Initial Mapping Focus Team

Overview

The Initial Mapping Focus Team was formed to develop a strategy for completing a soil and ecological inventory on land not currently covered by a NCSS standard (SSURGO) soil survey. The total area of the non-SSURGO land is about 450 million acres. Of this, about 307 million acres is in Alaska. The goal is to first assemble all useful data into a manageable format. Approximate boundaries of the geographic areas will then be determined, and the different products needed for each area will be identified. A catalog of all areas not having SSURGO available (“not complete”, or “NOTCOM”) is currently being developed to inventory existing information. The team coordinates with other NCSS teams (Database and Digital Soil Mapping Focus Teams) to develop products and processes that will allow NCSS to provide full soils and ecological site coverage fiscal year 2026. One product is a raster-based system that supports the initial inventory and interpretations of soils and ecological properties. Ultimately, this will ensure that adequate soils information is available to make most land use decisions for the population of the United States.

Sub-Teams

Evaluations

Charges:

1. Provide a catalog of existing soil inventory information with a focus on SSURGO-NOTCOM areas.
2. Create a platform to allow users to identify and locate all available soil inventory information for areas of interest.

Members: Cathy McGuire, Jeff Bruggink, Russell Almaraz, Eric Geisler, Parker Martyn, Josh Rose, Karen Vaughan

Product Design

Charges:

1. Identify alternative methods to SSURGO.
2. Identify pros and cons of each alternative method.
3. Act as liaisons to the DSM and Database Focus Teams and report findings to Initial Mapping Focus Team.

Members: Cory Cole, Russell Almaraz, Toby Rodgers, Beth Rowley, Aaron Wells

Meeting Notes

 Older meeting notes are available in Box.

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