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ARS Home » Plains Area » Las Cruces, New Mexico » Range Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #237968

Title: How to document soil change without monitoring: A multi-scale inventory procedure for dynamic soil properties, soil change, and plant community dynamics

Author
item TUGEL, ARLENE - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA)
item Wills, Skye
item Herrick, Jeffrey - Jeff
item BIGGAM, PETE - National Park Service

Submitted to: Society for Range Management Meeting Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/2/2009
Publication Date: 2/8/2009
Citation: Tugel, A.J., Wills, S.A., Herrick, J.E., Biggam, P. 2009. How to document soil change without monitoring: A multi-scale inventory procedure for dynamic soil properties, soil change, and plant community dynamics [abstract]. 62nd Society for Range Management Annual Meeting. Paper No. 2060-18.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The National Cooperative Soil Survey is now following data collection procedures to characterize dynamic soil properties. The new procedures use simple conceptual models of management effects on soil (such as state and transition models) to stratify the soil map unit for a comparison study. Once stratified, both soil and vegetation (where present) data are collected. Replicate sampling is conducted at multiple scales. A cooperative effort to develop sampling guidelines was initiated in 2004. NRCS, working with the Agricultural Research Service Jornada Experimental Range, National Park Service, Forest Service, and Bureau of Land Management developed the “Soil Survey and Resource Inventory Guide for Dynamic Soil Properties and Soil Change”. Data collection will be organized within projects to document land use or management effects on benchmark soils and ecological sites. Soils selected for sampling should be extensive and ecologically or economically important, or represent unique ecological zones. Comparison study projects, which are designed to characterize dynamic soil properties for one or more land cover types, plant communities, or management systems, include the following six steps: 1) Project Scope, 2) Sampling Design, 3) Sampling Requirements, 4) Field Work, 5) Data Preparation, and 6) Data Analysis and Reports. These steps are described in this poster. Data and information about how soils change can be used by producers, land managers, and decision makers in order to plan for long-term productivity, interpret indicators used in monitoring and assessments, and manage human impacts on soil.