E&LP Staff Scientist, Tom Heron, APSS, Publishes in Frontiers in Forests and Global Change

Land Revitalization through environmental remediation, habitat restoration, and stabilization of riparian buffers is one pillar of Our Sustainable Future campaign. E&LP is proud to announce that staff scientist, Tom Heron, APSS, has recently published research that exemplifies the types of land revitalization work that E&LP practices. His research group’s findings are in the scientific journal, Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. Through the University of Idaho, they conducted the research and published the article, “Soil Phosphorus Speciation and Availability in Meadows and Forests in Alpine Lake Watersheds With Different Parent Materials.”

In California and Nevada, legacy fire suppression over the past 100 years has created a significant buildup of forest debris, or litter layer, on the forest floor. Traditionally, forests are considered a sink for nutrients and prevent erosion, but over time, nutrients from the litter layer have been accumulating and contributing to lake issues, such as decreasing water clarity. Lake Tahoe is recognized as an “Outstanding National Resource Water” by the Clean Water Act and provides fresh drinking water to those living in and around Reno, Nevada. Although still a precious source of drinking water, the onset of water quality issues in the Lake Tahoe Basin presented an excellent opportunity to study the same watershed management challenges impacting other vulnerable fresh drinking water resources across the country.

Tom enjoys investigating the unique characteristics of all soils through studies such as this and in E&LP’s remediation and land revitalization projects. His article and our work both apply Tom’s description of sustainable change as “change that balances today’s needs with the health of the earth and well-being of future generations.”