Crawford County Conservation District-KS

09/06/2026

Highly encouraged visiting and enjoying nature. Also it's now September! All nature pictures in this month at this park count towards our BioBlitz team! Just upload on iNaturalist!

09/03/2026

We often ask whether soil is fertile.

But a better question is:

Fertile for what, and under which conditions?

As a Soil Scientist, I have learned that soil fertility is not simply about whether a soil contains enough nutrients.

A soil may test high in certain nutrients and still fail to support optimal plant growth.

Why?

Because plant performance depends on more than nutrient quantity.

Soil pH influences nutrient availability.
Soil structure affects root growth and water movement.
Organic matter contributes to nutrient cycling and soil structure.
Moisture determines whether nutrients can move to plant roots.
Biological activity influences decomposition and nutrient release.

This is why a soil test is an important starting point—but it is not the entire diagnosis.

Numbers without context can easily lead to the wrong conclusion.

Good soil assessment requires us to ask:

What is the crop? What are the growing conditions? What is limiting the plant? And what does the soil data actually tell us?

This is one of the reasons I find soil science fascinating: soil is a system, not just a collection of numbers.

The real value of soil data comes from understanding what those numbers mean in context.

What soil indicator do you think is most misunderstood?

Written by Gbolahan Adefase, a micro biologist and soil scientist, posted on LinkedIn.

09/03/2026

09/03/2026

The soil health scientists love to use this definition of soil health: "the continued capacity of a soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans."

Quoted in two works. One of them is Brevik's (2018) work titled 'A brief history of the soil health concept' discusses the transformation of this concept from the early 1930s.

The other is Doran, J. W., Sarrantonio, M., & Liebig, M. A. (1996). Soil health and sustainability. Advances in agronomy, 56, 2-55.

Send a message to learn more

09/03/2026

Thanks to the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA), Crawford County Conservation District is hosting a BioBlitz this September, 09/15/2026 from 8am to 3pm in support of the Parks for Pollinators campaign.

What’s a BioBlitz? The Parks for Pollinators BioBlitz is an event where community members work with park staff to create a snapshot of the variety of wildlife that can be found at Crawford State Park - Kansas Wildlife & Parks in September. We use a no-cost platform/app called iNaturalist to take pictures of plants, insects and animals to see what wildlife is present in the park on this day and provide us with more information about pollinators, which are essential to our ecosystem.

All photos all month long at the park and uploaded to the iNaturalist app count towards the BioBlitz.

This information will help us understand how we can better protect pollinators and other important wildlife in our community.

Sign-up to participate in our BioBlitz today on our Facebook event page!

https://www.facebook.com/share/1BcLf4BwvQ/

09/01/2026

An opportunity to learn more about how to help conservation in your community too. And on that topic, go to our event page and check out the BioBlitz! It's this month!

Join K-State Extension horticulture agents and specialists for a webinar on how and why to divide your landscape plants! To register for this lunch webinar on Wednesday, September 2nd, go to https://hnr.k-state.edu/extension/consumer-horticulture/garden-hour/

09/01/2026

Highly encourage this. Also while on the subject, our events page has an event for September called BioBlitz! Come participate in that too!

You won't want to miss our Monarch program on Saturday, September 26 at our office in Iola! Starting at 9:30a.m., you can explore our pollinator garden, learn about plants that monarchs love, and how to make your own garden a monarch magnet! You'll learn about our Waystation and watch a tagging demonstration, too.

And bring the kids! From 9:45 - 11:15, we'll have children's activities that include crafts, cookie decorating, and monarch fun!

We'll see you on the 26th!