From May of 2023 to October of 2023, we tested the soil at two Bernalillo County Urban Ag project sites – one in the International District of Albuquerque, the other in Southeast Albuquerque – to learn about their soil composition, levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, RCRA heavy metals (see Table 1.4 Environmental measurements in this project) and how they respond to various remediation strategies. Loma Linda Community Center (located at 1700 Yale Blvd SE, Albuquerque, NM 87106, United States) and East Central Ministries (located at 123 Vermont St NE, Albuquerque, NM 87108, United States) were selected as soil testing sites because of their proximity to air pollutants since they are located in the flyaway of the Kirtland Airforce Base and the Albuquerque International Airport, and near various automotive repair and machinery shops. Loma Linda has 4 testing plots and East Central Ministries has 3 testing plots in total. One plot at each site is a control testing site, which receives no remediation strategy.
Each site received a remediation strategy in May of 2023 after the initial soil testing. Remediation strategies include:
- planting a cover crop of red clover, hairy vetch, and/or sunflowers
- adding compost and mulch
- inoculating the soil with Stropharia ruggusolata (a type of mushroom called wine cap)
