MLRA REGION 10 NEWSLETTER--SEPTEMBER 1, 1999


               SOILS & FORESTRY TOUR IN LUCE COUNTY, MICHIGAN

Back in April of this year, a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) 
forester stopped by the office to ask for soils information on a stand of
hardwood trees he was working on.  During the discussion, the DNR 
forester brought up the need for more knowledge on soils and landscapes.
Thus began the idea of a one-day soils/forestry tour to increase the
awareness of soil properties that occur in Luce County and for the soil
survey crew to receive feedback on interpretations from the local land
management experts.

The tour was scheduled for June 22 with 9 stops including sandy Entic vs.
Typic Haplorthods, loamy fragipan soils, clayey till soils, and dysic vs.
euic mucks.  The forest stands also varied from hardwoods, pines, mixed
stands, and openings for wildlife.  The soil scientists discussed the
soil properties such as available water capacity, natural fertility,
permeability, and soil pH.  The foresters discussed the trees on each
site and the quality along the management plans.  The group discussed
preferred logging seasons, prescribed burns, paths and trails, and
wildlife at each stop.  All in all, it was an outstanding day for all
participants to exchange knowledge from our given fields of expertise.
This is an excellent way to receive feedback on interpretations from
actual users in the field.

Contributed by:  Greg Whitney

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                             SOILS AND THE LAW

In mid-June, a young lady 19 years of age disappeared from a convenience
store in Moose Lake, Minnesota.  It has been assumed by local and state
law officials that Katie Poirier was kid-napped.  To date, she has yet to
be found, but law officials have a suspect in custody awaiting trial.

In the continued effort to locate Katie, soil samples retrieved from the
suspect's vehicle were brought to the Duluth Area Resource Soil Scientist
for "analysis" to determine just where the samples might have come from.
After evaluating the samples, Mr. Diers, thru the process of elimination,
determined the origin of the samples to be most likely from a region
associated with the Nickerson Moraine complex.  This geomorphic surface
is located in south central Carlton and north central Pine Counties.  

Identification of soil origin coupled with pollen analysis completed on
the samples has greatly reduced the search area size.  Process of
elimination was used to determine the origin of the soil samples because
the samples evaluated could not be definitively tied to specific soil
series or soil associations.  The nature of the samples did however
eliminate numerous parent materials from consideration that were located
within the general area of the kid-napping.

Its not high-tech forensics, but it is an effort to utilize every
possible resource to assist in the investigation.  It also demonstrates
the need to identify and inventory basic differences in geomorphic
surfaces, parent materials, and soil characteristics, as well as
maintaining the purity of soil catenas during soil survey project work.

To date, volunteers, and local and state law officials have continued to
bring in soil samples located within short distances of the identified
pollen sources.  All samples to date have not matched the physical
characteristics of the original samples, and, surprise surprise, all have
been from areas not within the Nickerson Moraine complex.  The search
continues for the matching vegetation, now focusing within the moraine,
and Katie.

Contributed by Marc Diers

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                  NASIS QUERY AND STANDARD REPORT SAMPLES
                    Prepared by Region 11 MLRA Office

              Acreage and Proportionate Extent by Component

This query and report can be used as a tool for establishing MLRA Type
Locations, Typical Pedons within the MLRA Soil Survey, Selecting Data Map
Unit for a subset or MLRA, or any other correlation decisions.

Query Name: "Mapunit, Datamapunit by mapunit name
   Target tabel: highlight all the TARGET FIELDS
Report Name: Mapunit Acres from Legends and Rep dmuid
   This report is available from MLRA Region 5 or 13.

                           Mapunit Text Note

Query: Mapunit text by area & kind & category
Standard Report: Mapunit Text Notes(try me)

                            Legend Text Note

Query: Legend text by area & kind & category
Standard Report: Legend text notes (try me)

                          Component Text Note

Query: Component text by area & kind & category
Standard Report: Component text notes(try me)

Note: In the future, this report format will be placed in the correlation
documentation as " Accompany the Classification and Correlation of the
Soils for a survey area".

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    MINI-MANUSCRIPTS FROM NASIS (PRINT ON DEMAND FOR SELECT MAP UNITS)
            From: Henry Ferguson <hferguso@in.nrcs.usda.gov>

I am experimenting with combining reports.  My goal would be to be able
to load a very small selected set, run 3 or 4 reports, and end up with a
relatively complete manuscript ( master report for an individual user).

So far I tested this on the recreation and building site development
tables.  The resulting report is called MANU(%) - Table(MINI Manuscript
Stored Interps). This table includes interps for recreation, building
site development, sanitary facilities, construction materials, and water
management.

I am anticipating the need for 4 reports at this time:

   MUG
   Interpretations(firm-frozen values)
   Crops and plants
   engineering/physical/chemical

Although these reports will be run together, I think that I can get the
output to end up on several pages so the reports will actually look very
similar to their current format, with the exception that they will not
have individual headings and footnotes.  These will be combined.

The interps for wildlife habitat are stored differently so I decided to
include them with a table that lists forest land productivity, wildlife
habitat, crop yields, and windbreaks.  This is going to be a harder
table to develop and I have not started it yet.

Has anyone else tried this?

How much luck have you had?

What are the fewest reports that you think that I could get away with?

If anyone else has tried this I would really like to get your reports so
I would not have to develop them from scratch.

Thanks

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                         CHECK YOUR 'SHOT' STATUS

I'm not referring to your shotgun or deer rifle.

A whole new set of pathogen transmission methods seem to enter our lives
as the winter season approaches:

*Your kids are exposed to every possible germ imaginable at school.
*Soil scientists are in closer physical contact with others due to more
 time in the office.
*More activites with family and friends are indoors.
*Our buildings are less ventilated during the winter.

Is this a good time to think about the last time you were immunized
against these diseases?

- Flu vaccine - every fall is recommended if you have lung or heart
  disease.

- Pneumonia vaccine - although it's recommended for people over 65, you
  may need it if you have a chronic illness.

- Rubella (German measles) vaccine and chickenpox vaccine - for everyone,
  but particularly if you're thinking about getting pregnant.

- Tetanus/diphtheria booster - once every 10 years.

As always, obtain the advice of your physician before being immunized.

Prepared by: John Handler

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                       MANUSCRIPT PROCEDURE MANUAL

Many of you who have written manuscripts have used a manual that was
named the "MUG Manuscript Procedure Manual".  This manual was designed to
lead an author through all of the steps to generate parts of the
manuscript from SSSD using the SSSD MUG program.  This manual also
discussed procedures for developing other parts of the manuscript, such
as the prewritten, self-authored sections, block diagrams, and
photographs.

A new version of this manual has been developed for generating
manuscripts in NASIS.  The new procedure manual is titled the "NASIS
Manuscript Procedure Manual".  It is  currently available at the Region
10 web site (http://www.mn.nrcs.usda.gov/mo10/mo10.html).  It is
available under the option "Soil Survey Reference Documents and Books".
It can be downloaded in 3 formats of word processor.  "Word 3.x-5.x for
MS-DOS" is a format that can be converted into UNIX word for those who
still use this type of word processor.  You should check the version of
word processor that you have before downloading this document.  

As soon as the prewritten material for NASIS manuscript generation has
been completed it will also be placed on the web site and you will
receive notification via this newsletter.

If you do not have access to the internet, please let someone at the
Region 10 MLRA office know and you will be supplied with a copy by
another means. 

Submitted by: Lynn DesLauriers, Soil Specialist

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                          WEB SITES OF INTEREST

1. http://nasis.nrcs.usda.gov/support/checklist.htm
NASIS Remote Access Checklist--How to install Hummingbird Exceed and
DXPC; how to configure Hummingbird's Exceed Xstart files and Dial-Up
Networking; and setting up a NASIS remote printer.

2. http://www.soils.agri.umn.edu/infoserv/orgs/mapss
Minnesota Association of Professional Soil Scientists home page.

3. http://www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/nedc/homepage.html
NRCS National Employee Development Center home page

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Last month, the following x3780 files were sent to offices having SSSD:

     x3780.424frig     on Aug 04     ( 8 updated OSDs) @
     x3780.425mes      0n Aug 11     ( 2 updated OSDs) *

@ Sent to offices using soils in the frigid soil temperature regime.
* Sent to offices using soils in the mesic soil temperature regime.
# Sent to all offices.	

The above x3780s contained the following updated Official Series 
Descriptions, which can also be obtained at:
       http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/osd/osdname.cgi
 
     frigid
dolph...keshena...lablatz...noseum...paavola...perote...sunia...
tourtillot

     mesic
luton...newglarus

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                   CHANGED ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS

1. Dan Wing, Soil Scientist in Virginia, MN has accepted a soil scientist
position with NRCS in Michigan.

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     ACTIVITY SCHEDULE (through October 15--subject to change)

MLRA DATE      ACTIVITY                     LOCATION          MO 10 STAFF
---- --------- ---------------------------- ----------------- -----------
 90  Sep 13-17 Progress Field Review        Eau Claire        Jahnke
 90  Sep 27-01 Progress Field Review        Spooner           Jahnke
 90  Oct 12-15 Field Review                 Milaca            Giencke
 93  Sep 27-01 Progress Field Review        Spooner           Jahnke
 94B Sep 13-15 Field Review                 Manistique        DesLauriers
 94B Sep 15-17 Field Review                 Munising          DesLauriers
 94B Sep 20-24 Field Review                 Newberry          DesLauriers
102A Sep 27-30 Progress Review              Codington         Giencke
103  Sep 13-16 Progress Review              St. Peter         Giencke
104  Oct 04-07 Geomorphology Tour           Waverly,          Hempel,
                                            Rochester         Giencke
105  Sep 13-17 Progress Field Review        Eau Claire        Jahnke

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     CONTRIBUTIONS, IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, AND QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME

This newsletter is intended to be a forum to distribute information of
a general nature that will benefit soil scientists in soil survey project
offices. It is hoped that it will foster communications and sharing of
knowledge among those soil scientists in MLRA Region 10.

                           *     *     *     *     *

Articles from other newsletters are often included to distribute ideas
and comments from other areas of the country; these ideas and comments
are not necessarily identical to those used in MLRA Region 10.

                           *     *     *     *     *

The format of this newsletter is intentionally simple so that it can be
received, read, and printed by the project office having the least
sophisticated computer and printer setup.

                        *     *     *     *     *

Thanks to those individuals who participated this month. It is your
efforts that have made this newsletter a success.

                         *     *     *     *     *

Please submit your articles at least five days before the end of the
month for inclusion in the following month's newsletter. Otherwise it
will appear the following month. Occasionally, due to other workload
demands, it may be an additional month before the article appears.
Generally, articles are inserted in the order they are received.

Articles in an electronic format can be submitted to:
jfh@mn.nrcs.usda.gov.  It is best if electronic articles are prepared in
a "text only" format.

Articles in a paper format can be sent or faxed to:
   John Handler
   MLRA Region 10 Office
   USDA - NRCS
   375 Jackson Street - Suite 600
   St. Paul, Minnesota  55101-1854
   FAX: 1-651-602-7914

                        *     *     *     *     *

Previous month's copies of this newsletter are available at:
   http://www.mn.nrcs.usda.gov/mo10/mo10.html

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