1. USDA FOREST SERVICE Technology & Development Program National Soil Quality Monitoring Field Guide

2. SDTDC Soils Projects Submitted  Inventory and Monitoring  Toolbox ’06  FY ‘07 projects  Soil Moisture  Compaction in rocky soils  National Soil Quality Monitoring Field Guide  Watershed Soil and Air  Soil Moisture  Compaction

3. Selected Soil Projects  WSA and IM  Soil Moisture  Compaction  Follow up to include the National Soil Quality Field Guide (IM)  All three projects for FY ‘07

4. Goals  Phase I  Develop a soil quality monitoring field guide containing schematic and photographic examples of defined, visually identifiable, soil visual categories.  Link to key indicators (erosion, infiltration, nutrient capacity)

5. Goals  Phase II  Field guide contains recommended sampling protocols and other tools for conducting rapid, accurate, and consistent pre- and post-project assessments of soil quality.  Include a standard protocol (or set) for monitoring soil quality, guidance on project design and determining sampling intensity.

6. Target Audience  Soil scientist, timber sale administrators, silviculturists and fuel specialist for use in project planning and environmental analysis.  Quantitative indicators of soil quality will be validated and correlated to each of the visual soil disturbance categories (as defined by FS Research and NFS) as part of a regular agency wide soil quality monitoring program.

7. 1 Yr time frame 1 Yr time frame  Define the soil visual class categories  Identify how they differ nationally, eco- region, etc. soil resilience  Weyerhaeuser, R-6, and BC examples  Identify how we will link qualitative with quantitative findings.  Identify sample sites, can we develop a list of potential photo sites for FY ’07?

8. Outcomes – Products?  Identify link between visual soil classes and soil properties.  Identify links to Watershed response/watershed analysis / cwe  Identify link to published literature  Allow forests/regions to identify the effects of the visual indicators based on their values at risk.

9. Some SDTDC examples  SWRCI- Soil water road condition index. Contains table (Good, fair, poor) and photos of each- can attach ftp site link.  Other projects in FY ‘07  Soil Moisture tools-soil strength  Compaction Monitoring- what works in different areas.