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Soil Quality and Technical Soil Services
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- Soil Quality—Considerations in Soil Survey and a Cornerstone of Technical Soil Service Activities
- Ecological Sites Inventory
Soil Quality and Technical Soil ServicesCraig Ditzler – Director, Soil Quality Institute The motto of the Soil Survey Division is “Helping People Understand Soils”. The concept of soil quality, which centers on the capacity of soils to provide important functions in the environment, should be an integral part of any technical soil services program. The soil survey tells us about the basic properties of our soils, how they formed, where they are located, and the uses they are best suited to. Soil Quality concepts integrate physical, chemical, and biological properties of soils as indicators of soil quality. It gives us a framework to think about how soil management either degrades, maintains, or enhances the soil’s ability to function. The Soil Quality Institute has developed products and tools that can be used in a technical soil services program. Outreach and education:
Assessment of soil quality in the field:
Soil quality management.
These products and tools can be used to help soil scientists develop their technical soil services program. Some examples include:
Soil Quality—Considerations in Soil Survey and a Cornerstone of Technical Soil Service ActivitiesMike Sucik, SSS, Des Moines, IA This a brief (15 minute) presentation on how Iowa NRCS is utilizing the Soil Quality Tool Kit in Soil Survey and Technical Soil Services. The kit can be utilized to measure various soil properties and can demonstrate differences in soil chemical, physical, and biological properties with regard to management. Iowa will be populating a use-dependent data base for the Iowa County, Iowa update soil survey using the kit and other sources. The kit is being used to train non-soil scientists how to recognize and measure soil properties and will be part of an established training protocol for certifying conservation planners. Other way Iowa is using the Soil Quality Tool Kit is in nutrient management by measuring nitrate levels in soil profiles and in water quality by evaluating water infiltration and aggregate stability on soils adjacent to water bodies. The kit is a very good educational tool and is being used to teach elementary and secondary school students about soils, soil properties, and the relation of soil to other environmental considerations. Ecological Sites InventoryCurtis Talbot, Rangeland Mgt. Specialist National Soil Survey Center, Lincoln, NE An ecological site is a distinctive kind of land with specific physical characteristics that differs from other kinds of land in its ability to produce a distinctive kind and amount of vegetation. Ecological sites encompass what used to be known as range sites and woodland suitability groups. Ecological sites are differentiated by significant differences in the species that are in the characteristic plant community, significant differences in the relative proportion of species in the characteristic plant community, and significant differences in the total annual production of the characteristic plant community. The ecological site description is composed of the following sections: Physiographic Features, Climate Features, Water Features, Soil Features, Plant Communities, Site Interpretations, and Supporting Information. The biggest change in ecological sites, in recent years is the replacement of climatic climax theory with the state and transition model. The use of states and transitions are a better way to model the dynamic performance of ecological sites, where a state is a recognizable, relatively stable and resilient complex whose attributes include its abiotic and biotic components. A transition is a trajectory of system change between two states caused by natural events, management actions, or a combination of both. Somewhere along this trajectory, is a threshold which is a boundary between two states that, when crossed, creates an impossible return to the original state, at least on a practical time scale without significant inputs. By policy, ecological site descriptions are part of the Field Office Technical Guide. The national inventory of ecological site descriptions is currently housed in the Ecological Site Information System, or ESIS. The Ecological Site Description (ESD) application provides the capability to produce automated ecological site descriptions from the data stored in its database. ESD is the official repository for all data associated with the development of forestland and rangeland ecological site descriptions by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Another place you’ll find reference to the ecological sites is in NASIS, specifically in the Component Potential Ecosystem table. Ecological site descriptions and forage suitability groups are critical components of the Field Office Technical Guide. Strengthening our use of the art and science of sound rangeland and woodland technology now will enable us to continue our efforts as an agency into the future. The needs of our customers have changed and new technology has been developed. This data allows our customers to apply conservation to the land with the very best information available and provides compelling reasons to do the right thing. Our field employees need to be experts in rangeland and woodland technology. We must capture the institutional memory and knowledge of our employees who are nearing retirement. The ecological site descriptions will be invaluable to new employees. Ecological site descriptions will be a powerful tool to enable both our technical staffs and producers to make better land management decisions. This must be incorporated into our strategy, vision, and performance management plans. The agency’s heart and soul of technology and its development is our employees. There will never be a substitute for the men and women at the field level who know plant communities, soils, and animal interfaces. Our employees should have this technology and bring the strength and skill for which our agency is recognized. All of NRCS’ technical employees have something to contribute to the development of these descriptions. For most states, the leadership for ecological site descriptions will be a state rangeland specialist, or state grassland specialist. However, without the involvement of others the site description will be shallow. Many of the abiotic components of an ecological site are those which are captured or described as part of soil survey. Hence, the partnership with soil survey should be one of the strongest in the ecological site description plan. *Much of this presentation and many of the slides were provided by George Peacock, Grazing Lands Technology Institute, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service. Directory: Internet -> FSE DOCUMENTS FSE DOCUMENTS -> Applications and limitations FSE DOCUMENTS -> Natural Resources Conservation Service Conservation Practice Standard FSE DOCUMENTS -> Downloading gps gr-3 Surveys Summary of Procedure FSE DOCUMENTS -> All applications must be submitted by 12/01/2015 to be eligible FSE DOCUMENTS -> Indiana Conservation Programs for Copperbelly Water Snake Habitat FSE DOCUMENTS -> Administrator’s Corner FSE DOCUMENTS -> United States Department of Agriculture • Natural Resources Conservation Service FSE DOCUMENTS -> United States Department of Agriculture Soule River Hydroelectric Project FSE DOCUMENTS -> Ottawa national forest: checklist of the vascular flora of the mccormick wilderness Download 0.65 Mb. Share with your friends:
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