Soil is possibly the site’s most vital natural resource. The goal of soil management is to protect soil and enhance its performance, thereby supporting habitat for beneficial flora and fauna. Benefits of proper soil management include robust vegetation, dependable storm-water infiltration and retention, increased carbon sequestration, and reduced maintenance costs.

While location dictates what sort of soil naturally exists on the site, site personnel can control tillage, compaction, application of soil amendments, and other management options. Such methods can change the structure, biological activity, and chemical content of soil; reduce erosion and pest populations; increase nutrient availability; and protect plant health.

There are many useful strategies to use when managing and protecting soil resources, including the following:

• Understand the existing soil composition. Collect samples from different areas of the site and send them to a soil lab to be professionally tested.
• Include the following metrics when requesting a laboratory soil test: soil type (mechanical analysis), pH, Cation Exchange Ratio (CEC), organic matter, compaction level (penetrometer), infiltration (field test only), macro and micronutrient analysis, and biological function.
• Ask a local soil scientist to interpret soil test results and develop options for amendments where necessary.
• Apply soil amendments only as temporary actions needed to establish young plants, not as a means of permanently altering soil. Amendments cannot change a site’s existing geology, soils, and climate. Do not apply amendments without a specific goal and timeframe.
• Do not source imported topsoil (or manufactured soil blends designed to serve as topsoil) from greenfield sites, prime farmland, or natural areas.
• Identify compacted soils. Soils cannot naturally recover from severe compaction. Use deep plowing or an agricultural subsoiler to break up compaction deep in the soil. With existing lawns, use core aerators and compost topdressings to treat compacted areas.
• Avoid tillers on existing soils. Tillers collapse pore space in soil, ultimately causing soils to settle and compact. They also destroy the natural mycorrhizal networks (networks of beneficial fungi that play important roles in soil biology and chemistry) in the soil that support plant health.
• Prioritize existing plant communities (rather than artificial imports of mulches) to regenerate soil fertility to greatest extent possible. Healthy soils rely on the natural nutrient recycling from leaf litter of trees (in forested contexts), or the decomposition of the deciduous roots of grasses or perennials (in open contexts). The greater the diversity of roots in the ground, the more stable soil fertility cycling will be.
• Cover bare soil with plants if possible, or with mulch, if plants are not available. When soil is exposed to sunlight, its carbon oxidizes into the atmosphere, depleting the soil of vital nutrients. Use straw, gravel, bark mulch, or other available material to protect the soil.
• Carefully source amendments such as compost, bark fines, straw, gravel, and other mulches. Insufficiently aged or mixed compost can introduce seeds of invasive species. Buy from reliable sources.