Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Introductions and Agency Reports Meeting was called to order at 8:00 am on June 26 by Chair, Terry Cooper. Terry distributed an agenda. Minutes from the 2005 meeting were approved as distributed. State reports will be distributed with the minutes. Administrative Advisor's Report (Gerald Miller) " G. Miller distributed the NCRA Impact Statement for NCERA-3. " The Midterm Review is due after the NCERA-3 Meeting. Mickey Ransom and Del Mokma will assist Jerry in preparing a Progress Report for the Midterm Review. Citations for publications, not just numbers, from the past two years must be included. " Jerry discussed status of the USDA-CSREES FY07 budget. " Deans and Directors are working to create a new funding mechanism (Create 21) within USDA that combines CSREES, NASS, ERS, and ARS. The proposal includes a position of Chief Scientist. The position will report directly to the Secretary of Agriculture. The goals are to raise visibility and double funding over a 7 year period. The website is: http://www.create-21.org/ USDA-NRCS Report (Bob Ahrens) " NRCS is reorganizing the Soil Survey Program " A feasibility study is being conducted to determine if the private sector can do the work of the Soil Survey Center. " Ag Handbook 296 Major Land Areas was revised and is available on the web. The website is: http://www.soils.usda.gov/survey/geography/mlra/index.html " Field Indicators of Hydric Soils, version 6.0 is being revised. The list of indicators will be reduced dramatically. " A new edition of Keys to Soil Taxonomy will be published by Pocahontas Press " Nineteen requests have been made for scan sites (soil temperature and soil moisture) " Eleven formal training classes were scheduled. " NRCS will accept proposals from universities wishing to host future Soil Science Institutes (on-campus training for NRCS field soil scientists) " Benchmark Soils will be revised. Gaps must be filled. University data will supplement NRCS data. NCSS Liaison Report (Maxine Levin) " The Northeast Soil Survey Committee has a funded multistate project that concerns water issues. " The West Soil Survey Committee has submitted a multistate funded project based on climate issues. " The South Soil Survey Committee has no funded project but is working to develop a proposal. " The next National Soil Survey Conference will be in Minneapolis, Minnesota in June 2007. Old Business Effects of Management on Soils Committee - Ken Olson " Proposed changes for eroded conditions to Soil Taxonomy were rejected. " Two papers were published in Soil Survey Horizons. " New alternatives are being explored. " Neil Smeck will present one of the alternatives in the Keynote Address at the North Central Regional Soil Survey Conference. Education and Training Committee - Mickey Ransom " No report " Terry Cooper agreed to take over as Chair of the committee. He will conduct a survey during the fall that will obtain data on education and training needs. High Intensity Soil Survey Committee - Phillip Owens " A symposium was organized for the Soil Science Society of America Meeting in 2006 at Indianapolis. Soil Research and Interpretations Committee - Cindy Stiles " A survey will be sent to NCERA-3 members and to other regional soil survey committees. " A similar survey was sent to academic cooperators, state soil scientists, and field soil scientists. A summary was included in the North Central Regional Soil Survey Conference notebook. See Attachment 1. Ken Olson (IL) was elected secretary for 2007. The secretary for 2008 will be Dave Hopkins. Kansas will be the next host for the 2008 North Central Soil Survey Conference. New Business Dave Hopkins and Mickey Ransom will be the NCERA-3 representatives to the National Soil Survey Conference in 2007. Mickey Ransom and Bryan Slater (OH) will be the representatives for the 2009 Conference. The history of NCR-3/NCERA-3 will be published in the Fall 2006 issue of Soil Survey Horizons. Education and training of soil scientists were discussed. Are we meeting the needs of NRCS? Field trips and laboratories are important to stakeholders. Soil judging is a very important activity that is enjoyed by students and was a turning point for career selection. The changes in soil science programs at each university were discussed. In general, there is a reduction in numbers of soil science students, faculty, and funding. Many universities have moved to the business model where outside funding, student credit hours, publications and citations are used to evaluate programs. Regional Soil Map " Electronic version of the regional soil map is available from Tom Fenton (tefenton@iastate.edu). " Research and Interpretations Committee should consider use of this map " This map should be put on the NIMMS website. Cindy will work to make it more user friendly and Jerry will put it on the website, when available. Mickey Ransom noted the passing of Dr. Orville E. Bidwell, Professor Emeritus at Kansas State University, on June 5, 2006. Orville was a long-term member of NCR-3. Meeting adjourned at 12:00 noon Meeting Reconvened 7:30 am on Thursday June 29. Bob Ahrens was absent. Jerry discussed the House Soils Caucus. Multistate projects were discussed. They are the objective 2 of NCERA-3. Human impacts on the soil resource in the region could be determined using the regional soil map. " Loss of prime farmland. " Soil erosion " Soil drainage " Loss of wetlands This topic was referred to the Soil Research and Interpretations Committee. Multistate field soils courses were discussed. " Such courses would be multistate, not necessarily regional " Summer semester " Rotate from state to state This topic was referred to the Education and Training Committee. Phil Owens and Cindy Stiles will lead the development of a NCERA-3 proposal. A resolution was passed to express appreciation to Neil Smeck for his many years of service to NCR-3/NCERA-3. The 2007 meeting of NCERA-3 will be in conjunction with the National Soil Survey Conference in Bloomington, MN in late June. The 2008 meeting will be in conjunction with the North Central Regional Soil Survey Conference in Kansas. Meeting adjourned 8:30 am. Approved: Signed: Del Mokma 9/06/2006 Del Mokma Date NCERA-3 Secretary 2006 Signed: Gerald Miller 9/06/2006 Gerald Miller Date NCR-3 Administrative Advisor 2006

See Meeting minutes

Olson, K.R., T.E. Fenton, N.E. Smeck, R.D. Hammer, M.D. Ransom, C.W. Zanner, R. McLeese, and M.T. Sucik. 2005. Identification, mapping, classification, and interpretation of eroded Mollisols in the U.S. Midwest. Soil Survey Horizons 46:23-35. Olson, K.R., T.E. Fenton, N.E. Smeck, R.D. Hammer, M.D. Ransom, C.W. Zanner, R. McLeese, and M.T. Sucik. 2005. Proposed modifications of mollic epipedon thickness criteria for eroded conditions and potential impacts on existing soil classifications. Soil Science Society of America. Soil Survey Horizons 46:39-47. Joeckel, R.M., Ang Clement, B., and Van Fleet, L.R., 2005, Sulfate mineral crusts, pyrite weathering, and acid rock drainage in the Dakota Formation and Graneros Shale (Cretaceous), Jefferson County, Nebraska. Chemical Geology v. 215, p. 433-452. Joeckel, R.M. and Ang Clement, B J., 2005, Soils, Surficial Geology, and Geomicrobiology of Saline-Sodic Wetlands, North Platte River Valley, Nebraska, USA. Catena v. 61, p. 63-101. Amundson, T. A, and D. G. Hopkins. 2005 Establishing a baseline for soil organic carbon on the Glacial Ridge Restoration Project. Second International Water Conference, April 6-7th, Winnipeg, MB Steele D. D. and D. G. Hopkins. 2005. Devils Lake Basin: A year of accomplishments. 42nd Annual Joint North Dakota Water Convention and Irrigation Expo. December 8th, Bismarck, ND Doolittle J. A., B. Jenkinson, D. Hopkins, M.Ulmer, and W. Tuttle. 2006. Hydropedological investigations with ground-penetrating radar (GPR): Estimating water-table depths and local ground water flow pattern in areas of coarse-textured soils. Geoderma 131:317-329.