Our Poster SPREADING THE WORD!!!!!!! we posted this on trees (with tape)

 Soil Compaction 

is a serious matter in NYC! We cant keep standing on trees soil or applying pressure.
     
                      This Tree Is A Tree Not...
side walk, a bathroom, a trash can, a bike rack, parking spot, a home for anything other then animals, a area to dig for dinosaurs, (do you get the point?) a dog park, etc

       Soil Compaction kills. Not only trees.

You Dont Like PRESSURE, What makes you think trees like it?

               We need to stop soil compaction, or soil compaction will stop us. 

 Visit our website for more information on soil compaction!! and the results to a scientific               test determining soil compaction! Test Your Soil!

                                             www.savenyctrees51.blogspot.com

                                     also check out our instagram: savenyctrees 
                                                         thank you! :)

Soil Compaction Article

Soil Compaction Article
   Wow! Trees sure do a lot for us. They create oxygen so we can breathe. Trees can also trap smog into it's leaves and prevent us from inhaling it. Another thing that trees do is take in carbon dioxide. Which is really good because they prevent these chemicals to getting to us. Another thing that trees can do is create homes for animals, and they provide us fruits. But here is a question are we treating the way we should be?...
     Soil Compaction:
    Something that we barley ever pay attention to is how we compact our soil, this called soil compaction. Soil compaction happens when we step, drive, bike and leave your car parked on soil with living plants/trees in it, or let your pet walk on trees. You are probably thinking so that doesn't matter. But guess what is does because if this trees and plants can't grow any longer this is because now that the soil has has pressure it  is compacted the soil can not provide nutrients any more another thing that happens is that now there are no holes for water to be sucked into the tree's roots. Which now means the trees/plants can potentially can get really unhealthy or die.
   Soil compaction affects are life as New Yorkers in many ways. So we very much encourage you to not do anything that puts pressure on the soil like biking, stepping or vehicle contact with it. There are now about 5 million trees in New York City right now but that could change...and very fast. We need to save are New York City trees.

By: Luna Gonzaga, Zoe Glazer, and Florence Sullivan 

soil compaction picture

(This is a picture of the soil we tested.)

You can see how dry and compacted this soil is there is no sign of other plant life. And there is a box of cigarettes right next to this tree. You shouldn't treat trees like if they were our dumpsters. The right thing that you should do is find the nearest trash can and dispose your trash there, and pretend that our trees are your dumpsters.

     this is a some data we collected from a soil compaction experiment using a screw driver these are the results on how far the screwdriver went in to the soil (in inches) each line is a different tree soil we tested if you would like to check it out our data you can see it on our blog.

Data Table

Tree pit number	Depth of screwdriver insertion (in inches)
1	1 and a quarter
2	3 and a half
3	1 and 3 quarters
4	3 and 3 quarters

Soil Compaction

One of the big things that affect our NYC trees is soil compaction. Here is a brief definition we chose of soil compaction:


The force together of soil particles under pressure, usually by foot or vehicle traffic. Compaction decreases soil porosity and increases bulk density. The degree of compaction is determined by the amount of pressure applied and soil characteristics, including clay, water, and organic matter contents. Although compaction sometimes can be beneficial by improving seed and root contact with the soil and by increasing the soil's ability to hold water, most compaction is detrimental to plants and soil animals. It can destroy soil structure, decreasing water intake, percolation, gas exchange, and biological activity, while increasing water runoff, erosion, and resistance to root penetration. Soil compaction often is a serious problem in agricultural fields, forests, range lands, lawns, and golf courses. Conversely, soil compaction is necessary for most construction purposes.

Source Citation
"Soil compaction." Environmental Encyclopedia. Gale, 2011. Science In Context. Web. 11 May 2013.
ion from science in context