TVFC focused on farmland preservation in 2016 and 2017. Responding to concerns expressed by diverse groups in the Treasure Valley, we undertook an educational agenda to inform the community about farm preservation: what it is, how it affects communities, what it means to farmers, some ways to accomplish it.
We brought in national experts; regional farm preservation organization directors, local farmers and land use planners, and policy makers at many levels. By specifically reaching out to state and local government officials, we hope to give concrete support to other efforts to save TV farmland from rapidly escalating development. We were successful in providing expert information to decision-makers and the public. Now we hope to see local planners and elected officials act on that information, and we are poised to act in concert with other efforts.
Our goal for 2018 is to move the focus from protecting real estate to protecting soil. Farms in production are only as productive as the quality of their soil. And throughout history, from the first civilizations built on agriculture, the rise and fall civilizations is the story of soil health and depletion.
Our 2018 public events will explore the hidden life of soil: What is it? How is it formed? What is required to keep it alive and healthy? How is it destroyed? Worms, microbes, mushrooms, carbon – all will be critical components of these conversations.
We have soil testing classes scheduled on March 10th, a soil dig at Fiddlers Green Farm in the Dry Creek Valley on April 21st and Dr. David Montgomery will be speaking at BSU on April 2.
For detailed information on upcoming events please check out our events page.
David R. Montgomery is a Professor of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he is a member of the Quaternary Research Center.
Professor Montgomery received his B.S. in geology from Stanford University in 1984, and his Ph.D. in geomorphology from University of California, Berkeley in 1991. His research addresses the evolution of topography and the influence of geomorphological processes on ecological systems and human societies. His published work includes studies of the role of topsoil in human civilization, the evolution and near-extirpation of salmon, geomorphological processes in mountain drainage basins, the evolution of mountain ranges, and the use of digital topography. He has conducted field research in eastern Tibet, South America, the Philippines, Alaska, and the American Pacific Northwest.
Montgomery’s first popular-audience book, “”King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon”” explored the history of salmon fisheries in Europe, New England, California, and the Pacific Northwest. It won the 2004 Washington State Book Award in General Nonfiction.
In 2016, Montgomery published “The Hidden Half of Nature: The Microbial Roots of Life and Health”, a collaboration with Anne Biklé. The book addresses the relationship between microbial life, plants, and people.
His most recent work, “Growing A Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life”, was released in May 2017.