MLRA REGION 10 NEWSLETTER--NOVEMBER 1, 1998

                        NEW NASIS INITIAL PICTURE

Those of you that have logged into NASIS in MLRA Region 10 recently
without using the "-nobitmap" have noticed that we have replaced the
"Kansas wheat field" picture.

Being that we now have access to the hardware and software to do this,
we are hoping to change this initial picture periodically.

So, we are looking for pictures. If you have a color print, slide, or
negative of reasonable quality (maximum size is 11 x 14 inches) that we
can scan, please submit it with a short caption or description to Al
Giencke. Please indicate if you wish it returned.

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                KEYS TO SOIL TAXONOMY  - Borolls/Boralfs

By now you all should have the 8th addition to Keys to Soil Taxonomy.
One of the main changes is the removal of soil temperature at the
suborder level for Mollisols and Alfisols and the removal of soil
temperture from the great group level of Histisols.  For example, a
Typic Eutroboralf will become a Typic Hapludalf, frigid;  a Typic
Haploboroll will become a Typic Hapludoll, frigid; and a Typic
Borosaprist will become a Typic Haplosaprist, frigid  So far so good.

But, at a recent progress review in Region 10 the situation became more
complicated.

We were looking at the Glossoboralfs (low base status soils)  from the
old system and how they would be reclassified.   We found the following:

The criteria for low base status has changed.  Low base status (by sum
of cations) previsously was based any part of the argillic having a base
status of less than 60 percent.   Now the criteria is based on less than
60 percent base saturation at a depth of 125 cm below the top of the
argillic, 180 cm below the mineral soil surface or directly above a
densic, lithic or paralithic contact, which ever is shallower.

So some interesting possibilities exist for reclassifying the
Glossoboralfs as follows:

If the new criteria for low base status is not met they could become:
Glossic Hapludalfs - if they have interfinguring of albic in the
argillic
Typic Hapludalfs - if they lack interfinguring of albic in the argilic
Typic Glossudalfs - if the have a glossic horizon over 50 cm thick
Haplic Glossudalfs - if they have a glossic horizon less than 50 cm
thick

If the criteria for low base status if met they could become:
Ultic Hapludalfs

Looking at existing lab data, many of the soils that met the old
criteria for low base status will no longer meet the criteria because
the criteria looks at the profile at a deeper depth.  In this case the
diaognostic properties for classification would be the presence of
interfinguring or a glossic horizon.

MLRA steering committees will address this and other taxonomy changes
this winter.

Al Giencke
Region 10 Correlator

AL GIENCKE                          Phone=612-602-7863
REGION 10 Correlator/PSS            email=mnnet!mnsol!agg
USDA - NRCS                         Internet=agg@mn.nrcs.usda.gov
375 Jackson St. - Suite 600         Fax=612-602-7914
St. Paul, MN 55101                  VOICE COM 1-800-602-7863 Box 7863

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         SOIL SCIENTISTS PARTICIPATE IN AIR QUALITY TRAINING

Air Quality Training Program To Yield Self-Study Course 
for Field - A recent Agricultural Air Quality Pilot Training 
Program was conducted to educate technical staff about the issues 
and regulations relating to air quality and NRCS in regions of the 
U.S. that have severe air quality problems.  Twenty trainees 
(mostly engineers, but also geologists, soil scientists, and plant 
and animal scientists) from Texas, Florida, California, and Hawaii 
and 10 observers took part in the training, which included 
atmospheric science, soil science (relative to airborne 
particulates), atmospheric chemistry, particulate matter 10 and 
2.5, ozone and regulatory process, and instruments and instrument 
citing.  Representatives from the EPA stressed that regulators can 
only regulate what they can accurately measure.  If instruments 
are used incorrectly or poorly maintained, then regulation will be 
incorrect.  Materials generated from the pilot training program 
will be used to produce a self-study program on air quality for 
field staff.  The course is scheduled to be on the NRCS homepage 
by January 1999.

From NRCS This Week, August 21, 1998

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                 ERROR FREE COMPILATION DOES HAPPEN!

Congratulations are in order for Tom Neuenfeldt for submitting an error
free compilation job for scanning and digitizing.

The folks at the Digitizing Unit in Madison initially thought that their
"search for errors" software was malfunctioning--until they finally
concluded that the compiled sheets for Hubbard County, Minnesota were
perfect!

Tom, what are you going to do for an encore?

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            SOILS/SCIENCE RESEARCH STUDY FOR SCHOOL GIRLS

A study was done on Aug. 3rd through Aug. 7th at Lynd Elementary School
by Candy Stevens, a graduate student from Southwest State University. 
She organized a free educational camp named: "Girls Camp", in which the
purpose was to observe how girls from 3rd through 8th grade learn and
react to science.  The girls were given a test before the camp and
another test after the camp in order to show if there are any changes in
girls attitudes towards science after education.  About 30 girls attended.

Women from various science fields were asked to teach the girls about
their jobs.  Two NRCS Soil Scientists (Trudy Pink and Lenora Lemke) from
Area 5 [southwestern Minnesota] taught a hands on, out door soils class
on Aug 4th.  The girls were able to see how a boring is taken, learn
about the soil core, look at aerial photos, and had the chance to use a
hand probe.  The soil scientists also briefly discussed how they became
 interested in soils.

Submitted by Trudy Pink

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                   SOILS WORKSHOP FOR WOMEN LANDOWNERS

On September 22, 1998 a workshop for women land owners and renters was
sponsored by the Lac qui Parle, Chippewa, and Yellow Medicine Soil and
Water Conservation Districts [MLRAs 102B and 103].  There were about 30
women in attendance from the three county area.

The workshop focused on different land management strategies including
the protective potential of native prairie and the benefits of buffer
strips, filter strips and other such programs. I gave a presentation on
soils and the soil survey.

My presentation included local geology, soil textures and colors,
landscape and drainage relationships, how soils maps are made and how to
use the soil survey. Each woman was given a copy of the soils map for her
farm and the county soil surveys were made available.

Submitted by Trudy L. Pink
 		   Soil Scientist, Marshall AO

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                      SOILS EXPLORER UPDATE

NRCS has completed work on a Soils Explorer, a digital soil data viewer
delivered on CD-ROM.  The Soils Explorer runs under Windows 95/NT and
includes a certified Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO).  No
additional software is required to run the viewer.  The SSURGO data on
the CD-ROM is in a standard format usable by popular commercial GIS
packages.  Initially, one Soils Explorer is being prepared for each State.
User feedback on test versions of the Soils Explorer has been
overwhelmingly positive, and demand for the product is expected to be
very high.  Data included on the Soils Explorer includes: digital soil
map; roads, streams, and political boundaries; digital orthophotography;
soil profile and landscape photographs; and interpretations of soil map
units for agriculture, forestry, range, recreation, urban, and wildlife
uses.

From NRCS This Week, August 28, 1998

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               MAPPING WITH PCs, PLGRs, AND DIGITAL ORTHO

Greetings

The soils staff in Vermont is currently obtaining equipment (hardware
and software) to map soils using GIS in the field.

The gist of our plan is to use a rugged PC loaded with Arcview and
tracking software integrated with the Rockwell PLGR.  We will load a
digital ortho, bring it up on screen, turn on the tracking software and
watch ourselves walk across the landscape in real time.

We are interested in finding out who else is doing similar work and what
software/hardware you are using, what problems/successes you have
encountered and other information, so we do not reinvent the wheel.  We
seek also to collaborate with any of you so as to pass on any
information learned to others who are interested.

Please contact either Roger G. DeKett by one of the many ways listed
below or Caroline Alves at: 802-878-7402 ext. 23 in Williston, VT or
email Caroline at: caroline@vcgi.uvm.edu    You can also Voice Com
Caroline at 768-1135.  You can expect a phone call from one of us with
more detailed questions, so please leave us your phone number.

If you are not currently doing GIS in the field but are interested in
results or updates as to our progress please also feel free to respond
and I'll keep you posted via email.

Thanks for your time.

Roger

**************************************
Roger G. DeKett, Soil Scientist
26 Main Street
St. Johnsbury, VT 05819
Phone: 802-748-3885 Ext 111
Fax:   802-748-1621
Voice Com: 768-1145
Email: rdekett@vtstjohnsb.fsc.usda.gov

Contributed by: Tom Calhoun     tcalhoun@nrcs.usda.gov

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  ORDERING INFORMATION FOR KEYS TO SOIL TAXONOMY AND SOIL SURVEY MANUAL

The Soil Survey Manual and the Keys to Soil Taxonomy are available
through the Superintendent of Documents.

Order as follows:

BY MAIL
Superintendent of Documents
US Government Print Office
PO Box 371954
Pittsburgh, PA 15250-7954

BY PHONE:	202-512-1800
BY FAX:	202-512-2250

Publication:
Soil Survey Manual
USDA Handbook Number	18
Stock Number:		001-000-04611-0
Price:			$33.00 per copy

The Keys to Soil Taxonomy
Publication - Keys to Soil Taxonomy Eighth Edition
Stock Number:			001-000-04658-6
Price					$28.00

WEB SITE:  www.gpo.gov

Contributed by: Margaret Hitz 
                1-402-437-4002 
                mhitz@gw.nssc.nrcs.usda.gov

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                  NRCS PLANTS DATABASE AN AWARD WINNER

Zdnet's "Yahoo! Internet Life" web site recently picked the National
Plant Data Center's PLANTS database as its "Most Incredibly Useful Site
Of the Day."  We were unable to get permission to re-print their review
by our publication deadline, but readers can see for themselves what
Zdnet said by visiting 
http://www.zdnet.com/yil/content/depts/useful/use9807/useful0706.html.  

You can also visit the PLANTS database at:  http://plants.usda.gov.

From NRCS This Week, July 17, 1998

[This is the plant database used by the soil survey database.]

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             STATUS OF CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR COMPILATION

NRCS has opened its first Center for Excellence to be located at an
American Indian land grant institution.  The center was opened recently
at the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet, Minnesota.

The center will be staffed by NRCS Soil Scientist Tom Neuenfeldt and
approximately six students who are currently recompiling soil maps for
eight Wisconsin counties.

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          STATUS OF NRCS SOIL SURVEY DIGITIZING INITIATIVE

NRCS plans to digitize approximately 2,600 high priority soil surveys
over the next 5 to 8 years, depending on available resources.  In order
to accomplish this enormous task, NRCS has established seven regional
Digitizing Units across the country.  Eventually, all of the
approximately 3,250 soil survey areas Nation-wide will be digitized.
Initial soils mapping must be completed for the entire Nation before
this goal is reached.

In fiscal year 1995, the NRCS Soil Survey Division began a special
initiative to digitize high priority soil surveys Nation-wide.  This
initiative, which began with 100 soil surveys, has expanded to more
than 900 projects today.

From: NRCS This Week, July 10, 1998

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                          WEB SITES OF INTEREST

http://www.oh.nrcs.usda.gov/soils/findlay/index.html
Northwestern Ohio Soil Survey Project home page.

http://pestilence.itc.nrcs.usda.gov/nasis/v4.0/index.shtml
NASIS Version 4.0 home page.

http://www.nscss.org
National Society of Consulting Soil Scientists, Inc. home page.

http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/nssc/field_gd/field_gd.htm
Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils. Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 is
needed to view this document (beyond this home page).

http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/soildiv/ncss
"issue3.pdf" and "issue4.pdf" are issues 3 and 4 of the National
Cooperative Soil Suurvey Newsletter which contain articles on MLRA
approach to soil surveys. Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 is needed to view
the newsletters.

http://vmhost.cdp.state.ne.us/~nslsoil/soil.html
USDA NRCS Soil Survey Laboratory Database. The "Data Acqusition
Method" has nine different ways of retrieving data.

http://www2.nrcs.usda.gov/soils.htm
On-line soil surveys.

http://www.ag.auburn.edu/alric/minmap/contents.html
Soil Mineral Associations of the Southern United states.

http://www.statlab.iastate.edu:2000
NSSC Soil Survey Discussion Forums. This page is a place where soil
survey ideas and other related issues can be exchanged and addressed.
All readers can post new messages and can reply to messages posted by
others. Major subjects include data population, editing and publishing,
interpretations, soil survey laboratory, and soil taxonomy. A search
engine in also provided.

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                  ADDRESS, OFFICE, AND PHONE NUMBER CHANGES

1. Richland Center Soil Survey Office has moved.

   New mailing address:
      USDA-NRCS
      1850 Bohman Drive
      Suite C
      Richland Center, WI  53581-2978

   New email address: [logname]@wirichland.fsc.usda.gov
   New telepnone number: 608-647-8874.

   Soil Scientist       logname      phone extension
   Duane Simonsom       dsimonso     116
   Phil Meyer           pmeyer       118
   Matt Otto            motto        117
   Chanc Vogel          cvogel       131

   New UNIX node: wia4353

  Submitted by: Duane Simonson

2. The following persons involved with the soil survey in South
Dakota have new email addresses:

   Jim Millar       james.millar@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov
   Eugene Preston   eugene.preston@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov
   Bruce Kunze      bruce.kunze@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov
   Jerome Schaar    jerome.schaar@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov
   Doug Malo        Malod@ur.sdstate.edu
   Kim Kempton      kim.kempton@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov
   Loren Schultz    loren.schultz@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov
   Steve Winter     steven.winter@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov
   Reg Vialle       regis.vialle@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov
   Barb Hall        barbara.hall@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov
   Dan Shurtliff    daniel.shurtliff@sdso1.sd.nrcs.usda.gov

  Submitted by: Jerry Schaar

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

	x3780.403frig		on Oct 15		( 1 updated OSD ) @
	x3780.404mes		on Oct 19		( 1 updated OSD ) *
	x3780.405mes		on Oct 20		( 6 updated OSDs) *
	x3780.405frig		on Oct 21      ( 1 updated OSD ) @  (1)

@ 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.	
(1) This x3780 was inadvertently sent twice (install in SSSD only once).

If you have a backlog of x3780s to load into SSSD, please remember to
do so in chronological order, which is not necessarily numerical order.

Soil Series included in the above x3780s:

	frigid: Soderville, Wallace

     mesic: Adder, Boots, Caron, Klossner, Medo, Muskego, Rockton

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

MLRA DATE      ACTIVITY                     LOCATION          MO 10 STAFF
---- --------- ---------------------------- ----------------- -----------
90   Nov 30-04 NASIS Introductory Training  Wisconsin         DesLauriers
                                                              Jahnke

102A Dec 08-10 NASIS Introductory Training  Marshall          Handler

105  Dec 07-11 Final Field Review           La Crosse         Jahnke

108B Nov 02-06 Final Field Review           Rock Falls        Hempel
                                                              Handler

All  Nov 09-10 MLRA Region 10 Staff Meeting St. Paul          All
All  Nov 30-04 NASIS Soil Survey Sched Trng Lincoln, NE       Handler

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     CONTRIBUTIONS, IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, AND QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME

Thanks to those individuals who participated this month. It is your efforts
that are making 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

                        *     *     *     *     *

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.

                        *     *     *     *     *

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 setup.   

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