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Technical Soil Services Handbook

The Technical Soil Services Handbook provides authority, responsibilities, definitions, guidance, and procedures for technical soil services within NRCS.

Technical Soil Services provides leadership and assistance with soil data collection, interpretation, application, and presentation and integrates this data with other natural resource information for sound resource management by internal and external customers.

Soil scientists play a critical role in helping users understand and properly use the soil survey and providing users with predictions and interpretations about the behavior of the soil. Technical soil services provided by soil scientists range from specific items, such as maintenance of the Field Office Technical Guide, determination of hydric soils or soil carbon, identifying the suitability of soils for various urban uses, geophysical investigations, and in-field soil quality, to more broadly defined items, such as soil productivity for groups of crops, global climate change information, suitability of soils for wildlife, and training in the use of soils information.

Soil scientists are using National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) information for an increasingly diverse array of applications that go well beyond the traditional use for agricultural planning and management. They use NCSS information for assessing resource sustainability and resiliency, climate change impacts, urban soil systems, biodiversity, environmental protection, natural disasters, and resources in underserved communities.

The Table of Contents is below. Unlisted parts are reserved.


Recommended Citation

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. Technical Soil Services Handbook. Available online. Accessed [month/day/year].

 

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