Soil and Wetland Scientist Certification website

This website provides a current copy of the legislation proposed in Washington state along with background information, letters of support, and a history of this licensing effort.

Video clips

Washington Soil Survey Data

The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides soil survey maps, text, and tables. Select a county to open the Web Soil Survey.

Newspaper articles

Failing our sound

The Settle Times, May 14, 2008

"...The Sound is by no means dead. By some measures it's cleaner and healthier than it was 30 years ago. Yet that progress is at risk because we're still betraying Puget Sound with the choices we make about developing the land. It's not because people are breaking the rules. The rules are simply inadequate for the task at hand. .."

 

The painful cost of booming growth

The Seattle Times, May 14, 2008

"...It happens one creek at a time as bulldozers and pavement disrupt the natural flow of water through the ecosystem, destroying habitat and sending billions of gallons of polluted runoff into the Sound...."

 

Saving wetlands: a broken promise

The Settle Times, May 12, 2008

"...This year, even as Gov. Christine Gregoire, the newly formed Puget Sound Partnership and teams of scientists all work to protect and restore Puget Sound, the management of wetlands in Washington remains in disarray..."

From runoff to rain gardens: A new way to aid Puget Sound  

The Olympian, August 31, 2006

A classic application of a soil science problem with a soil science solution that typically requires soil sampling and assessment to evaluate the soil's capability to absorb, treat, and store water. Sampling to characterize the soil capability allows us to develop a specific application prescription for that particular site, as well as to design a supporting program with fertilization and irrigation that will not overwhelm the background soil capacity. 

 

Watering park may taint lake: Officials urge care to avoid runoff at Heritage Park   

The Olympian, October 6, 2006

"...Using highly treated wastewater to irrigate Heritage Park will require great care to avoid adding more nutrients to nutrient-rich Capitol Lake, lake managers learned Thursday..."

Magazine articles

Methane belches in lakes supercharge global warming

National Geographic, September 6, 2006

Global warming is causing Siberian lakes to bubble methane, a greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere at an alarming rate, scientists say.

 

Thawing permafrost could supercharge warming

National Geographic, June 15, 2006

Thawing permafrost in the Arctic could play a role in fueling global warming, scientists in Russia and the United States report.

 

Conference report: breaking news from the world of geology

Discover Magazine, November 13, 2003

Geologist Gregory Retallack of the University of Oregon studied the soils around 40 ancient temple sites and concluded that the classical Greek gods and goddesses arose, quite literally, from the earth. He found a striking correspondence between the type of soil where a particular deity was worshipped and the personality or attributes of that god.

 

China's dust storms raise fears of impending catastrophe

National Geographic, June 1, 2001

"...China has mounted various efforts to halt the increasing desertification, which is caused by overuse of the land for farming and grazing. Nonetheless, as much as 900 square miles (2,300 square kilometers) of farmland in northern China—an area more than twice the size of Hong Kong—is blown away by the wind each year, according to a Chinese scientist quoted in a New York Times article last year..."

 

Ancient Fertile Crescent almost gone, satellite images show

National Geographic, May 18, 2001

"...The rich Mesopotamian marshlands known for centuries as the Fertile Crescent have almost completely disappeared, with only 10 percent of the important ecosystem still remaining, according to a study based on satellite images of the region..."

Streams reduce nitrogen pollution

National Geographic, May 4, 2001

Nitrogen pollution in streams due to poor soil management.