USDA Web Soil Survey

 For the purposes of this post, instead of focusing in on the entirety of Rockingham County, I picked a focus area in the Smith Creek Watershed near Keezeltown. I did this for two reasons; the Area of Interest must be under 100,000 acres and Smith Creek is classified as an impaired watershed in Virginia so providing insight into this area and its issues could help foster remediation not just in water quality but in biodiversity. 

Since I current work for NRCS, this post will be from the perspective of a professional and I will highlight two soil types and how biodiversity can have a positive impact on the area. 

The first thing I looked into is what soils is majority of the AOI mapped as? The first and largest majority of the AOI is mapped as Frederick and Lodi silt loams, 7 to 15 percent slopes, eroded at 17.8% of the total AOI. These soils are generally well drained but do hold the potential for low to high run-off and erosion. They are suitable for Corn and cereal grain production. Since they do have the potential to be highly erodible, it is important for there to be a variety of grasses, legumes and trees to anchor the soil in place; something that would benefit from biodiversity in plant species. 

The second largest type of soil in the AOI is Frederick and Lodi silt loams, 15 to 25 percent slopes, eroded at 11.9% of the total AOI. These are the same types of soils seen above but the slopes are greater. This means that extra care and attention should be put towards establishing diverse plant species to prevent sediment erosion. 

Since we've seen how diverse plant species will benefit the soils, it is clear to see that this same level of biodiversity needed will also improve forage and habitat for a variety of wildlife which is needed as the AOI is not highly developed. The main limiting factor to achieving biodiversity is a large part of this area is in agricultural production. 

Overall, the WSS is an amazing tool that I use regularly to see what soils are present in an area as the soils determine a number of different things ranging from crop production to potential construction challenges.