2012 North Central Region - Draft Committee Charges
Soil Interpretations Committee
The ecological site concepts have primarily been used on rangeland and forestland. Cropland remains as fairly uncharted territory in this effort. The North Central Region has the opportunity to provide leadership and initiative in this application.
Explore the Recommendation of a New Standing Committee in the North Central Region for soil and ecosystems dynamics.
Review the benchmark soils in the region and recommend those soils which would have the most value added from ecological sites.
Explore the adaptation of the state & transition model for use on cropland. Can soil dynamic properties be integrated into such a model?
Risk assessment.
Review North Dakota Interpretations on Sub Surface Water Management for National use.
Urban interpretations – What Soil Properties need to be populated for effective Urban interpretations?
How can the carbon data from the RaCA project best be incorporated into databases for use in conservation planning. What other soil properties vary as SOC content varies? Similar questions for other dynamic properties.
Standards and Taxonomy Committee
Review proposals for changes to Soil Taxonomy and the National Soil Survey Handbook, and recommend adoption or denial.
Review and test The ICOMANTH proposal on anthropogenic soil classification and changes to Soil Taxonomy as it applies to the North Central region.
New Technology Committee
Identify potential new technologies to support field activities in the processing of existing digital spatial data.
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.
Research Needs Committee
Recommend research areas that are regionally important
Great Plains Salinity/Sodicity
Shawnee Hills soil systems project – progress update and additional goals
Recommend research areas that would assist in addressing short term soil survey mission needs.
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.
Recommend research that would contribute to Ecological Site Inventory and Dynamic Soil Property initiatives.
