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Colorado Soils Program
What is a Soil Survey?
Soil surveys provide an orderly, on-the-ground, scientific inventory of soil
resources that include:
- maps showing the locations and extent of soils,
- data about the physical and chemical properties of those soils,
- information derived from that data about potentialities and problems of
use on each kind of soil,
- and the basic information needed to manage soils sustainably
Soil surveys also provide information needed to protect water quality,
wetlands, and wildlife habitat. They are the basis for predicting the behavior
of a soil under alternative uses, its potential erosion hazard, potential for
ground water contamination, suitability and productivity for cultivated crops,
trees, and grasses. For these reasons, soil surveys are used by agricultural
producers, community planners, engineers, zoning commissions, developers, as
well as homeowners.
The National Cooperative Soil Survey Program (NCSS) is a partnership led by
NRCS. It is comprised of Federal land management agencies, state agricultural
experiment stations, and state and local units of government that adhere to set
standards for map production, data collection, and publication of soil surveys
to provide a common national system of soil classification and interpretation.
The Web
Soil Survey (WSS) provides agricultural producers, agencies, Technical
Service Providers, and others electronic internet access to relevant soils and
related information needed to make land-use and management decisions. The WSS:
- Is designed so that customers without Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) knowledge or software can gain easy access to electronic soils
information,
- Provides an alternative to traditional hardcopy publications,
- Provides the means for quicker delivery of information,
- Provides electronic access to full soil survey report content,
- Provides access to the most current data, and
- Allows customers to get just the information they want.
The Soil Data Mart (SDM) provides the same soil attribute and spatial
information as contained in the WSS, except on-line maps of soils
information cannot be generated at this site. The SDM is better suited for
customers with GIS knowledge and software who desire to download soil
attribute and spatial information into their own computing systems. The SDM
allows the customer to:
- Determine where soil tabular and spatial data is available.
- Download data for one soil survey area at a time. (Download requests
for more than one survey area at a time can be submitted through the
Geospatial Data Gateway. Going through the Geospatial Data Gateway also
provides the option to obtain data on CD or DVD).
- Download a template Microsoft Access database for working with
downloaded data.
- Generate a variety of reports for one soil survey area at a time.
- Find out who to contact for information about soil data for
a particular state.
- "Subscribe" or "unsubscribe" to a soil survey area. A person who is
subscribed will automatically be notified whenever data for that soil
survey area is updated. You must register and login before doing this.
Hard copies of most published Colorado soil survey reports are
available; however, the information contained in these hard caopy
reports may be obsolete. The most current official soil survey
information is available from the WSS and SDM sites. Hard copies can be
obtained free of charge.
How to obtain a Soil Survey
Web Soil Survey
Internet access to interactive soil maps and reports
Soil Data Mart
Where available, download soil tabular and spatial data for soil surveys and generate a variety of reports Hard
copies of Colorado Soil Surveys
NRCS Colorado State Office
Soil Survey Program
655 Parfet Street, Room E200C
Lakewood, CO 80215-5517
Phone: 720.544.2849
olivia.romero@co.usda.gov
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