NSSH Part 600

Introduction

The Mission of the Soil Survey Division, Natural Resources Conservation Service (600.00)

Provide leadership and service to produce and deliver scientifically-based soil information to help society to understand, value, and wisely manage global resources.

Purpose (600.01)

The National Soil Survey Handbook and other technical and procedural references provide the standards, guidelines, definitions, policy, responsibilities, and procedures for conducting the National Cooperative Soil Survey in the United States.

National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) (600.02)

NCSS standards are common or shared procedures that enhance technology transfer, data sharing, and communications among soil survey participants.

NCSS standards apply to various soil survey functions. The many references listed in Exhibit 600-1 contain standards.

Principal References and Their Maintenance (600.03)

The three principal publications guiding the NCSS are the Soil Survey Manual, Soil Taxonomy, and the National Soil Survey Handbook. Exhibit 600-1 is a list of other technical references that are important in gathering and applying soil knowledge. The following paragraphs describe how these publications are revised and how they apply to the NCSS in the United States.

The Soil Survey Manual

The purpose of the Soil Survey Manual is to provide the major principles and concepts for making and using soil surveys and the standards and conventions for describing soils. The manual is intended primarily for use by soil scientists engaged in making and interpreting soil surveys. It is also the basic reference for soil survey users who desire to learn the scientific methods that form the basis for soil surveys. It discusses general procedures to illustrate and explain the principles and concepts, but the National Soil Survey Handbook presents current operational procedures of the NRCS in more detail.

Amendments may be issued to the Soil Survey Manual as NRCS directives. Proposals to the manual may originate from any interested individual or group participating in the NCSS or from staffs of foreign soil survey organizations. The originating group or author forwards the proposal to the National Leader for Soil Classification and Standards.
Soil Taxonomy and the Keys to Soil Taxonomy

Agricultural Handbook 436, second edition, Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys (1999), provides the common base for the organization of knowledge about soils and the standards for their classification. The Keys to Soil Taxonomy, which is periodically revised, provides excerpts of Soil Taxonomy that can be readily used in the field and contains all the approved revisions and amendments to Soil Taxonomy. Procedures to amend Soil Taxonomy are outlined in part 614.
The National Soil Survey Handbook

The National Soil Survey Handbook provides guidelines, definitions, policy, responsibilities, and procedures for conducting the NRCS part of the NCSS. It contains information relative to planning and managing soil surveys, collecting and maintaining soil survey information, and distributing the information to users. The National Soil Survey Handbook provides specific information about the field activities, correlation, interpretation, publication, and dissemination of soil surveys of the NCSS.

The National Soil Survey Center updates the National Soil Survey Handbook on a periodic basis. Any member of the NCSS may suggest changes or additions to the handbook. The originating author sends the proposed changes or additions, along with an explanation of and support for the need for the change or addition, to the National Soil Survey Center. The Center reviews proposed changes, amendments, and additions at least annually. The Director, Soil Survey Division, issues the changes to holders of the National Soil Survey Handbook.

The National Soil Survey Handbook is not to be amended or supplemented by offices other than the National Soil Survey Center.
User Manuals

User manuals contain procedures for conducting soil survey activities, such as those related to the electronic storage and display of soil information. Examples are the User Guides for the National Soil Information System.
Guides

Guides provide special information and criteria for various functions, such as interpreting soils and updating major land resource areas. Regional guides may be developed and used as needed to supplement national guides.

List of Technical References (Exhibit 600-1)

Aerial-Photo Interpretation in Classifying and Mapping Soils, Agricultural Handbook 294, 1973, USDA, SCS.

Agricultural Handbook 18, Soil Survey Manual, 1993, USDA.

Agricultural Handbook 210, Land Capability Classification, 1973, USDA, SCS. NSSH Exhibit 622-2.

Agricultural Handbook 296, Land Resource Regions and Major Land Resource Areas of the United States, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Basin, 2006, USDA, NRCS, 669 pp., illus.

Agricultural Handbook 346, Wind Erosion Forces in the United States and Their Use in Predicting Soil Loss, USDA, SCS.

Agricultural Handbook 436, second edition, Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys, Soil Survey Staff, 1999, USDA, NRCS; and all Amendments.

Agricultural Handbook 703, Predicting Soil Erosion By Water: A Guide to Conservation Planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), 1997, USDA, ARS.

Agricultural Salinity Assessment and Management, ASCE Manuals and Reports on Engineering Practice, Number 71, 1990, American Society of Civil Engineers.

ASTM, D2487, Standard Test Method for Classification of Soils for Engineering Purposes (Unified Classification System).

ASTM, D2488, Standard Practice for Description and Identification of Soils (Visual-Manual Procedure).

Basic Photo Interpretation: A Comprehensive Approach to Interpretation of Vertical Aerial Photography for Natural Resource Application, USDA, SCS.

Block Diagrams for Soil Survey Interpretation, USDA, SCS.

Cartographic Information from the National Cartographic and Geospatial Center.

Checklist of United States Trees (Native and Naturalized), Little, Elbert L., Jr., Agricultural Handbook 541, 1979, USDA, FS, Washington, D.C., 375 pp.

Code of Federal Regulations, title 7, part 657 -- Prime and Unique Farmlands.

Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils (current version), USDA, NRCS.

Field Indicators of Hydric Soils of the United States (current version), USDA, NRCS.

Forest Cover Types of the United States and Canada, Eyre, F.H., editor, 1980, Society of American Foresters, Washington, D.C., 148 pp., map packet.

General Manual, Title 430, current issue, USDA, NRCS.

Handbook of Soil Survey Investigations Field Procedures, 1971, USDA, SCS.

Hydric Soils of the United States, USDA, NRCS.

Inventorying, Classifying, and Correlating Juniper and Pinyon Communities to Soils in the Western United States, Grazing Land Technology Institute, September 1997, USDA, NRCS.

Keys to Soil Taxonomy (current issue), Soil Survey Staff, USDA, NRCS.

National Agronomy Manual (current issue), USDA, NRCS.

National Biology Manual (current issue), USDA, NRCS.

National Cartographic Technical References, USDA, NRCS.

National Engineering Handbook (current issue), USDA, NRCS.

National Food Security Act Manual (current issue), USDA, NRCS.

National Forestry Manual (current issue), USDA, NRCS.

National Range and Pasture Handbook (current issue), USDA, NRCS.

National Soil Characterization Database, USDA, NRCS.

National Soil Information System User Documents.

Official Series Description File Handbook (current issue), USDA, NRCS.

Pedon Description Program Users Manual (current issue), USDA, SCS.

Plants Database.

Soil Classification File Handbook (current issue), USDA, NRCS.

Soil Survey Investigation Reports (issued for various states), National Soil Survey Laboratory, USDA, SCS.

Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 1, Soil Survey Laboratory Methods and Procedures for Collecting Soil Samples, July 1984, USDA, SCS.

Soil Survey Investigations Report No. 38, Measuring Hydraulic Conductivity for Use in Soil Surveys, March 1982, USDA, SCS.

Soil Survey Investigations Report 42, Soil Survey Laboratory Methods Manual (current version), USDA, NRCS.

Soil Survey Investigations Report 45, Soil Survey Laboratory Information Manual 1995, USDA, NRCS.

U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, 1969 Manual of Septic Tanks, PHS Publication No. 526.

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