United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service
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Welcome to the NRCS Soils Website.

Helping People Understand Soils

Soils is part of the National Cooperative Soil Survey, an effort of Federal and State agencies, universities, and professional societies to deliver science-based soil information.

Sample Soil Organic Carbon Stocks map.

Largest Soil Sampling Effort Reaps Huge Returns for the Environment

The Rapid Carbon Assessment (RaCA) project makes up the largest concentrated soil sampling effort in the history of soil survey, resulting in the most extensive database on soil organic and inorganic carbon in the world. By using the newly acquired rapid carbon data, computer models will allow soil conservation planners to better predict the impact a conservation practice might have on enhancing the soil’s carbon content. Conservation practices can enhance the soil’s ability to capture carbon dioxide, removing it from the atmosphere. Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere changes climate and drives acidification of the ocean. But carbon-rich soils are healthy soils and healthy soils are more productive and resilient to extreme weather events, such as drought, making the RaCA project a win/win.

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Aerial view of the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge.

2013 NCSS National Conference

The NCSS National Conference will be held from June 16-20 in Annapolis, Maryland. The theme for the conference is “Soil Survey — Planning for Soil Health in the Critical Zone”. Early registration rates are available until May 19; with all registrations ending on June 9. Student rates are also available. The full registration fee includes all program sessions (including 2 field trips/all-inclusive tours), meeting materials, a reception on Tuesday evening, awards luncheon on Thursday afternoon, and breakfast and refreshment breaks daily.

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Example of a gSSURGO map.

Gridded Soil Survey Geographic (gSSURGO) Database

USDA-NRCS is now offering a new detailed soil survey gridded map product with “ready to map” attributes in statewide tiles for desktop GIS called “gSSURGO”. The Gridded Soil Survey Geographic (gSSURGO) Database is now available on the Geospatial Data Gateway (http://datagateway.nrcs.usda.gov/). The gSSURGO dataset was created for use in national, regional, and statewide resource planning and analysis of soils data. The new soil 10m raster map layer data offers rapid display of soil themes over large land areas and is easy to combine with other raster data sources (land cover, terrain data, climate, etc.) in a common equal area projection. Ready to map attributes include soil organic carbon, available water storage, and productivity indices.

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Cover of the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils.

Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, version 3.0

Version 3.0 of the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils is now available. The Field Book summarizes the present science and art of describing and documenting soils and soilscapes in the USA. The intended audience is professionals who describe soils for various purposes. The Field Book includes key descriptors, conventions, and concepts from soil science and geomorphology to facilitate field observations and soil documentation. The Field Book also aids in understanding soil descriptions and data found in soil surveys, dissertations, research papers, and general soil publications.

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Map Unit Descriptions Available in Spanish on Web Soil Survey

In an ongoing effort to meet our customer’s needs, NRCS has translated into Spanish the map unit descriptions available as soil reports on the Web Soil Survey. The translations are produced through scripted programming and are available for every USDA certified soil survey in the United States. Translations for the scripts were conducted by bilingual soil scientists across the country. The Web Soil Survey generates reports of map unit descriptions in tabular and narrative format. The database elements and template structure were translated for both formats. The project was coordinated by the National Soil Survey Center. The Web Soil Survey is the largest USDA Web outreach site. It receives more than 100,000 visitors a month, and more than 190,000 custom soil survey reports were prepared in 2012. The Web Soil Survey continues to grow in popularity due to its high responsiveness to customer needs and is now prepared to serve even a larger audience through this bilingual effort.


 

Archive of Highlights

The Natural Resources Conservation Service provides leadership in a partnership effort to help people conserve, maintain, and improve our natural resources and environment.

Last Modified: 06/10/2013