Watch the recording of our webinar, Restoring Soil with Compost: Lessons from the LA Wildfires & More, to learn more about this toolkit!
ILSR’s Composting for Community Initiative supported the development of a new toolkit to guide communities affected by wildfires and other sources of pollution on how to safely assess and remediate contaminated compost and soil.
The Soil + Soul Healing Toolkit: Compost Issue introduces contaminants that may be present in compost or soil, how to safely collect samples for contaminant testing, and principles of bioremediation of contaminated compost and soil.
After the January 2025 Eaton Fire in LA County, LA Compost and its community partners, SoilWise and Prospering Backyards, responded to local concerns over the potential post-fire pollution impacting gardens and backyards. With the financial support of ILSR, LA Compost tested soil and compost samples from six community composting sites and, in partnership with Prospering Backyards and SoilWise, created the Soil + Soul Healing Toolkit: Compost Issue to guide community action. Testing at LA Compost sites was done via a third-party environmental engineering firm, Mayfield Environmental Solutions.
The Soil + Soul Healing Toolkit: Compost Issue consists of
The Toolkit summarizes the results of LA Compost’s post-fire testing and provides an overview of the contaminants of concern after a fire, as well as those that may already be present from other sources, including industrial activities, vehicles, and agriculture. The Toolkit also includes principles of bioremediation for contaminated compost and soil, highlighting compost-centered methods.
The Toolkit download includes the following formats:
ILSR develops Composting Learning Activities to assist composting sites in training their own community participants. The Soil + Soul Healing Toolkit: Compost Issue includes two learning activities:
How to safely collect a soil or compost sample with a proper personal protection protocol.
Practice interpreting sample test results and creating a plan for bioremediation depending on the contaminants of concern.
Check out LA Compost’s and Prospering Backyard’s resource libraries. Additional resource: Soils in Urban Agriculture: Testing, Remediation, and Best Management Practices from the University of California.
Reach out to LA Compost at [email protected] or Prospering Backyards at [email protected] with questions about the Soil + Soul Healing Toolkit: Compost Issue.
Watch the recording of our webinar, Restoring Soil with Compost: Lessons from the LA Wildfires & More with Lynn Fang, Founder of SoilWise and Soil & Compost Specialist with LA Compost, and lead contributor to the Soil + Soul Healing Toolkit: Compost Issue. In this webinar, she built on the information in the Toolkit with an overview of contaminants of concern, using compost and other tools for bioremediation, lessons learned from the aftermath of the Eaton Fire in LA, and the role of microscopy in assessing soil health.
This project has been funded in part by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under a Recycling, Education & Outreach (REO) assistance agreement to ILSR.
The Compost and Soil Microscopy Mini-Course introduces the microbial life that exists in healthy soil and the basics of using a microscope and your senses...
A webinar introducing post-fire soil contaminants of concern, microscopy, interpreting soil test results, and the role of compost in bioremediation.
These Composting Learning Activities are designed assist community composting sites in training their own community participants.
Watch this webinar recording to hear how researchers and programs are measuring contamination and learn actionable strategies for using data to drive results.