Understanding the basic properties of soils leads to better crop management, soil nutrient management and soil conservation. The Soil Survey includes soil maps and descriptions of each type of soil in each county including interpretations of a soil's potential for use.

Tama Soil Profile - The State Soil of Iowa

At Iowa State University the Soil Survey Characterization Laboratory provides data in support of the Iowa Cooperative Soil Survey Program (ICSS). The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service maintains a number of websites related to soils and Soil Survey (NCSS) , including STATSGO (State Soil Geographic Database) and SSURGO (Soil Survey Geographic Database) which is currently being superceded by the Soil Data Mart. Iowa Soil Properties and Interpretations Database (ISPAID) Version 7.2 is now available and is provided by the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station and Iowa State University Extension along with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Division of Soil Conservation, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. ISPAID includes all 99 Iowa counties and is available on CD: ISPAID 7.2 Order Form.

The CD contains the ISPAID 7.2 manual in both MS Word and PDF formats. The database includes .dbf (dBase IV), MS Excel, and comma delimited text formats and includes both one file containing all 99 counties and 99 separate files, one for each county. ISPAID is set up to be used in association with Iowa Cooperative Soil Survey digital soil maps using GIS software such as ArcExplorer or ArcView from ESRI. There is also a free GIS tutorial by Mapcruzin that will teach you, in an easy step-by-step manner, how to obtain, download and run a free GIS program. The Iowa DNR also has an internet-based "Watershed Atlas" that you can access from their interactive mapping website.

The Soil Interpretations page contains interpretations of the soils data found in ISPAID 7.2. Currently there are two different interpretations: (1) Soil Map Units (SMU's) requiring Tile Drainage to Achieve Optimal Agronomic Yields for Row Crops and (2) SMU's suitable for Vinyards. PDF files are available as one file containing all counties in the state or as one file for each individual county. Also included on the Soil Interpretations page is information about Major Land Resource Areas, Slope Classes, Soil Regions and Associations of Iowa, and the Iowa Carbon Index.

The Soil Survey status of Iowa Counties shows which counties have published surveys, when they were published, and which counties have surveys in process or in revision. Also available are maps of Soil Survey publication dates, correlation dates, resurvey dates, and estimated re-publication dates.

View a map showing Counties with Soil Survey available on interactive CD. Order CD's using the Soil Survey Interactive CD Order Form.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns announced in August 2005 a USDA Web Soil Survey site that will provide secure public access to the national soils information system. This site was designed with three easy to use features: Define, View, and Explore, and operates much like internet sites that provide locator and directional information.

Currently, NRCS has soils maps and data available online for more than
95 percent of the nation's counties and anticipates having 100 percent
in the near future. The site will be updated and maintained online as
the single authoritative source of soil survey information. Go to the
Soil Survey Web site http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/  to view
the surveys. To read the complete release, go to the USDA Web site
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_1OB?content
idonly=true&contentid=2005/08/0312.xml.