NCERA_OLD003: Soil Survey
- Duration:
- October 01, 2004 to September 30, 2009
- Administrative Advisor(s):
-
Gerald Miller
(IOW)
- Research
- NIFA Reps:
-
Raymond Knighton
Statement of Issue(s) and Justification:
The National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) includes federal, state, university and local partners with a public mandate for identification, inventory, use and management of soil resources. These partners include university pedologists from each agricultural experiment station (AES) in the nation; representatives from the USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS); USDI, Bureau of Land Management; USDA, Forest Service; Cooperative States Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) and state and local agriculture and/or natural resource agencies. The NCR-3 committee is an essential component for coordinating National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) activities in the North Central Region (NCR). The NCR-3 Committee members serve on a national advisory board to the NRCS. The board is charged with reviewing policies and making recommendations to improve procedures in the soil survey program, identifying and coordinating important soil and water research efforts, developing soil/water interpretive guidelines and related activities.The NCSS is placing more emphasis on improving the scientific basis and extrapolative utility of soil interpretations, and development of improved systems for storage, retrieval, analysis, and display/dissemination of SSI, and procedures for increasingly complex and invasive land use practices. These areas of emphasis draw heavily on the scientific and technical expertise that university cooperators can provide to the NCSS.
The university representatives are responsible for coordinating AES responsibilities with the NCSS in their representative states. NCR-3 meets annually. On alternate years it meets with all NCSS members in the NCR to identify and coordinate research needs that support development of soil survey. Information on pertinent research being conducted at participating AES is exchanged among NCR-3 members. Three members of the NCR-3 committee serve on the Regional Soil Taxonomy review committee which reviews all proposed modifications to Soil Taxonomy including those developed by international working committees. Representatives from NCR-3 serve on NCSS work planning boards and national committees. These various committee linkages provide a network for evaluating soil survey technology in terms of its suitability for use in solution of current and anticipated land use problems. SSI is a major mechanism for technology transfer of research findings developed at AES and other research facilities in the NCR. Policies of NCSS are evaluated by the NCR-3 with respect to their impact on land users and AES within the region. In summary, NCR-3 provides a forum for contributing to the scientific foundation that guide collection of SSI and its interpretation and extrapolation. It provides a mechanism for evaluating and refining NCSS directives to suit local and state needs within NCR, which is facilitated by participation of committee members on national committees of the NCSS. As numbers of soil scientists and supporting resources have declined, the importance of a regional committee has increased. The meetings are an important forum through which research and extension initiatives are developed and the needs of society in general for soil and water information are identified and discussed. The university members on the committee are educating the next generation of soil scientists, and if societys needs are to be met, future pedologists must have a wider range of skills and perspectives than their predecessors.
Objectives
- Create the critical mass necessary for scientists at the various AES to have an impact of quality control and formulation of policy and direction for the NCSS program on both regional and national basis.
- Identify specific soil and land-use research needs that will benefit from a regional or sub-regional approach that can either build upon existing initiatives in individual states or address a timely emerging need.
- Coordinate official NCR representation on national NCSS and Soil Taxonomy committees and relay/evaluate national recommendations and initiatives to pertinent groups throughout the region.
- Developing and coordinating extension and educational activities related to NCSS.
- Bringing soil science generally and SSI specifically to the same level of recognition as other important sciences and developing alliances with scientists in ancillary disciplines.
