More Than Dirt: Soil Health Enhancement for Floodplain Restorations
Shreeram Inamdar
University of Delaware
Newark, Delaware
Authors:
Shreeram P. Inamdar & Harsh Bais - Plant & Soil Sciences Department, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
Sujay S. Kaushal - Department of Geology & Earth Science Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland
Robert Brian Tetrick - WSP, Baltimore, Maryland
Larry Trout - Straughan Environmental, Newark, Delaware
Richard Rowland & Dennis Genito - Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainability, Baltimore County, Maryland
Soil health is not explicitly included in current stream and floodplain restorations. We propose that this may be one of the many reasons that stream restorations are not achieving their full restoration and ecological benefits. Lack of design and implementation procedures for providing healthy soils and absence of specific soil metrics for evaluation are some of the reasons for non-inclusion of soil health in floodplain restorations. Here, we bring together a team of researchers and practitioners, to provide a blueprint for inclusion of soil health in floodplain restorations with specific emphasis on approaches that may be easily accessible for practitioners. We describe the challenges posed by current restoration procedures for physical, chemical, and biological soil conditions. Selected top 10 soil metrics that can be easily measured and can be leveraged by practitioners to assess floodplain soil conditions before and after restorations are identified. Best design and construction practices for improving soil health on floodplains are presented. We also recommend that current crediting approaches and regulatory mechanisms for stream restorations be updated to incentivize soil health. Inclusion of soil health will truly help us attain the broader ecological services and functional uplift goals that are being targeted by watershed planners, environmental agencies, and the restoration community.
About Shreeram Inamdar
Shreeram Inamdar is a Professor in the Plant & Soil Sciences department and the Director of the Water Science & Policy graduate program. Shree has a BS degree in Civil Engineering and PhD in Biological Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech. His current research includes investigating the environmental impacts and biogeochemical legacies of anthropogenic activities such as dams and levees. His group is also studying how stream and floodplain restorations can be enhanced with greater attention to soil health. He is funded through numerous grants from NSF, USDA, EPA, and the Chesapeake Bay Trust foundation. His research is highly interdisciplinary with collaborations with plant & soil scientists, hydrologists, microbial ecologists, and engineers.
