{"id":1869,"date":"2020-12-09T11:41:13","date_gmt":"2020-12-09T18:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/?p=1869"},"modified":"2020-12-09T13:45:59","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T20:45:59","slug":"the-dirt-about-soil-mapping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/science\/the-dirt-about-soil-mapping\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cDirt\u201d about Soil Mapping"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You never know what you might find when you dig a hole, but soil scientists have a pretty good idea.<\/p>\n<p>Soil is crucial to everything that grows. If you\u2019ve done any gardening or farming, you know that there are many types of soil, made up of many different ingredients. \u201cGood soil\u201d may be defined by what can grow there or what role it plays in a particular ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>The Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, creates soil maps and soil surveys to help industries and individuals understand and interpret soils to determine site management plans, erosion control, garden design, ecosystem restoration, water conservation plans, waterway restoration, flood risk management, recreation use planning, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Kari Sever, a soil scientist with NRCS, is currently updating survey maps as part of the National Cooperative Soil Survey. I decided to tag along with her to learn more about what she might discover. She explained that some of the original surveys were created in the 1970s or earlier. The maps need updating because current details and information are often lacking, or were generalized for a specific area rather than looking at smaller plots within a larger region. Sever said that some of the old survey maps lump soils into nondescript categories like \u201ccolluvial land\u201d and \u201cterrace\u201d that don\u2019t share a lot of details about soil type or features and, therefore, cannot be accurately interpreted. Sever is currently conducting detailed soil survey updates at the open spaces of Heil Valley Ranch, Hall Ranch, and Ron Stewart Preserve at Rabbit Mountain. She is also updating maps for properties in Jefferson County, Larimer County, and the City of Boulder.<\/p>\n<h2>Digging Deep: How to Survey<\/h2>\n<p>When you survey for plants or wildlife, you look around to see where they grow or live. To survey soil, you have to dig deep. Sever starts by digging a hole that can go as deep as five feet with her three-inch auger, unless she hits bedrock. Once the hole is open, she looks for color, texture, structure, and depth to determine properties of the soil that give clues to taxonomic classification. She records the GPS location, local plants, and tests for pH and salts. She even gets the soil wet and squishes it around in her fingers. It\u2019s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.<\/p>\n<p>On one section of Hall Ranch, she hit rock at 16 inches. It had rained the day before, and the first few inches of soil looked dark and still retained a bit of moisture. Below that, the soil was light colored and powdery. A color chart helps her classify the soil. \u201cIt\u2019s like using paint samples from Sherwin Williams,\u201d she explains. She determined that the soil here is sandy loam with a calcic horizon.<\/p>\n<p>Once all the data is collected, Sever makes sure she has recorded all her data, takes photographs for reference, and then backfills the hole with its original contents. \u201cEverything goes back into the hole,\u201d Sever emphasizes, and nothing is removed from the site. Within moments the spot looks the way we found it, and we walk on to the next survey location.<\/p>\n<p>Soil information is updated yearly on the Web Soil Survey. New data that Sever and other scientists compile is posted to the national database, where it is merged with digital maps and is available free to the public at websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov. \u201cIn addition to updating soil map unit concepts,\u201d Sever says, \u201cthe survey will capture changes in land use and land cover and provide more accurate interpretations for the public.\u201d Amazing what a little digging will uncover.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1871\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1871\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/students-studying-soil.jpg\" data-lbwps-width=\"1218\" data-lbwps-height=\"914\" data-lbwps-srcsmall=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/students-studying-soil-300x225.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1871\" src=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/students-studying-soil-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"Students performing a soil survey\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/students-studying-soil-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/students-studying-soil-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/students-studying-soil-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/students-studying-soil.jpg 1218w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1871\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The soil survey update at Heil Valley Ranch provided students from the Colorado State University Pedology class an opportunity for soils training as an outdoor lab exercise.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1870\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1870\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/soil-survey.jpg\" data-lbwps-width=\"1920\" data-lbwps-height=\"1152\" data-lbwps-srcsmall=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/soil-survey-300x180.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1870\" src=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/soil-survey-1024x614.jpg\" alt=\"Soil Survey\" width=\"640\" height=\"384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/soil-survey-1024x614.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/soil-survey-300x180.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/soil-survey-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/soil-survey-1536x922.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/soil-survey.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1870\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kari Sever records data to include in the National Cooperative Soil Survey.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You never know what you might find when you dig a hole, but soil scientists have a pretty good idea. Soil is crucial to everything that grows. If you\u2019ve done any gardening or farming, you know that there are many types of soil, made up of many different ingredients. \u201cGood soil\u201d may be defined by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[59],"class_list":["post-1869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-winter-2020"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The \u201cDirt\u201d about Soil Mapping - Images<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/science\/the-dirt-about-soil-mapping\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u201cDirt\u201d about Soil Mapping - Images\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You never know what you might find when you dig a hole, but soil scientists have a pretty good idea. 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One of the most fundamental natural resources is right beneath our feet. Soil is a living and life-giving natural resource vital to our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Agriculture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Agriculture","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/category\/agriculture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Soil monitors","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/soil-monitors.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/soil-monitors.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/soil-monitors.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/soil-monitors.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/soil-monitors.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/soil-monitors.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1360,"url":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/agriculture\/the-soil-revolution-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":1869,"position":1},"title":"The Soil Revolution: Part 2","author":"Staff","date":"02\/26\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The Soil Revolution: Part 1 highlighted the efforts of Boulder County Parks & Open Space (BCPOS) to monitor soil health on county-owned agricultural properties. The 2017 season engaged more farmers, ranchers, and volunteers, created more insights, and led to a greater understanding of the principles of soil health. Five Principles\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Agriculture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Agriculture","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/category\/agriculture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Soil health volunteers","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/soil-health-volunteers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/soil-health-volunteers.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/soil-health-volunteers.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/soil-health-volunteers.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/soil-health-volunteers.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/soil-health-volunteers.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":788,"url":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/research\/greenhouse-gas\/","url_meta":{"origin":1869,"position":2},"title":"Research Summary: Greenhouse Gas Inventory","author":"Staff","date":"11\/24\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Boulder County Parks and Open Space Department offers grants for research on county open space lands each year. The following is a summary of a 2014 study conducted by Mark Easter, Amy Swan, and Stephen Williams with the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University in Fort Collins,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Research&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Research","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/category\/research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Graph showing annual energy-related GHG emissions from Boulder County Parks and Open Space","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ghg.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ghg.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ghg.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/ghg.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2241,"url":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/agriculture\/healthy-soil-is-the-foundation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1869,"position":3},"title":"Healthy Soil Is the Foundation","author":"Staff","date":"09\/01\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Soil health, regenerative agriculture, and sustainable. These buzzwords pop up everywhere\u2014in agricultural circles, in news reports, and on social media, but the terms are rarely defined for the reader. So, what do these words mean? More importantly, what do they mean for the 25,000 acres managed by the Boulder County\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Agriculture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Agriculture","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/category\/agriculture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Farm equipment on open space","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tractor.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tractor.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tractor.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tractor.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tractor.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/tractor.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1945,"url":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/land-management\/lets-go-camping\/","url_meta":{"origin":1869,"position":4},"title":"Let\u2019s Go CAMPing!","author":"Staff","date":"03\/01\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"COVID-19 has dominated the news for the past year, as have discussions on the environmental impacts of this global pandemic. If you search \u201cenvironmental impacts of COVID-19,\u201d heaps of varying and conflicting reports return. But one thing experts agree on is that pandemic or not, the effects of global climate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Land Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Land Management","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/category\/land-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Reynolds Property","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/reynolds.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/reynolds.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/reynolds.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/reynolds.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/reynolds.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/reynolds.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2094,"url":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/land-management\/carbon-sequestration-in-action\/","url_meta":{"origin":1869,"position":5},"title":"Carbon Sequestration in Action","author":"Staff","date":"12\/01\/2021","format":false,"excerpt":"In an age of climate change, the term \u201ccarbon sequestration\u201d often gets thrown around, but you may find yourself wondering what it actually means, how it can be used to address climate change, and what carbon sequestration looks like in your community. Carbon sequestration is simply the process of removing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Land Management&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Land Management","link":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/category\/land-management\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Caribou Ranch","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/caribou-ranch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/caribou-ranch.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/caribou-ranch.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/caribou-ranch.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/caribou-ranch.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/caribou-ranch.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1872,"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1869\/revisions\/1872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bouldercountyopenspace.org\/i\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}