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National

Cooperative

Soil

Survey NewsletterIssue 44

August 2008

In This Issue— NPS Park Spotlight: Wildand Wonderful WestVirginia Scenic Rivers

By Susan Southard, NRCS, National Liaisonto the National Park Service, Davis, California,and Steve Carpenter, NRCS, MO Leader/StateSoil Scientist, Morgantown, West Virginia.

The soil survey program of West Virginia has been busily

updating soil mapping in three NationalPark Service units in the State. Theseparks include the Bluestone NationalScenic River, the Gauley RiverNational Recreation River, and the NewRiver Gorge National River. Recently,the parks have been set up as non-MLRA soil survey areas to facilitatethe delivery of park-specificinformation about soils to the NationalPark Service Soils Resources Inventoryprogram. This information will bemade available to the public via WebSoil Survey and Soil Data Mart.

The project leader for the threeparks is Eileen O'Neill, based in OakHill, West Virginia. The main crewassisting her are soil scientists AronSattler, also of Oak Hill; Rob Pate,resource soil scientist in Beckley, WestVirginia; and Charles Delp, AssistantState Soil Scientist fromSummersville, West Virginia.Overseeing quality assurance are DavidKingsbury, MO Soil Data QualitySpecialist, and Steve Carpenter, MOLeader/State Soil Scientist, both fromMorgantown, West Virginia, andquality control is the responsibility ofSkip Bell, MLRA Project Leader, alsofrom Morgantown.

As with most projects in NationalParks, the West Virginia units offer

unique challenges in gaining accessbecause most of the land is rugged androadless. Crews have to hike incarrying tools and food for the day.Don't even think about leaving yourlunch in the truck!

The New, Gauley, and BluestoneRivers are all part of the greater New

Editor’s Note

Issues of this newsletter areavailable on the World Wide Web(http://soils.usda.gov/). Under QuickAccess, click on NCSS, then onNewsletters, and then on the desiredissue number.

You are invited to submit stories forthis newsletter to Stanley Anderson,National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln,Nebraska. Phone—402-437-5357;FAX—402-437-5336; email—stan.anderson@lin.usda.gov.

An area of the Bluestone River.

Skip Bell (MLRA Project Leader), Tom Bailey(USFS soil scientist), and Eileen O’Neill(project leader for the three parks) pausefor a picture while running a transect.

NPS Park Spotlight: Wild andWonderful West Virginia ScenicRivers ............................................. 1

A Blast From the Past ......................... 3North Central Regional Work

Planning Conference ..................... 3Northeast Regional Soil Survey

Conference ..................................... 4Southern Regional Cooperative

Soil Survey Conference ................. 5West Regional Cooperative Soil

Survey Conference ........................ 6Two 1899 Soil Surveys ....................... 7

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River watershed that begins in theNorth Carolina mountains near Boone,North Carolina, and then flows throughthe mountains and pastoral farm lands

Soil scientist Aron Sattler taking a breatherfrom digging.

MO Leader Steve Carpenter makingamoozemeter measurements. The threewatches on Steve’s right arm are fortiming all the amoozemeters.

Resource soil scientist Rob Pate helping withlab sampling.

Assistant State Soil Scientist Charles Delpproviding advice about monolithsampling.

of Virginia and then north to WestVirginia. Eventually, the waters flowwestward into the Ohio River, passingIndiana and Illinois, and eventuallymeet the Mississippi River near Cairo,Illinois.

It is believed the New River is oneof the oldest river systems in the world.

The Bluestone River is named for thedeep blue limestone streambed of itsupper reaches in Virginia. It has animpressive gorge 1,000 feet deep inWest Virginia. The 25 miles of the free-flowing Gauley River pass throughscenic gorges and valleys that createseveral class V+ rapids, making it oneof the top white-water boating rivers inthe East.

This past April, the West Virginiasoil survey program had a combinationall soil scientist meeting and field weekin which all soil scientists in the State(and some enthusiastic GIS specialistsand cartographic technicians) as well ascooperators from the U.S. ForestService and West Virginia Universityall worked in teams to coverpredesignated sites selected by theproject leader. The teams dug anddescribed soil pits, ran transects,collected a monolith, and gatheredamoozemeter data in many differentareas of the parks. These data are nowbeing compiled and will help to createthe SSURGO data that will bedelivered to the National Park Serviceand will also be posted to the Soil DataMart in the next couple of years.

The enthusiasm exhibited by thisgroup is sure to guarantee excellent soilsurvey products when the project iscompleted!

A visitor center sign.

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NCSS Newsletter

A Blast From the PastBy Stanley P. Anderson (a.k.a “Columbo),

Editor, NRCS, National Soil Survey Center,Lincoln, Nebraska.

Note the following from page 29 of the current online GPO

Style Manual (2000)—

3.29. In soil science the 24 soilclassifications are capitalized.

Alpine Meadow Bog Brown

From page 57 of the samedocument, more on capitalization—

soil classifications:Alpine MeadowBogBrownChernozem (Black)ChestnutDesertGray-BrownPodzolicHalf BogLateritePedalferPedocalPodzolPrairieRamann’s BrownRedRendzinaSierozem (Gray)SolonchakSolonetzSolothTerra RossaTundraWiesenbodenYellow

The 24 names are similar to but notidentical with those in the classificationsystems in two USDA publications—C.F. Marbut’s “Soils of the UnitedStates” (1935), which is Part III ofAtlas of American Agriculture, and“Soil Classification,” by Mark Baldwin,Charles E. Kellogg, and James Thorp,

in Soils and Men, 1938 Yearbook ofAgriculture.

The first time that soil names appearin a GPO Style Manual is in the 1935edition. The list in this edition is nearlythe same as that in the 2000 edition, butthe name “Chernozem” is not followedby the parenthetical word “Black” and“Half Bog” is hyphenated. Also, the“rule” reads as follows: “Terms used insoil science for names of the 24 greatsoil groups are capitalized.”

Editions of the GPO Style Manualthat are relevant to this question werepublished in 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937,1939, 1945, 1953, 1959, 1962, 1967,1973, 1984, and 2000. I was able tocheck all of these editions, except forthe 1962 one, to determine when thethree minor alterations described in theprevious paragraph were made. Iassume that all three of the changeswere made at the request of soilscientists at the headquarters of the SoilConservation Service.

The three changes first appear in the1945 edition: “Half Bog” is no longerhyphenated, “Chernozem” is changedto “Chernozem (Black),” and the “rule”is changed to read, “In soil science the24 soil classifications are capitalized.”

One additional change appears inthe 1984 edition. The term introducingthe 24 names is changed from “soilnames” to “soil classifications.” I donot know what prompted thisalteration. Making this minor change aslate as 1984 is like straining at gnatsand swallowing elephants.

I wrote an email to the GPO StyleBoard in which I asked that the 24 “soilclassifications” be replaced by ourcurrent soil orders (the 12 “sols”) if soilnames are listed at all. After informingme that my request was “very timely”because a new edition will be out inlate 2008 or early 2009, MichaelAbramson, the “Foreperson/StyleBoard Chairman,” asked me whetherthe 12 names are “orders” or

“classifications.” I told him that thenames I specified are orders. I assumethat they will be identified as such.

I had given the board the option ofdeleting all references to soils from themanual, since there is no great need topoint out that “Alfisols” and the othercoined proper nouns that serve as thenames of soil orders are alwayscapitalized. In his response, Mr.Abramson ignored this option. After 73years (1935-2008), he apparently didnot want a divorce.

North Central RegionalWork PlanningConference

By Robert Ahrens, Director, NRCS, NationalSoil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Approximately 60 scientists participated in the North

Central Regional Work PlanningConference, June 23-26, at KansasState University in Manhattan, Kansas.The North Central Education/ExtensionResearch Activity (NCERA)Committees 3 and 59 met concurrentlyin an effort to develop collaborationbetween committees and with theNational Cooperative Soil Survey.NCERA-3 members are universitypedologists, and NCERA-59 membersare soil scientists and ecologists whofocus on soil carbon and soilmicrobiology issues.

The presentations reflected thebroad audience attending theconference and included discussions ofmeasuring soil carbon with laser-induced spectroscopy, the effects andmovement of treated wastewater forirrigation, organic carbon in alluvialvalleys, and pedotransfer functions forestimating Ksat. The conference had aninternational flavor and includedpresentations by Michael Grundy onAustralia’s ambition for soil

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information and by Telmo Amado onthe potential for carbon sequestration insoils in Brazil with no-till. All thepresentations were engaging andstimulated discussion and questionsfrom the audience.

Wednesday morning’s field trip tothe Konza Prairie Research NaturalArea showcased a native tall-grassprairie in the Flint Hills of easternKansas. At the Konza, we discussed thegenesis and characteristics of a soil onthe summit and one on a side slope.Staff from Kansas State Universityexplained the scope of research andseveral of the research projects at theKonza.

Standing committees on standards,interpretations, new technology, andresearch needs convened, addressedtheir charges, and maderecommendations. Participants werevery active in the committeediscussions and felt encouraged abouttheir functions.

Feedback from the attendees wasvery positive. The conference was wellorganized and recognized theimportance of the National CooperativeSoil Survey and its mission. Specialthanks goes to the State Staff in Kansasand staff at Kansas State University fororganizing and hosting a verysuccessful and fun conference.

Northeast Regional SoilSurvey Conference

By Marjorie Faber, Assistant State SoilScientist, NRCS, Tolland, Connecticut.

More than 65 soil scientists from NRCS, universities,

USGS, CSREES, the private sector,and the Agriculture and Agri-FoodAgency of Canada attended theNortheast Regional Cooperative SoilSurvey Conference at the University of

Rhode Island Bay Campus inNarragansett, Rhode Island, June 2-5.The conference was sponsored by theNCSS partnership of Connecticut andRhode Island. Participants were mostlyfrom the Northeastern United States,from Maine to West Virginia andWashington, D.C., but some came fromas far away as California, Nebraska,North Carolina, and Texas. Thisregional conference provided a forumfor partners of the NationalCooperative Soil Survey to transfertechnology, highlight research projects,and discuss common soil issues andconcerns.

The conference featured speakers,break-out sessions, a new technologydemonstration, and a field trip. Reportswere presented by the NRCS soilsleadership. Many of the regionaluniversity cooperators reported on theirresearch component of the jointNortheastern Hydropedology project.The research projects focused on soilcarbon, subaqueous soils, and hydricsoils. Additional reports focused onother local soil science research, theUSDA National Research Initiative,and the upcoming 2009 InternationalUrban Soil Conference, which will beheld in New York City.

The new technology demonstrationshowcased tools that may help soilscientists in the field. These includedtools that measure dynamic soilproperties, a spectrometer thatmeasures reflectance values of soilprofiles or soil samples, and severaldifferent ground-penetrating radar andglobal positioning systems, including asystem that assists with bathymetry andsubaqueous soil mapping. Also, somenew computer software wasdemonstrated.

The Silver Spade, an awardpresented to a member of theconference who has contributedoutstanding regional and/or nationalservice to soil survey, was presented to

Dr. John Galbraith of VirginiaPolytechnic University for hiscontributions to the NationalCooperative Soil Survey. BruceThompson, recently retired MO-12leader (Amherst) and MassachusettsState Soil Scientist, was recognized byNRCS headquarters and the Society ofSoil Scientists of Southern NewEngland for his 42 years of soil surveyaccomplishments.

The field tour visited siteshighlighting soils and soil issues ofConnecticut and Rhode Island. At thefirst stop, participants had theopportunity to examine quite a fewlong trenches dug on an archaeologicalsite at the Mashantucket Pequot TribalProperty in Preston, Connecticut.Archaeologists from the University ofConnecticut, the Mashantucket PequotMuseum and Research Center, and theOffice of State Archaeology discussedsoils and archaeology. Participantsobserved the variability ofConnecticut’s outwash soils as well asdifferences among the soils originatingfrom human disturbances ranging fromabout 5,000 years BP to as recent as 2years ago (fig. 1).

The next stop was Ninigret Pond, acoastal lagoon on the south coast ofRhode Island. University of RhodeIsland and NRCS soil scientists

Figure 1.—Soil trench showing an example ofthe anthropogenic pit features commonin the Preston Plains area. Photo courtesyof Steve DeGloria.

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mapped subaqueous soils in NinigretPond. Core samples had been extractedin advance of the trip and wereexamined by participants. Subaqueoussoil classification and interpretationissues were discussed. The beach anddune landscape also was discussed.

The tour proceeded north, over theCharlestown End Moraine, which wasdeposited as the glacier receded about17,000 years ago. The Bridgehamptonsoil, which formed in silty loessunderlain by fluvial deposits, wasexamined. The group then had theopportunity to walk to a commercialsod field and discuss the effect of turfproduction on soil (fig. 2).

The final stop was an area ofcarboniferous till soils on JamestownIsland, in the Narragansett Basin. Thesoils formed in very dark parentmaterial.

The conference standing committeeshad time for members to discussconcerns and present reports andrecommendations to the entire group.Committees included subaqueous soils,hydric soils, research needs, standardsand procedures, new technology, andbylaws. The conference concluded withcommittee reports and updates from thethree MO offices that cover theNortheastern Regional Soil Surveyarea. Pennsylvania will be hosting thenext regional conference, in 2010.

Connecticut and Rhode IslandNRCS soil scientists, Dr. Mark Stolt ofthe University of Rhode Island, and theSociety of Soil Scientists of SouthernNew England were recognized for theirefforts in hosting and organizing thisconference.

Figure 2.—Turf production. Photo courtesy ofSteve DeGloria.

Southern RegionalCooperative Soil SurveyConference

By Karl W. Hipple, National Leader for SoilSurvey Interpretations, NRCS, National SoilSurvey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska.

The 2008 Southern Regional Cooperative Soil Survey

Conference (SRCSSC) was held July14-18, 2008, in Gainesville, Florida.During the week, approximately 65registered scientists met and discussedtechnical, scientific, and generalquestions and issues of importance tothe National Cooperative Soil Survey.The conference was a mixture of a fieldtrip, formal presentations, poster anddemonstration sessions, committeeactivities, and informal discussionsduring breaks. The 2008 SRCSSC wassuccessfully planned, coordinated, andhosted by the University of Florida’sInstitute of Food and AgriculturalSciences (UF-IFAS); USDA, NaturalResources Conservation Service; andthe Florida Association ofEnvironmental Soil Scientists (FAESS).

An all-day field trip on Mondayopened the conference. During the fieldtrip, conference attendees visited manysites where they observed anddiscussed Spodosols, ecologicalcommunities, hydric soil monitoring,and subaqueous soils. The field tripalso included University of Floridapresentations on geospatial statisticalanalysis of soil landscapes indevelopment of remote sensing models.Dr. Willie Harris, Professor of

Pedology and Mineralogy, UF-IFAS,provided stimulating highlights andfacts on pedogenesis of Spodosols inFlorida and gave information abouteach site’s ecological community (fig.1). Wade Hurt, UF-IFAS, discusseddata gathering for water table studies(fig. 2). Dr. Sabine Grunwald and hergraduate students from UF-IFAS, gaveseveral interesting presentationsrelating to use and modifications of theSCORPAN model for remote sensingof landscapes and soil propertymapping. At a pizza feed on Mondayevening, Dr. Rex Ellis, UF-IFAS,provided basic information regardingstudies of subaqueous soils in Florida.

The meeting included welcomingremarks from Florida NRCS and UF-IFAS officials and many presentationsand status reports by agency heads,agency specialists, and NCSS partners.Luis Hernandez, Arkansas State SoilScientist and MO-16 Leader, providedan international flavor to theconference with a presentation on soilsof Mexico and Spain. A veryenlightening evening poster anddemonstration session was conductedon Wednesday evening (fig. 3).

Standing National Cooperative SoilSurvey (NCSS) Conference

Figure 1.—Dr. Willie Harris,keynote luncheon speaker.

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NCSS Newsletter

West RegionalCooperative Soil SurveyConference

By Ron Myhrum, NRCS, State Soil Scientist,Spokane, Washington.

The 2008 West Regional Cooperative Soil Survey

(WRCSS) conference was held inconjunction with the Western Societyof Soil Science (WSSS) conference atthe Red Lion Hotel at the Park inSpokane, Washington, June 16-20. Thetheme of the WRCSS conference was“Soil Survey and Ecological SiteClassification.” Washington StateUniversity’s Center for Distance andProfessional Education (CDPE) washired to provide Web site development,registration services, financialreconciliation, and negotiations withthe hotel used for the conference. Thecooperating agencies handled all otherplanning and logistical needs for theconferences. A total of 84 peopleattended the conferences during theweek.

The WRCSS conference included amixture of agency and cooperatorreports, technical presentations, andbusiness sessions. Opportunities forcooperator interaction were providedthrough a full-day field trip, an eveningposter session, an evening banquet, andan evening hospitality gathering. TheWSSS sessions included technicalpresentations and papers concurrentwith the WRCSS and participation inthe evening sessions. The objective ofthe field trip was to view and discussthe challenges and procedures indeveloping Ecological SiteDescriptions (ESDs). The trip includedstops at both range and forest sites(figs. 1 and 2). Resource specialistsfrom various disciplines described theprocesses and procedures that theyemploy to develop a fully populatedESD.

Committees, (Soil Taxonomy andStandards, Research Priorities, NewTechnology, and Soil Interpretations)plus an Ad Hoc Subaqueous Soils

Committee met and provided theSRCSSC with subject matter andpotential policy recommendations atthe end of the conference.

Figure 2.—Wade Hurt discussing water table study on the SRCSSC field trip.

Figure 3.—Poster session at the SRCSSC.

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Figure 2.—A Ponderosa pine/Idaho fescuedemonstration site in the TurnbullNational Wildlife Refuge near Spokane.

Recommendations and actions ofcommittees, including AppliedTechnology, Soil Taxonomy, ResearchNeeds, Ecological Principles (ad hoc),and Soil Change (ad hoc), are availableon the Web at http://www.soils.usda.gov/partnerships/ncss/conferences/regional.html.

The theme of the 2008 conferencecame from recommendations of the2006 conference in Park City, Utah.The demand for information containedin Ecological Site Descriptions (ESDs)

Figure 1.—Gary Kuhn, Washington NRCS staff Forester, discusses management practices on aPonderosa pine/Idaho fescue ecological site on WA DNR land near Spokane.

and the increased interest in dynamicsoil properties fit into the challenges weface with global climate change. Allagreed that more resources are neededto focus on standards and consistencyin the creation of ESDs.

The conference steering committeethanks all of those who participated inthe 2008 joint conference and looksforward to the 2010 conference inNevada.

Two 1899 Soil SurveysBy Stanley P. Anderson, Editor, NRCS,

National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Two of the earliest soil surveys of the National Cooperative Soil

Survey (1899 to the present), both byThos. H. Means, were publishedwithout maps. These are AReconnoissance in Sanpete, Cache, andUtah Counties, Utah (1899), and AReconnoissance in the Cache a laPoudre Valley, Colorado (1899). Notethat “reconnoissance” is not amisspelling. It is a Frenchified versionof “reconnaissance.” The first of these“reconnoissance” surveys is less thansix pages long, and the second is lessthan four pages long.

The author describes the Cache a laPoudre Valley as “the Greeley country.”The National Soil Survey Center hastwo copies of the document about thisvalley. A typewritten note on a halfpiece of onionskin paper is stapled tothe third page of one of these copies.The note is dated 6/1/60 (more than 60years after publication). It reads asfollows:

As far as can be determined, nomap was made of this area.

Per A. A. KlingebielRoy W. Simonson

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The two surveys have been scannedbut cannot as yet be posted to the Webbecause they have no SSAID number.

See the next four pages for the surveyof the Cache a la Poudre Valley inColorado.

Following is an 1899 letter fromThomas H. Means to Milton Whitney,Chief of the Division of Soils:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in allits programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, age,disability, and where applicable, sex, marital status, familial status, parentalstatus, religion, sexual orientation, genetic information, political beliefs,reprisal, or because all or a part of an individual’s income is derived from anypublic assistance program. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication ofprogram information (Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contactUSDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file acomplaint of discrimination write to USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights,1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (800)795-3272 (voice) or (202) 720-6382 (TDD). USDA is an equal opportunityprovider and employer.