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Soil Savers, The Need to Protect Precious Native Topsoils

American states salute their native identities and characteristics in many ways, including official birds and flowers. Home farmers, growers and gardeners can relish that soils also bear official state designations, including New York’s Honeoye, South Carolina’s Lynchburg, Alabama’s Bama, Iowa’s Tama and California’s San Joaquin. All these different types of earth are threatened by widespread use of pesticides, topsoil degradation and other factors that severely hamper their integrity.

The U.N. General Assembly declared 2015 as the International Year of Soils, saluting its many roles, including storing and filtering water, providing resilience to drought, participating in the carbon cycle and being the foundation for agriculture. According to The Land Institute, the loss of topsoil is the greatest threat to our food supply. Planting perennial crops, agroforestry, intercropping and other agro-ecological practices can help conserve soils, preventing erosion and protecting water.

According to GreenLiving.com, these sustainable practices can help prevent soil erosion:

Reduce impervious surfaces. Driveways, patios and lanais allow precipitation to flow freely over them, gaining momentum in the process, to erode topsoil. Use paving stones rather than a concrete slab to allow water to percolate down into the soil.

Plant a rain garden. As a shallow depression in the yard, a rain garden collects precipitation washing over impervious surfaces, preventing soil erosion and facilitating growth of wetland plants.

Use a rain barrel. Placing a barrel underneath a downspout will collect and store water that runs off roofs, making it available for watering plants even when rain is sporadic. It supports both water and soil conservation efforts.

Consider innovative products. Fiber mulch mats—small, biodegradable particles of wood, straw, coconut and other natural plant materials interlocked with mulch—blend with soil to keep moisture in the topsoil by acting as a top coating. (Review representative manufacturers’ products at LandscapePlanet.com and ErosionPollution.com.)

Find the official soil for each state at Tinyurl.com/NativeStateSoils.

Global Briefs
Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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