MLRA Soil Survey Office Leader Co-Authors Article in NPS Park Science Magazine
Soil survey crew (Beth Rowley, Mike Ruiz and Devon Roloff) taking in the landscape of the continental divide at the Sue Lake Overlook. Photo by Pat O'Connell, NRCS.
Jay Skovlin, MLRA Soil Survey Office Leader in Missoula, MT and David Thoma, Hydrologist with the NPS Northern Colorado Plateau and Greater Yellowstone Inventory and Monitoring Networks, teamed up to write an article about the influence of soil moisture on vegetation pattern in Glacier National Park. Jay Skovlin, has been leading the Soil Survey of Glacier National Park and has observed the influence of soil and terrain properties on potential water storage. The article highlights water balance models in Glacier Park. Soil can be considered a natural bank account, where water is a currency, then like balancing a checkbook, water balance models track water input and loss.
Jay Skovlin, MLRA Soil Survey Office Leader, excavating a soil pit for laboratory sampling near Saint Mary Lake. Photo by Beth Rowley, NRCS.
Montane meadow vegetation along the slopes of lateral moraines in the Saint Mary Lake drainage. Photo by Pat O'Connell, NRCS.
Striking contrast of colors in the argillites of the Grinnell Formation at Redgap Pass. Mount Merritt and Old Sun Glacier can be seen in the background. Photo by Pat O'Connell, NRCS.
