We plan to collect soil cores from underneath oak trees that were affected to different extents by the fires in 2020. We plan to sample below 5 oaks that have survived and are leafing out, and 5 oaks that did not survive, ideally across several different sites in the reserve. We will collect soil cores every 10 cm to 50 cm depth, and then every 50 cm to a total depth of 200cm (2m). If the soil is still moist and soft, we will use a combination of hand augering and hand coring with a slide hammer tool. If the soil is very hard or rocky, we may deploy a rotary hammer (concrete drill) with an auger attachment to punch down to the deeper sampling depths.

Approved