Essay #1

Ongoing Soil Study of Wood creek by SRCHS Students

Aka “Dirt Scientism”

with Merlin and Peter

Reproduced with permission of co-author.

Abstract

The restoration of wood creek was a massive undertaking, involving excavators, land arguments, and many hours of backbreaking labor. but what has it accomplished and how well? It has done the task of  this is what we are investigating in this perennial survey of Wood Creek. in this preliminary testing the soil at has moderately improved in terms of micronutrients, going up one point in phosphorus and two in Potassium. however, it is still Deficient in nitrogen and phosphorus but the hydrogen sulfide was stable. This would make it  unable to support a large number of insects in turn not enough prey for the salmon. that would lead to the idea that until the soil gets the micronutrient it need to needs to support bacteria that support macro invertebrates that support salmon prey that supports salmon there will be a lack of salmon. but the good news is that the soil is better than years before this is one of the thing that makes one

Salmon are the connoisseurs of the piscine world. They flourish under a very specific set of conditions, which include plenty of shade, water that is both cold and brisk, with a  temperature of about 50 degrees and 7-10 ppm of dissolved oxygen. also required are terrain equally divided between pools, riffles, and runs, so that they can find comfort, food, and convenience at every stage of their life cycles. They also need plentiful small invertebrates and insects to feed upon, and unobstructed passage to suit their migratory lifestyle. This exacting set of conditions can easily be pushed out of balance by human activity, such as the once-abundant logging and farming industries in Humboldt County.

In our research project, we are investigating how the soil quality is affecting the salmon by measuring temperature, structure, color, texture  and chemical composition. We do this in order to determine the soil quality in relation to the needs of the salmon and their food sources since the restoration of Freshwater Slough.

The restoration is headed up by the North Coast Regional Land Trust (NCRLT).  They started the restoration back in 2009 and SRCHS has been monitoring the area since 2007/2008 to get a comparison environmental conditions before and after the restoration. The restoration itself consisted of removing the wooden tide gates that had been there for a hundred years and two smaller ones that aren’t as important. Also, trenches there were dug to allow the tides to flow in and out and saturate the soil. Holes were excavated and native plants were planted. The whole goal of this restoration is to bring back salmon by making the entire area salmon friendly by making sure that macroinvertebrates, water insects and the land itself is lush and prosperous.

The goal of the SRCHS bio class is to monitor the restoration and its effect of the salmon population that includes testing the soil for its ability to support the specific set of conditions that salmon need in order to thrive, as well as testing for nutrients that support macroinvertebrates to feed the bugs that feed the salmon. this also lets the students get a feel for science by actually doing it. as a wise person once said, “tell me, I forget, show me, I remember, involve me, I understand”.

Materials and processes

To a achieve the goal of testing the soil’s healthiness a thermometer was inserted into the soil to test the temperature of the soil both on the surface and at depths, respectively 2.54 cm, 7.62 cm, and 15.28 cm. To get to the various soil horizons, the shovel and a trowel to excavate the soil all the way down to the thick clay after horizon A. The shovel was used to dig the main shaft. Each sample was retrieved with the use of the trowel and then were promptly tested the soil texture, and redoximorphic features were observed and recorded. as well there were tests done for free carbohydrates with vinegar in a squirt bottle. After the tests in the field, samples were brought back and tested for PH, Phosphorus, Potassium, and Nitrogen. These tests were conducted with indicator tablets and color comparators according to the whatever method was required for each test, usually mixing the aforementioned ingredients in the comparators, and Judging the levels of micronutrients based on color.

results

The results of the experiment showed that the soil at Wood creek is depleted of several nutrients, namely nitrogen, which showed up totally deficient in all of the tests. The nitrogen levels were likewise low, only one or two points from entirely depleted. The potassium, however was Adequate at the O horizon, and (whatever K3 is) below. The PH was in the optimal range, with an initial level of 7, decreasing to 6.5 after O horizon. There were evident redoximorphic features with large reduction spots making up about 15% of the total soil mass, as well as smaller red oxidation spots which were about 5% of the sample. The soil was sandy clay loam, granular in texture. The soil’s profile was O horizon was 3 cm deep, with the A horizon continuing down from 8 cm, followed by the B horizon at 15 cm. Hydrogen sulfide was present at 20 cm(mtrc) of depth, and there was no sign of free carbonates. In terms of temperature, the soil was 15 degrees at 1’’, 14 degrees at 3’’, and 14 degrees at 6’’. colors:

*3/2 o *4/4 a *4/2 b. this would

Conclusion  we can infer that the soil does not reach very healthy levels of nutrients because the micronutrients are mostly depleted. the absence of micro inverters also suggests the insalubrity of the soil in question. But the soil is recovering in that regard, as the potassium and nitrogen are rebounding, maybe because the native plants that were optimized from years of evolution were restored to the soil that they love best.