York River State Park Web Soil Survey

For my latest assignment, I explored the York River State Park through the Web Soil Survey. Although not the full area of my focus point this semester, it seemed fitting to lower my area of observation due to the size of the York River Basin. Even just the lower segment of the York River before it splits is a huge land area that made it difficult to interpret what was being observed. 

To get the area of the York River State Park, I roughly outlined an AOI based on comparing landmarks from a different map. The easier way to do this would be to upload a shapefile, however the file I found was for all conservation land in Virginia. I could not filter out the selection in GIS on my mac (to hone in on the AOI), so hand drawing it was.

There is a lot of interesting data to look through on the Web Soil Survey. Before even getting to soil information, I appreciate how the program gives a breakdown of counties that encompass the AOI. Districting information can be important when it comes to policy. 

York River State Park Erosion Hazard (Off-Road and Off-Trail)

One issue that affects costal/tidal wetlands greatly is erosion, so I thought it may be interesting to look at some erosion data. York River State Park showed low levels of K factor erosion (erosion due to water), but did have areas of moderate risk, severe, and very severe risk levels for erosion hazard (off-road and off-trail), as shown in the picture above. This implies that the greatest erosion risk stems from human activity rather than water.

I enjoyed using the Web Soil Survey. It is so convenient. I have delineated a wetland in the field before, and although I had a grand time, the information generated from the Web Soil Survey is much more efficient. I also found it to be easy to use, although I did experience some bugs from time to time.

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