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United States Department of Agriculture
Natural Resources Conservation Service
9173 W. Barnes Dr., Suite C
Boise, Idaho 83709
 
For more information:
Dave Hoover, (208) 378-5790 or
Dastina Johnson, (208) 685-6978
 

Data Now Available on Idaho Soil Erosion, Land Cover and Use

BOISE, Idaho, January 24, 2007—Richard Sims, State Conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Idaho today announced the availability of data on soil erosion and land cover and use statewide.  This data comes from the NRCS 2003 National Resources Inventory (NRI).  The NRI provides comprehensive and statistically reliable information on various natural resource conditions and trends on nonfederal lands.

Why is data on land use and soil erosion important?  “Since this data represents the most current land use results for Idaho, researchers and state planners can accurately identify the number of acreages associated with various land types throughout the state,” said Sims.  “For instance, developed land in Idaho covers approximately 811,000 acres, while water areas cover 554,000 acres.”

In Idaho, the NRI identifies federal land as the largest land use, at approximately 33 million acres.  Rangeland ranks second with 6.4 million acres and cropland ranks third with 5.4 million acres.  The NRI also shows the annual soil erosion loss in tons per acre in Idaho at 2.2 percent, while the national average is slightly higher at 2.6 percent.

The first NRI was conducted in 1977 and, until 1997, was done every five years. Starting in 2000, NRCS began the transition to an annual inventory cycle.  The annual NRI requires several years of cumulative data collection to provide estimates at a state or sub-state scale to be in accordance with guidelines established by the Office of Management and Budget and USDA.

This latest release represents 2003 conditions only. An Idaho trend analysis and evaluation report on changes from previous inventory cycles will be available for release later this winter.  Trend analysis information at national and major-river-basin scales is available for the 2003 NRI on the NRI website at http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/NRI.

NRCS provides products and services that enable people to be good stewards of the nation’s soil, water, and related natural resources on non-Federal lands. Additional information about USDA conservation programs is available at your local USDA Service Center and online at http://www.id.nrcs.usda.gov.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

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