On top of Honey Hollow’s ancient geology is its brown gold – its soil. Part of the soil is actually born of that geological layer or bedrock immediately beneath the soil.
When, over millions of years, that rock is worn and weathered, particles are formed that then mix with water, air and a variety of micro-organisms and other organics resulting in the basic element we call “soil.”
The rock particles are classified according to their sizes from sand (the coarsest) to silt (next in size) to clay (the finest). This sizing plus the percentage of each of the other elements are the basis for the classification of a soil as one of thousands of named types. Each of these soil types has its own characteristics – productivity, drainage or water retention, erodibility, etc.
In the Honey Hollow Watershed alone, 22 types have been mapped. In one sense, the farmers of Honey Hollow were too successful because they were blessed with rich, productive soil.
The farmers’ productivity gave them the financial ability to adopt modern, heavy machinery in the first decades of the 20th century. When they expanded their cultivation into areas not previously used, they accelerated erosion and the general depletion of the soil. They saw many tons of valuable topsoil from the higher reaches of the watershed deposited as water-logged soil up to 3 feet deep in the 7-acre marsh in the lower area of the watershed just west of Creamery Road.
This was the motivation for their request for help and advice from the U.S. Soil Conservation Service in the late 1930s. The first step in making a soil conservation plan was and is to determine the types of soil at a site. The second is to consider the topography of the land and, so, the conditions in which the soils lie. Finally, the third step is to determine the amount of soil, in a useful state, that remains at spots around the site.
The Conservation Service classified the soils found in the Honey Hollow Watershed into five groups, each with its own strengths and challenges: 1) Steep slopes greater than 15%, moderately deep (20+ inches to bedrock), well drained. Slope limits any use. 2) Slopes less than 15%, deep (36+ inches to bedrock), poorly to very poorly drained floodplain. Wetness limits use to wetland habitat and wildlife, ponds 3) Slopes less than 15%, deep (36+inches to bedrock), moderately well drained soils with some water retention issues during wettest months. Best suited to summer crops, hayfields and pasture 4) Slopes less than 15%, deep (36+inches to bedrock), well drained soils. Well suited for crops, pasture and woodland. 5) Slopes between 3% and 15%, moderately deep (18 to 36 inches to bedrock), well drained soils.
Well suited to crops, pasture and woodland with consideration given to slope and soil depth. Mitigation measures addressing the erosion and other problems that were occurring in each of these groups were designed and implemented. They included contour farming, diversion terraces and ditches, strip cropping and crop rotation, tree and bush planting, pond building and dam construction.
The farmers soon saw, literally, the fruits and other products of their labor. For the next 30 or more years, the site was used to educate others about these novel approaches, most of which are now standard practices. The farming in the watershed today continues to employ these basic conservation strategies while the current stewards of the land have added some new approaches in recognition of recent discoveries. Scientists have begun to recognize the vital importance of a vibrant community of microscopic organisms in the soil that works in symbiotic relationships with the roots of plants. The organisms help transmit nutrients into plants and can even transport nutrients between plants. We are only just beginning to understand the complexity and importance of this “root microbiome.”
These discoveries have elevated the importance of avoiding the use of pesticides. Cover crop planting and rotational crop and pasture management also improve soil health. “No till” farming and other methods of allowing precipitation to be filtered by soils and become clean groundwater are now regularly used to further decrease erosion and improve our water supply.
Finally, today’s internet provides access to a vast amount of resource material to anyone interested in soils, geology or hydrology. The USDA and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have compiled a “Web Soil Survey” (WSS) which the public may use to access the latest soil information as well as generate maps showing soil distribution. The United States Geologic Survey (USGS) has incorporated the soil information with geologic and surface water flow data to create a web-based interactive “National Water Information System: Mapper” to offer the public ready access to hydrogeologic information for whatever watershed size they desire.
Stay tuned for the next installment of the natural history of Honey Hollow: Climate and Water. The Bucks County Audubon Society is compiling an inventory of the Honey Hollow Watershed features 50 years after the most recent inventory.
Honey Hollow Watershed is a National Historic Landmark noted for its innovative strides in farming in the 1930s.
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