Initial soil survey draws toward completion
PRESQUE ISLE —With the completion of the initial soil survey of Baxter State Park and the surrounding area, the entire state of Maine will have soils information available for the very first time. This unorganized territory, the last to be surveyed in Maine, is scheduled to be completed in October 2010. The western Aroostook County survey was officially started in 2005 and was finished in November 2009. Some areas were surveyed previously for private land companies. Prior to Baxter State Park, the area known as the North Maine Woods was the last area in Maine to be surveyed. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), has soil maps and data available for more than 95 percent of the nation’s counties and anticipates having 100 percent in the near future.
As the initial survey draws to an end, NRCS is planning their next project. The Maine NRCS Soil Survey staff recently held a work planning conference in Presque Isle, soliciting needs of the general users of the published surveys. A similar work planning conference will be held in Augusta in May for the other major land resource area.
The NRCS provides leadership and technical assistance to address natural resource conservation issues on public and private land. Through the expertise of its soil scientists, NRCS is responsible for soil survey activities in the USDA and for the leadership and coordination of National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS). The NCSS is a nationwide partnership working to investigate, inventory, document, classify, interpret, disseminate and publish information about soils in the United States of America.
Soil survey efforts began in the year 1899 in the United States. The soil survey produces information that affects land use planning, and it contains predictions of soil behavior for selected land uses. It displays information about soil limitations, improvements needed to overcome the limitations and the impact of selected land uses on the environment. The surveys in Maine range in age from the Penobscot County survey of 1963 to modern day surveys that are nearing completion.
Soil survey information is designed for many different users, such as farmers, foresters and agronomists, who can use it to evaluate the potential of the soil and the management needed for maximum food and fiber production. The survey also addresses operability considerations. Planners, community officials, engineers, developers, builders and home buyers can use soil survey information to plan land use, select sites for construction and identify special practices needed to ensure proper performance. Conservationists, teachers, students and specialists in recreation, wildlife management, waste disposal and pollution control can use soil survey information to help them understand, protect and enhance the environment. Various land use regulations of federal, state and local governments may impose special restrictions on land use or land treatment. The information produced in a soil survey is intended to identify soil properties that are used in making various land use or land treatment decisions.
Great differences in soil properties can occur within short distances. Some soils are seasonally wet or subject to flooding. Some are shallow to bedrock. Some are too unstable to be used as a foundation for buildings or roads. Clayey or wet soils are poorly suited to use as septic tank absorption fields. A high water table makes a soil poorly suited to basements or underground installations. These and many other soil properties that affect land use are described in soil survey reports.
To learn more about soil surveys in Maine and the NRCS in Maine visit www.me.nrcs.usda.gov. Published soil survey information is available online at http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov.
