When land managers modify their management to improve soil health, it is often challenging to measure and evaluate the soil’s response. “There is no optimum standard for soil health in the same way that there is an optimal body temperature for human health,” Cathy Zabinski, professor of plant and soil ecology in MSU’s Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, said. Soil health varies greatly by soil type and climate, so Zabinski and Zane Ashford, a former graduate student, studied a site-specific indicator of soil health. The soil health gap is the difference in soil health characteristics between managed, disturbed land, which includes...