1

National

Cooperative

Soil

Survey Newsletter

Issue 13

November 2000

In This Issue—

Editor’s Note

Issues of this newsletter are

available on the World Wide Web

(www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/soildiv).

Click on NCSS and then on the desired

issue number of the NCSS Newsletter.

You are invited to submit stories for

future issues of this newsletter to

Stanley Anderson, National Soil Survey

Center, Lincoln, Nebraska. Phone—

402-437-5357; FAX—402-437-5336;

email—

stan.anderson@nssc.nrcs.usda.gov.

Review of A History of

Soil Survey in Nevada

By Stanley P. Anderson, Editor, Natural

Resources Conservation Service, National Soil

Survey Center, Lincoln, Nebraska.

For an interesting readingexperience, check out this book,

which was published in the summer of

this year. The book was compiled by

Paul W. Blackburn, Resource Soil

Scientist, USDA, Natural Resources

Conservation Service, Elko Nevada.

The subtitle is A Compilation of Short

Stories Commemorating the 100th

Anniversary of the Soil Survey

Program. The Preface, by Paul

Blackburn and William E. Dollarhide,

MLRA Leader/State Soil Scientist,

indicates that the history is divided into

five eras:

...We began with the first soil

survey of the Fallon Area

published in 1909, when the first

work was done with a plane table

and a compass. Work during the

second era, 1938 to 1950, started

with the plane table, then evolved

with the initial use of aerial

photos. These surveys were

recognized as Physical Surveys

and Surveys for Better Land

Use.

The third era, 1950 to 1970,

had better photography and more

effort was focused on

interpretations. Mapping was

initiated with connotative

symbols and reflected the

development of soil taxonomy.

These surveys were mostly in key

agricultural areas and intended

for agronomic uses. However, we

made our first efforts to meet

urban needs with the Soil Survey

for the Las Vegas and Eldorado

Valleys Area.

The fourth era, 1970 to 1978,

was a brief transitional time,

which saw the completion of the

soil surveys of key agricultural

areas and those intended for

urban uses. During this brief era

a new relationship was forged

between the U.S. Department

of Interior’s Bureau of Land

Management and the Soil

Conservation Service. This

relationship paved the way for

the rapid acceleration of the

soil survey program in the fifth

era.

The fifth era, 1978 to 2000,

saw the rapid acceleration of the

soil survey with major input of

both time and money by the U.S.

Department of Interior’s Bureau

of Land Management. During this

period, we needed to cover large

amounts of country in a short

period of time but still provide

the quality of range

interpretations needed to protect

the resources. The information

was being used as fast as it was

generated and, using the feedback

received, Order 3 surveys, with

soil/site/landscape relationships,

developed.

The book lists the individuals

involved in the Nevada soil survey

program during the five eras and

includes accounts of the experiences of

the soil scientists who mapped in

Nevada, especially during the second

Review of A History of Soil Survey

in Nevada ....................................... 1

NRCS National Soil Scientist of the

Year ................................................ 3

Keys to Soil Taxonomy Translated ...... 4

“Soil Survey Photography—Principles

and Techniques” on the Web.......... 5

Soil Photography Archive Under

Construction ................................... 5

NRCS-SSSA Soil Planning Guide

Soon To Be Published .................... 6

Assistant Soil Resource Specialist in

Cooperative Extension, University

of California, Davis ........................ 6
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NCSS Newsletter

and fifth eras. These accounts have

touches of local color. Grant Kennedy,

for example, describes fishing during

the second era:

The only fishing I ever did was

on a trip into some “badlands”—a

series of volcanic breaks—lava

beds—through which the “Little

Salmon” flows toward Idaho. The

stream was somewhat entrenched

where we came to it, and to get

down into a boxlike canyon, my

fellow crew member Charlie York

and I took a steep trail where our

horses had their front feet

forward and their rear next to

the ground as we slid downward.

We camped there overnight.

My partner had brought string

and fish hooks. We each cut

a willow for a pole. Using

bacon for bait, we soon had

six big trout and quit, as that

was enough for supper. Never

again did I see such good

fishing.

Kennedy describes his experiences

when he was mapping on the Pyramid

Lake Indian Reservation:

...That afternoon, we stopped to

spend the night where the Indians

had another corral and a small

stack of hay. When we got ready

to put our sleeping bags on the

ground for the night, Pat had the

bright idea to get some of the hay

and put it under our bed to make

it more comfortable. It sounded

good to me so we did that and

turned in. In the morning as we

got up, both of us were itching

something fierce and soon

discovered the cause. There were

little minute critters crawling

everywhere—chicken mites! A

bunch of chickens had nested in

the hay before it was hauled to

the site. We went down to the

lake and jumped in, clothes and

all, and then took off the duds and

hung them over the brush to dry. I

wore a Stetson western hat, which

I liked. Taking it off, I could see

those minute forms racing around

inside my hat. I tried to rid them

by holding the hat over the flames

of our campfire. I killed the mites

but, sadly, ruined my hat.

Kennedy also describes how they

were thrown off the reservation:

We were busy trying to catch

up with some map compilation in

the “office” at Nixon. It was
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NCSS Newsletter

almost the last of June. Suddenly,

Pat got a telegram telling us to

take all of our equipment and

leave the reservation and come to

Berkeley immediately. We had to

be off of the reservation by the

first of July. We didn’t know the

reason for the sudden exodus but

orders were orders. We took the

pickup back to Yerington and got

an earful about the condition of

the vehicle but those in the know

realized that this was to be

expected it you were to do much

fieldwork. They wanted me to

take another vehicle to Berkeley,

so Judy and I went in it and I

reported to Stan Crosby at the

Regional Office. He explained the

reason for our quick getaway

from the reservation. Harold

Ickes was then Secretary of

Interior and, of course, Indian

lands were under the Department

of Interior. He could be a feisty

person at times and he must have

gotten into a squabble with

someone in the Department of

Agriculture of which the SCS was

a part. Perhaps it was with Harry

Wallace, the Secretary of the

Department of Agriculture.

Anyway, he told the SCS head to

get its men and equipment off of

Interior lands before July 1 or he

would see that men and

equipment were transferred to the

Interior.

Warren Archer describes his

experience with a “kamikaze cow”

during the last era:

One day, as I was driving up a

dry wash in the Pine Grove Hills,

a cow fell from the sky, missing

my truck by just a few inches. I

thought this was rather strange so

I investigated to see if I could

find out where the critter came

from. Apparently what had

happened was the hapless cow

had been grazing too close to the

edge of a very steep slope.

Presumably, the cow got nervous

or excited because it hadn’t seen

a truck before, lost its footing,

rolled to the edge of the cliff, and

fell over. What an interesting

accident report that would have

been had the cow’s aim been a

little better. When I came back

down later on, it was still

twitching so I put it out if its

misery with a pick handle. It

belonged to Baron Hilton of the

Hilton Hotels. Its loss didn’t

cause the collapse of his hotel

empire.

The book is interesting because of

accounts such as these and the

historical information it provides. It has

an effective cover and is professionally

laid out. It is dedicated to Edmund A.

Naphan, who was the State Soil

Scientist in Nevada from 1950 to 1984.

The book is available on the Internet

(http://www.nv.nrcs.usda.gov). 

NRCS National Soil

Scientist of the Year

By Joe Moore, MO Leader, Region 17,

Natural Resources Conservation Service, Palmer,

Alaska.

The NRCS National Soil Scientistof the Year 2000 is Marcus

(Mark) H. Clark. Mark is a Soil Survey

Project Leader headquartered in

Palmer, Alaska. Mark’s nomination was

supported by all of the National

Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS)

cooperators in Alaska.

Mark’s award was announced by

Horace Smith, Soil Survey Division

Director, during the West Region Work

Planning Conference in June. Mark was

unable to attend the conference because

of the logistics of his current soil survey

assignment. Chuck Bell, Alaska State

Conservationist, subsequently presented

the award at the annual meeting of the

Alaska Association of Soil and Water

Conservation Districts.

A graduate of Montana State

University, Mark began his career in

soil science under the Old West

Regional Commission in Montana. He

became a permanent full-time NRCS

employee in Arizona. In 1983, he

transferred to Alaska as a Project

Leader.

During Mark’s tenure in Alaska, he

has completed soil survey projects for

the Copper River Area, the MatanuskaSusitna Valley Area, and the Gulkana

River Area. He is currently leading the

soil survey of the Denali National Park

Mark H. Clark
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NCSS Newsletter

and Preserve. All of these positions

have involved not only technical

leadership and strong supervision, but

also full coordination of logistics for

remote field camps and survey areas

accessible primarily by helicopter,

riverboat, or raft.

Mark thoroughly researches and

learns all that he can about the tasks at

hand. He has become a recognized

expert on permafrost-affected soils and

soil hydrology. He has coauthored

several publications in refereed

journals. Upon invitation, he has

addressed numerous agency, university,

and even international groups and has

participated in joint studies. He has

been highly complimented for each of

these efforts. His international activities

include formal presentations on

permafrost soils and mapping

techniques to the Russian Academy of

Sciences in Pushchino, Russia, and

field studies and lab sampling of

permafrost soils in China and Tibet.

No single achievement can

exemplify the knowledge, enthusiasm,

professionalism, leadership, and

willingness to share that Mark brings to

soil science. On numerous occasions he

has received high praise from Alaska

cooperators. He is respected by the

public; by his NRCS peers within

Alaska, other States, and the National

Soil Survey Center; by State and local

agencies within Alaska; by university

researchers in Alaska and other States;

and by soil scientists and other

professionals he has worked with on

foreign assignments.

Mark epitomizes the very best that

there is in a soil survey soil scientist.

He continues to make every field

assignment an innovative, challenging

experience, and his results set a

standard for all other soil scientists to

reach. Mark serves as an excellent role

model for all soil scientists within both

NRCS and NCSS. 

Keys to Soil Taxonomy

Translated

By Robert Ahrens, Director, National Soil

Survey Center, Natural Resources Conservation

Service, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Keys to Soil Taxonomy wasrecently translated into

Indonesian. Soil taxonomy is an

international standard used in

classifying soils for the purpose of

making and interpreting soil surveys.

The National Soil Survey Center

(NSSC) is responsible for maintaining

the classification system described in

the Keys to Soil Taxonomy. This

document has been translated into the

following 12 languages:

• Indonesian

• Malaysian

• Chinese

• Russian

• Japanese

• Thai

• French

• Spanish

• Portuguese

• German

• Korean

• Italian

The NSSC has only library copies of

these translations; it does not have

copies for distribution.

Because the taxonomic system is

used around the world, the NSSC

anticipates the need to translate the

document into more languages in the

future.

For more information, contact:

Bob Ahrens

Director

National Soil Survey Center

402-437-5389

bob.ahrens@nssc.nrcs.usda.gov 

Translations of Keys to Soil Taxonomy and of Soil Taxonomy: A Basic System of Soil

Classification for Making and Interpreting Soil Surveys.
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NCSS Newsletter

Soil Photography Archive Under Construction

By Tom Reedy, Soil Scientist, National Soil Survey Center, Natural Resources Conservation

Service, Lincoln, Nebraska.

The presentation “Soil Survey Photography—Principles and Techniques” is intended to serve as a springboard for soil scientists to accumulate a

national archive of a wide variety of high-quality, consistently formatted slide

photography. National Cooperative Soil Survey cooperators, universities,

international scientists, and the general public can download scanned images.

Archived images will be used to illustrate the Soil Survey Manual as it is revised.

Eventually, the NSSC will announce a “call for slides” that depict topics to be

addressed in the revised Soil Survey Manual.

Any soil scientist can submit slides to the NSSC at any time. The original

photographers will be credited for the images in the database. States are

encouraged to contribute slides of soil profiles with associated landscapes,

diagnostic and morphologic features, soil survey field techniques, interpretations,

and sampling and monitoring equipment innovations. The idea is to be creative.

Because the quality of duplicated slides is not acceptable for USDA

publications, only original slides will be archived. Original slides are the current

standard to which publication images are compared for color proofing. Therefore,

when a photo is taken, each scene should be shot twice (i.e., two profile shots, two

landscape shots, and two shots of a diagnostic horizon or other feature). Send one

original slide per scene. We will scan and retain original slides for future use.

Please include the following information for each slide:

• Photographer’s name

• E-mail address

• Phone number

• MLRA and other location information

• Soil type

• Taxonomic classification

• Geomorphic position

• Feature depicted in the image

• Associated lab data or NSSL pedon number

• Other

Send slides to:

National Leader, Soil Classification and Standards

National Soil Survey Center

100 Centennial Mall North

Federal Building, Room 152, MS 35

Lincoln, NE 68508-3866

We have yet to determine the appropriate Web layout that will best depict

thumbnail images or how our users will selectively query and download highresolution images with associated narrative information. We anticipate that

thumbnail images will be interactively queried by categories, such as taxonomic

placement, diagnostic horizons, morphologic features, geomorphologic attributes,

contributing state, and MLRA. Lab characterization data will be associated with

selected images of soil profiles. We look forward to any thoughts and suggestions

that you may have. 

Soil Survey

Photography

Principles

and

Techniques

United States Department of Agriculture

Natural Resources Conservation Service

National Soil Survey Center

“Soil Survey

Photography—Principles

and Techniques” on the

Web

By Tom Reedy, Soil Scientist, National Soil

Survey Center, Natural Resources Conservation

Service, Lincoln, Nebraska.

The Microsoft PowerPointpresentation entitled “Soil

Survey Photography—Principles and

Techniques” is now available on the

NSSC website at http://

www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/nssc/educ/

photography/index.htm. The

presentation can be interactively

viewed on the website or downloaded

as a Microsoft PowerPoint

presentation. Be cautioned that the

downloadable file is a whopping 28

megabytes!

John Kelley, Soil Data Quality

Specialist, Raleigh, North Carolina, the

National Soil Survey Center, and Suzie

Meierdierks, Editor, Morgantown,

West Virginia, prepared the

presentation. This is the same

presentation that the NSSC mailed to

the State Soil Scientists in June 2000 on

CD along with soil profile tapes. If you

prefer to have a CD, please contact

your State Soil Scientist for local

copies. 
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NCSS Newsletter

NRCS-SSSA Soil

Planning Guide Soon To

Be Published

By Tom Reedy, Soil Scientist, National Soil

Survey Center, Natural Resources Conservation

Service, Lincoln, Nebraska.

The NRCS 2001 Soil SurveyPlanning Guide is expected to

hit the streets around mid-December.

The planner is a collaborative project of

the National Soil Survey Center, the

Soil Quality Institute, and the Soil

Science Society of America. The theme

for 2001 is “Soil Biology and the Soil

Food Web.” The planner showcases the

functions of organisms in decomposing

organic matter; in processing organic

carbon, nitrogen, and plant-available

nutrients; and in enhancing soil

structure and waterflow. It introduces a

few simple outdoor experiments for K12 students.

The planner should provide useful

information applicable in the fields of

education, soil science, and

conservation. It is intended to be

marketed to a broad audience, including

soil and water conservation districts,

the National Cooperative Soil Survey

partners, state and local officials,

educators, and outreach groups.

Copies of the planner can be

requested either by contacting the

appropriate State Conservationist or by

calling the NRCS publications

distribution facility in Ankeny, Iowa, at

1-888-LANDCARE. 

Assistant Soil Resource

Specialist in Cooperative

Extension, University of

California, Davis

The Soils and Biogeochemistryprogram of the Department of

Land, Air and Water Resources seeks

applicants for a career track 11-month

appointment at the Assistant Specialist

in Cooperative Extension level. The

appointee will develop a statewide

extension and applied research program

in land use interpretation, soil

management, and soil restoration.

Contributions are expected in extension

education, research, and University and

public service. The objective of the

position is to develop and extend soils

knowledge to solve a variety of landuse problems, such as determining land

suitability for specific agricultural and

urban uses, restoring degraded land,

and protecting soil from damage, such

as erosion, compaction and salinization

caused by improper management. No

formal classroom teaching is expected

of the individual. The appointee will

serve as a link between County CE

Advisors and government agency

professionals, share responsibility as

the University representative to the

National Cooperative Soil Survey, and

must engage in professional activities

and service to the University and

public. The position is available July 1,

2001. Applicants must hold a Ph.D.

degree in soil science or a related field

with an emphasis on pedology (soil

genesis and classification).

Applications and inquires should

be made on the LAWR website at

(http://lawr.ucdavis.edu/). Applicants

without access to web resources should

contact Michael J. Singer, CE Specialist

Search Committee Chair, Department

of LAWR, One Shields Avenue,

University of California, Davis, CA

95616. Telephone 530-752-7499 or

1406, FAX 530-752-1552, email

mjsinger@ucdavis.edu. Applicants

must submit: complete curriculum

vitae; two-page statement of research

and extension interests and background

in each; copies of undergraduate and

graduate transcripts and the name,

address, telephone number, FAX and

email address of five references.

(Please refer to the website.) Open until

filled. To ensure consideration,

applications should be submitted by

February 15, 2001.

The University of California is an

equal opportunity/affirmative action

employer. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all

its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex,

religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family

status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities

who require alternative means for communication of program information

(Braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA’s TARGET Center at

(202) 720-2600 (voice and TDD).

To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil

Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW,

Washington, D.C. 20250-9410 or call (202) 720-5964 (voice and TDD).

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.