Obtaining Soil Type Data from the NRCS - STATSGO

The NRCS offers statewide soil data in Arc/Info coverage format, which must be converted to a shapefile before the soil data can be imported into WMS. Go to the NRCS soil type web site at www.ftw.nrcs.usda.gov/stat_data.html. If you have trouble getting there, follow the bulletted steps below:

Go to the USDA web site at www.usda.gov.
Click on the Agencies & Offices button near the top.
Scroll down and select the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) link near the bottom of the USDA Agencies section.
Click on the Technical Resources link under the Programs and Service Highlights heading. A new window will open on the Technical Resources page of the NRCS home.
Choose the Soils link.
Choose the STATSGO link on the left-hand side of the page, under the Quick Access section.
Select the Download STATSGO Data link under the section titled Database Access. You will be taken to a list of states.

Choose the state you want by clicking on its link. That state's data document downloads will open.

Select the DOS / Windows Data option below the ARC / INFO Coverages header. It should initialize the download immediately.

Save the file to your computer.

Decompress the zip file (need help decompressing?)

Choose the Forms-based Download link to obtain data.

Click the DOS/WINDOWS link and choose the "/arc" folder.

Now click the "/data" folder.

Finally, do a single right-click on the state abbreviation for which you need data. For this example choose Utah (ut.zip). Then choose "Save Link As..." or "Save Target As..." depending on whether you use Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Explorer respectively. Proceed to download the data.

Uncompress the data. For help, click here.

Once in ArcView, the ARC/INFO coverage data can be found in the "Ut\Spatial" as "Ut". Your data should look similar to the picture below.

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