Senator wants to raise awareness of Arizona's low-down, dirty soil

To complement the state tree, state flower and even the state's official neckwear, Sen. Pat Conner has called for Arizona to have state soil - Casa Grande soil to be exact.

"This is a (type of) soil that is good for our agriculture base," Conner said of his official soil proposal. "It's a symbolic sort of thing."

Conner's "soiled" SB 1039, introduced in mid-January, could help promote ecological awareness in the state, said Rob Wilson, resource soil scientist at the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The NRCS is a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"The state soil is not a new idea," Wilson said. "It's generally used as a vehicle to promote conservation."

He said most states have their own signature soils.

Now based in Phoenix, Wilson hails from the Midwest, where he said soil is comparatively uniform.

"Arizona (soil) is very diverse," he said. "From Yuma to Window Rock, you have many different soils and environments."

The Casa Grande series soil, designated in Conner's bill as "fine-loamy, mixed, superactive hyperthermic type natrargids," covers an L-shaped area from Casa Grande to Tucson and then across southern Arizona to Yuma.

"Even though it (dirt) is a renewable resource, once we lose it, it takes about 100 years to replenish an inch of Midwestern soil," Wilson said. "In Arizona, it takes much, much longer."

Conner would not speculate on the bill's legislative future.

"There is nothing up here, with all the state's problems, that is live or die," he said. "I think the state of Arizona wants to participate in this celebration."

Senate Bill 1039 would make Casa Grande series soil Arizona's official state soil. The dirty honoree would join the ranks of Arizona's other official symbols, including:

State tree: Palo verde

State flower: Saguaro cactus bloom

State gemstone: Turquoise

State fossil: Petrified wood

State neckwear: Bolo tie

State mammal: Ringtail cat

State reptile: Arizona ridgenose rattlesnake

State fish: Arizona trout

State amphibian: Arizona tree frog.