1) What is this project’s direct connection to soil?

For this project, our group had helped manage the Riverfront Park landscape; the goal was to keep the current landscape in a healthy state while also remaining visually appealing. To accomplish this goal we had to manually help the landscape deplete all of its invasive species and detritus from the top layer of the soil. By doing this, we are preparing the landscape to become more appealing which in return will positively influence the soils health. This project directly connects to soil through the relationship of maintaining a landscape that is not only healthy, but a landscape that is healthy and visually appealing.

2. How does soil make this project work? – be specific – show data, evidence, research

Soil was a vital part of the riverfront landscaping because without it we wouldn’t have had anything to groom. The soil supports plant growth. The nutrients from the soil, including oxygen, water, temperature and structural support, allowed for the plants to grow. From what we could see the soil wasn’t compacted so the roots of these plants could grow and gain more surface area to take in more nutrients. Thus the bushes we had to cut were a product of good soil and nutrients. Without the soil it would just be barren lifeless riverbank. Also the weeds we had to pull would not have been so spread out. The soil was loose enough for weeds to move through the mulch and cover an entire area meant for small plants. If the soils were more compacted the pore volume would decrease along with the number of large pores making it harder for plants to grow. Also the mulch is an important factor in the soil because it helps increase water retention making it easier for plants to reach water. It increases infiltration and drainage too while also decreasing water runoff. Leeching away needed nutrients for the plants and we wouldn’t have had to trim as many bushes.

3. Is there a way that soil management changes could improve this project?

I do not believe that soil management changes could improve this project. The Riverfront Park is managed efficiently, however to keep this area appealing to the community the management techniques being used need to be taking place more frequently. If you decreased the time spent in between soil management projects, you would improve the appearance of this landscape by decreasing the amounts of garbage, detritus and invasive species that are present on its surface.

4. From this project, what did you learn about soils that you did not know before?

Our project was to clean up the riverfront.  We were taught how to clip the hedges and uproot the weeds in the soil around the hedges.  From the work we did as a group we learned about how to properly till the soil using plows.  We didn’t learn about the soil itself but we were able to clean up an entire section of the riverside property.

5. What is the broader impact of the organization or project you helped with?

The project we helped with was to clean up and spruce up a commonly viewed public place on the riverfront pathways.  By helping with the landscaping we were able to help prevent possible accidents from bikers who might have hit their heads on the low hanging trees.  Many people will appreciate the work which was done because of how unkempt it was.  I was quite impressed with how even we made the entire row of roses and hedges, and I believe our project adviser Steve McGettigan was quite pleased too.

 6 .Soil description of the place where you worked – this must include a soils map and soil series descriptions of important soils within the area.

The riverfront consists of vertisol soil known as Willamette silt loam. It is somewhat of a gritty soil, due to the sand content. The soil has a good amount of pore space which allows it to have good drainage, as you can tell all of the excess water in the soil runs off into the Willamette river. The average temperature in the area is approximately 52 degrees.