Soil Maps for Your Property

[smstonypoint]

This thread is motivated by several recent threads discussing satellite imagery.

Members may not be aware that the USDA publishes soil survey maps for most of the country. You can view the results for your property by following the link below. The software is clunky and slow IMO, but you may be able to gain some useful information.

Web Soil Survey - Home

Steve

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I've pulled soil map for my property. It was kind of generalized lines based on topography.

 

[smstonypoint]

I have an old (how old I don't know) soil map of my farm. The soil types listed on my old map differ from those listed on the online version. I assume that the USDA has an improved methodology for soil-type identification.

Steve

 

[tcartwri]

Soil types are usually mapped from drillers logs for water wells. All of this data is required to be submitted to the municipality. This data is freely available as well if you look around. Very usefull if you are planning to acquire a new property and want to see the water potential and quality.

 

[smstonypoint]

Soil types are usually mapped from drillers logs for water wells. All of this data is required to be submitted to the municipality. This data is freely available as well if you look around. Very usefull if you are planning to acquire a new property and want to see the water potential and quality.

In the States, the USDA soil maps are based on surveys conducted by the USDA in cooperation with other agencies. As I understand it, the survey data are then extrapolated to cover wider geographic areas.

ftp://ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/NSSC/Lab_Methods_Manual/SSIR42_2004_view.pdf

Steve

 

[tcartwri]

I guess I'm thinking more towards surficial and near surface geology.

 

[sweettractors]

The FSA and Soil Conservation offices here in the county have those maps for each farm. Ken Sweet

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I found mine online somewhere, so I downloaded a copy of the soil map.

 

[California]

... USDA publishes soil survey maps for most of the country. You can view the results for your property by following the link below.

Web Soil Survey - Home

Steve

Steve, Thank you! I learned a lot, digging around in that data. I completed the final step, producing and downloading the free pdf report.

Most important, I learned that my sloping orchard is steep enough that USDA considers it at considerable risk of erosion if care isn't taken in cultivation.

Also, that their estimate of tonnage for apples that the orchard should produce is about half what is actually grown. I guess we aren't doing too badly for an orchard that has been in continuous production over 100 years.


Everybody - I'll second Steve's recommendation to look up your own land on that site.

 

[RippySkippy]

One of my college buddies is a USDA soil scientist, and while the weather permits (central Missouri) he and his crew are out taking soil samples, doing on site analysis and plotting the geographic location of the type. It's a LOT of manual labor, but the new reports are in deed more accurate and contain WAY more data than the old reports.

In Iowa, depending on the age of the latest report, the local county extension office serves as a distribution site.