Frm director KC Sheperd spoke with Greg Kloxin, Soil Health Program Director with the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, who shared his journey from a long career in water quality to leading the state’s soil health initiatives. “I come from a 25-year background and multiple degrees in water quality,” he said. “That has been my focus career-wise up until about three or four years ago, when I had an opportunity to assume directorship of our soil health program.”
Kloxin described a key turning point in his perspective on natural resource management. He explained that after a conversation with soil scientist Greg Scott, he realized, “The water around the soil particle is the same water that outlets a watershed.” That insight led to what he called “a paradigm shift for me to realize that our natural resources management is a management of systems and not components.”
Discussing ongoing work across the state, Kloxin said the Commission assesses over 300 streams across Oklahoma in a five-year rotation. “We literally make those measurements, take those samples to assess what is going on in that water, as well as the things that live in that water,” he explained. The data is publicly available, and citizens “can actually access particular sites on the map of Oklahoma… and get scorecards, much like a grade system — the A through F system in schools.”
Kloxin also highlighted the Soil Health Implementation Program (SHIP) — a new effort combining technical and financial assistance for producers. “We went from just technical assistance delivery to actually being able to receive some monies from the legislature that allow us to deliver some financial assistance along with that,” he said. The program engages producers “over a three-year planning horizon where we actually go in and do an abbreviated conservation plan for them… and design a plan that helps them work with their land instead of just on it.”
Explaining the concept of soil health, Kloxin emphasized that “you do not assess health except for anything that is living.” He contrasted healthy soil with inert dirt: “So when you say soil health, then immediately it needs to bring to mind, I’m talking about the life of soil, as opposed to dirt, which… sounds like the word inert.” Healthy soil, he added, “has to breathe and respire as well,” much like lungs, since compaction can remove its natural pore space.
Finally, Kloxin shared that applications for the SHIP program will open again soon: “We are going to be releasing in January another opportunity for application to that program… the application will open up on January 1 and close at the end of February.” Interested producers should apply through their local conservation district or visit conservation.ok.gov for more information.
