Soil Resources Inventory

“As soils are depleted, human health, vitality and intelligence go with them.” - Louis Bromfield

Soil properties influence natural and cultural resources and the physical infrastructure in parks. Soil surveys provide an orderly, on-the-ground, scientific inventory of soil resources. The inventories include: maps of the locations and extent of soils, data about physical and chemical properties of those soils, and information derived from those data about potentialities and problems of use on each kind of soil.

Products
Products for the PACN are not yet available; they will include a digital soils layer, a corresponding set of soil attributes and interpretations in a National Soil Survey Information System (NASIS) format, a soil survey manuscript in both hardcopy and digital format, and a metadata file. Historic soil survey data can be found at:

• Soil Survey of the State of Hawaii
• Soil Survey for Pacific Basin
• Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) databases:
  • Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
  • Haleakala National Park
  • Kalaupapa National Historic Park
  • Kaloko Honokohau National Historic Park
  • Puuhonua o Honaunau National Historic Park
  • Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site
  • Territory of Guam
    

Reports:

• USDA 2008 Soil Survey of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, Hawaii

Status
Soil surveys for the PACN are in progress.

Useful Links:

• NPS I&M Soil Inventory Information
• NPS Soil Resources Information
• Natural Resources Conservation Service- Soils
• Natural Resources Conservation Service- Pacific Islands Area West
• Natural Resources Conservation Service - Hawaii
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service - Soil Data Mart

Acknowledgements
The I&M Program is completing soil surveys through agreements with other federal agencies such as the Natural Resources Conservation Service and with private contractors.