MLRA REGION 10 NEWSLETTER--JANUARY 1, 1998 QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Submitted by Tim Meyer in reference to an article appearing in the November 1997 newsletter entitled "Private Contractor Conducting Soil Survey Update": Q--We are interested in finding out which township will be done in Fillmore County and what products will the private contractor provide? A--Bloomfield Township, located in MLRA 104 in west central Fillmore County, is the survey township. The products expected from the contractor are a manuscript, a NASIS database, and a compiled soil map suitable for scanning. Q--Will they be establishing new series if needed? A--Yes. Q--Will they be doing dataset revision in NASIS? A--Yes. Q--Any additional information would be greatly appreciated. A--The contractor is functioning as the project leader for this survey. He is expected to use NCSS policy and procedures for all aspects of the survey and its products. Field reviews will be conducted by the MLRA Region 10 staff. The contractor will receive NASIS training and other data base support. His work will be subject to the same quality assurance scrutiny as an NRCS project leader. ######################################################################### NASIS/CORRELATION UPDATE On the last several reviews that I have been involved in I was able to demo the NASIS database operation via the soil survey or field office computer. These demo's have been useful in showing how the correlation process works in relationship to building data mapunits. This hands on approach meant more than just talking about NASIS. In addition, we went to the field to look at components of map units and how they will be handled in NASIS. Both step transects and interval transects were used. Some of the inter- esting observations were: -In eroded map units, not all parts of the unit met the criteria for accelerated erosion. -Some unnamed soils were included as components in some map units. -Some of the former "inclusions" were a significant part of each map unit and will be named in the map unit. NASIS data mapunits give us the flexibility to give more detailed information to the user than ever before. Some basic guidelines used to determine if a segment of the land- scape should be listed as a component included: 1. Is the component in most map units? 2. Does the component make up a significant part of the landscape? 3. Is the component significantly different for use and management from other components? In the counties worked in this fall, typically there were 4 to 5 components that met the criteria mentioned above in each map unit. This would of course vary based on map unit complexity. Al Giencke Region 10 Correlator ######################################################################### INTERMITTENT NASIS BUG Dorn Egley, NASIS development staff in Ft. Collins, has asked for the following message to be sent out to all NASIS users. ************* Steve Indrick from NY has reported an intermittent NASIS bug, and we would like to know if anyone else has experienced this problem, or anything similar. Steve is entering data for a new soil survey area, from scratch. In the midst of his editing session, NASIS appears to execute a global assign, which clears every instance of a particular column (probably the column in which the cursor was currently residing) in his selected set. When this event occurs, the dialogue box associated with global assign is displayed on the screen. This dialogue says that n -1 of n rows has been modified. Steve says that often he has a NASIS session open for a long period of time, sometimes even spanning more than one day. Steve says that this event occurs when he is not even using the keyboard. Steve is running NASIS 3.02 on a SPARC 10 running SUN OS 4.13. We would appreciate hearing from anyone else who has experienced this or a similar problem. Please contact either Tammy or Steve at the Soils Hotline at (402) 437-5378 or (402) 437-5379. Thank you. ######################################################################## NASIS 3.1 TRAINING FOR PROJECT OFFICES NASIS 3.1 training for MLRA Region 10 soil survey project office staffs starts this month. So far this winter season, we have seven training sessions scheduled which will touch 34 soil scientists serving 11 project offices in four states. The intent of this introductory training is to expose each soil scientist to NASIS and give him/her an awareness of this tool for creating, developing, and editing soils data. At the end of this training, it is expected that at least one member of each soil survey party will become responsible for these tasks in NASIS. The soil scientists that will receive this 24 hour course have local access to the NASIS 3.1 system in the MLRA Region 10 office; they have received a tutorial and other materials to support the training and their post training editing. Space is limited in the scheduled training sessions, although most sessions could probably accommodate one more person if necessary. Also, participating in a joint session could be an opportunity to work with your peers from another state. However, if you need a separate session for your staff, contact John Handler at the MLRA Region 10 office. ######################################################################### NASIS ACCESS INSTRUCTIONS AVAILABLE A "Project Office Access to NASIS--MLRA Region 10 Instructions" is available for the asking. This is a detailed step by step set of access directions, including brief descriptions of the hardware and software needed. Project offices using or having access to a Pentium computer running on UNIXWARE or a DOS Windows operating system can possibly access NASIS. If you wish to find out, request a copy from John Handler or Rhonda Osterman at the MLRA Region 10 office. This set of instructions is currently being distributed as part of the materials associated with the NASIS training sessions. ######################################################################### FIRST MUG MANUSCRIPT PUBLISHED In November 1997 the soil survey report for McLeod County, Minnesota was published. It is always satisfying to see another soil survey report published. What makes this publication unique is that it is the first Map Unit Generator (MUG) manuscript published in Region 10. In Region 10 we have been using the MUG program to assist in the writing of soil survey manuscripts. The MUG program was developed in Montana by Mike Hansen. The program can generate map unit descriptions and some specialized manuscript tables in just a few minutes. Previously the writing of map unit descriptions could take a month or more of winter work. Since these descriptions are generated directly from the SSSD database (or in the future the NASIS database), they require very little editing or cross-checking. Editing is done to the database, not the map unit descriptions. The map units generated are in a semi-tabular format. The remainder of the tables in the MUG manuscript are generated using FOCS (or in the future using NASIS). The prewritten material is electronic word files that are generic for use in the region and require very little editing. The only sections requiring original writing are the taxonomic unit descriptions and self authored sections, such as formation of soils. MUG manuscripts are published in three parts. Part 1 contains the general map unit descriptions, taxonomic descriptions, and detailed map unit descriptions, Part 2 contains interpretations and management sections, and Part 3 consists of the maps. A three part manuscript allows for the updating of the interpretations, while the other parts remain unchanged. MUG manuscripts should fit well into Internet Web Page and CD-Rom formats. The time required for the technical review and English edit of these manuscripts by the Region 10 MLRA Office is significantly reduced. The McLeod manuscript was received for technical review in late 1995, so it has taken only about 2 years till it was published. Many of the manuscripts in Region 10 that are awaiting publication are in the MUG format, and all manuscripts being written presently and in the future will be in this format. Lynn DesLauriers Soil Specialist (Manuscripts) ######################################################################### CENTER OF EXCELLENCE ESTABLISHED Minnesota has entered into an agreement with the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in Cloquet to establish a Center of Excellence. The center, when fully operational, will work on soils map compilation activities in support of the national digitizing effort. ######################################################################### CHANGED ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS Please make the following changes to your MLRA Region 10 directory: 1. Janelle Jersey, Soil Scientist with the Roseau County MN soil survey staff, has accepted a position with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in New Mexico. 2. Donna Ferren's address and phone number was inadvertently omitted from the directory: Natural Resources Conservation Service 820 Industrial Drive, Suite 3 Sparta, Wisconsin 54656 1-608-269-4929 ######################################################################### ACTIVITY SCHEDULE (through February 15--subject to change) Jan 7-9 NASIS 3.1 Training--La Crosse County WI staff Handler Jan 12-16 National Soil Data Quality Specialists Meeting Giencke Handler Jan 20-21 DOS & Microsoft Office Training MO 10 staff Jan 26-28 NASIS 3.1 Training--Joint session with Dunn Handler County WI and Waseca County MN staffs DesLauriers Jan 26-30 MLRA 90 Steering Committee Meeting Giencke Jahnke Jan 26-30 MLRA Team Leaders Meeting McCloskey Feb 2-6 NASIS 3.1 Editing--Taylor County WI staff Handler Jahnke DesLauriers Feb 9-13 Hubbard County MN Final Correlation Giencke Feb 9-13 Menominee County WI Quality Assurance Visit Jahnke Feb 10-12 NASIS 3.1 Training--St. Louis County MN staffs Handler ######################################################################### CONTRIBUTIONS, IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, AND QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME. Please submit your items at least five days before the end of the month for inclusion in that month's newsletter. Otherwise it will appear the following month. Thanks to those individuals who participated this month. This newsletter is intended to be a forum to distribute information of a general nature that will benefit soil scientists in soil survey project offices. It is hoped that it will foster communications and sharing of knowledge among those soil scientists in MLRA Region 10. #########################################################################