SOIL QUALITY ANALYSIS AND THE FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE INCREASING QUALITY ISSUES WITHIN THE CAMPUS OF FROSTBURG STATE UNIVERSITY, MD

A strategy to identify factors that are contributing to increasing soil quality issues within the campus of Frostburg State University, MD was implemented during the autumn of 2012. This project is generating a dataset of current soil quality characteristics which are being used to establish a baseline for the Frostburg State University Long Term Soil Assessment and Monitoring project (FLOTSAM). The aims of FLOTSAM are to examine the environmental impacts of current and alternative land management practices on the university campus and local watershed. FLOTSAM will allow the development of the best practices and policies to assist FSU with its long term sustainability ambitions. This study is examining the current physical and chemical soil properties to explain the observed diversity in soil quality and by default ecological health. The study location receives climate and anthropogenic inputs and has been mapped to display the vegetation composition as an indicator of soil productivity. The mapped data has been used to develop a FSU campus specific environmental classification system that records and describes the ecological condition of the campus soils in terms of health, stress, and sustainability. Following the mapping phase, examination of soil properties such as particle size, organic content, and NPK has begun and is ongoing. Initial analysis is presented to describe correlations between extremely damaged soil communities and combined external influences, such as de-icing materials and compaction due to foot and vehicular traffic.