The following article is adapted from a series on Big Sky symbols I wrote for Montana Magazine a few years ago in commemoration of Montana's Centennial. An official state symbol has been proposed which is more important than all these symbols combined. Without it, there would be no plants, and without plants there would be no animals, including people. This proposed symbol is soil.
Dirt is the stuff that stains clothing and carpets, clogs drains, and silts up water channels.
It is the remains of what was once soil, or debris that never was soil to begin with. A kaleidoscope of ecosystems that frequently merge, often imperceptibly to the casual observer. Yet, although hydrographers sometimes speak of a World Ocean, no one would accept the term World Soil. For, although soils cover less of the Earth s surface than the sea, they are in a sense more diverse. Water is a recyclable liquid that circulates, ensuring a more or less equitable distribution of its contents.