Soilhealth.net is a consulting company focused on monitoring the indicators for healthy soils, rangelands and croplands within the purview of “Regenerative Agriculture”. The focus is on soil biology, and the soil food web in general, as the driver of the agroecosystem.

My intention is to assist producers, in all facets of agriculture, to measure and analyze specific soil properties and perform range and cropland assessments that will inform their decisions affecting their farm and ranch plans. I am more than happy, even grateful, to work with “newbies” to regenerative ag practices and will help producers make that transition if they are open to new ideas and willing to take steps in that direction.

I’ve been a soil scientist for over 30 years, and an ardent advocate for soil health and regenerative agriculture for about the last 15 years. In that time I’ve observed a very real problem – producers either don’t have time to gather monitoring data, they don’t know how to gather the data, or they simply don’t like gathering data. It’s usually some combination thereof. This is where an adaptive farm or ranch plan falls to the ground and essentially becomes worthless. I’m hoping I can help fill that need to get the necessary data to make good management decisions.

While I don’t offer specific services for assisting in farm planning I am quite confident in making recommendations suggestions on existing plans and batting around ideas as we evaluate the data that I gather for you. On that note, I am also happy to coach producers and other interested parties, in gathering this data themselves. This would be ideal actually, but I offer the alternative to just get it done.

Experience:

Ive  been Soil Scientist with USDA-NRCS for 28 years. Currently the MLRA Office Leader in Grand Junction, Colorado. I’ve mapped soils in all 4 corners states and Wyoming – mostly rangeland but a good portion of cropland too. The ecological systems I am familiar range from the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts to Colorado Plateau Pinyon-Juniper Canyons to Rocky Mountain Coniferous Forests and of course their associated agricultural lands. Our product was formerly the hard copy Soil Survey that you would find at the NRCS office, but now our official data is Web Soil Survey.

In my time digging all those holes I’ve seen a myriad of degraded soils, landscapes, and ecosystems. But I’ve also seen some (not many) that have been well managed or regenerated to be highly functioning and profitable. I’ve been able to see and make comparisons, with straight up observation and with data.

Outside NRCS:

• Cornell University Advanced Soil Health Course

• Soil Food Web and Microscope Intensive, Elaine Ingham Ph.D. – instructor

• Field courses and, volunteer work – Building “Zeedyke” structures to restore landscape hydrology on rangeland. Colorado and New Mexico

• Keyline Design and Farm Planning, – Owen Hablutzel – instructor

• Laboratory Technician at Colorado State University Soil Testing Lab, 5 years

Education:

Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO, Master of Science 12/1994,Major: Soil Genesis and Morphology

Colorado State University Fort Collins, CO, Bachelor’s degree 5 /1989, Major: Agronomy/Soil Science

Northeastern Junior College Sterling, CO, Associate’s degree 6 /1987Major: Agriculture