Dr. Christine Evans - Geos108 - University of Wisconsin

Land Resource Regions and Major Land Resource Areas of the US, Caribbean, and Pacific Rim, USDA Handbook 296, 2006. Download as PDF file from: http://soils.usda.gov/survey/geography/mlra/index.html

Save a copy and print as needed;

also download and save “Conterminous US Map”

Feb. 12, 14, 16

http://soils.ag.uidaho.edu/soilorders/orders.htm

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/lgif/m4025l.gif

http://soils.usda.gov/

select “hydric soils” from menu on left side of page;

read overview and introduction

Feb. 19, 21, 23

http://soil.gsfc.nasa.gov/links/criminology.htm

http://www.forensicgeology.net/science.htm

Murder and the Pond, Slicks and Sands

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/lab/handbook/intro14.htm

“Soil Examinations”

Quality Dirt

Feb. 26, 28, March 2

Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, vers. 2.0, National Soil Survey Center, NRCS, USDA

Download PDF file from: http://soils.usda.gov/technical/fieldbook/; save a copy, print as needed

March 5, 7, 9

Soil quality

http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/Soil Quality Assessment Guidelines

select “Guidelines for Soil Quality . . . “, and save a copy;

also

http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/publications/publications.html#sq_tn

read

Indicators for Soil Quality Evaluation (700KB)
Soil Crusts (30KB)
Organic Matter (30KB)
Soil pH (67KB)
Aggregate Stability (25KB)
Infiltration (65KB)

And the following “Agronomy Technical Notes” (~ 2 pg. each)

Note 1: Cover Crops (96KB)
Note 2: Conservation Crop Rotation Effects on Soil Quality (270KB)
Note 3: Effects of Residue Management, No-Till on Soil Quality (100KB)
Note 4: Effect of Soil Quality on Nutrient Efficiency (110KB)
Note 5: Herbicides (130KB)
Note 6: Legumes and Soil Quality (30KB)
Note 7: Effects of Soil Erosion on Soil Productivity and Soil Quality (20KB)
Note 8: Liming to Improve Soil Quality in Acid Soils (40KB)
Note 11: Agricultural Management Effects on Earthworm Populations (200KB)
Note 12: Long-Term Agricultural Management Effects on Soil Carbon (170KB)
Note 15: Soil Quality and Vegetable Production: One Farmer's Experience (520KB)
Note 17: Soil Compaction: Detection, Prevention, and Alleviation (320KB)
Note 19: Crop Residue Removal for Biomass Energy Production: Effects on Soils and Recommendations (Draft) (385KB)

March 19, 21, 23

Building Soils for Better Crops, 2^nd Ed., Magdoff and van Es

Download from http://www.sare.org/publications/bsbc/bsbc.pdf; save a copy, print as needed

read introduction and chapters 1 – 4

Vermiculture and composting; UNCO Industries

http://www.vermiculture.com/

Dirt in the City

March 26, 28, 30

http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/publications/publications.html#sq_tn

Soil Quality - Urban Technical Notes

Note 1: Erosion and Sedimentation on Construction Sites (45KB)
Note 2: Urban Soil Compaction (45KB)
Note 3: Heavy Metal Soil Contamination (50KB)

Soil Screening Guidance: User’s Guide, EPA, 1996. Download PDF file from:http://www.epa.gov/superfund/resources/soil/ssg496.pdf; save a copy, print as needed

April 2, 4, 6

Urban Soil Primer. USAD, NRCS, 2005. Download as PDF file from: http://soils.usda.gov/use/urban/primer.html; save a copy and print as needed

urban soil survey, items #1 - #6; read at

http://soils.usda.gov/use/urban/

http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/basic_info.htm

http://www.epa.gov/superfund/resources/soil/index.htm

1) a Quick Reference Fact Sheet; read

2) User’s Guide

3) Technical Background Document

4) Supplemental Guidance; save a copy

Urban Agriculture and Community Food Security in the US: Farming from the City Center to the Urban Fringe. 2003, Community Food Security Coalition. Download as PDF file from http://www.foodsecurity.org/pubs.html#urban_ag; save a copy and print as needed

April 9, 11, 13

Community supported agriculture

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

locate five in Wisconsin; how do they differ? How are they the same?

Growing power

http://www.growingpower.org/index.htm

workshops, training programs, collaborative projects

Relocalization

http://www.relocalize.net/

select Resources, then “Project Scripts”

In Dirt We Trust

April 16, 18, 20

Working lands initiative

http://www.datcp.state.wi.us/index.jsp

select Working Lands Initiative and then, “Final Report of the Steering Committee”

read the document

April 23, 25, 27

http://www.lta.org/ select “find a land trust”; click on Wisconsin; select counties

then select “standards and practices”;read the document

April 30, May 2, May 4

http://www.clu-in.org/download/citizens/citphyto.pdf

http://www.cluin.org/download/partner/phytotree.pdf

http://clean-water.uwex.edu/pubs/pdf/home.rgmanual.pdf

This course serves as part of the General Education Program in the Natural Sciences. In terms of competency areas, this course focuses on the following:

Communication: Literacy—reading and writing for understanding and effective communication

Reasoned Judgment: Scientific Thinking—understanding and applying the scientific method

Social and Personal Responsibility: Teamwork—working effectively with others for a common goal

General Education Goals and Outcomes:

Communication: Literacy

Outcome: Students will summarize material effectively, in written or oral format, using data to support summaries, and explicitly connecting data and summaries.

Rubric: 5) summary offered by student is clearly supported by data in the article, or by other data, and student presenter is able to connect data to summary

4) summary offered by student is well supported by data in the article, but student presenter misses some connections between data and summary

3) summary offered by student is supported by non-data conclusions of the article

2) summary offered by student is only weakly supported by the article

1) summary offered by student seems to contradict data in article

0) student is unable to offer a summary

Reasoned Judgment: Scientific Thinking

Outcome – Students will interpret and apply scientific theories, laws and hypotheses successfully to earth systems. This includes both descriptive and numerical interpretation.

Rubric 5) Student demonstrates an understanding of the limits of scientific theories and laws and/or can correctly develop or alter a hypothesis or theory to a new situation. Student arrives at the correct answer and demonstrates complete understanding of the necessary logic.

4) Student can explain a theory, law or hypothesis in the present context and can interpret or combine multiple points as needed to a new situation or hypothetical outcome but uses either incomplete or inaccurate logic.

3) Student can explain the theory, law or hypothesis in the context presented, but cannot apply or interpret to a new situation, a hypothetical outcome or the same context in the presence of superfluous information.

2) Student is not successful at explaining a theory, law or hypothesis, but has the correct keywords present suggesting the very beginnings of assimilating the correct solution or outcome.

1) Student’s interpretation cannot be associated with the assignment.

0) Student is unable to develop an interpretation

Social and Personal Responsibility: Teamwork

Outcome: Students will be active members of research teams

Rubric 5) Student participates actively in group discussions; contributes researched information to group efforts; prepares adequately for presentations of group findings; respects the time and values of other group members; makes the group outputs better than they would be without her/his participation

4) Student successfully performs four of the five activities above.

3) Student successfully performs three of the five activities above

2) Student successfully performs only two of the five activities

1) Student successfully performs only one of the five activities

0) Student fails to perform any of the five activities