Whether it's going to be planted with cash crops or dotted with pastel-colored split-levels, the soil that makes up Carroll County is a huge factor in big-money decisions.

But the Carroll County Soil Survey, meant to be a comprehensive documentation of what type of soil is where and why it matters, is useless, said at least one official who is hopeful that the soil survey will be updated.

"It's become something that hasn't been consulted," said Steven Horn, director of planning for the county government. "It's been an obsolete resource."

That could change, but it would cost the county an estimated $209,802 and take five or six years for the U.S. Department of Agriculture staff to update the Carroll County Soil Survey.

The resulting document would be more useful than the old one ever was and would be digitized in a way that would make the information more accessible and useful to a variety of government agencies, said Joseph S. Kraft, a scientist with the USDA's Soil Conservation Service.

Developers could consult the survey to learn what kind of construction the soil would support, and county and town planning staffs could use it in the approval process.

Farmers consult survey

Farmers could consult it before buying or selling land. Soil type is a factor in whether land is eligible for agricultural-preservation programs and determines how much money a farmer gets in federal soil-conservation payments.

The last Carroll County soil survey was published in the 1960s.

"The work was done in the '40s," said William Powel, who directs the county's agricultural land preservation program.

"Why did it take you so long [to complete the survey]?" Horn asked Kraft at a meeting last week of the Carroll County Agricultural Commission.

"It's a long process," Kraft said, and, though it shouldn't take the nearly 20 years it took last time around, it will take at least five years to complete.

The county commissioners would have to approve and pay for it. The matter has not come before the commissioners, although Powel and Horn said it could be presented during the budget process this spring.

"I'd say we're doing this for the next generation," said Lawrence Meeks, a Carroll grain farmer attending the meeting.

Kraft has a staff of three or four people at a time, who take samples in key locations, painstakingly going over the county's slopes, flatland and even woodland. Samples are sent to labs, and anything unusual is often sent to a specialist somewhere else in the country, Kraft said.

But usually, the soil specialists are looking at the standard characteristics of soil, such as the surface texture -- clay, sand or silt. They look at the color, the depth of bedrock, the water table and the geology.

In some cases, said Kraft and Powel, the existing survey is known to be inaccurate and erroneous. But mostly, it has simply become outdated.

Since the last survey, the county's population has tripled, housing developments and shopping centers have supplanted farmland and even agricultural practices have changed -- such as the growth of no-till farming to prevent soil erosion.

Water-quality issues have surfaced, such as storm water management, the Pfiesteria organism thought to be responsible for killing fish in Maryland waterways, and nutrient runoff from fertilizer and manure that are believed to feed the growth of Pfiesteria.

Important to county agencies

An updated survey could be useful to agencies such as the county's planning department and the Carroll County Health Department.

Charles Zeleski, director of environmental health, said soil surveys could help the agency with percolation tests, septic system tests and evaluation of other ground and water systems.

The Soil Conservation Service is working on surveys in other Maryland counties, including Frederick, Anne Arundel, Howard, Washington, Montgomery and Wicomico, Kraft said. Surveys in Dorchester and Queen Anne's counties are done.

Pub Date: 3/10/99