The Caribbean Area, comprised of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, is part of the National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) program. The National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS) is a nationwide partnership of federal, regional, state, and local agencies and institutions. This partnership works together to cooperatively investigate, inventory, document, classify, and interpret soils and to disseminate, publish, and promote the use of information about the soils of the United States and its trust territories. The activities of the NCSS are carried out on national, regional, and state levels.
Sowing the Seeds for Sustainable Growth in Haiti - Feed the Future - February 29, 2016 - article highlighting NRCS Soil Scientists, including the Caribbean Area's Manuel Matos, work in Haiti to develop a pilot soil survey while training local soil scientists.
The Caribbean Area is a model system to study how interactions between land use and environmental conditions affect soil carbon. Check out our YouTube videos of the Caribbean Area Rapid Carbon Assessment (RaCA): Puerto Rico, Part 1 and USVI.
NRCS Improves Soil Data for Growing Customer Base - NRCS has just completed a massive nationwide soil survey data & software update. The update has enhanced customer service, upgraded all software and databases, improved spatial data and provided a complete suite of soil interpretations. Check out the improved Web Soil Survey site!
MLRA Explorer — A new web-based mapping tool that provides the user with the ability to search by Major Land Resource Areas (MLRA) and Land Resource Areas (LLR) using a variety of geographic and attribute questions that create customized maps with narrative descriptions and photos. It also provides the user with the ability to print and/or export specific subsets of the USDA Agriculture Handbook 296.
Official Soil Series Descriptions (OSD) - The official descriptions approved by the Natural Resources Conservation Service that define specific soil series in the United States.
Soil Lab Data - This application allows users to generate, print and download reports containing soil characterization data stored and maintained by the NSSC Soil Survey Laboratory.
