Work has been progressing behind the scenes to further develop the Save Our International Land (SOIL) Fund. The intention has always been that the original fund starting committee would transition into two separate but coordinating committees: one that focuses on soliciting funds and another that makes suggestions to the IECA Board of Directors on how those funds should be allocated. Over the past several months, the committee has been busy reviewing and modifying the committee bylaws to allow this transition.
This process would be much easier to conceive if we had a firmer grasp on just how much money we are working toward collecting and allocating. Our original goal was to collect a suitable sum so that each year we could just allocate the interest earned on the money and not touch the principal fund. This concept would ensure that each year we have some money to allocate, and in principle, the amount would continue to rise as more funds are added each year. So, how much does this take? Great question to answer with a question: How much do you want to allocate each year? I have always thought that $50,000 to allocate each year would be great. We could fund a fairly large project, or several reasonably sized projects. We could do “good” in a lot of areas with that small amount of money. However, the principal necessary to generate even that small amount from interest is around $1,000,000. So far, we have about $20,000 in the SOIL Fund. Now, I don’t want to offend anyone (especially that guy who donated $0.71 at EC ’08), but we will somehow need to up the ante in order to get to the kind of money we need in some reasonable amount of time.
Soliciting harder, to bigger hitters and to other organizations, and donating more ourselves will certainly help. But identifying exciting projects is also necessary, and we have had some great ones suggested to us. Some of the more exciting prospects include helping to research some of Easter Islands’ erosion damage, helping the small Ecuadorian village of Tsukaru obtain a sustainable supply of drinking water, and helping to develop a biological soil crust to help stabilize soils in arid areas where vegetation alone cannot do the job.
On Easter Island there has been a well-known sequence of events following an indiscriminate harvesting of forests: removal of vegetation, soil erosion, and desertification and loss of land fertility. According to studies of Easter Island, the peak of civilization occurred between the years 1200 and 1500 A.D., coinciding with the construction of the “moais” (statues made of rock, requiring wood for their construction), during which the highest rates of forest harvesting occurred. Through one of our members, IECA now has an opportunity to assist with a highly visible research project to determine how erosion and sediment control technology can help reverse some of the problems.
In Ecuador, the village of Tsukaru’s water supply reservoir and supply pipeline have clogged with sediment and are no longer usable, forcing villagers to spend long portions of their waking hours obtaining safe drinking water. Through the SOIL Fund, IECA is working with Engineers Without Borders to develop a new reservoir and pipeline, to construct these facilities, and to teach the villagers how to maintain them indefinitely.
Biological soil crusts are associations of microorganisms that bind the soil into crusts that are stable and resist water and wind erosion in desert environments. In addition to the obvious need for reclamation and stabilization of arid soils, developing cost-effective means of establishing biological soil crusts could equate to self-regenerating soil cement that can be used in a variety of situations.
These types of projects draw interest on a worldwide scale and can provide visibility that we by ourselves, IECA, or our industry, could never afford to achieve alone. PLEASE think about how you can help the SOIL Fund reach the next level. Whether it’s by participating in one of the committees, donating, soliciting donations from others, suggesting how the SOIL Fund can do anything we do better, or identifying exciting projects to consider funding, your HELP IS NEEDED right now more than ever before!
Tom Williams MA, CPESC SOIL Fund Co-Chair
