Group 4---Soil Survey Maintenance/Evaluations for Updates

National State Soil Scientist Meeting-Items for the Soil Survey Division to Consider for Action

1. 
   Identify the “champions” of the soil survey program and obtain their support.
   
2. 
   Examine MOU’s with land grant colleges, work with appropriate Deans if they need to be strengthened
   
3. 
   Encourage the “scientist” part of our working titles through professional memberships, certifications, and scientific readings.
   
4. 
   Progress in our thinking beyond the polygon-based mapping model
   
5. 
   State Soil Scientists need to take both active and passive marketing approaches.
   
6. 
   State Soil Scientists need to track the “hits” on state soil Web sites to determine who our customers are for that forum.
   
7. 
   Distribute instructional guidelines outlining accepted and conventional techniques for preparing slides for Power Point presentations.
   
8. 
   Work with Universities on cooperative investigations of phosphorous movement in the soil.
   
9. 
   Soil Scientists need to provide feedback to Gary Muckel on the themes for yearly marketing goals and target audiences for soil survey:
   
10. 
    2001 - Incorporate soils into natural resource education with science teachers as the targeted audience.
    
11. 
    2002 - Improve soil management on working lands with land managers and their advisors including field office staffs of NRCS as the targeted audience.
    
12. 
    2003 - Reduced lose of life and property due to improper soil selection or management with homebuilders, land use planners, and land contractors targeted.
    
13. 
    2004 - Expand understanding and protection on wildlands with wildland managers, education interpreters, and others that work on state and Federal parks, and military land targeted.
    
14. 
    NHQ needs to define, in writing to State Conservationists, that the assigned state goals for LESA completions refer only to the LE part and not the SA portion.
    
15. 
    NSSC will write and distribute the metadata requirement for interpretations placed on the central NASIS server.
    
16. 
    State Soil Scientists need to deliver one soil database per state for use in RUSLE2 and WEPS training.
    
17. 
    MO Leaders need to coordinate the update of obsolete taxonomic classifications for use with the STATSGO update process by July 1.
    
18. 
    Need to think of the March 30 deadline for NASIS population for electronic CRP signup as a “heads-up” only for future data automation needs.
    
19. 
    States need to supply landscape photos or slides typifying LRR’s to Jim Fortner for use in the new handbook.
    
20. 
    Start thinking about how to incorporate vegetation and plant science specialists on state or MO staffs.
    
21. 
    Form a committee to look at the issue of soil survey delivery and the option of limited hard-copy publication and increased CD delivery.
    
22. 
    Substitute “Customer Service Toolkit” for “Field Office Computing System” in the General Manual.
    
23. 
    National Production Services will supply examples of PDF format manuscripts and maps on CD’s to the states for their evaluation.
    
24. 
    Create a national symposium on soil landscape analysis, pre-mapping tools, expert systems, etc.
    
25. 
    Improve transfer of technology among states (e.g. compilation automation and mapping analysis)
    
26. 
    Define what is considered an “acceptable speed of transfer for NASIS access so that ITC can identify and evaluate the bottlenecks that occur.
    
27. 
    Get all NASIS users in the country up to that “acceptable” level.
    
28. 
    Change policy and guidance documents (GM and NSH) to better define “official soils data” and who has the responsibility to certify that “official data”.
    
29. 
    Relate to State and National leadership the importance of a “Data Warehouse” to archive and establish official soil data sets for the field office user.
    
30. 
    Involve NCSS partners in the discussions of what should be the “Official Soils Database”.
    
31. 
    Establish a task force to assist in the development of National P indexes or guidelines for the country.
    
32. 
    States are to send all Soil-10’s in to the NSSC to be added into the database. All States need to make sure all site locations are filled in(lat/long).
    
33. 
    Consider changing the Soil Survey Schedule to reflect the new “Initial Survey” term instead of “Project Survey”. Add new codes for “Maintenance Needed” and just “Maintenance”
    
34. 
    Develop an Internet library of educational materials (text, PowerPoint) with review for consistent format.
    
35. 
    Develop a detailed training checklist for Resource Soil Scientists
    
36. 
    Delete the reference to MO Leaders as supervisors of the soil survey project leaders from the General Manual 402.10 (b) (5) since the current policy is not followed in many states.
    
37. 
    Establish of a QIT to review and make recommendations to SSD Director regarding a Technical Soil Services reporting system. Establish this by the National Soil Survey Work Planning Conference in June.
    
38. 
    Establish an Ad Hoc Committee, with regional representation from multiple disciplines, to assist the National Leader for TSS in providing products and services to meet state needs.
    
39. 
    Consider adding “Project Complete - No Publication Planned” and “Update Needed” (if politically correct) categories to status maps