You want to build a house and need to know if the land is suitable. Or maybe you'd like to know which grasses, shrubs and trees would thrive there. Which vegetables will be most fruitful?
Let's say you're a farmer and you're thinking about renting neighboring farmland to grow crops and hay. Which fields might be best suited for growing corn, soybeans and alfalfa?
You can find answers to such questions in a soil survey.
Why a soil survey?
Soil is a mixture of mineral and organic matter, air, water and living things. There are about 500 different soils in Virginia.
A soil survey, made on a county basis, is a scientific inventory of these soils. This inventory includes maps that show soil's location and type, detailed descriptions of each soil and laboratory data on many physical and chemical properties of the soil. The data can be used to make decisions on how to use the land.
Homebuyers and owners can avoid costly mistakes by using soil surveys. These surveys show the extent and hazards of flood-prone areas, give the amount of sand, silt and clay in soil, and rate the shrinking and swelling potential of soils high in clay content. They also detail erodibility, slope, permeability, wetness, depth to bedrock and water tables to determine, for example, whether a septic tank absorption field can be safely installed.
Planners and engineers can also use this information in evaluating soil problems along with other land use alternatives in choosing the best sites for highways, shopping centers, subdivisions and other facilities of urban and industrial development.
Farmers can use survey information to identify important agricultural land and to decide which conservation methods will keep it in high production.
Soil surveys also offer valuable planning information to:
Getting a soil survey
You can check which counties have published soil surveys or digital versions of the soil
layer by visiting DCR's soil survey status database. Completed soil surveys are available from your local USDA Natural Resources Conservation Servic or local soil and water conservation district office. Many libraries keep their locality's soil survey.
As well, there are digital versions of soils many counties. These also can be obtained from the NRCS. In some cases, soils information is available digitally only in raster (cell) form from DCR. You will need a geographic information system (GIS) to use the digital soils.
