Done
Old depot yard
A county bus depot that burned in the 2025 fire, on top of an old diesel spill. Our first site, and the one we learned the most from.
Sample site. Cinder & Root is invented; readings and sites are sample data.Built by connectNPO
● Soil test requests are openNext free test day: Sat 14 Nov, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.Seed collecting walk: 0 of 20 seats left
Post-fire soil testing and cleanup · Sable Hills
Post-fire soil, cleaned with fungi, plants and char.
A fire leaves metals and char in the top few inches of ground. We test it, treat it with living things instead of trucks, and teach neighbours to do the same.
A year after the fire
The fire left patches.
From the road the Sable Hills look green again. Up close, some slopes are still standing dead trees and bare ground, and every rain washes ash off them.
Look closer
Start with one slope.
We walk the ground with the land manager and pick the piece where ash will wash off first, above a trail, a creek or a garden.
Then draw the line
Stake it, test it, put it on the record.
Four stakes, a first test inside them, and a page on this site that says what we found and what we did next.
Holding · on the record
Ridge trail fire line
fire-line cut on a public trail, 900 ft. First test: 90 mg/kg.
See the site →Now step back
One slope in a whole burn.
The ridge you just saw is one pin on the map of the 2025 burn scar.
The record
14 sites across the burn.
Every pin is a page with its first test, what we did and the second test. Tap one to open it.
4 done9 under way1 planning
How a site gets clean
Sixteen inches, four layers, two tests.
1 · Ash and char0 to 4 inches
First we test. Several cores from each site go to an outside lab, and the results are posted on the site’s page.
2 · Straw and mycelium4 to 8 inches
We lay straw grown through with oyster mushroom. The fungi break down fuel residue and the mat holds the ash in place through the rains.
3 · Roots8 to 12 inches
Sunflowers, mustards and native grasses follow. Some draw metals up into their leaves, which are cut, bagged and taken away. All of them hold the slope.
4 · The second test12 to 16 inches
Same depth, same lab. A site is finished when the second test is under the level the county set, and the page says so.
410
Lead, mg/kg, Old depot yard.
Sample reading, not a real result. outside lab · 0 to 4 in · 9 cores
Sample reading, not a real result. outside lab · 0 to 4 in · 9 cores
Tested before, and tested after.
Every site we take on is on the sites page with what we found, what we did and what the second test said. What a number means for a family is for the county health department, not for us.
Before
| Site | What we used | Lead, first test | Lead, second test | How it was measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Old depot yard | oyster mushroom straw, sunflowers, char | 410 mg/kg | 96 mg/kg | outside lab · 0 to 4 in · 9 cores |
| Mesa Verde school garden | raised beds, compost, char | 180 mg/kg | at the lab now | outside lab · 0 to 6 in · 12 cores |
| Fern Street lot | oyster mushroom straw, native grasses | 260 mg/kg | treatment under way | field XRF, then outside lab |
| Arroyo creek bank | willow wattles, sedges | 140 mg/kg | holding through the rains | outside lab · sediment · 6 cores |
All readings here are sample data for a demonstration. A real site would link each figure to the lab report, and to the county’s and the state’s own screening levels. Every site, with its readings →
14 sites in the record
Where the work is now.
Staff move a site from stage to stage in one screen, and this list follows.
Re-testing
Mesa Verde school garden
An elementary school garden downwind of the fire. The beds were rebuilt with clean soil on top of char, with the school's own garden club.
Treating
Fern Street lot
A burned house lot the owners gave us to use as a demonstration. Most free test days are held here.
Holding
Arroyo creek bank
Where ash from the hills above washes into the creek. Wattles and sedges hold it through the winter.
The rest are on the sites page, each with its readings and what happens next.
Sample video. Cinder & Root is invented, so it has no footage of its own: the clips are free stock (Pexels) and the narration is a synthetic voice. For a real organization connectNPO uses only the photos and clips its staff send.
About a minute
The year, in one short film.
How a site is tested and treated, the fourteen sites on the record, one sample reading (lead from 410 to 96 mg/kg at the old depot yard), and the 2025 year: $612,400 in, $588,900 spent, 81% on the work itself. The same figures are on this site and in the sample Form 990.
Made by connectNPO, who built this site. Short videos like this are part of the plan.
After a fire, or near one
Three ways in.
For residents
Ask for a soil test
A few questions about the property and none about anyone’s health. We reply with the next free test day near you and what to bring.
Ask for a test →What we need
Bring or pledge
- P100 respirators12 of 40
- Tyvek coveralls60 of 60 ✓
- Nitrile gloves, size Longoing
Start with one test.
If your yard, garden or lot burned, the first step is knowing what is in the soil. The test day is free, and nobody asks why you want to know.