NRCS MO–15 News

The Coastal Plainer is our newsletter.  It is now published twice a year and includes articles of interest to NRCS employees and participants in the National Cooperative Soil Survey.

A new flier promoting Technical Soil Services is available. Technical soil services are the presentation and application of soil survey information to users. Soil scientists help users to understand the soil survey, to apply soil information to specific needs, and to integrate soil survey information with other resources and technology. Technical soil services include the derivation and application of soil information to meet USDA and NRCS policy and program needs. Technical soil services are cooperative efforts of the National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS).

The MO–15 business plan for fiscal year 2008 is now available online.

The Web Soil Survey provides public access to official soil data across the country.  In the MO–15 states, spatial and/or tabular data are available for 67 survey areas in Alabama, 6 survey areas in the Caribbean, 68 survey areas in Florida, 95 survey areas in Georgia, 63 survey areas in Louisiana, 82 survey areas in Mississippi, and 92 survey areas in Tennessee.  The Web Soil Survey also includes links to complete text and finished maps from published surveys for the following survey areas in the MO–15 states.
Alabama: Baldwin County, Barbour County, Butler County, Calhoun County, Chambers County, Cherokee County, Choctaw County, Clarke County, Cleburn County, Colbert County, Conecuh County, Covington County, Crenshaw County, Cullman County, Dale County, De Kalb County, Elmore County, Fayette County, Franklin County, Greene County, Hale County, Houston County, Jackson County, Jefferson County, Lauderdale County, Lawrence County, Lee County, Limestone County, Macon County, Madison County, Marengo County, Marshall County, Monroe County, Montgomery County, Morgan County, Perry County, Pickens County, Russell County, St. Clair County, Shelby County, Sumter County, Tallapoosa County, Walker County, and Wilcox County.
Caribbean Area: Arecibo Area of Northern Puerto Rico, Caribbean National Forest of Puerto Rico, Humacao Area of Puerto Rico, Lajas Valley Area of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Area of Western Puerto Rico, Ponce Area of Southern Puerto Rico, San Juan Area of Puerto Rico, and The Virgin Islands of the United States.
Florida: Big Cypress Indian Reservation, Bradford County, Calhoun County, Charlotte County, Dade County, Dixie County, Escambia County, Gadsden County, Glades County, Gulf County, Hamilton County, Hendry County, Hernando County, Holmes County, Jefferson County, Lake County, Liberty County, Nassau County, Ocala National Forest Area, Okeechobee County, Orange County, Okaloosa County, Pinellas County, Putnam County Area, St. Johns County, Santa Rosa County, Suwannee County, Taylor County, Wakulla County, and Walton County.
Georgia: Atkinson, Bacon, and Coffee Counties; Baker and Mitchell Counties; Bleckley, Dodge, and Telfair Counties; Burke County; Butts County; Catoosa County; Chattahoochee and Marion Counties; Chattooga, Floyd, and Polk Counties; Cherokee, Gilmer, and Pickens Counties; Clay and Quitman Counties; Clayton, Fayette, and Henry Counties; Decatur County; Emanuel County; Forsyth County; Fulton County; Grady County; Lamar, Pike, and Upson Counties; Lincoln and Wilkes Counties; Murray and Whitfield Counties; Newton and Rockdale Counties; Pulaski and Wilcox Counties; Randolph County; Walton County; and Worth County.
Louisiana: Arcadia Parish, Avoyelles Parish, Bienville Parish, Calcasieu Parish, Caldwell Parish, Cameron Parish, Catahoula Parish, Evangeline Parish, Grant Parish, Iberia Parish, Iberville Parish, Jefferson Davis Parish, Lafourche Parish, Madison Parish, Morehouse Parish, Nachitoches Parish, Ouachita Parish, Rapides Parish, Richland Parish, St. Landry Parish, St. Martin Parish, St. Mary Parish, St. Tammany Parish, Tensas Parish, Terrebonne Parish, and West Carroll Parish.
Mississippi: Bolivar County, Choctaw County, Copiah County, De Soto County, Hinds County, Jackson County, Lamar County, Leflore County, Lincoln County, Madison County, Marion County, Newton County, Oktibbeha County, Rankin County, Stone County, and Warren County.

A state soil is represented by a soil series that has special significance to a particular state. Each state in the United States has selected a state soil, 15 of which have been legislatively established. These "Official State Soils" share the same level of distinction as official state flowers and birds. Also, representative soils have been selected for Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.