   Happy World Soil Day!
World Soil Day is a unique global platform designed to celebrate soil and empower governments, organizations, communities, and citizens around the world to improve soil health. This year’s theme, “Healthy Soils for Healthy Cities,” focuses on the importance of soils in urban areas and the challenges posed to these soils by urbanization.
Urban soil survey
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, about 80 percent of the U.S. population lives in urban areas where natural resources, like soils, are used intensively. If appropriately managed, soils can provide valuable ecosystem services benefiting the diverse social, economic, and environmental needs of urban populations.
The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and National Cooperative Soil Survey partners actively produce and maintain urban soil surveys. Urban soil surveys gather valuable information to assist in predicting and explaining soil distributions and functions. This vital work can help identify healthy ecosystems, develop urban agriculture, determine where to focus restoration efforts, manage stormwater, mitigate urban heat island impacts, and assist all of us in making wise decisions concerning our natural resources. Urban soils can provide valuable services — and we rely on urban areas as places to live, work, recreate, grow food, and garden.
Find out more information about urban soil survey in the United States
Visit NRCS’ Urban Soil Survey web page to find out more about urban soil survey and how the data are used.
Web Soil Survey is the official online portal for soil survey data, including data on soils in urban areas. Soil surveys provide soil properties and characteristics, spatial mapping, and soil interpretations. Additional soil survey information can be accessed on the NRCS Soil Science web page.
|
