 The following is a production of New Mexico State University. A lot of people look at soil and see only dirt. I guess they just don't recognize something really special when they see it. What would you do without soil? Are you stuck? That was a dirty joke. Hi, we're the Soilies, three important members of the soil's family. I'm gritty. I'm sticky. I'm smoothie. A lot of people treat us like dirt. So we're here to try to earn a little respect. Soil, dirt, earth. Whatever you call it, it's pretty important stuff. Under your feet, it provides homes for billions of creatures. Take a look. A teaspoon of soil can be home to more than a billion organisms. From microscopic bacteria and fungi to earthworms, grubs, ants, snails, spiders and centipedes. Then think of all the larger critters that make their homes in soil. Animals such as mice. Dogs, prairie dogs and burrowing owls. Where is your house built? On soil, of course. And our food grows in soil. Trees grow in soil. You may not think that soil itself is beautiful, but many of the beautiful things you take for granted wouldn't be around if it weren't for soil. Yes, we Soilies are mighty proud. We can trace our family back to the early days of the earth. And we've got dozens and dozens of cousins all around the world. In fact, there are more than 70,000 different types of soils around the globe and they're all related to us. While we're all different, we have a lot in common. Average soil is about 45% minerals, 25% water, 25% air and 5% organic matter. The organic matter, called humus, is made up of the cane, plant and animal material and the billions of living organisms that inhabit the soil. The amount and type of humus helps determine how fertile the soil is, how well it holds water for plants and how easily it erodes or wears away. Water and air, half of the soil's volume, occupy the little spaces among soil particles. These are called poor spaces. Some soils have more than others. As you can see, soil is mostly composed of minerals. These come from our parent material, rocks. Over many, many years, different types of rock are weathered, cracked and worn away into little pieces. Pieces of one rock, such as sandstone, might become gritty sand. Individual sand particles can be seen with the naked eye. Some are as thick as 2 millimeters, the thickness of a dime. On the other hand, you'll need a microscope to see clay particles coming from granite and limestone. They're much smaller than sand and they feel different too. What clay feels sticky? Silt particles eroded from shales and silt stones are larger than clay but smaller than sand. Silt feels like flour. Yep, not all soils feel the same. The difference is called texture. It's our texture that gave sticky, gritty and me our names. Take me, sticky. I'm made up mostly of clay. Clay soils are very dense or heavy and they can hold a lot of water. They often hold on so tightly, though, that the plants cannot take it away. And me, gritty. True grit. Yep, I feel coarse and sometimes almost scratchy. If you pick up a handful, it falls apart easily. Gritty sandy soil doesn't hold water, so plants that try to grow in it can get mighty thirsty. There's me, smoothie. I'm the one that plants really like. Smooth or lomy soils are loose and crumbly with lots of spaces that hold air and water for plants. Some of their particles are smooth and slick and others are gritty or sticky. A lot of people judge us soilies by our color. Dark, moderately dark and light. Color tells them how much organic material is in soil. Dark soils are black, dark gray or dark brown. They have lots of humus and are usually very fertile. There's plenty of space for air. Water soaks in easily and they are slow to erode. This is the soil that a farmer loves. Moderately dark soils range from brown to yellow brown. They have some organic matter and are fairly fertile. When treated properly, moderately dark soils can be good for farming and gardening, too. Light colored soils are pale brown to yellow colored. They have little humus and little air and are usually the poorest for farms and gardens. So there you have it, from our rocky parents to our own special personalities. That's the background on us soilies. Background, another dirty joke. Ha ha ha ha ha. But now I want to tell you something that's no laughing matter. Pick up a handful of soil and imagine it is the earth's surface. Now take away three quarters of the handful and drop it back on the ground. That is how much of the earth is covered by oceans, rivers and lakes. What is left represents the land. Now remove one half of the soil left in your hand and drop it on the ground. That represents all the desert regions, glacial poles and mountain peaks where many things will not grow. Next, drop one tenth of the soil from your hand to account for the places where people live, where the land is used for big cities, towns, houses, schools, roads and parking lots. Now look, the soil left in your hand represents all the soil we have to support life on earth and we're losing this soil. It is trickling through our fingers at an alarming rate. In the United States we are losing 6.4 billion tons of soil each year. This amount of soil would fill 320 million dump trucks, which if parked end to end would extend to the moon and three-quarters of the way back. This soil is being washed into lakes and rivers and blown into our air where it pollutes our environment. The process is called erosion. It's bad for us soilies. It's bad for everyone. Farmers harvest a smaller crop per acre. Fields become less productive as large gullies develop. And silt from eroded soil builds up in our waterways causing more frequent flooding and making it difficult for ships or boats to travel. Take a look around wherever you live. Can you find signs of erosion? This is gully erosion. It's the most dramatic form of soil erosion. It occurs when runoff water forms channels. The rapidly moving water causes the channel to grow wider and deeper. Gully erosion occurs on steeper slopes where there is little or no vegetation. Gullies may become too deep for farm equipment to cross. This is real erosion. It occurs on slopes where the runoff water accumulates into many small channels a few inches deep. This is sheet erosion. Look closely. This is the most difficult to see. Sheet erosion occurs when there is not enough vegetation covering the soil to stop erosion completely. Yet there is enough cover to prevent real erosion. Soil gradually washes away in thin sheets. It is seen as muddy runoff water. Although everyone notices ugly gully erosion, sheet and real erosion actually cause more problems. Sheet and real erosion remove an average of 5 tons of soil from every acre of cultivated farmland each year. That's 3 to 5 pickup truck loads from an area the size of a football field. In addition to water erosion, soils are also eroded by the wind. This mostly occurs in places where the wind blows a lot and where it doesn't often rain. Wind erosion is a particular worry in our plains states where these conditions may exist over large areas of cropland and rangeland. Texas has the greatest land areas subject to wind erosion. This area is larger than the total combined areas of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa. No one benefits from soil erosion. It is costly to us all. It increases the possibility of flooding. It increases the need for the dredging of our waterways. In the 1930s, Americans learned just how costly erosion could be to individuals and society. The Dust Bowl. Unprotected soils in the plains states, parts of Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas were picked up and blown as far away as Washington, D.C. In some areas, as much as a foot of topsoil was lifted from fields and deposited over roads, houses, farm equipment and trees. Many people lost their homes, their farms, their jobs. If we knew then what we know now, the Dust Bowl could have been prevented. Today we know how to stop erosion, but there are still many places where these soil conservation methods need to be put into practice. Here are some of the things you can do to prevent erosion and to help us soilies. Number one, keep us covered. Bare soil easily washes or blows away. You can cover the soil with mulch, straw, burlap, even reusable plastic. This will hold the soil in place until the plants are big enough to protect it. Farmers can plant cover crops like winter ryegrass that hold the soil in place when the regular growing season is over. They can practice conservation tillage. That means harvesting only the grain from a field and leaving the rest of the plants on the soil. This provides a mulch during the off-season and reduces erosion. The next year, the new crop is planted through the mulch without plowing under the old plant material. Ditches and small waterways can be lined with concrete, grass, asphalt, or a combination of large and small rocks called rip-rap. Number two, give us a break. A windbreak, that is. Windbreaks are rows of trees or tall grasses that are planted at a perpendicular angle to the prevailing winds to reduce wind speed. A slower wind speed means there is less chance of soil blowing away. Number three, let the land be your leader. If there is a sloper hill, follow it. For farmers, this means plowing and planting parallel to the hillsides rather than straight up and down. For those building streets and homes, the same principle applies. Instead of building streets straight up and down, let them follow the natural contour of the land. Saving our precious soil is dirty work, but somebody has to do it. We hope that you'll join our little campaign. Dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt, dirt. Remember, when we save our soil, we're protecting homes. Protecting our water. Protecting our air. And protecting many of the other things we cherish. Respect us and we'll take care of you. We love dirt. We love dirt. We love dirt. We love dirt. We love dirt. We love dirt. We love dirt. The preceding was a production of New Mexico State University. The views and opinions in this program are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the NMSU Board of Regents.