National Cooperative Soil Survey

[1] The National Cooperative Soil Survey Program (NCSS) is a partnership led by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service of Federal land management agencies, state agricultural experiment stations, counties, conservation districts, and other special-purpose districts that provide soil survey information necessary for understanding, managing, conserving and sustaining the nation's soil resources.However, soil survey responsibilities have moved several times within the USDA: The original federal authority for the soil survey of the United States is contained in the record of the 53rd Congress, chapter 169, Agricultural Appropriations Act of 1896.Series at first were identified where the soils formed from the same accumulated parent material: glaciated, wind blown, alluvial etc.In 1913 Curtis F. Marbut was appointed Scientist in Charge of the Soil Survey, the position he held almost until his death.The land-grant universities from the very start were close partners in National Cooperative Soil Survey.In 1927 he published a translation of Glinka's The Great Soil Groups of the World and their Development from German to English.The Pedalfers began about at the Udic border and referred to soils rich in Aluminum (Alumen) and Iron (Ferrous).Marbut did not feel that soil erosion threatened the food supply of the United States and wrote that to the National Academy of Science, in direct opposition to Bennett.The SCS was put in charge of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) involving a massive workforce to build terraces and other demonstrations on agricultural lands.Each district board, made up of elected local landowners and farmers, determines the issues and concerns for their area, usually a county, with the SCS providing requested technical assistance.By using factors such as flooding frequency, slope, rockiness and clay or sand content, the best use for the soil can be estimated.This reorganization did not set well with some universities and individuals that had been involved in the soil survey program up to that point.From 1899 until this time a number of agencies, both state and federal, had financial support to perform soil survey work.The consolidation of soil survey activities (and funding) into the SCS program was a hard pill for many to swallow.
From a Report of Bureau of Soils, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1923.
Bureau of Soils and Water ManagementUnited StatesclassifyUnited States Department of AgricultureNatural Resources Conservation Serviceland managementagricultural experiment stationscountiesconservation districtsspecial-purpose districtssoil surveyconservingland capabilitiesBureau of Plant Industry53rd Congressgeographysoil chemistryCecil County, MarylandConnecticuttobaccoSalt Lake ValleyPecos RiverNew Mexicoirrigationland reclamationSoil texturesoil typescoastal plainssoil colororganicsoil structureerodibilitysubsoilsoils formedparent materialglaciatedwind blownalluvialGeological Surveyalidademapping scaleCurtis F. MarbutUniversity of Missourigeologistgeographergeologysoil scienceEugene W. HilgardUniversity of CaliforniaUniversity of Illinoisland-grant universitiesK.D. Glinkasoil horizonssoil profilesoil classification1938 USDA soil taxonomypedocalspedalferscarbonateAlfisolsUSDA soil taxonomyFranklin D. Rooseveltsoil erosionNorth Dakota State UniversityGreat DepressionCivilian Conservation CorpsIndianaMissouriCooperative Extension ServiceDwight D. EisenhowerDepartment of Agriculturepublic domain materialCongressional Research ServiceU.S. Department of AgricultureCornell UniversityBibcode