MSU has Top Regional Soil Judges and
"Official Montana Soil" T-Shirts

11/18/97 BOZEMAN -- Montana State University students took first, second and third place individually in the Regional Soil Judging Competition held at MSU Oct. 10-11, and second and third places as teams.

Soil judging allows students to compete against one another both as individuals and as teams, says David Thoma, MSU Plant, Soil and Environmental Science graduate student and team advisor. The students go to a designated site and, in 50 minutes, must describe every aspect of that soil profile--from soil horizons to suitability for roads and septic tank fields.

The top three individual contestants were MSU students: Autumn Bahr of Great Falls, Meagan Breneman of Spokane, Wash., and Becky Barber of Fairbanks, Alaska. They competed against students from Oregon State University and Idaho State University.

The contest was a boon to two of MSU’s courses, too, said Jay Skovlin, student coordinator of the team. Two classes used the contest’s soil pits to introduce soil judging to MSU students and to expose students to a greater variety of soils.

The MSU showing in this Regional Soil Judging contest qualified it for the National Soil Judging Contest in Athens, Georgia in April.

The winning students are "fired up," since this competition qualified them to compete nationally, says Skovlin.

To earn their way there, the students have planned bake sales, yard sales and other events. One project is t-shirt sales. T-shirts with a drawing of Montana’s official state soil (Scobey clay loam) on the back are $12 directly from a student or $14.25 via mail.

To either buy a t-shirt or make a tax deductible donation, make checks payable to the MSU Foundation (noting that it is for the soil judging team) and mail them to Dianne Brokke, Department of Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, PO Box 173120, Bozeman, MT 59717-3120. Specify large or extra large size.

If you read this, we need to know who you are! Please send your name, city/state/country and the name of the topic you read to Carol Flaherty, MSU Communications Services, Bozeman, MT 59717 or email to Carol Flaherty carolf@montana.edu.

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