WASHINGTON, D.C. – World Soil Day is this Sunday, Dec. 5. What better time to highlight the work of two of the agency’s soil scientists?

Stephanie Connolly and Andy “Robert” Colter both started their Forest Service careers as forest soil scientists twenty years ago in Region 9. They grew up in the agency together, collaborating on soil mapping projects and the impacts of acid rain, timber harvesting, recreation and prescribed fire upon soil resources. Most recently, they’ve been exploring how soil’s ability to store carbon relates to climate change.

Today, Colter is the national soil program lead in the Washington Office, and Connolly is the soil scientist field liaison for Northern Research Station. They work together to address national issues, such as launching the framework for monitoring forest soil moisture across the country and defining and explaining the importance of the organic carbon stored in soils for land managers. They both love collecting and describing soil samples and exploring how soil relates to vegetation on a landscape scale. Even more, they enjoy getting others to appreciate the value of soil and how it helps stabilize and sustain all the resources the agency manages.  

Healthy soils are a fundamental building block of the nation’s forests and grasslands. By retaining and filtering water and nutrients, reducing erosion risk and improving water quality, soils help to maintain resilient and productive forests.

Connolly and Colter are working with a prominent team of agency soil scientists to launch a communications effort explaining the value of organic carbon in soils. World Soil Day, Dec. 5, 2021 is the perfect day to share the message far and wide.

The soils in Forest Service lands store a lot of carbon. Soils play a critical role in mitigating the risks of climate change by storing carbon as organic matter. In fact, soils store more than half of all the carbon in forest ecosystems!

Active forest management has the potential to increase the amount of carbon stored in soils. These activities include controlling erosion, maintaining or establishing vegetative cover, managing fuel loads to reduce catastrophic wildfires and controlling invasive species. Taking steps to increase the capacity of soils to store carbon continues to be an important strategy in mitigating and adapting to a changing climate.

Forest Service scientists and partners contribute to this understanding of how management actions affect complex ecological processes. This includes studying how land use and management impact organic carbon uptake and storage in soils. The Forest Service uses the best available science to manage the nation’s soils sustainably for future generations.