The North Western states of Montana and Alaska are home to some of the most pristine

soils known to man, in their own respective categories of course. When comparing the Pioneer
Peak soil series of Southern Alaska, and the Michelson series of Montana, it is important to
identify at least two key factors. This blog will compare the annual water budget of each soil
and the most efficient land based on soil type and climate. The Pioneer Peak soil has a much
wetter climate because of its close proximity to the Pacific Ocean, compared to the Michelson
series which is located in a rain shadow on the eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The
majority of the precipitation for the Michelson series comes as rain in the late spring and as
snow from late fall to early spring, averaging annual precipitation is ~500mm. The Pioneer Peak
series averages annually 16 inches of precipitation which is dominant to the Michelson series.
When looking at the annual water budget, the Pioneer Peak soil has 12cm of plant available
water in only 32 inches of soil, meaning that 37.5% of the soil has water that can be used by
plants. Because of the wet soil regime and high humidity, the Pioneer Peak soil has a very low
water usage. Typically, there is only about a one month time frame where the vegetation needs
to pull water from the soil. The Michelson series on the other hand has a very deep soil bed
that contains plant available water (PAW). In 152cm of soil, the PAW is 36.5cm meaning that
24% of the soil contains usable water. The vegetation uses this deep supply of water during the
later months of summer when the evaporation rates are nearly tripled the amount of
precipitation.
Comparing the land usage of these two soils is quite easy thanks to resources like
soilweb. The first thing to compare would be what kind of forage grows on these soils. For the
Michelson series, the plants that grow best are ones that have a very deep root bed like wheat
and other high-country range grasses because they can reach water and nutrients during the
hot and dry summer months. It is mostly utilized for range and agriculture. Now looking at the
Pioneer Peak series, the forage that does best her is smaller native grasses that have a short
root bed. It is also used for wildlife habitats, recreation, and urban development where the soil
has been drained.
Citations

“Precipitation and Evapotransporation.” Shinyapps.Io, 2014,

kirbymcrae.shinyapps.io/WaterBalanceTable/.

“Soil Data Explorer | California Soil Resource Lab.” Casoilresource.Lawr.Ucdavis.Edu,

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/sde/?series=michelson. Accessed 5 Nov. 2020.

“Soil Data Explorer | California Soil Resource Lab”---. Casoilresource.Lawr.Ucdavis.Edu,

casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/sde/?series=pioneer%20peak. Accessed 13 Nov. 2020.