web soil survey online support tools for forest management steve campbell soil scientist usda –...
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Web Soil SurveyOnline Support Tools for Forest
Management
Steve CampbellSoil ScientistUSDA – Natural Resources Conservation ServiceWest National Technology Support CenterPortland, Oregon
Photos from Idaho Soils Atlas
Depths in decimeters
websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov
Online Help Links
The first step is to create your Area of Interest (AOI). Current selection criteria include Address; County; Soil Survey Area; Lat/Long; Section, Township and Range; Federal Land category, and Hydrologic Unit.
You can also import a shapefile or zipped shapefile to create an Area of Interest (AOI)
The AOI maximum size is 100,000 acres.
In this example PLSS is the navigation choice. Select the State. Enter Section, Township, Range.Click on the View button to zoom to this section.
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We’re now zoomed in to Section 32, Township 35 north, Range 5 east in Clearwater County, Idaho
Clicking on the question mark brings up instructions for the map tools.
The scale can be calibrated for any monitor resolution by adjusting the length of a line segment to 1 inch.
Click on the Scale button.
When you zoom in, the aerial photo, roads, and water features appear. Layers can be turned on and off by clicking on the Legend tab.
Background can be changed from Aerial Photography to Topographic Map in the Legend.
In this example, we want to include Sections 32 and 33 in our Area of Interest. We’ll use the Zoom Out tool to make these sections visible.
The AOI buttons are used to create your Area of Interest. The left button creates a rectangle. The right button creates a polygon of any shape. The user creates the shape by left clicking at each vertex. Left double click at the last vertex to create the Area of Interest.
After you draw your Area of Interest, it will appear as a blue hatched area.
After you’ve created your Area of Interest, it can exported to a zipped shapefile.
Clicking on the Link option displays a hyperlink for your Area of Interest that can be saved for future use or sent to others.
After the AOI is created, the size of the area and the type of data that is available is displayed.
The next step is to click on the Soil Map tab. A
Soil Map with Legend of Map Units, Acres, and Percent of Area
The Map Unit Name contains a hot link to a map unit description. Click on the link to display the description.
The soil map can be saved or printed. Clicking the Printable Version button creates a PDF file with the soil map, legend, and acres of map units in the area of interest.
Click on the Soil Data Explorer tab to create maps and reports of soil properties, interpretations, and ecological site information.
The Soil Data Explorer tab provides multiple options for displaying soils and ecological site information.
The Suitabilities and Limitations for Use tab is used to create maps and reports of a single interpretation such as Log Landing Suitability.
The Soil Data Explorer tab provides multiple options for displaying soils and ecological site information.
The Soil Properties and Qualities tab is used to create maps and reports for a single soil property such as Percent Clay in the surface horizon.
The Soil Data Explorer tab provides multiple options for displaying soils and ecological site information.
The Ecological Site Assessment tab is used to view and print sections of Ecological Site Descriptions.
The Soil Data Explorer tab provides multiple options for displaying soils and ecological site information.
The Soil Reports tab is used to view and print reports that contain multiple soil properties and interpretations.
There are Search options for soil properties and interpretations. In this example, we’re looking for forest site index information.
Click on the link for Site Index.
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The Weighted Average aggregation method is useful for soil map units that contain multiple soils such as Bouldercreek-Judgetown complex, 35 to 75 percent slopes.
Click on the View Ratings button.
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Douglas-fir site index map using the weighted average aggregation method
Click on the Printable Version button to create a PDF file with the site index map and report.
Another option is to click on the Add to Shopping Cart button to add the site index map and report to the Shopping Cart. All maps and reports created during the session can then be downloaded as a single PDF file.
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This report contains all the forest productivity data for the Area of Interest. Click the View Soil Report button.
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Depth to a Selected Soil Restrictive
Layer
Choice list for Aggregation Method
Click on View Description to get more information about this soil property.
Click on View Rating to generate a map and report.
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Depth to fragipan map
Dominant Component vs. Dominant Condition Aggregation Method
Component Percent of Map Unit
Depth to bedrock (cm)
Alpha 40 35
Beta 35 75
Gamma 25 75
Dominant Component: Depth to bedrock = 35 cm (40%) Dominant Condition: Depth to bedrock = 75 cm (35 + 25 = 60%)
Example Soil Map Unit:
Alpha-Beta-Gamma complex, 5 to 20 percent slopes
The Land Management category contains numerous soil interpretations related to forest management.
We’ll create a map and report of a soil interpretation.
Click on the Suitabilities and Limitations for Use tab.
Select the Land Management category for forest management interpretations
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We’ll create a map and report for Construction Limitations for Haul Roads and Log Landings interpretation.
Click on View Description to get more information about this soil interpretation.
Click on View Rating to generate a map and report.
There are some different aggregation choices for interpretations. We can now choose Most Limiting or Least Limiting.
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Map: Construction Limitations for Haul Roads and Log Landings – Dominant Condition
Report: Construction Limitations for Haul Roads and Log Landings – Dominant Condition
Description: Construction Limitations for Haul Roads and Log Landings
Soil survey data for your Area of Interest (AOI) or the entire soil survey area can be downloaded to use in a Geographic Information System (GIS).
Click on the Download Soils Data tab.
Then click on the Create Download Link button.
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Option for downloading tabular and spatial data for an entire soil survey area.
Click on the Download Link.
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Data downloaded from Web Soil Survey can be used with theSoil Data Viewer ArcGIS Tool
http://soils.usda.gov/sdv/
Area of Interest and Soil Map downloaded from Web Soil Survey and brought into ArcMap
Soil Data Viewer ArcGIS Tool
Similar category options as Web Soil Survey Soil Data Explorer. Categories are arranged in folders.
Same Aggregation Methods as in Web Soil Survey.
After selecting a soil property or interpretation, and aggregation method, click the Map button to generate a map, or the Aggregation Report button to generate a report in PDF format.
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Interpretation map for Construction Limitations for Haul Roads and Log Landings generated by Soil Data Viewer in ArcMap.
