Iowa's remarkable soils The story of our most vital resource and how we can save it

Kathleen Woida

Book - 2021

"Sometimes called "black gold," Iowa's deep, rich soils are a treasure that formed over thousands of years under the very best of the world's grasslands, the tall-grass prairie, which produced the finest soils in the world. They are diverse and complex, and hold within them a record not only of Iowa's prehistoric past, but also of the changes that took place after settlers came from the east and utterly transformed the land, and of the changes taking place today in response to global warming. In language that is scientifically sound but accessible to the layperson, this book explains the nuts and bolts of what makes up a soil, how soils slowly formed over centuries and millennia in the land between two rivers, ...and how hundreds of scientists have classified and mapped them on all of Iowa's 36 million acres. Its soils are what made Iowa a premier agricultural state, both in terms of acres planted and bushels harvested. But in the last hundred years, large-scale intensive agriculture and urban development have severely degraded most of our soils. Add Iowa's rolling, often steep topography to the equation, and for decades we have had the dubious distinction of leading the nation in soil erosion. The water running off of fields and lawns-over soils too compacted and degraded to "drink" the rain-carries soil, fertilizers, and pesticides to our streams and lakes. But some innovative Iowans are beginning to repair and regenerate their soils by treating them as the living ecosystem and vast carbon store that they are. To paraphrase Aldo Leopold, these new pioneers are beginning to see their soils as part of a community to which they and their descendants belong, rather than commodities belonging to them. And they are eagerly spreading the word"--

Saved in:

2nd Floor Show me where

631.47/Woida
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 631.47/Woida Checked In
Subjects
Published
Iowa City : University of Iowa Press [2021]
Language
English
Main Author
Kathleen Woida (author)
Physical Description
xv, 238 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), color maps ; 23 cm
Issued also in electronic format
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781609387501
  • Acknowledgments
  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • Part 1. The Inheritance; Fertile Black Gold
  • 1. Profiles of the Underground
  • 2. Wealth in Diversity
  • 3. The Stories They Can Tell
  • 4. Soils on Iowa's Hidden Landscapes
  • Part 2. The Sixth Factor: People, Agriculture, and Soils
  • 5. Reaping the Bounty
  • 6. Squandering the Inheritance
  • 7. Rediscovering the Living Soil
  • 8. Stories from the Field
  • 9. Soils, Climate Change, and the Future
  • Glossary
  • Bibliography
  • Index
Review by Choice Review

This book argues for an environmentally conscionable approach to preserving Iowa's greatest natural resource--its soils. The intended audience is less the farming community than the rest of us who suffer the consequences of soil degradation but don't appreciate its underlying historical and modern reasons. Woida (formerly, USDA and emer., Univ. of Northern Iowa and Earlham College) adopts a four-part approach in her narrative. First, she delivers a basic primer on what soils are and how they form. Second, she explains how soils have degraded under pressure of cultural and economic practices. Third, she envisions how conservation and regenerative agriculture can mitigate and militate against further soil loss. Finally, in very practical terms, Woida summarizes how climate change abets, and is abetted by, poor land use practices and challenges the farming community. Although Woida can get lost in the technical weeds, more often she oversimplifies to make her points. Yet, she largely succeeds in telling this story and providing a rationale for rural and urban communities to collaborate in conserving Iowa's soils, a program for which Woida demonstrates unabashed passion. Farmers, as presented here, are both victims of economics and the protagonists of conservation. They are the heroes of this narrative, promoting soil health by undertaking changes to conventional practices. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates. Students in two-year technical programs. General readers. --Mark Steven Coyne, University of Kentucky

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.