Our Projects
Copper Mountain Soil Carbon Project
This ongoing collaboration with Copper Mountain Ski Resort and Peak Ecological seeks to 1) provide baseline measurements of soil carbon storage and other soil health parameters on ski trails, 2) scale up plot level soil carbon data to landscape level in order to evaluate the full soil carbon sequestration potential for all ski trails at Copper Mountain, 3) explore the potential to use the soil carbon sequestration data to inform and engage in a carbon offset program, and 4) propose appropriate soil organic amendments as part of a restoration strategy to improve soil carbon sequestration. In 2022, 2023, and 2024 experimental plots were established on ski slopes at Copper Mountain Ski Resort and included five blocks per slope with three or four treatments per block. The treatments included a control, seeding with native grasses and forbs, seeding with compost addition, and/or seeding with biochar additions. Before treatments were applied baseline plant species composition, aboveground and belowground biomass, and soil properties (bulk density, moisture, organic matter, pH, and soil carbon) were measured. Experimental plots will be resampled five years post treatment. In the summer of 2025, another set of experimental plots will be established on another ski slope at Copper Mountain.
Compost Addition on Rangeland Experiment (CARE)
This project investigates whether adding locally sourced class “A” biosolid compost “Gunny Gold” to rangelands in the Gunnison valley of Colorado can improve soil health and increase carbon sequestration in the soil. This experiment was first established in 2019 by former graduate student, Alexia Cooper ‘2020, as part of her graduate project. Compost was added to three ranches: Coldharbour, Parker Pastures, and Wiley Lane in a split plot design which included five replicate plots of control and compost addition treatments at each of the ranches. Results from one year post compost treatment show that plant biomass and soil carbon increased with compost addition, however, the magnitude of the increase varied with site with the more degraded sites seeing the strongest response (Cooper and DeMarco 2023). The year 2024 will mark five years post compost addition providing an interesting opportunity to study the longer-term impact of compost addition on plant species composition, aboveground and belowground biomass, and important soil properties including soil carbon. Sol3Carbon will assist with the 5-year soil sampling and analyses efforts.
Wet Meadow Restoration Soil Moisture Monitoring
In partnership with the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, the Bureau of Land Management and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife we are quantifying whether restoring wet meadows within watersheds in the Gunnison Valley improves soil moisture retention compared to unrestored watersheds. Wet meadows are important habitat for the Gunnison sage-grouse, a threatened species under the Federal Endangered Species Act. These meadows have been extensively degraded over the years. Meadow restoration can increase brood-rearing habitat for the sage-grouse while simultaneously increasing the resilience of the ecosystem to climate change. Increased plant growth following restoration can increase organic matter inputs into the soil resulting in great soil organic matter and thus water holding capacity making these systems more resilient to drought. We have installed soil moisture sensors at three wet meadow watersheds that have been restored using low cost Zeedyk structures.
Wet Meadow Restoration Soil Carbon Study
Restoration of degraded ecosystems can provide a mitigation pathway that can sequester atmospheric carbon into the biosphere and make ecosystems more resilient to a changing climate. However, restoration efforts primarily focus on the restoration process itself with less focus on quantifying the impacts of restoration and rarely include accounting for carbon storage and resilience of the ecosystem to environmental change. Furthermore, restoration projects cover large landscapes, making in-situ measurements inadequate in accurately quantifying C storage and resilience at larger spatial scales. This project is 1) assessing the effectiveness of using remote sensing tools to quantify changes in soil moisture at a larger spatial scale and 2) evaluating the carbon sequestration potential of restoring wet meadows within the Gunnison Basin of Colorado, a critical brood-rearing habitat for the threatened ground dwelling bird the Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus).