Contact: Renae Anderson, USDA NRCS 608-662-4422 x 227
Sara Uttech, Soil Science Society of America, 608-268-4948
MADISON, WI – May 18, 2006 – Hundreds of individuals – including many soil scientists, school groups, and state and federal dignitaries – celebrated the completion of the Wisconsin soil survey with the Year of Soil event held at the State Capitol on Tuesday, May 16. Governor Jim Doyle has declared 2006 as the “Year of Soil” in Wisconsin. Wisconsin now becomes the 10th state to have complete digital soil survey coverage.
In his speech at the event, Bruce Knight, Chief of the US Dept. of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), pointed to the 24/7 Internet access to the soil survey information as a boon for conservation and a boon to landowners and community planners.
“It will help farmers, developers, homeowners, and others make wise land-use decisions on where to plant a field, where to put a road, or where place a septic system,” he said.
Knight personally thanked the more than 300 soil scientists who did the soil mapping and the many others who contributed to the effort to map the more than 35 million acres of land and catalog the hundreds of different soil types in Wisconsin.
Knight also presented the national Excellence in Conservation Award, NRCS's highest honor, to Paul Daigle of Marathon County. Through his work as a grazing lands specialist, Paul has helped over 200 farmers convert to grazing operations on 18,000 acres in Lincoln and Marathon Counties. Grazing is an environmentally and economically sound farming system well-suited to Wisconsin soils.
“Soil surveys are cooperative ventures including folks from a number of sectors—federal, state, county, university, and Tribes. NRCS has had many partners in achieving this success,” he said, highlighting the agency’s partnerships with the state of Wisconsin, including its agencies of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, the Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Administration; and the tribal nations of Wisconsin.
State Conservationist Pat Leavenworth was master of ceremonies for the event and highlighted the importance of completing the state soil survey, which began over 100 years ago in the state.
Joining the dignitaries were several school groups who participated in hands-on soil projects with Chicago Field Museum’s Soil Adventure Mobile. The 3rd and 4th grade students from Antigo Elementary provided a special tribute to Wisconsin’s official State Soil by singing “The Antigo Silt Loam Song” written by noted soil scientist Francis Hole.
A large soil sample of Wisconsin’s Antigo Silt Loam is part of a USDA-NRCS display of state soils that will be included in a 5,000-square-foot educational soils exhibit opening in 2008 at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA), Madison, WI, is spearheading the effort to develop a soils exhibit at the Smithsonian. SSSA was one of the exhibitors and sponsors of the Year of Soil celebration at the state capitol.
Other exhibitors and sponsors that surrounded the rotunda at the state capitol building with soils exhibits and displays included: Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, Wisconsin Department of Administration, Wisconsin Society of Professional Soil Scientists, and the University of Wisconsin. The event also featured a variety of samples highlighting food grown in Wisconsin soils.
For more information on the 2006 Year of Soil or web soil survey, visit www.wi.nrcs.usda.gov
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