Photo Credit: Gerald Dobbs
Prior to August 2013, I lived in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. In my front yard I could dig down four feet or more and hit nothing but rich, loamy soil with an occasional glacial stone thrown into the mix. In addition, I enjoyed having plenty of readily available water. This combination of soil and water has helped Michigan become a powerhouse of fruit and vegetable production in the nation.
A few years later I started working as the Park Services Superintendent at Cordova Recreation and Park District (CRPD) in Rancho Cordova, Calif. Within a month, I read a newspaper article about the soil conditions found in the Sacramento area. It stated that some of the poorest soil conditions can be found in the area of the district’s 36 parks. The state of the soil is a result of the gold mining done in the early- to mid-1800s. The gold miners diverted large quantities of water from the nearby American River to wash away the lighter soil particles with the hope that the heavier gold flakes and particles would be left behind. Much of the topsoil that did exist in the area has been washed away towards the San Francisco Bay area, leaving behind sand, cobble, and some pockets of dense clay soil. Through soil testing, the district discovered a noticeable lack of organic matter and certain plant nutrients in the soil profile as well.
In addition to poor soil quality, my staff members and I faced another problem—a shortage of available water. The primary source of water in Northern California comes from the reservoirs and snow pack in the Sierra Nevada Mountain range on the border of California and Nevada. Typically, the snow pack would melt slowly during the warmer, more seasonal weather and provide more than enough water for Northern California. However, for several years, California has experienced a severe drought to the point that the governor has mandated that each water district initiate a water-reduction strategy for its customers. As one of those customers, CRPD was required to reduce its water-consumption by 32 to 35percent.