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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.
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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. |
...More Info
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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. |
...More Info
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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. |
...More Info
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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. |
...More Info
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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.
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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
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