As part of a collaborative effort to raise awareness on the importance of soil health, the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Colorado State University, and Acres USA have developed a series on soil health and Colorado's STAR program.

Read about all of the Soil Health Primers at https:// www.acresusa.com/colorado-soil- health/.

The Five Basic NRCS Soil Management Principles.

1. Limit disturbance
2. Keep soil covered
3. Strive for biodiversity
4. Maintain living roots
5. Integrate animals

Limit Soil Disturbance

When soil is disturbed, it creates temporary soil deserts, even if only for a few days or weeks. Surface water and wind can erode these temporary deserts. As a result, moisture is lost from the surface due to evaporation, and drops in groundwater are possible if there are no plants to keep the moisture at the surface.

• Soil disturbance lends itself to noxious weed establishment as they are opportunistic, fast- growing, aggressive invaders.
• Soil disturbance can lead to increased accumulation and deposition of minerals and salts eroded from river rocks carried along by rivers as ions. These ions mostly consist of sodium and chloride (which make sodium chloride, or table salt). The accumulation of these ions in floodplains or fields can lead to salinization of the soil.

Keep Soil Covered

The idea of "keeping soil covered" encourages farmers to not till their land and to plant cover crops between cash crops. Fortunately, in Middle Park, where traditional vegetable farming is almost non-existent, the concern of strip-and-till farming is a non-issue. We primarily have perennial grass and rangelands that are not tilled from year to year.

• That said, if you are considering tilling a field (for whatever reason), we suggest replanting with desirable species as soon as possible to minimize erosion and noxious weed establishment.

Strive for Plant Diversity

A landscape dotted with multiple species will help ensure soil stability because different species’ roots will access different soil horizons. These roots pump water back up to the surface and are held in suspension in the interstitial matrix (spaces between soil particles) of the soil crumb.

• Greater plant diversity also promotes soil nutrient richness, such as nitrogen, potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
• Increased plant diversity promotes better soil microbe diversity and health.

Maintain Living Roots

Living plants and roots are two of the primary reservoirs of moisture in an arid or semi-arid climate. Plants are essentially water pumps that very slowly move water from the ground into the air via the process called “evapotranspiration.”

• The water that is trapped via surface tension in the soil is the main source of water for plants, and the areas around their roots become fertile ground for the proliferation of fungi, bacteria, microorganisms, nematodes, protozoa, and the larger invertebrates, such as worms and spiders.
• These fertile zones accumulate soil organic matter (SOM), which is composed of small organic molecules like bacteria, fungi, and other plant exudates that can stick to the surface of clay particles. Scientists estimate that a 1 percent increase in soil organic matter can help soil hold an increase of around ~27,000 gallons of water per acre. While this may not be perfectly accurate, the basic concept holds true: more soil organic matter (as a result of maintaining living roots), more chance for water storage.

Integrate Animals

Livestock tramples vegetation, creating micro- pockets of living mulch that help keep the dust down and reduce erosion.

• The trampling of vegetation is a livestock benefit to grasslands and can help reduce wind and water erosion while applying fertilizer in the form of nitrogen-rich manure to the landscape.