Soil Health Assessments

● Programs

We host Soil Health Field Days where we partner with community-led green spaces to facilitate soil health assessments that do not require lab equipment.

We work with partners who steward projects alongside students, volunteers, and neighbors. We provide hands-on and accessible tools to assess soil health and monitor the impacts of habitat restoration and urban agriculture projects on soils.

Soil Health Indicators

Our assessment model is based on a version of the Ecosystem Restoration Communities Soil Framework conducted at Mud Valley Foundation in Lagos, Portugal. Our team of soil scientists is trained to lead students and volunteers in a set of protocols that assess a mixture of 7 physical, chemical, and biological soil health indicators. We provide all necessary tools in our Field Kits.

Community Soil Health

Many of our partner sites already work with local institutions to monitor vegetation health, air quality, water quality, and other environmental or ecological indicators. We build awareness on the value of monitoring soil health in local green spaces by providing community members with the tools to assess their own soils alongside experts.

Access to Training & Resources

We believe that everyone should be able to learn about the wonders of soil. Many degrees and certificates pertaining to soil science—while amazing— are not accessible or relevant to the everyday soil practitioner. Our programming provides hands-on experiences that allow participants to develop technical skills in soil assessment and stewardship that they can use to improve soil health in their own local community.

Additional Research & Application

While our initial baseline assessments do not require any lab equipment, our network of partner universities and institutions allow us to expand our offerings depending on the needs of a site. We use the findings from our reports to develop recommendations for soil management that are implemented and monitored collaboratively with our partners.