Multi-year effort underway to map the soils of HSC

Holden Hergert, Thermopolis’ District Conservationist of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Soil Division, reported that they are in the process of a multi-year effort to map the soils of Hot Springs County.

The intent of the survey is to provide farmers, ranchers, and other land managers with data about the soil that they can use to make decisions. Basic information such as soil texture, pH, and presence of salts can help people understand what plants will grow, suitability for tree plantings, how often to irrigate, and even what the expected yields would be under favorable conditions in a defined area.

Other information can be used by engineers and county planners, such as suitability for septic systems, depth to bedrock, and corrosivity of steel. The data from this survey is also helpful for those who produce food. 

Hergert sees this soils survey as an outreach to ranchers and landowners to help them. He also wants to create awareness of the survey work so that landowners would not be surprised if a survey crew member seeks to drill on their property. 

The method of the soils survey is where their crew members drill a hole down about six feet and examine what the soil types are present and how they differ in their various layers. This information is then inputed in a mapping system which is also based upon landforms in the area of the hole.

There are about three or four team members doing the work, and Hot Springs County is currently being mapped. Hergert said that so far the survey crew has mapped about 11% of the county. 

The mapping can also give data about water tables, especially if the hole is close to a river or even in irrigated properties.

 Information will be published on an easy-to-navigate website called the Web Soil Survey. NRCS has soil maps and data available online for more than 95 percent of the nation’s counties, and Hot Springs County is one of the last few areas of Wyoming that needs to be mapped. Mapping efforts started last summer on the Kirby Creek Drainage and the Bighorn River irrigated fields near Lucerne totaling 107,304 acres mapped. The goal is to have the entire county mapped by the end of 2026.