Field Trip Information

On Monday, July 6th, we will be providing two field trips around Colorado. These trips will provide information about soil and renewable energy. There is a $20.00 fee to join us. You may pay this fee at the same time you register.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory Tour

One field trip option is a visit 

NREL studies many different aspects of renewable energy on site. Several examples are Wind and Solar energy, Thermal testing, and Alternative Fuels.

NREL works hard on transferring all its developed technologies into the renewable energy markets. One of the main missions of the lab is to provide new technology and see the application in the modern world. Their technologies are world-renowned and valued throughout the industry.

For further information about NREL, please visit their website.

Colorado Soils

Soils and Physiography of the Rocky Mountain Region

Facilitators:
E.F. Kelly, Professor of Pedology, Colorado State University
Laura Craven, Soil Scientist NRCS, Woodland Park, Colorado
Lee Neve, Soil Scientists NRCS, Pueblo, Colorado
Chris Fabian, Soil Scientist NRCS, Ft. Collins, Colorado

Background: Soils have drawn intense interest worldwide because they are recognized as a critical component in the biogeochemistry of terrestrial ecosystems.  Attempts to integrate soils into global and regional simulation models emphasize the temporal and spatial complexities associated with these systems. That which makes soils within ecosystems different is the degree to which soil forming processes are regulated by the driving variables climate, organisms, parent material, relief, and time.

Objective of the Field Trip: The field trip is designed to examine soils of Diverse Ecosystems in the Colorado Front Range. Specifically, we will look at soil development at four field sites located along the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado that represent separate ecosystems, namely, short-grass steppe, lower montane, upper montane and alpine ecosystems.  We will discuss the general trends in soil physical, chemical and biological properties that vary as a function of the structure and functional nature of these diverse ecosystems.

Environmental Setting: The climate at all sites is distinctly seasonal. At the short-grass and montane sites, rain falls primarily in the late spring and early summer, and temperatures peak in late summer (July-August). At the tundra sites, there are only five months with above zero (degrees Celsius) temperatures, and most of the precipitation falls as snow. Grassland vegetation dominates the lower elevation sites with trees predominating at elevations of 1820 m (Pinus ponderosa), 2330 m (Pseudotsuga menziesii), 2800 m (Picea englmannii and Abies lasiocarpa) becoming more prominent with increasing elevation. The Alpine sites are predominately arctic tundra type of vegetation consisting of sedges, grasses, rushes and low shrubs. Parent materials along the transect range are composed primarily of Precambrian age granites and granodirorites. At lower elevations soil parent materials consist of re-worked granitic alluvium.

Soil Formation of Region: The formation of the soils of the front range of the Rocky Mountains has been strongly influenced by landform and climate. There is a wide range in soil properties from the warmer and drier valleys to the high elevation tundra. In general, soils of the low elevation valleys are generally very deep, loamy, and have dark-colored surface horizons.  Soils of the lower and upper montane zones are generally well or somewhat excessively drained, loamy with a high content of rock fragments, and have light-colored surface horizons. Depth to the underlying bedrock ranges from shallow to very deep. Soils of the alpine mountains and ridges are generally well drained, loamy with a high content of rock fragments, strongly acidic, and have dark-colored surface horizons.