Conservation News
Contact Person: Elaine Tremble Public Affairs Specialist USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Bangor, ME (207)990-9569
Maine Accelerates Initial Soil Survey
Bangor, ME – November 7, 2006 -- The people of Maine have been utilizing soil surveys, or components of soil surveys, for years. The first soil survey in Maine was completed in 1910 of the Caribou area, and since that time soil surveys have been completed for 85 percent of the state. There are 2.5 million acres of private land still to be completed which are in western Aroostook, northern Piscataquis and northern Somerset Counties. This remaining area is primarily forest land, often very remote, and is being mapped at a broader scale than was used for the cropland and urban areas of the state. The soil survey of Maine is being accelerated to complete the remaining acres by 2010. Additional federal funds and staff from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service have been allocated to complete this task, including up to six soil scientists that are being detailed from other states into Maine each year. “We are committed to having 100 percent of the state of Maine surveyed by the year 2010,” said Joyce Swartzendruber, State Conservationist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in Maine. “Soil surveys help people make the best decisions about the soil resource, and we want that information available for the whole state as soon as possible. In addition, the information is now available electronically as well as in hard copy, meeting the technology needs of the people of Maine.”
Soil surveys are used for wildlife management, soil or water conservation, selecting sites for development, road building, pipeline corridors, waste disposal and pollution control, minimizing risks to human life and property, and wetlands identification. Soil surveys provide a field-based scientific inventory of soil resources, including soil maps, data about the physical and chemical properties of soils, and information on the potentials and limitations of each soil. The National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) conducts the soil survey. The NCSS is a nationwide partnership of Federal, regional, state, and local agencies, institutions, and private organizations. USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) leads the Federal partnership. In Maine, this partnership consists of NRCS, the Maine Department of Agriculture, the University of Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station and the Maine Association of Professional Soil Scientists. There are currently 13 NRCS Soil Scientists in Maine who map, classify, analyze, interpret, and deliver soils information. Soil surveys use aerial photo background imagery with digitized soil lines that can be used with other data layers in geographic information systems. All of the completed soil surveys for Maine are available as hard copies at the local USDA Service Center/NRCS Office, or on line through the Web Soil Survey at http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov.
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