Sustainable Land Development Today - February 2008 - (Page 30) NEW PRODUCT Measured in Microns Naturally occurring microorganisms have potential to fight wind erosion while fertilizing soil. By Rob Kundert The next great advancement in ero“Basically, you have a symbiotic relasion control will be microscopic, accord- tionship with a number of soil microoring to Julie Etra, CPESC, and a member ganisms. It’s fairly complicated in cross of the International Erosion Control As- section,” she said of the process that the sociation Board of Directors. various species use in combination to “From my perbenefit each other. spective, what is Studies have really booming is shown that the mithe biology. That croorganisms can whole industry is make up 70 perexploding right cent of the living now with differground cover in ent alternatives,” arid environsaid Etra who auments, as well as thors a column on serve as a primary technology adsource of soil nivancements for trogen. the association’s “If you have a newsletter, Envi- Landscape with healthy soil crusts. Photo courtesy living product like ronmental Con- of http://www.soilcrust.org this, which not nection. only fights soil “It is really expanding and doing erosion but also enhances soil fertility some very interesting things for sustain- and allows for the establishment of other ability,” she said. plants, you’ve killed three birds with one At the top of her lists is research into stone,” Etra said. Biological Soil Crusts (BSC), which occur naturally in dry parts of the world. Mi- So What? croorganisms, such as cyanobacteria, The potential uses for a commerciallylichens, bacteria, fungi and mosses, viable BSC mix that can be applied to the spread across the surface of the dry soil. land are significant. Approximately 40 As they grow their metabolism exudes a percent of the world’s landmasses are in sticky substance which binds soil parti- arid to semi-arid climates. Though natucles together, creating a wind-resistant rally occurring in drier climates, the biocrust across the surface of the land. crusts are often inadvertently destroyed “Every year, my husband and I drive in developed areas. to the tip of Baja, California. There are A commercial product that could inparts of the Vizcaino Desert that are re- troduce or re-establish BSCs could find a ally bare. It’s extremely windy, but there big market in the wide expanses of arid is no erosion,” she said. “You can see the land in the Great Basin and on military biological soil crusts.” bases where wind erosion is a problem. The microorganisms also produce fer“I was just contacted by a gentleman tilizer by absorbing nitrogen from the from the oil and gas industry in western air—the most plentiful gas in the atmos- Colorado, looking for methods of dust phere—and converts it into plant-usable control,” Etra said. nitrogen. 30 February 2008 Sustainable Land Development Today To date, the primary means to curb such soil erosion is by applying tanker trucks of water or manufactured, surface-binding agents called tackifiers, which act like a glue and sticks soil particles together. “If you have a huge subdivision and you throw down a lot of glues, you have to come back. They last six to ten months. If anybody walks on them they don’t last at all,” Etra said. A successfully produced BSC mix could be applied once. It gradually spreads and produces its own surface binding glue, plus a fertilizer, along the way. The product could also find uses in areas that are experiencing lengthy drought periods, as well as those that may remain dry if projected affects of global warming come to pass. “If the climate change projections are true and we’re going toward more desertification, we’re not going to support some of the species that we’ve got out there now,” Etra said. Under Development Researcher Tim Flynn, Ph.D., another member of the IECA, is developing a process to make the naturally occurring microorganisms commercially viable. Funded by a USDA Small Business Innovative Research Program grant, he has set up a research facility in western Colorado to develop a method to mass produce a mix of different species which he is testing on plots of land. “Tim is the only person I know who is developing this commercially,” Etra said. “He’s applying them hydraulically, basically with a sprayer.” A major breakthrough in the research has been the discovery of a method to http://www.soilcrust.org
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