Soil Health: The Foundation of Healthy Landscapes
Right Beneath your Feet
The world around you runs on soil. Whether you are planting a garden, riding your bike down a paved road, or breathing clean air, all rely on the living soil beneath us!
Soil is a living ecosystem made up of air, water, minerals, and organic matter. Plants, animals, and humans rely on soil to support life processes vital to our continued survival. Among other functions, the soil beneath us cycles important nutrients, purifies air and water, and regulates climate.
Soil Health is the continued capacity of soil to complete all these functions. When the soil ecosystem is operating properly, the other systems it supports can thrive. When soil loses ability to retain water, air, or organic compounds it can start to degrade and overall ecosystem health can be lost. In order to keep soils healthy, a balance of its key components must be maintained.
The four major ways is balance can be achieved -otherwise known as the principles of soil health- are:
- Maximize Biodiversity – Within the organic matter content of soil are a plethora of soil microorganisms, including fungi, soil bacteria, and species like nematodes. Keeping a diverse cast of microorganism characters within soil keeps the system able to continue breaking down organic matter into usable nutrients for plant life.
- Maximize Living Roots – About half soil contents are taken up by pore space. That is, open space between mineral particles able to be filled by water or air. Within these pores, chemical reactions occur that support the vital processes of water purification, nutrient cycling, and atmospheric circulation that soil supports. Keeping living roots in soil keeps these pores from becoming compacted and difficult for water and air to access. They also provide important habitat and resources for microorganisms that thrive in the rooting zone.
- Optimize Disturbance – Soil disturbance can look many different ways. Everything from wildlife footprints to wind erosion to cropland tilling alters the physical properties of the ground. Heavy disturbance like construction or prolonged annual tilling can cause issues like compaction and decreased ability of the soil to support plant life. Not all disturbance is bad, however. Some physical disturbance is often necessary for distribution of nutrients throughout soils’ upper layers.
- Optimize Soil Cover – The organic components of soil are concentrated in the A horizon, or the area closest to the soil surface. This area is vital for plants’ ability to survive and grow. Keeping adequate cover on soil 1) provides plant material to break down and continue the cycling of nutrients in the A horizon and 2) keeps this nutrient-rich layer from eroding away. However, too much accumulation of dried plant matter can be problematic if the soil microbiome cannot break the material down fast enough. In some cases, a litter layer can pose issues like preventing plants from sprouting or increasing fire risk that can alter soil in other problematic ways.
What Can Be Done?
If you have a home garden or agricultural operation, you can implement practices to support the principles of soil health. The cycling of organic matter can be increased through manure management, earthworms, composting, cover cropping, and crop rotations on both small and large scales. To learn more about the conservation practices that can be supported by your local USDA programs, see HERE.
One of the largest management practices critical for soil health is to keep plants and animals on the ground. Though soil provides an important foundation for human infrastructure, when soils are paved over their ability to easily absorb water, air, and organic material are greatly reduced. They are unable to support plants or animals which further limit nutrient inputs into the system. As the second largest carbon sink on the planet (following oceans), maintaining these cycles are more important than ever in our changing climate.
The Eastern Sierra Land Trust remains committed to protecting agricultural and open range lands from development which would reduce their carbon-capturing capacity. Keeping soil as a living ecosystem is a critical part of our mission to preserve landscapes in the Eastern Sierra.
Learn More
Check out the following resources to learn more about your soil and why it matters
Unlock the Secrets of Soil Health
NRCS Soil Health Fact Sheets in Many Languages
SARE Educational Soils Materials
Farmland Information Center – Improve on-Farm Conservation
Information from 2015 International Year of Soils
Thank you to the American Farmland Trust for supporting ESLT’s soil health stewardship goals!