MLRA REGION 10 NEWSLETTER--MAY 1, 1999 SAFETY IN SOIL PITS AND OTHER INVESTIGATIVE EXCAVATIONS Everyone of us has heard of an accident resulting from a cave-in during an excavation. When I think of all the instances, that I have been in soil pits, it is amazing that I have not been witness to an accident. I am sure that most soil scientists can make the same claim. Many have also ushered thousands of others into pits as well, including lots of students. Their safety must also be of paramount concern. We need to from time to time, step back and think about the safety concerns relating to excavations. With the need for more detailed information, in soil survey updates, we are digging more and more excavations with backhoes, the need for safety is becoming more and more necessary. Pits are required for soil judging, envirothons and other educational activities. Safety in digging these pits must be a strong consideration. In the OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Standards and Specifications, there are specific regulations regarding safety for excavations. These standards can be reached at the following links: http://www.osha-slc.gov/dts/osta/otm/otm_v/otm_v_2.html http://www.osha-slc.gov/SLTC/trenchingexcavation/index.html Take a look, there is alot of good information there. The National Soil Survey enter is also working on specificationsfor excavating safe pits. The information should be routed nationally in the near future. Please remember always have safety on your mind, when dealing with any type of backhoe excavation. Contributed by: Jon Hempel ######################################################################### HUMMINGBIRD'S EXCEED Y2K COMPLIANT VERSIONS We recently received an inquiry as to which versions of Hummingbird's Exceed software are y2k compliant. You can get this information from Exceed's home page. The website at "http://www.hummingbird.com/products/y2k_nc.html" shows which versions of Exceed are compliant and which versions need patches installed to be y2k compliant. From: Tammy Cheever NASIS Hotline hotline@nssc.nrcs.usda.gov 402-437-5378 or 5379 * * * * * To find out which version of Hummingbird Exceed you are running, 1. Right mouse click the small "Exceed" icon on your Windows taskbar. 2. Scroll to "Help", then "About Exceed"; left mouse click. (The above worked for my version.) John Handler ######################################################################### INTERNATIONAL SOILS CONFERENCE Following is a reminder of the Second Approximation, International Conference on Soil Resources, to be held June 10-12 in Minneapolis. This conference, co-organized by the University of Minnesota Department of Soil, Water, & Climate; NRCS; and NCR-3 Agricultural Experiment Station Research Committee, is one of the many activities promoting the Soil Survey Centennial in 1999. * * * * * The Second Approximation Conference on Soil Resources: Their Inventory, Analysis, and Interpretation for Use in the 21st Century June 10-12 1999 Thunderbird Hotel Minneapolis, Minnesota 1:00 pm Thursday June 10 Through 12 pm June 12 Conference Web site: http://soil.resources.umn.edu/99conf Co-Organized by University of Minnesota, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate U. S. Department of Agriculture - Natural Resources Conservation Service NCR-3 Agricultural Experiment Station Regional Research Committee Conference Aim Soil Survey in the United States will celebrate its centennial in 1999. A number of activities will take place in 1999. The aim of this second conference is to provide a vision of the potentials and needs for soil resource assessment in the 21st century. Who Should Attend: Researchers, students, and other professionals involved in soil survey and related soil resource assessment activities. Conference speakers and poster presenters are from universities, public agencies, and private industry from several countries. Registration forms can be downloaded at: http://soil.resources.umn.edu/99conf Registration Fees: Early Registration (before May 15, 1999) - $225 Regular Registration (after May 15, 1999) - $275 Invited Speakers - $100 Includes Conference Registration Symposium Proceedings 2 Breakfasts, Luncheon, Banquet, and all breaks Lodging A block of rooms has been reserved until May 27, 1999 at the Thunderbird Hotel, Minneapolis (Bloomington) Minnesota by the Mall of America. Make your reservations by calling the hotel directly at: (612) 854-3411 or 1-800-328-1931 Please identify yourself as attending the Soil Resource Conference. Room Rates are: $94 per night for single or double plus 13% room tax Program Committee J. Bell, Chairperson, DSWC J. Anderson, DSWC T. Cooper, DSWC D. Grigal, DSWC K. Matzdorf, USDA-NRCS, St. Paul E. Nater, DSWC P. Robert, DSWC DSWC - Department of Soil Water and Climate, University of Minnesota For more information regarding the technical program please contact: Dr. Jay Bell, Program Chair E-mail jay.bell@soils.umn.edu Phone: (612) 625-6703 Fax (612) 624-4223 For registration information contact: Tracey Benson, Program Coordinator Email: tbenson@extension.umn.edu Phone: (612) 624-3708 or 800-367-5363 (US and Canada only) FAX: (612) 625-2207 The University of Minnesota is committed to the policy that all persons shall have equal access to its programs, facilities and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, age, marital status, disability, public assistance, veteran status, or sexual orientation. -- Contributed by: Jay Bell email: jay.bell@soils.umn.edu Associate Professor Voice: 612-625-6703 Department of Soil, Water, and Climate Fax: 612-624-4223 University of Minnesota http://www.soils.agri.umn.edu St. Paul, MN 55108-6028 * * * * * Following is a preliminary agenda: Thursday PM 1:00 Convene - Introduction - Jay Bell Welcome - William Hunt, Minnesota State Conservationist, NRCS Soil Interpretations for the 21st Century 1:15 Keynote Address: THE STRENGTH OF THE PAST IS THE KEY TO THE FUTURE - Johan Bouma. Scientific Council for Government Policy in the Netherlands and Soils Dept., Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands 2:00 Land Ethic and Assessment - Native American Perspective - Jack Briggs, President; Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, Cloquet, Minnesota. 2:30 Urban Stormwater Runoff in the Ozark Border: A Soil-Geomorphology-Based Zoning Matrix and Watershed Rehabilitation Study in Soil Use - David Hammer, Department of Soil and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Missouri. 3:00 AFTERNOON BREAK 3:15 Soil Interpretations for Forestry - Jim Berger, Department of Forestry, Virginia Tech 3:45 Soil Variability Analysis to Enhance Crop Production - R. L. McNeil, B. D. Walker, M.R. Johnson and R.A. MacMillan. LandWise Inc., Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. 4:15 Soil Interpretations for Environmental Assessments - Paul Brandt, EarthTech, Melrose, Minnesota. 4:45 Posters / Cash Bar Friday AM 7:15 CONTENIAL BREAKFAST Allied Technologies for Soil Resource Assessment 8:00 Use of Remote Sensing in Soil Survey - G.W. Petersen , E. Nizeyimana, and E.M. Warner. Agronomy Department, The Pennsylvania State University. 8:30 Sensors for Field Assessment of Soil Characteristics - John Baker, USDA-ARS, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate; University of Minnesota 9:00 The Role of Geographic Information Systems in Soil Resource Assessment. - J. C. Bell1, M. Krusemark1, D. Wheeler1, and G. Larson2; 1Department of Soil, Water, and Climate; University of Minnesota and 2Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources 9:30 Information Management - To be announced 10:00 MORNING BREAK Innovative Methodologies of Soil Resource Assessment 10:15 Time Trends of Soil Property Changes Using Soil Survey Reports - M. Singer and Y. O'Quinn. Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources, University of California, Davis. 10:45 The Information Content of Digital Soil Maps - Alex. B. McBratney and T.F.A. Bishop. Department of Agricultural Chemistry & Soil Science, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia 11:15 Quantitative Soil-Landscape Modeling - Paul Gessler, Department of Forest Resources; University of Idaho. 11:45 Evolving Representations of Soil-Landscape Variability - Larry Wilding and Mike Golden, Department of Soil and Crop Sciences, Texas A&M University and USDA-NRCS, Temple, Texas. 12:15 LUNCHEON Friday PM The National Cooperative Soil Survey / Pedological Education 1:15 The National Cooperative Soil Survey in the 21st Century - Horace Smith, Director Soil Survey Division, USDA-NRCS, Washington DC 1:45 We Offer Quality, Service, and Price (Pick two of the three) - Robert McCleese, USDA-NRCS, Illinois 2:15 Training the Next Generation of Pedologists - Kevin McSweeney, Department of Soil Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison 2:45 The Licensing of Our Profession: The Importance of Soil Science Education - James Balogh, Spectrum Research, Inc. Duluth, Minnesota. 3:15 Posters (Authors Present) - 50+ 5:00 CASH BAR 6:00 BANQUET in honor of Dr. Richard Rust; Professor Emeritus; Department of Soil, Water, and Climate; University of Minnesota. Saturday AM 7:15 CONTENIAL BREAKFAST Innovative Approaches to Detailed and Multi-Scale Soil Mapping 8:00 New Technologies for Detailed Mapping - Pierre Robert, Department of Soil, Water, and Climate. University of Minnesota. 8:30 New York City Soil Survey Program: An Urban Mapping Approach to the New Millennium. - L.A. Hernadez and T. M. Goddard. USDA-NRCS, Staten Island, New York. 9:00 Pedological Basis for Revised Soil Mapping Procedures - T. Keck, M. Hansen, and G. A. Nielsen. USDA-NRCS, Montana and Department of Land Resources and Environmental Science, University of Montana. 9:30 Developing a Multi-Scale, Open-Ended Soil Inventory of the Grand Staircase - Escalante National Monument - J. L. Boettinger, R.R. Gillies, W. Broderson, S. Kienast, and R. Jaros. Department of Plants, Soils, and Biometeorology. Utah State University. 10:00 MORNING BREAK Soil Resource Inventories for Specialized Purposes: Needs and Approaches 10:15 Estimating Original Site Hydrology from Landscape and Soil Features for Wetland Restoration - J. L. Richardson1, C. Feigum1, D. Hopkins1, R. G. Eilers2, G. W.Hurt3 and Michael Murphy4. 1Soils Science Department, North Dakota State University; 2Agriculture Canada, Ellis Bldg., Univ. of Manitoba, Canada; 3NRCS, Soils Science Dept. Univ. of Florida; 4Fish and Wildlife Service, Hamden Slough NWR, Audubon, Minnesota. 10:45 Application of Soil Survey to Surface Mining and Reclamation - John Sencindiver1, W. Lee Daniels2 and Robert Darmody3, 1Division of Plant and Soil Sciences. West Virginia University, 2Department of Crop and Soil Environmental Sciences, Virginia Tech, and 3 Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois. 11:15 Soil Surveys: A Window to Subsurface Materials - Doug. Wysocki, USDA-NRCS National Soil Survey Center; Lincoln, Nebraska. 11:45 Measurement and Modeling of Spatially Distributed Ecological Processes -Oliver Chadwick, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara 12:15 Closing Remarks - Jay Bell 12:30 ADJOURN -- Contributed by: Jay Bell email: jay.bell@soils.umn.edu Associate Professor Voice: 612-625-6703 Department of Soil, Water, and Climate Fax: 612-624-4223 University of Minnesota http://www.soils.agri.umn.edu St. Paul, MN 55108-6028 ######################################################################### USING NASIS FROM REMOTE SITES From: Marc Crouch I pretty much already know the answer to this question. However, I would like to get more national feedback. I work in Richmond VA as a remote site into the Raliegh MO NASIS server. I can work merrilly along, at a speed very close to what I would experience if I was within the Raliegh system, until about 10:00-10:30 AM. Then it noticably starts to slow. 9 days out of 10, it grinds down to 2-3 second keystroke delays and equally drawn out delays in all processes by 11:00-12:00 noon, at which point it is too frustrating to continue. I cannot imagine what it is like for someone in a field office with slower modems. We have checked out both routers (with Onnet ping) in Raliegh and Richmond and both are not constricted at the time of use. It is obviously the traffic out on the hub as it increases during the day and really balloons as the lunch time crowd gets on starting in the east and moving west with the time difference. We understand that there are two hubs, one in Washington DC and one in Colorado. One question is whether the West has it better than the East. So the question of the day is: What are your experiences or the experiences of those you work with who are remote users? * * * * * From: Sue Southard We have variable success in MO2. All of the SDQS are located here in Davis and we are able to work on NASIS in lightning speed. I love it. However, in the survey offices it varies...We have found that keeping their selected sets as small as possible when editing data helps, but if they attempt a large SAVE they can get timed out of LANWAN and lose everything. An option is to PING. For entering/editing NASIS data we are doing "ok" but it's not great. I wouldn't be able to stand it if I was in the field however. For large reports, such as all the new interpretation reports from NASIS, I've been running them here and sending the ouput to the field for review via snail mail. Not exactly how I envisioned this working, but we have to do something inorder to meet our soil survey obligations. * * * * * From: Al Giencke Marc, we have just installed a 512KB line to our server here in MO10. That has dramatically speeded up our connection to other MO's when we are remote users on their server. Our old line was a 64KB line. We have DXPC and Ping operating at our remote soil survey offices. They seem to have acceptable speeds most of the time. Sometimes in the afternoon they slow down to a crawl and complain a bit. Sometimes it operates slower all day for no known reason other than the presumed traffic on the internet lines. AL GIENCKE REGION 10 Correlator/PSS Phone=612-602-7863 USDA-NRCS Internet=al.giencke@mn.usda.gov 375 Jackson St.-Suite 600 Fax=612-602-7914 St. Paul, MN 55101 VOICE COM 1-800-602-7863 Box 7863 * * * * * From: Shawn M. Finn (sfinn@ma.nrcs.usda.gov) The feedback I've been getting from the field, including some SO's is that generally the mornings are acceptable, but as you move into the afternoon things slow down. Performance can be variable. Recent experience from a project office showed a 3 or more second delay in keystrokes alone, not to mention graphics. I have connected from a PO during a review (in the AM) and it has been almost instantaneous to a 2 or 3 second delay (in that particuler case with no DXPC). Time of day seems to be the big factor. SO connections are, as you might expect, better. Most report acceptable speeds and one SO location reports very good speed most of the time. DXPC is loaded in most cases. Most PO's have been Lan-Wan'ed. My understanding is that we are connected through the Washington hub on LWV. We have also been recently upgraded substantially on our outgoing line. ######################################################################### COMPUTER ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE If you have a need for assistance with DOS WORD, Internet, or other related items, I am available to provide some pointers in these areas. If you would like me to come to your office, send a request (via email) to Joe McCloskey (joe.mccloskey@mn.usda.gov) with items you could use assistance with and we'll set something up. Rhonda Osterman Secretary Region 10 MLRA Office ######################################################################### WEB SITES OF INTEREST http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/soildiv/sslists/sslisthome.html List of published soil surveys. Includes a national map, prototypes of on-line soil survey manuscripts, and guides for the editing and publishing of soil survey reports. http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/soils/nssc/explorer/soilex.htm Soils Explorer--a digitial soil map viewer for SSURGO on CD-ROM. http://nsscnt.nssc.nrcs.usda.gov/nfm National Forestry Manual ######################################################################### Last month, the following x3780 files were sent to offices having SSSD: x3780.415frig on Apr 08 & 12 (75 updated OSDs) @ x3780.417frig on Apr 16 (74 updated OSDs) @ x3780.416mes on Apr 20 ( 1 updated OSD ) * @ Sent to offices using soils in the frigid soil temperature regime. * Sent to offices using soils in the mesic soil temperature regime. # Sent to all offices. The above x3780s contained the following updated Official Series Descriptions, which can also be obtained at: http://www.statlab.iastate.edu/cgi-bin/osd/osdname.cgi frigid: alpena...annalake...bemidji...birchlake...brennyvill...caryville...cress ...cromwell...duelm...dunnville...fenwood...flak...flambeau...frechette ...freeon...froberg...garnes...gichigami...glendennin...goodland...grasston ...greatscott...growton...grytal...halder...hantho...hatley...haugen... hayriver...haystore...hetland...heyder...hibbing...hiles...hillcity... holdingfor...hubbard...huntersvil...ingalls...itasca...jewett...johnswood ...kandota...karlstad...kennan...kert...keshena...kooch...kost...langlade ...leaflake...leander...lengby...lida...longsiding...loxley...loyal... magnor...magroc...mahkonce...maplehurst...marathon...marquette...meadland ...mequithy...milaca...milladore...millward...miskoaki...moodig... moosecreek...mora...moranville...morcom...moshawquit...nadeau...nary... nashwauk..naytahwaus...nebish...neopit...nickin...nitche...northland... northmound...novak...nunica...odanah...oesterle...ontonagon...ossmer... otterholt...padus...padwet...pemene...perote...peshtigo...plover...point ...pomroy...poskin...potagannis...potatolake...quarderer...rabe...redeye ...ribhll...ribriver...ricelake...rietbrock...rockbottom...rockwood... rosholt...rosy...rozellvill...rudyard...sanborg...sanburn...santiago... satago...scoba...sconsin...scott_lake...sissabagam...skime...snellman... soderville...sol...spear...spencer...steamboat...sugarbush...sundell... suomi...sybil...taylor...thistledew...tilleda...toimi...tourtillot... two_inlets...warba...watton...waukon...wickware...withee...worcester... wykeham...zerkel mesic: greenbush ######################################################################## CHANGED ADDRESSES AND PHONE NUMBERS 1. Bob Dideriksen's new email address: robert.dideriksen@ia.nrcs.usda.gov ######################################################################### ACTIVITY SCHEDULE (through June 15--subject to change) MLRA DATE ACTIVITY LOCATION MO 10 STAFF ---- --------- ---------------------------- ----------------- ----------- 104 May 24-29 Progress Field Review Blackhawk Hempel 105 Jun 07-11 Initial Field Review Richland Jahnke all Jun 01-03 Town Hall Meeting Davenport McCloskey Walker Hempel all Jun 10-12 MO Leaders' Meeting Anchorage McCloskey ######################################################################### CONTRIBUTIONS, IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, AND QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME Thanks to those individuals who participated this month. It is your efforts that are making this newsletter a success. * * * * * Please submit your articles at least five days before the end of the month for inclusion in the following month's newsletter. Otherwise it will appear the following month. Occasionally, due to other workload demands, it may be an additional month before the article appears. Generally, articles are inserted in the order they are received. Articles in an electronic format can be submitted to: jfh@mn.nrcs.usda.gov It is best if electronic articles are prepared in a "text only" format. Articles in a paper format can be sent or faxed to: John Handler MLRA Region 10 Office USDA - NRCS 375 Jackson Street - Suite 600 St. Paul, Minnesota 55101-1854 FAX: 1-651-602-7914 * * * * * 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. * * * * * The format of this newsletter is intentionally simple so that it can be received, read, and printed by the project office having the least sophisticated computer setup. #########################################################################