Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative(802) 656-0683femc@uvm.eduwww.uvm.edu/femc705 Spear StreetSouth BurlingtonVermont05403United States of AmericaUnited States Geological Survey (USGS) United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Natural Resources Conservation ServiceForest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative (FEMC) University of Vermont College of Agriculture and Life SciencesUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service Green Mountain and Finger Lakes National ForestspartnerVermont Long-Term Soil Monitoring ProgramLong-term monitoring of forest soils is necessary to understand the effects of continued environmental change, including climate change, atmospheric deposition of metals, and recovery from acidic precipitation. A monitoring program was initiated in 2002 at five protected forest sites in Vermont, three in Mt. Mansfield State Forest and two in the Lye Brook Wilderness Area. Every 5 years at each site, ten soil pits are dug and sampled from subplots in a 50 × 50-m plot.Vermont Long-Term Soil Monitoring ProgramHalmanJoshuaWaiteCarlWilmotSandraBurtNancyShanleyJamieWangDeaneLawsonSeanVillarsThomasBaileyScottRossDonaldDuncanJamesWrightJenniferQuintanaAngelicahuman disturbancelong term monitoringsoilcontinuous forest inventory vermont forestsforest regenerationSoil sample descriptions2002-06-01Soils were described using NRCS procedures referenced in the Field Book for Describing and Sampling Soils, version 2.0, September, 2002. The following soil physical properties were described, and the numbers in parentheses refer to page numbers in the Field Book referencing that property: Horizon Designation and lower Boundary (pgs 2-2 to 2-6).; Depth of horizon (upper and lower) in centimeters; Matrix color, moist, Munsell notation; Texture (pgs 2-29 to 2-31); Percent rock fragments by volume (shape- pg 2-40, note basic Percent Chart on page 2-9 – some Munsell color books also have a Percent Chart); structure; grade, size, and type (pgs 2-41 to 2-48); consistence, moist (also referred to as Rupture Resistance, pgs 2-49 to 2-50); Redoximorphic features; quantity, size, contrast – and Munsell color (pgs 2-14 to 2-17; see also quantity, size and contrast charts under Mottles on pgs 2-9 to 2-12); Roots (pgs 2-56 to 2-58); other features such as: organic streaks and stains, type of organic material, moisture status, slope percent, aspect and horizons sampled. Soil chemical properties (such as pH) was not recorded in the field since these were analyzed more accurately in the lab at a later date.Z0161_2469_W04IX1VMC.161.2469mySQLNatural Resources Conservation Service, Forest Ecosystem Monitoring Cooperative, University of Vermont, USDA Forest Service, Green Mountain National Forest and Northern Research Station, and US Geological Survey (2018) Soil sample descriptions. FEMC. Available online at: /femc/data/archive/project/long-term-soil-monitoring/dataset/soil-sample-descriptions/femc/data/archive/project/long-term-soil-monitoring/dataset/soil-sample-descriptionsBedrockReachedBedrock ReachedBedrockReached field was added in 2017 to account for situations where bedrock was not reached during the soil examination. This was flagged in excel through records showing + next to the bottom depth. 1 for yes bedrock assumed reached. 0 for no bedrock was not reached.intBottomDepthBottom DepthBottom depth of sample relative to soil-air interface. A value of -999 indicates that there was either a mistake and the depth was never recorded or bedrock was never reached.decimal0.1BoundaryBoundaryBoundary at the bottom of the horizontextDescriberDescribertextConsistenceConsistenceResistence of soil peds to rupture in moist conditionstextFeatureColor1FeatureColor1Munsell color of the most common featuretextFeatureColor2FeatureColor2Munsell color of the second most common featuretextFeatureColor3FeatureColor3Munsell color of the third most common colortextFeatureDescription1FeatureDescription1Description of the most common featuretextFeatureDescription2FeatureDescription2Description of the second most common featuretextFeatureDescription3FeatureDescription3Description of the third most common featuretextFieldHorizonField HorizonField-designated horizontextfkSampleIDfkSampleIDSample IDintLabHorizonLab HorizonLab-designated horizontextMatrixColorMatrixColorMunsell color - dominant color of the horizontextNotesNotesNotes on this horizontextRockFragmentsRock FragmentsVisual estimate of the percent soil in certain sizeint1RootsRootsPercentage of fine to very fine rootstextStructureStructureShape and prevalence of soil aggregatestextTextureTextureTexture of the soil according to USDA classificationtextTopDepthTop DepthTop depth of sample relative to soil-air interfacedecimal0.1