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Web Soil Survey

Beginner Web Soil Survey Experience

The video ^, provided by our professor was very helpful at explaining how to use the web soil survey website. My blog's area is the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, I'd assume it has healthy soil, or I would at least like to think. However, they did not have information on that area, so my AOI for this assignment was 'Joint Base Lewis McChord' (JBLM).

From navigating the website, I appreciate that soil surveys conducted prior to 2008 are archived and it clearly states how to access that information on their website. When a website is easy to use and navigate, it naturally will be used more.

Next, I mapped out my AOI.

Then, I clicked on the "Download Soil Data" Tab. When you download the soil survey information many folders get downloaded. Two being labeled as 'Spatial' and another as 'Tabular'. The Spatial table is a table containing geometry information; and its features can be seen on a map. The Tabular database was created from the spatial data by generating descriptive statistics for each data layer within each soil pre-map delineation. The soil metadata folders were having a hard time downloading for me because my computer was blocking it for whatever reason or else that could have provided more information on the AOI.

Next, I went to my AOI to scope out the Soil Health. Below is a map. The soil survey is outlined in yellow and it's information is from 2019 and 2023.

I went on to view the "detailed description". Below is a photo of how it looks on screen and below the map is where it states everything.

Below I have screenshotted the "detailed description" portion. From there is where you can scroll down viewing the extensive list in which they classified different aeras within the AOI. I provided a screenshot of the screen. To the right of the photo, you can see the little scroll down bar which shows you can scroll for a while and find out information on the different pockets within JBLM. Very useful information whether you're wanting to know about soil health for Agriculture, Farm and Garden, learn about the Dynamic Soil Properties, and much more.

This concludes my experience of navigating the website. I learned how to work with the website and some information about JBLM's soil health! I hope this tool is helpful for you in your future endeavors.

Citations:

(2024). Map of - Soil Index [Photograph]. Web Soil Survey. gov. https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx

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