Wednesday, November 15, 2006 - 10:15 AM
227-6
The Integration of Soils and Hydrology for Restoration Planning on Military Lands.
The National Training Center (NTC), Ft. Irwin, California is the Army’s primary mechanized-maneuver facility located in the Mojave Desert. Sustainability while maximizing its use for military activities is one of the critical challenges of the Department of Defense. Traditional rehabilitation efforts common to more humid environments have met with limited success: long-term survival of planted vegetation (container plants) is 30% and less than 10% of seeding efforts have been successful. Clearly, a different approach is required to meet land management objectives. The Integrated Site Design (ISD) is a demonstration effort to illustrate the effectiveness of an approach that integrates available soil and hydrologic information at the planning phase to enhance the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts by providing scientifically sound characterization of soil disturbance and to support effective methods of rehabilitation. The goal of the ISD is to provide integrated, scientifically sound characterization of soil disturbance to support cost-effective methods. Specifically, the ISD determines how key soil properties have been altered by military activities, potentially deleterious effects to desert ecosystems, and how these conditions can be mitigated to enhance soil rehabilitation and reestablishment of desert vegetation. Desert soils are characterized by unique spatial and vertical distribution of properties (e.g. texture, soluble salts, surface cover) that are critical to restoration efforts. Distribution of these properties directly affects surface stability and controls plant growth. An integrated approach based on soil moisture monitoring, soil characterization, and numerical modeling of the soil-water balance is required to determine the most effective strategies and techniques for site restoration, especially the development of effective irrigation and soil rehabilitation strategies.
Recorded presentation