SBAAG - Roles and Responsibilities

Group members represent individuals working at the development level with input from key MO and state level positions for the development, production, and dissemination of soil survey data and information. Advisors and liaisons represent a cross-section of agency business areas and their soil information needs.

Membership

Executive Sponsor – Director, Soil Survey Division, provides perspective on the overall vision for soil survey program needs.

Rotating Members – Rotating members are changed every two to three years. These include a State Soil Scientist, an MLRA Soil Survey Region (MO) Leader, and a Soil Data Quality Specialist.

Permanent Members – Provide connectivity to other groups, look for emerging issues that affect soil business, and identify opportunities to pool and leverage resources. The makeup of this group is relatively static and responds to evolving national soil resource management needs. SBAAG permanent members include individuals from the National Soil Survey Center (NSSC), National Cartographic and Geospatial Center (NCGC), National Information Technology Center (NITC), and National Geospatial Development Center (NGDC).

Advisors – The Director of the SSD and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Information Technology Division provide perspective on the information system development and direction for the agency, as it pertains to soil survey business needs. The Director for the National Soil Survey Center provides perspective on the overall management of the soil survey program.

Ad Hoc Advisory Members – These members are named as needed and can include the following: MLRA Project Leader, Resource Soil Scientist, NASIS User Group, NSSC Forester, NSSC Range Scientist, NSSC Agronomist, NCGC Remote Sensing Laboratories, Soil Marketing Advisory Group, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (NPS), and others.

Authorities

SBAAG is authorized to advise the Director of the Soil Survey Division on issues and opportunities that pertain to successful delivery of the Soil Survey Program. In carrying out its duties, the group may develop questionnaires, contact cooperators, manage a travel allocation, establish Ad Hoc work groups within SBAAG, or recommend formation of outside task forces that have specialized technical capabilities.