 2 reduction.  •   WSJ: How does your innovation address this situation? TIF   :   Land   imprinters   wedge   one-foot-square,   V-shaped,   closed   micro-watersheds into   the   degraded   soil   surface   that   funnel   rainwater,   seeds,   plant   litter,   and   splash- eroded   soil   together   where   they   can   work   in   concert   to   germinate   seeds,   establish seedlings   and   grow   plants.   Thus,   the   success   of   imprints   in   re-vegetation   projects   is because of the superior management of water at the soil surface. •    WSJ: What is particularly novel or noteworthy about your innovation? TIF   :   Land   imprinting   wedges   seedbeds   into   the   degraded   surface   without   soil surface   inversion.   Each   imprint   is   a   closed   micro-watershed   that   can   hold   a   gallon   of water    that,    in    turn,    increases    water    infiltration    at    least    ten-fold.    Imprinting    is unexcelled   in   soil   and   water   conservation   for   ensuring   success   of   re-vegetation projects.