NRCS Plans Soil Survey Work Planning and Web Service Conference

MORGANTOWN, WV, March 12, 2008—The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announces it will hold a public meeting on May 21st, 2008 at the New River Technical College in Summersville, WV to solicit public feedback on the update and maintenance of soil survey data in West Virginia.

"Modern soil survey information is now available for the entire state of West Virginia,” said Kevin Wickey, West Virginia State Conservationist. "Soil surveys provide a field-based scientific inventory of soil resources, including soil maps, data about the physical and chemical properties of soils, and information on the potentials and limitations of each soil. Soil surveys have many uses, but are developed to help people make decisions on how to best use the land."

The Agency will also demonstrate and offer training for their new Internet service Web Soil Survey for those attending. West Virginia has map data for 53 counties available on the national Web Soil Survey. After defining a location on the screen, the viewer can print a map with related soils and other information, save the map to a hard drive, or download the data for use in a geographic information system (GIS). The viewer can also explore the designated location for specific data on soil suitability for various uses, and create customized reports for printing or saving. For more information on the Web Soil Survey, go to http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/.

The conference is being sponsored by the Elk Conservation District and the Mountain Resource Conservation and Development Council (RC&D). The session is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 and adjourn at 2:30 p.m. The public is invited to attend. For more information, please contact Charles H. Delp at 304-872-1731, extension 108 or charles.delp@wv.usda.gov.

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