1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,436 Joan Cartan-Hansen, Host: There's a lot more to the study 2 00:00:03,436 --> 00:00:05,805 of dirt than just looking at soil. 3 00:00:05,805 --> 00:00:07,407 It's a job for soil scientists. 4 00:00:07,407 --> 00:00:11,311 But you might be surprised just who a soil scientist might be. 5 00:00:11,311 --> 00:00:16,015 [MUSIC] Cartan-Hansen: You don't have to 6 00:00:16,015 --> 00:00:18,852 wait until you're in college to learn how to become a soil 7 00:00:18,852 --> 00:00:19,953 scientist. 8 00:00:19,953 --> 00:00:22,889 These Kuna High School students are about to show off their soil 9 00:00:22,889 --> 00:00:24,257 scientist skills. 10 00:00:24,257 --> 00:00:27,494 They're competing in the Idaho State Land and Soil Evaluation 11 00:00:27,494 --> 00:00:30,663 Career Development Event contest. 12 00:00:30,663 --> 00:00:33,900 Hal Swenson, NRCS State Soil Scientist: Kids here today are 13 00:00:33,900 --> 00:00:37,904 involved in a contest of judging soil and land to help to 14 00:00:37,904 --> 00:00:41,708 determine its best use and to help determine whether the land 15 00:00:41,708 --> 00:00:46,446 is suitable for agriculture or how suitable, what kind of crops 16 00:00:46,446 --> 00:00:48,181 and tillage should be here. 17 00:00:48,181 --> 00:00:51,451 We also have two sites that they judge for a home site to 18 00:00:51,451 --> 00:00:55,021 determine the suitability for building a home with the 19 00:00:55,021 --> 00:00:59,159 appropriate structures that go with that. 20 00:00:59,159 --> 00:01:01,895 Cartan-Hansen: In the competition, the teams of five 21 00:01:01,895 --> 00:01:05,665 people investigate each of six pits dug into the ground. 22 00:01:05,665 --> 00:01:09,169 They examine the soil by looking at the soil horizon. 23 00:01:09,169 --> 00:01:12,172 The layers of topsoil and sub-soil. 24 00:01:12,172 --> 00:01:15,141 Dina Hopson, Kuna High School Student: I go through, and I'm 25 00:01:15,141 --> 00:01:16,776 checking for the erosion loss. 26 00:01:16,776 --> 00:01:19,946 So I take my soil-picking tool and you pick through the dirt 27 00:01:19,946 --> 00:01:23,516 until you get where there's a change in how you feel it or 28 00:01:23,516 --> 00:01:25,151 what's going on. 29 00:01:25,151 --> 00:01:27,821 Cartan-Hansen: They also classify the soil by doing 30 00:01:27,821 --> 00:01:29,522 something called texturing. 31 00:01:29,522 --> 00:01:32,392 Jeremiah Hellewell, Kuna High School Student: We grab the 32 00:01:32,392 --> 00:01:33,359 soil. 33 00:01:33,359 --> 00:01:36,329 We're trying to find what the different sizes are. 34 00:01:36,329 --> 00:01:39,866 And so there's sand, which is the largest and then silt, which 35 00:01:39,866 --> 00:01:41,601 is the middle one and then clay. 36 00:01:41,601 --> 00:01:44,704 Usually you want a silt because it's not too big and not too 37 00:01:44,704 --> 00:01:45,472 small. 38 00:01:45,472 --> 00:01:48,575 And so what we do is we get it wet because you can't really 39 00:01:48,575 --> 00:01:51,578 tell because sometimes the clay will like build up with each 40 00:01:51,578 --> 00:01:54,747 other and they stick together a lot, so you have to break it 41 00:01:54,747 --> 00:01:56,115 down using the water. 42 00:01:56,115 --> 00:01:59,319 And then for sands, it will be gritty and for silt, it will be 43 00:01:59,319 --> 00:02:02,388 smooth and clay will stick together a lot, so it will be 44 00:02:02,388 --> 00:02:05,692 hard to move around and it will stick together really well and 45 00:02:05,692 --> 00:02:08,294 that's how we can tell the difference. 46 00:02:08,294 --> 00:02:11,364 Cartan-Hansen: The students also determine the slope of the land, 47 00:02:11,364 --> 00:02:13,833 the angle at which the land falls or climbs. 48 00:02:13,833 --> 00:02:16,669 Knowing the slope helps determine water runoff and 49 00:02:16,669 --> 00:02:19,205 whether the soils are vulnerable to erosion. 50 00:02:19,205 --> 00:02:22,008 That's important to know, especially if you are picking a 51 00:02:22,008 --> 00:02:23,576 place to build a house. 52 00:02:23,576 --> 00:02:26,880 Hellewell: And then the other things that we do is, they give 53 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:29,949 us numbers on a placard, which is a board with a bunch of 54 00:02:29,949 --> 00:02:33,520 information on it, and they are nutrients that are found in 55 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,422 fertilizers, and they tell you how much is in the soil. 56 00:02:36,422 --> 00:02:42,395 And so then knowing whether or not the soil on a PH scale is 57 00:02:42,395 --> 00:02:46,599 below 7 or above 7, you can determine what types of 58 00:02:46,599 --> 00:02:49,502 nutrients you need, and so they tell us that how many nutrients 59 00:02:49,502 --> 00:02:52,071 there are and we determine whether we need to add more or 60 00:02:52,071 --> 00:02:53,439 not. 61 00:02:53,439 --> 00:02:56,609 Swenson: Most of these kids come from an agricultural background, 62 00:02:56,609 --> 00:03:00,246 so they're interested in learning this to help them maybe 63 00:03:00,246 --> 00:03:03,850 go back to run their own operation at some time. 64 00:03:03,850 --> 00:03:10,123 The kids that don't do that, they're learning about how to 65 00:03:10,123 --> 00:03:14,460 judge a site for suitability for a home. 66 00:03:14,460 --> 00:03:17,430 Cartan-Hansen: The students mark all the required information 67 00:03:17,430 --> 00:03:20,133 down for each pit on their own sheets. 68 00:03:20,133 --> 00:03:23,202 It takes real skill to be able to answer all the questions and 69 00:03:23,202 --> 00:03:25,738 students from all over the state compete. 70 00:03:25,738 --> 00:03:29,642 Each team member's sheets are scored, combined and the top two 71 00:03:29,642 --> 00:03:33,313 scoring teams will go on to represent Idaho in the national 72 00:03:33,313 --> 00:03:34,581 competition. 73 00:03:34,581 --> 00:03:37,383 Hopson: Yeah, I think it's a good learning experience. 74 00:03:37,383 --> 00:03:40,053 You get to go out and meet new people, and you get to 75 00:03:40,053 --> 00:03:42,655 experience things you wouldn't normally experience. 76 00:03:42,655 --> 00:03:45,491 Hellewell: I'm doing this because we have a class for it, 77 00:03:45,491 --> 00:03:48,461 but also to gain more knowledge about agriculture and other 78 00:03:48,461 --> 00:03:51,965 things so that way I can potentially do things on my own 79 00:03:51,965 --> 00:03:56,336 instead of hiring someone to do it and also possibly pursuing a 80 00:03:56,336 --> 00:03:59,205 profession in agriculture. 81 00:03:59,205 --> 00:04:01,975 Cartan-Hansen: The team from Kuna didn't win today's 82 00:04:01,975 --> 00:04:04,744 competition, but they did learn something important. 83 00:04:04,744 --> 00:04:06,145 Hopson: It's not just dirt. 84 00:04:06,145 --> 00:04:07,614 There's more to it. 85 00:04:07,614 --> 00:04:11,250 Cartan-Hansen: If you want to learn more about soil, check out 86 00:04:11,250 --> 00:04:12,619 the science trek website. 87 00:04:12,619 --> 00:04:15,855 You'll find it at science trek dot org. 88 00:04:15,855 --> 00:04:36,909 [MUSIC] ANNOUNCER: Presentation of 89 00:04:36,909 --> 00:04:39,746 Science Trek on Idaho Public Television is made possible 90 00:04:39,746 --> 00:04:42,982 through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham 91 00:04:42,982 --> 00:04:46,052 Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis 92 00:04:46,052 --> 00:04:49,922 family legacy of building the great state of Idaho. 93 00:04:49,922 --> 00:04:53,159 By the Idaho National Laboratory, mentoring talent and 94 00:04:53,159 --> 00:04:57,830 finding solutions for energy and security challenges, by The 95 00:04:57,830 --> 00:05:00,433 Friends of Idaho Public Television and by the 96 00:05:00,433 --> 00:05:03,736 Corporation for Public Broadcasting.