August 26, 2010
Roots--and life around roots--directly influence a soil’s engineering properties. High-quality soil is full of life and tends to exhibit a healthier hydrology, structural stability, and fecundity than other landscape "stand-ins," such as turf grass and industrial agriculture.
On September 1st JFNew's Scott Dierks will be presenting on the intricate relationship between plants and soils at the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME)'s Ohio Valley/Great Lakes Regional Training Conference, looking particularly at the benefits of native plants.
Focusing first on some fine-scale plant-soil interactions, Scott will then broaden the view to highlight some of the striking properties of plant-soil ecosystems. He will emphasize the particular abilities of native plants to
- increase atmospheric oxygen,
- absorb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases,
- reduce heat island effects, and
- increase soil quality, infiltration, water holding, and plant growing capacities.
For more information on this conference, go to http://www.same2010dayton.org/SAME_2010_Dayton_program.pdf.