soil

Using the products of sewage treatment to fertilize soil may turn waste into a valuable resource.

A study by UW scientists finds that bedrock plays as big of a role as climate in determining how much vegetation grows in an area.

Bedrock is the layer of rock beneath the soil.

Lead author Jesse Hahm says he did the research because he was puzzled by the patchiness of forest cover.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service and other agencies are trying to once again make room for native vegetation along riverbanks in the Bighorn Basin.

  Amy Anderson with the Game and Fish Department is helping coordinate the effort. She says Russian olive trees and other non-native plants were introduced in the 1800s, and they’ve choked out native vegetation and degraded soil and water quality.

  She says they’ve made progress removing the invasive plants from various creeks, but there’s a lot more work to be done.