Would you like to measure multiple aspects indicating the health of your property’s soil, without spending a fortune on expensive equipment? Take a look at DPI’s Soil Health Card resource, developed for the Northern Rivers Region of NSW but also applicable to wherever you may be located. The resource covers required equipment, sampling procedure, scoring systems and more, considering tests for aspects ranging from soil structure to earthworm abundance.
According to Healthy Soils Australia, healthy soils are important for a variety of reasons. These include agricultural productivity, carbon sequestration, water holding capacity and resultant downstream water quality, soil fertility, multiple ecosystem services, and more.
The impacts of intense fire on many of these aspects, including soil pH, soil carbon, soil microbiome abundance and diversity, and more, was explored during a presentation by PhD candidate Mercedes Ondik at our recent 2023 Bushfire Conference in May. She noted that there has been an increasing awareness of the negative impacts of fire on soil among fire-effected property owners, with her research providing a fascinating insight into which aspects of soil may be affected by intense fire.
If you’d like to hear Mercedes’ presentation in full, please take a look at our Bushfire Conference page for additional information on how to access these recordings, which are currently available for early access purchase.
Links:
- https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/soils/soil-testing-and-analysis/health-card
- https://www.healthysoils.com.au/Soil-Health.php
- https://www.nature.org.au/bushfire_conference_2023
Image credit: Brian Boucheron / Flickr
