Celebrate World Soil Day with the Soil Colors of the Continental United States
By: Linda Greene and Kristina Wiley, Natural Resources Conservation Service
World Soil Day 2020 and its campaign to keep soil alive and protect soil biodiversity aims to raise awareness of the importance of maintaining healthy ecosystems and human well-being by addressing the growing challenges in soil management and fighting soil biodiversity loss. The campaign objective is to increase soil awareness and encourage governments, organizations, communities, and individuals worldwide to commit to proactively improving soil health.
World Soil Day (WSD) is held annually on December 5th to focus attention on the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources. “Soil is one of the critical resources for life on earth,” said David Hoover, Director of USDA-NRCS, National Soil Survey Center. “There are already ‘world days’ for water, air, and sunlight. The soil resource needs to take a prominent place along with the others,” he added.
Because a picture is worth a thousand words, the National Soil Survey Center, https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/contactus/?cid=nrcs142p2_053895 is offering a free two-sided poster to help celebrate WSD. The poster entitled “Soil Colors of the Continental United States” shows the USA map and the soil colors of our great country, while the second side shows a sampling of individual soil profiles that highlight an amazing array of colors.
Soil color can give extensive information about the soil. The colors vary with depth, and no two soils look exactly the same. “It is this diversity of color that has inspired soil scientists for centuries allowing us to merge our science with art,” said David Lindbo, Director of the USDA-NRCS.
Order your free poster today! https://nrcspad.sc.egov.usda.gov/DistributionCenter/product.aspx?ProductID=1615 In the words of David Hoover, “it’s great to live and study soils in a country with such diversity!”
To learn more, visit the National Soil Survey Center, Countdown to World Soil Day, https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/edu/?cid=NRCSEPRD1422817 .
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