Soils

        By Gene Gade

                                (no video for this, yet!)

I like to get down and dirty once in a while.  It makes me feel like...well...like I’m really in contact with the earth

Seriously, though, if you want to understand why things are the way they are in Wyoming, you need to know a few things about soil

First off, what we call the texture of the soil makes a lot of difference...If a soil is sandy like this one, water enters the ground easily and drains deeply, but the soil particles don't hold water very well - plants that live here have to be adapted to those conditions

Clay soils don't absorb water very fast, but they can take on a lot of it and hold it very tightly.

The depth of the soil is really important too.  If the soils are shallow like this one, the soil has almost no water-holding capacity and plant roots can't penetrate deeply.  Only a Few species can survive these conditions

When soils are deeper, they can hold more water and many different species can grow and prosper

If soil forms under conifer trees, the chemicals from the old needles may make the soil acidic

However, much of Wyoming has soils that are high in salts or alkaline minerals - and only certain plants - such as this greasewood- can tolerate them

There are lots of things that influence where plants and animals live in Wyoming, but one of the most important is the soil.  I'm Gene Gade of the university of Wyoming cooperative Extension service