Water and Stability Comparrison

The Josephine series and the Pioneer Peak series of soil are some of the finest soils
around. The Pioneer peak series is moist year-round and has nearly 12 cm of PAW in just 32 cm
of soil. The Josephine series on the other hand only has about 17 cm of PAW in 82 cm of soil.
The Pioneer Peak series tend to be located on flatter slopes, increasing the amount of time
runoff and rain have to be absorbed into the soil. Due to the dry and drought ridden seasons
that the Josephine soils have fine colluvium particles, acting more like dust rather than a soil.
Pioneer Peaks combination of slope and year-round moisture create a soil series with a far
stronger and more efficient PAW amount as well as a better environment for plants with
shorter root bed to thrive.
Another major difference in these soils that is important to point out is the susceptibility
to soil and wind erosion. The Josephine series, although it has its advantages for Native species
and keeping invasive one’s effect to a minimum, it is a very weakly structured soil. Having spent
significant time on this soil, as well as reading the soil report, it is clear that the soil is too dry
and too fine to provide any real asset to building or a structurally stable form of use. A lot of
this instability and lack of solid structure comes from the climate and landscape this soil exists
on. With a 30-60% gradient combined with months of drought at a time, runoff as well as wind
have no trouble when it comes to degrading the top layers of this soil. The only true protector
of this soil when it comes to wind and water erosion is the plants that exist on these
landscapes, but unfortunately as time has progressed and droughts in these areas have become
more prevalent, the stability is decreasing as the draughts increase. The Pioneer Peak series is
essentially the opposite. Being a moist, well precipitated soil located on 0-20% gradients, wind
and water erosion are at a minimum. The stability of this soil, especially when drained is very
strong. It can be used for roadways and houses, especially on flatter gradients. The soil is moist
year-round, making wind erosion an incredibly unlikely situation. The only real downside is that
it is difficult to drain, making the use of construction on it potentially difficult if the soil fails to
drain. All in all, the Pioneer Peak soil series has a far superior moisture regime and stability all
together as a result than the Josephine Series.