by Kristina Hughes
Clear Creek County
Master Gardener
I just discovered an
online tool which I think is pretty neat for learning about the characteristics
of your property. You can type in any address in the U.S. and receive a report
of the soil types typically found in that area.
The start, go to https://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov
and click on the big green button ‘Start WSS’. Find the Area of Interest (AOI)
tab. Click on ‘Address’ and enter an address. Click on ‘View’. A map will
appear with a location marker on the address.
The next step is to
select an Area of Interest. Along the top of the map are tool buttons. On the
right end of the tool bar, click on either button which says ‘AOI’. Then use
the mouse to delineate a specific area on the map. Once you have outlined an
area, click on the ‘Soil Map’ tab towards the top of the page to find the
report.
The report for my area
was interesting. It gave mean annual precipitation, numbers of frost free days
and mean annual temperature. The next section listed the typical depth of each
soil layer and its composition. There was information on drainage, runoff and
flooding characteristics.
There is also an
educational area on the website which provides brief descriptions of what soil
is, how it is formed, and more.
The information in the
report is generalized for the type of land forms in an area. For example my
report is titled ‘Georgetown Area, Part of Clear Creek, Gilpin & Park
Counties’. To get specific, detailed information for planting on my property I
still need a soil test, but I found this report from the Natural Resource
Conservation Service to be fun and interesting!
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