Thanks Craig for the info. Yes, the permanence of the line is important. Here on a larger scale we are using lines of Gliricidia stakes on contour, with the idea being to pollard them back every few months, dropping the cut branches above the lines as a debris fence, which will be continuously buffered with the next wave of cut branches as the gliricidia trunks thicken over time, hopefully holding everything in place and forming terraces of deep soil that also allows for drainage/absorption. Also, along these lines we are planting Bamboo, our future principle crop, which should further help create permanent erosion control lines.

Seems almost everyone in the mountains have madre cacao.