National Soil Judging Contest, Apr 25-30, 2011, Bend, Oregon
National Soilers,
Some questions arise from individuals and multiple folks. We attempt to answer them here
prior to getting the final packet out. As it becomes necessary we will update this information.
Last Updated
17-Dec-10

SOIL TEST CHEMICALS: traveling by air may make transport of some liquid chemicals
infeasible. We provide some information below and let you know how we will assist.
o We are in volcanic country and there may be Andisols about. There is a pH test used
to help determine if the amorphous Fe and Al minerals required for andic properties
are present. As described in the lab and field methods guide for Soil Survey (found
on the soil survey page of the USDA Soils webpage), the pH of a soil treated with
sodium fluoride (NaF) solution can be used to help determine if andic properties are
present. The pH discussion is found on p. 184 of the manual.
 We will have available a adequate supply of properly mixed NaF solution for
the teams. Teams are responsible for dropper bottles, pH strips (recommend
colorpHast by EMD, available on fisher scientific website – get the
appropriate pH range strip).
 The pH strip method described can be modified to use a pinch of soil and a
few drops of NaF solution in a depression plate rather than the 30-mL
method suggested – we will not have supplies to support the 30-mL method.
o We are in a semiarid to arid environment and white stuff may be encountered. HCl
is a useful tool in discerning between carbonates and silica accumulations.
 We will provide a supply of 10% HCl that teams can resupply from. Teams
are responsible for dropper bottles

Contest Geographical boundaries: Oregon is a big state, and the Central Oregon Area is a
diverse place covering alpine environments and high desert. Our goal is to expose you to as
much of this as possible and reasonable in the few days you will be here. While we reserve
the right to place pit locations where needed to best serve the contest, the general
boundaries can be drawn using a polygon with the following corners. Practice pits will be
scattered throughout this area.
o NW: 44.756828°, -121.211986°
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National Soil Judging Contest, Apr 25-30, 2011, Bend, Oregon
o NE: 44.780623°, -120.959790°
o SE: 43.738031°, -120.079068°
o SW: 43.485826°, -121.970057°

Soil Survey Information: More complete information will accompany the contest packet.
But for the gung-ho, some teaser information follows.
o Much of the western half of the area and the south-eastern portions of the area
marked out above are covered by the Upper Deschutes Soil Survey Area. There is
considerable public land that is not included in the survey, but soils around those
unmapped areas will likely have similar properties.
o The northeastern area is still in the mapping stages and will not have soil mapping
units easily available.
o Google Earth Apps: The Land Resource department at University California Davis has
developed a soil mapping application for use in Google Earth. You can find the app
at http://casoilresource.lawr.ucdavis.edu/soil_web/kml/SoilWeb.kmz. Open it with
Google Earth and when GE opens, move the application from the “temporary
places” to “my places.” When zooming to the areas above you will see the soil
mapping unit boundaries. You will also see locations of Official Series Descriptions
and sampled pedons. This will be useful in the areas with as yet unavailable MU
boundaries.
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