Alaska Soil Survey Information

Helping landowners and communities select the best sites for homes, schools, airfields, roads, landfills, and agriculture. Soil surveys provide a scientific inventory of soil resources for making maps, identifying physical and chemical properties of soils, as well as supplying current information on potential uses and limitations of each soil.

What is a Soil Survey?

A soil survey is a resource inventory where field scientists collect, organize, and interpret information about the natural resources in an area.  Although the main focus is on soils, data is also collected on vegetation, landforms, and surface hydrology.  To learn more click   here.

Web Soil Survey

The first stop for soil survey information is Web Soil Survey. This site provides quick access to all available soil survey information in Alaska as well as the rest of the United States. The site allows online viewing of soil survey maps, data, and interpretations. Users can specify local areas of interest. The site also provides access to electronic copies of traditional soil survey publications and maps.

Soil Data Mart

Those users who want to acquire complete electronic datasets for soil surveys can do so at Soil Data Mart. The site has all available spatial, attribute, and metadata for Alaska and the rest of the United States. Users can place an order for specific soil survey areas and then download the data, usually within 24 hours. Microsoft Access based templates are included with the datasets, allowing the user to query for specific soil properties and information.  Available data for specific soil survey areas is accessed on the site by survey area name. Data for the Exploratory Soil Survey of Alaska is accessed on the U.S. General Soil Map Data page (select Alaska from the spatial extent drop-down menu).

Other Information

• Prime and Important Farmland
• News and Information
• Other Soil Datasets

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Field Indicators of Hydric Soils in Alaska (PDF; 1.92 MB)

SNOTEL Soil Climate Sites -- New

Soil Survey Project Information

Contact

Joe Moore
State Soil Scientist/M.O. Leader
(907) 761-7759
E-mail: joseph.moore@ak.usda.gov

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Last Modified: 10/29/2008