Do soils exist in the city?
Just a few years back, the common answer to this question was, “No.”
Although it is still hard to convince most people that cities do indeed have soils that are a valuable resource to our health and environment, there is an increased general understanding that soils are just as much a part of the urban landscape as sidewalks. But this ‘concept’ is still fairly new.
Believe it or not, soils are all around us. If we don’t see them, we know they are underfoot. Even the covered up soils have function and value.
Soil Surveys are people’s tools and big reveals. Getting to know your soils is about getting to know a part of what makes up you and your world. How we learn about soils—what they are, what they do, and how they do it—starts with looking at their development and inherent characteristics, all part of a formal soil survey and the soil profiles it contains.
Soils inherent characteristics and development process is akin to Similar to how we get to know and understand someone by learning about the person’s background, or how a doctor begins a patient’s visit by learning more about the patient’s medical history and lifestyle.
The soil survey is a helpful starting point in getting to know our soils.
What is a soil survey?
USDA-NRCS definition
A soil survey is a detailed report on the soils of an area. The soil survey has maps with soil boundaries and photos, descriptions, and tables of soil properties and features. Soil surveys are used by farmers, real estate agents, land use planners, engineers and others who desire information about the soil resource.
To understand soils, their ecosystem services and benefits (perhaps link to another blog, or a paper, or USI digest on what this is-should be covered in blog “nature as a force”. Ecosystem services, especially in the urban context, are still very exploratory -not in terms of actual ecological productivity-it exists no matter what, what is exploratory is interpreting it as a service/benefit to us-in the urban setting, and what that means in terms of accepting and incorporating true ecologically sound landscapes into the city. Soil surveys are starting to identify ‘ecosystem benefits” in their offered information, so that the inherent wealth of services are better interpreted and appreciated by the user) . An interesting topic, as it can be very scientific, or very sociological) and functional capacities (Rich could offer a quick write up on both), you have to look deeper than an inch!
The soil survey is like the diary of a soil. A record of time, development, changes, influences, and the life that has benefited..but that is not all. They survey is a point in a soil’s life, a window in what is happening at the present moment as well.
A soil pit is dug (to at least a meter depth) into soils to reveal the characteristics and features of a soil; a result of the constant development (pedogenesis (link to facts & figs)) of the soil. This recipe is designed by the interplay between the soils and the 5 soil forming factors (link to facts & figures) (discovered by Vasily Dokuchaev, the father of soil science, in 1883) (link to facts & figures): parent material, climate, biota (organisms), topography and time who’s magnitude of influence vary from place to place causing different soil horizons to form, and therefore the development of different types of soils with different functions and capacities. Soil scientists use the differences or similarities of soil horizons to categorize similar soils into what they call “soil series” (link to facts & figures). The objective of characterizing the soils, is to expose the physical, chemical and biological properties of the different soils, which help us determine their capacities and functions, which in turn helps us decide how best manage them in a sustainable way.
Thus, the soil survey is a true foundation from which we can start to gain a real understanding of soils and their roles and functions from the beginning of time to our everyday lives!
Who conducts Soil Surveys?
The Natural Resources Conservation Service pedologists carry out the soil survey in partnership with various local entities. In NYC, the soil survey was truly a cooperative effort between NRCS, New York City Soil and Water Conservation District, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn College and many others.
How are Soil Surveys done?
Over 100 soil profiles were sampled and analyzed for complete characterization by the USDA-NRCS Kellogg Soil Survey Laboratory. The soils of the city exhibit a wide range of physical, chemical and mineralogical properties in both the natural and anthropogenic soils.
WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT THE NYC SOIL SURVEY
Despite contamination, infrastructure, and lack of acreage of agricultural soils, the first urban soils survey in the nation began in 1982.
Urban soils were differentiated by characterization of their unique parameters. These new classifications set the stage for more urban soils surveys to follow.
The soil survey is made up of soil maps with information for all five boroughs that encompass New York City covering 235,945 acres. It provides the 8 million plus residents of New York City with a state of the art modern urban soil survey to use for planning and interpretations for the present and well into the future.
New York City has approximately 27 percent open space and this is where the majority of the field investigations were conducted.
70 soil series were identified in the survey;
32 of which were developed in human transported materials (HTM) and
38 in naturally occurring parent materials (glacial till, outwash, etc.).
Many of the urban soils include what are characterized as “Human-altered or Human-transported”. Read more about them here: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/ref/?cid=nrcseprd1343023