Positioning soil survey for the 21st century

Abstract

Smith's letter was written more than 65 years ago, but the exchange that took place then could have occurred between administrators and soil survey managers today. The National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) is a cooperative undertaking of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other federal, state, and local agencies currently working to map the soils of the United States. The NCSS hopes to have the “once over” mapping completed by the year 2000, but will the job of supplying soil survey information and soil interpretations also be completed? To answer this and related questions about the future of soil resource information requires a review of the history of soil survey in the United States and an examination of how the soil survey customer has changed in regard to perspective and breadth of interest. This evaluation of soil survey is from the perspective of those who want soil survey to evolve and serve the needs of humankind well into the next century, and can be viewed in the context—“where have we come from and where are we going?” We can and we must continue to build on the existing and ever changing soil survey …