Maine is the most recent of 15 states to give soil the formal recognition once reserved for trees and birds. The Natural Resource Conservation Service hopes that official soils and its calendar will raise awareness of the importance of soils for ecosystem health and prudent development. Coming in on the heels of this publicity, Hancock County has received a final, revised version of its USDA soil survey. Merging data collected over the past 20 years with new satellite maps, the massive document offers a complete soil analysis of every acre in the county. Donald Clark, an Ellsworth soil scientist, was part of a team of researchers led by the late Glendon B. Jordan which was charged with walking around the county, digging small holes and casting inquisitive glances across the landscape to divine the soil characteristics beneath fields and forests.
Soil scientists use such information to estimate soil depth and ground water height.
Dog-eared charts of hundreds of soil colors and a dozen texture types also help seasoned researchers classify a soil in minutes. Hancock County soil samples were collected on foot throughout the 1980s, but Clark said sometimes spades and notebooks were not enough. Endless tables of soil data make the new book a breeze to put down, but the information is central to understanding the current development issues in the county, according to Roland Dupuis, district conservationist at the Hancock County Soil and Water Conservation District. The retreat of glaciers not only left two basic needs food and shelter competing on the same turf, it left very little turf to squabble over. Unlike areas such as the Midwest where 70 percent of the land is suitable for agriculture, in Hancock County subdivisions often supplant a limited resource.