Enhancing the soil health-watershed health nexus: introduction

Authors: Fortuna, Ann Marie; LEWANDOWSKI, ANNE - University Of Minnesota; Osterholz, William - Will

Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Quality
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/25/2022
Publication Date: 4/19/2023
Citation: Fortuna, A., Lewandowski, A.M., Osterholz, W.R. 2023. Enhancing the soil health-watershed health nexus: introduction. Journal of Environmental Quality. 52(3):407-411. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20420.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20420

Interpretive Summary: An important function of soil is to protect water quality at the edge of field and across a watershed. Soil health is defined by Doran and others as "the capacity of a living soil to function, within natural or managed ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and promote plant and animal health." “Water quality describes the condition of the water, including chemical, physical, and biological characteristics, usually with respect to its suitability for a particular purpose” (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)). Large bodies of research exist exploring the impacts of land management on soil health, and separately, on water quality. Looking at this literature together implies that soil health and water quality are linked, but limited amount of research explores the intermediary processes between land management and watershed outcomes, that is, how measures of soil health properties (impacted by land management) predict water quality. Greater understanding of the processes connecting soil properties such as water infiltration and biological activity to water quality would strengthen water resource modeling and help clarify when and how land management practices have desired water quality impacts. A particular challenge with this line of research is bridging scales from a point of soil to field hydrology to watershed hydrology. The Special Section complements an associated Symposium for the Universities Council on Water Resources and National Institutes for Water Resources (UCOWR). The goal of this special collection of papers in the Journal of Environmental Quality is to frame research issues and to inspire new approaches and collaborations for tackling the challenge of leveraging soil health to strengthen water management. Authors will share results of field- and plot-scale observations, modeling and remote sensing approaches, and other novel methodologies for understanding the soil and water nexus. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at [phone] (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call [phone] (voice) or [phone] (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.”

Technical Abstract: An important function of soil is to protect water quality at the edge of field and across a watershed. However, a set of scientific concepts and measurements that relate soil and water resources is lacking in several areas, limiting our development of a framework or nexus to assess soil-watershed health. Current research designs rely on land management practices as a proxy for soil condition. Yet, conservation practices are often studied in isolation of each other, and adoption may be driven partly by state and federal farm programs that can incentivizes a given management practice and reduce the potential input of novel farmer driven adoption of conservation systems. Despite the proven value of conservation management, the ability to predict soil health is often limited based solely on land management because chemical, physical and biological processes vary across time, discipline, and terrain. The connection between soil health and water quality (including flow characteristics) is currently constrained due partly to several “grand challenges”. Dissimilar scales and the magnitude of metrics required to correlate soil and water systems are inherent in all research endeavors. Equally important is soil sampling within the critical flow path(s) that determines sediment/contaminant loading and is partially related to terrain attributes. In some instances, most of the sediment/contaminant loading during a portion or entire year may be the result of channel and bank erosion and not overland flow. Land in conservation management may not be within or constitute the primary area of a flow path. Additional challenges include legacy effects of prior land management, climate variability, and varying turnover rates/scales within and between connected soil and water systems. The following special collection of ten articles in the Journal of Environmental Quality was assembled in response to a 2020 Symposium from the Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR). This special section aims to frame research issues and to inspire new approaches and collaborations for tackling the challenge of leveraging soil health to strengthen water management. The articles herein address the challenges associated with linking soil health and water quality observations across plot, field, and watershed scales, modeling results, and statistical approaches as well as other novel methodologies for understanding the soil-water nexus. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parental status, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs, reprisal, or because all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA's TARGET Center at [phone] (voice and TDD). To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410, or call [phone] (voice) or [phone] (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.”