2012 South Central Regional Cooperative Soil Survey Conference

Committee Charges


Soil Interpretations Committee

2012 Co-Chairs – Roy Vick – NRCS – North Carolina, TBD

Urban interpretations – What Soil Properties need to be populated for effective Urban interpretations?

· Erosion/compaction at construction sites

· Runoff/drainage

· Exposed sub-soils from topsoil removal

· Also an agricultural soil disturbance issue (i.e., land-leveling for irrigating rice) (SR2010)

Risk assessment

Items for discussion during poster session Monday evening:

· Radon criteria population in NASIS

· Interpretations for potential mercury (Hg) “sinks” related to soil properties

· Trench type Geothermal potential interpretations

· Septic systems interpretation development

Standards and Taxonomy Committee

2012 Co-Chairs – Doug Slabaugh – NRCS – Tennessee, TBD

Review proposals for changes to Soil Taxonomy and the National Soil Survey Handbook, and recommend adoption or denial; http://soils.usda.gov/technical/classification/taxonomy/

· Miscellaneous areas (SR 2010)
A proposal to clarify the mineral soil surface.

· Proposed amendment to soil depth classes of Soil Taxonomy and root restricting depth of Soil Survey Manual

· A set of proposals to expand the definition of the abrupt textural change and add mention of its presence as a standalone criterion in certain taxa of the Aridisol, Mollisol, and Alfisol orders of Soil Taxonomy

· Proposal for adding anhydrite soils to USDA soil taxonomy

· A proposal to add a new subgroup of Petrocalcic Calciudolls to Soil Taxonomy and includes references to literature documenting the new soils

· A set of proposals to improve the classification of Udolls in Argentina

Review and test The ICOMANTH proposal on anthropogenic soil classification and changes to Soil Taxonomy as it applies to the South region.

· proposal for changes to Part 629 of the NSSH on anthropogenic feature terms (geomorphology). The ICOMANTH website (http://clic.cses.vt.edu/ICOMANTH/) also has useful information.

Soil Survey Manual how to best maintain, update, add chapters, and proposals to utilize cooperators to co-author and review.

· Changes to Chapter 3: Horizons and Characteristics Diagnostic for the Higher Categories – Melanic Epipedon

Identify needed changes to the NSSH, Field Guide for Describing and Sampling Soils, and Soil Survey Manual to accommodate Subaqueous Soil survey activities (SR 2010)

Information transfer site needed – ability to post status of proposals, summary of changes, and information on how to propose a change.

New Technology Committee

2012 Co-Chairs – Tom Mueller – University of Kentucky, Edgar Mersiovsky – NRCS – Arkansas

Identify potential new technologies to support field activities in the processing of existing digital spatial data. Items listed are suggestions from the South Regional NCSS conference in 2010.

· LiDAR

· ruggedized tablets

· VNIR

· 3-D Scanners

· Digitizing pens

· Touch screen/digitizing screen monitors

· PXRF hand held X-ray fluorescence

Identify new technologies and methodologies that can support and/or enhance digital soil survey activities.

Identify the need for soil property maps, the required map scales for soil property maps and what soil properties to map.

Investigate ways and propose methods to provide end users with accuracy measurements for soil maps.

Gridded SSURGO and associated metadata


Information transfer site needed to facilitate better communication

Research Needs Committee

2012 Co-Chairs – Pam Thomas – NRCS – South Carolina, Dave Weindorf - Louisiana State University

Recommend research areas that are regionally important

· Shawnee Hills soil systems project – progress update and additional goals

Recommend research areas that would assist in addressing short term soil survey mission needs.

· Soil Data Join Recorrelation (SDJR)

· Benchmark soils

Recommend research that would contribute to Ecological Site Inventory and Dynamic Soil Property initiatives.

Recommend research areas that would assist in addressing urban soil properties (SR 2010)

· Predicting compaction, relating to runoff

· Storm water design --how and where to evaluate the soil (A vs. B vs C horizon etc); dispersal of clay

· Low-impact development; objective is to maintain hydrology, soils are not considered

· Very fine sands –distinctions between vfs and silt

· Urban development and its effects on surface and drinking water quantity, quality, and distribution

· Loss of prime farmland soils

· Wastewater treatment and dispersal

Identify global research areas (see 2011 NCSS Research Agenda Committee Report) that would benefit from pedological research and inclusion of soil survey concepts and data.

Subaqueuous Soils Committee

2012 Co-Chairs – Tom Weber – NRCS – Florida, Rex Ellis - University of Florida


SAS interpretation development for National use

Ecological Description development for SAS

Soil taxonomy updates and requirements

The Southern Region endorses the proposals Northeast Region (SR 2010)

· Proposed Amendment 5-1 Salinity

· Proposed Amendment Bulk Density

· Proposed Amendment Shelly Modifier

· Proposed Amendment si horizon

· Proposed Amendment Subaqeuous Drainage Class

Soil and Ecosystem Dynamics Committee

2012 Co-Chairs: Dr. Phillip Owens, Assistant Professor of Soil Geomorphology/Pedology,
Purdue University, Anita Arends – NRCS – Kentucky

Review the current list of benchmark soils and identify recommended additions/changes to the list with regards to prioritizing the development of ecological site descriptions (ESDs). The Committee will also discuss potential tiers or categories of benchmark soils and how best to utilize these designations as a focal point for ESD and DSP inventories. The Committee will evaluate the need to categorize benchmark soils that are highly sensitive to human influences and could be given a priority designation.

The Committee will explore the adaptation of the ecological sites (ESs) for use on croplands and discuss how dynamic soil properties can be effectively integrated into all ESs.

Create criteria for a minimum dataset for dynamic soil properties and ecological sites. The current USDA-NRCS Soil Change Guide (http://soils.usda.gov/technical/soil_change/) utilized four criteria including relationship to soils function and practicality. The Committee will discuss these criteria and how best to select dynamic soils properties useful for conservation planning or ES differentiation.

How can the carbon data from the RaCA project best be incorporated into databases for use in conservation planning? What soil functions vary with dynamic soil properties and how might we go about developing interpretations of functions to assist with conservation planning? Discussions will include sampling methods and tools and the use of ESDs and DSPs for the future.