Using Soil Survey to
Understand Soil
Carbon
Who are we?

Jason Martin – MLRA Soil Survey Leader (Salem, OR)

Natural Resources Conservation Service

National Cooperative Soil Survey
Soil Carbon: A quick background
“The Carbon Cycle: What Goes Around Comes Around”. Visionlearning. Visionlearning. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.

Soil Organic Matter (SOM)

Typically 1-6%, but much higher in
forested systems

Large effect on water and nutrient
availability

Different fractions of soil carbon

Active/Labile

Passive/Slow
Soil Carbon in the Cascades

Typical soil orders (upper 15 cm)

Andisols (~6g OC/100g soil)

Inceptisols (~3g OC/100g soil)

Spodosols (~2g OC/100g soil)

Histosols (~47g OC/100g soil)

Accumulates and stabilizes faster
in cooler and moister areas

Minimize disturbance to maintain
soil structure and biota
Brady, Nyle C. and Ray R. Weil. The Nature and Properties of Soils. 13th ed. Upper Saddle River: Person Eduction, Inc., 2002. Print.
Soil Carbon in Soil Survey

What is a map unit?

What is a component?

Where is the soil carbon data
already!?

What other data is relevant?
Map Symbol
8106
8201
9000
Soil Name
Zygore-Fernwood complex, 60-90% slopes
Browder, hummocky-Zygore complex, 0-60% slo
Fulvicryands-Rubble land complex
Examples of management use

Identify soils that are

Resilient

Resistant

Neither of the above

Determine best location for roads

Re-seeding recommendations

Identify areas that should be
protected
Craigg, Terry L., Paul W. Adams, and Karen A. Bennett. “Soil Matters: Improving Forest Landscape Planning and
Management for Diverse Objectives with Soil Information and Expertise.” Journal of Forestry (2015):343-353.
Soil Survey Data for the User!

Available on Web Soil Survey for all users

https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/HomePage.htm

Just type “Web Soil Survey” into a web browser

More in-depth data available compared to SRI, backed up by
extensive on-the-ground investigation

WNF scheduled to be completed around 2021

Progressive posting to begin in late Spring, 2016

Data in progressive posting is highly provisional and subject to change.