Jamaica Bay Coastal Zone Soil Survey — Urban Soils Institute

USDA-NRCS Publishes Soils Data for Jamaica Bay in New York City

NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — USDA–Natural Resources Conservation Service has completed a coastal zone soil survey (CZSS) for Jamaica Bay in New York City. Jamaica Bay is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area and one of the most ecologically sensitive urban estuaries on the eastern seaboard. NRCS soil scientists partnered with many cooperators to complete the work, including Brooklyn College, New York City Soil & Water Conservation District, National Park Service, New York City Urban Soils Institute, and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (UMASS). The Jamaica Bay CZSS is available online through the Web Soil Survey, which is operated by the USDA-NRCS and provides access to the largest natural resource information system in the world.

CZSS is a seamless data set of soil information that encompasses inland soils, tidal marshes, and shallow subaqueous soils. Subaqueous soils are permanently covered by water. CZSS provides properties and characteristics of soils from the soil surface to a depth of approximately 2 meters (6 feet).

Subaqueous soils are a record of past climatic events and provide information about what may happen to our terrestrial soils as they become submerged by the sea level rise. Jamaica Bay CZSS will provide crucial information to help manage and protect the estuary. Data such as spatial mapping, tabular soil properties and characteristics, and soil interpretations are widely recognized as vital for mitigating hazards, creating resources inventories, guiding restoration efforts, and tracking environmental changes.

Like terrestrial or traditional soil surveys, coastal areas are best inventoried using the well- established standards, techniques, and protocols created by the National Cooperative Soil Survey (NCSS). As a member of the NCSS, NRCS is the lead Federal agency for mapping and interpreting our nation’s soil resources, including in our coastal zone areas. Mapping soil involves fieldwork by a soil scientist who traverses the landscape digging many holes to observe the soil conditions to map out the changes in soil types. Subaqueous soil mapping is performed the same way, except the soil is under water. Instead of topographic maps to provide landscape position, subaqueous soil mapping uses topo bathymetric maps to identify landscapes and landforms. Special tools such as peat corers and vibracores are used to obtain soil samples.

NRCS supports rigorous scientific content from field data gathering and research, diverse and uniquely effective partnerships, and modern techniques to produce spatial and tabular seamless soil surveys as well as the timely distribution of the data to all users. NRCS knows that more refined and detailed scientifically based coastal zone soil mapping, data, and interpretations are achievable. The collaborative, goal-oriented Jamaica Bay project addresses the soil data needs of conservation planners, natural resource managers, engineers, and scientists. It will also benefit emerging issues such as climate change, coastal resiliency, estuary restoration, watershed use planning, and environmental literacy. Baseline coastal zone soil survey data is already guiding the protection, conservation, and management of our nearshore coastal waters and natural resources.

The completion of the Jamaica Bay CZSS project is the culmination of years of work, which began in 2004 when NRCS soil scientists worked with the National Park Service and a graduate student to collect 75 subaqueous soil cores in a limited area of the estuary. Under the leadership of Soil Survey Regional Director Luis Hernandez, efforts were restarted in 2017 to complete the CZSS of Jamaica Bay. Soil scientists from the soil survey office in Tolland, Conn., began planning meetings and obtaining permits with the National Park Service and other cooperators. With permits approved, targeted subaqueous landforms identified, and logistics planned (no small task in New York City), fieldwork commenced in June of 2018. The field crew consisted of NRCS soil scientists from Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York and staff from the NYC Urban Soils Institute.

A total of 30 subaqueous soil cores were taken using a vibracore on a pontoon boat owned by NRCS. The soil cores were then transported to UMASS Amherst, where they were frozen until they could be described and sampled. Soil scientists completed detailed soil descriptions and sampling protocols on the 30 soil profiles (180 soil horizons). The soil samples were then shipped to the Kellogg Soil Survey Lab (KSSL) in Lincoln, Neb., for a full characterization analysis.

After the soil samples were described and analyzed, MLRA Soil Survey Project Leader Donald Parizek used GIS mapping techniques to digitize a coastal zone soil survey map of Jamaica Bay. The digitized map matches the soils to the subaqueous landforms, and the properties and qualities of the sampled soils were populated in the National Soil Information System (NASIS). NASIS is a specialized tool NRCS uses to manage soil survey data throughout all stages of soil survey, from the collection of data to publication of information.

The Jamaica Bay CZSS and corresponding KSSL laboratory data are available to the public at websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov.

For more information about soils, visit soils.usda.gov.

###

PHOTOS — Contact kristina.wiley@usda.gov for high-resolution files.