Indiana Major Land Resource Area (MLRA) Soil Survey Offices

The increasing demand to deliver new and improved soil survey data to a diverse clientele has driven the need for a new organizational and technical infrastructure. Analysis of soils in a limited context such as a county or state will no longer be adequate. Predictions of behavior of soils across entire soil landscapes will be integrated with other factors, such as climate, land-use and demographics. The use of geospatial technologies combined with the soil scientists understanding of soils in the ecosystem will be used to develop soil survey products and services to meet this demand.

As part of this new organizational structure for soil survey, Indiana is covered by nine MLRA Soil Survey Offices (SSO). Two offices are headquartered in Indiana, one in Indianapolis and another in Plymouth. The goal of each office is to bring the soil survey information up to a common standard and to develop a nationally consistent, seamless, digital soil survey. The SSOs are responsible for conducting soil surveys for their assigned geographic areas which are multi-county and cross state lines.