Maine Soil Included in Exhibition at Smithsonian Institution

Bangor, ME – August 11, 2008 – If you’re going to be in the Washington, DC area and would like to see a touch of Maine, visit the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. There you will find the Maine state soil, the Chesuncook series, among 53 other designated state and territory soil samples in a historic new exhibition at the Museum. The exhibition, entitled “Dig It! The Secrets of Soil,” will remain on display in the Nation’s Capital through January 3, 2010. Thereafter, it will travel to 10 museums nationwide until 2013.

The designated state soil samples - or monoliths - are part of a gallery of monoliths representing all the states, the District of Columbia, the Caribbean and the Pacific Islands. An extensive map created by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) offers visitors the “big picture” by allowing them to learn more about soils around the world. A monolith or soil profile, usually about six feet deep, shows the soil’s natural layers. Its extraction from a soils pit is the first step in a lengthy process in creating a monolith, which is mounted and preserved.

The Chesuncook soil represents just 1 of over 100 soils identified and mapped in Maine as part of the National Cooperative Soil Survey consisting of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station, Maine Association of Professional Soil Scientists, and led by NRCS. The Chesuncook soil series represents soils of the northern forested regions of Maine. It consists of very deep, moderately well-drained soils on till plains, hills, ridges, and mountains. It is estimated that Chesuncook soils occur on more than 150,000 acres in Maine. The soils are named after Chesuncook Lake, in northern Maine. In April of 1999, Governor Angus S. King, Jr. signed legislation making Chesuncook Maine’s Official State Soil.

“Soils are a vital resource and play an integral role in our daily lives”, said Wayne Hoar, State Soil Scientist for NRCS in Maine. “Visitors to the exhibit will walk away with a new appreciation and awareness about their significance.”

NRCS employees possess extensive soils knowledge. The agency’s soil scientists conduct soil surveys (providing detailed information on the soils of an area) nationwide, which are now available on the Internet at http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov. 

Additional information about the exhibit, NRCS’s Soil Survey Program, and NRCS can be found at http://www.me.nrcs.usda.gov. 
 

The following document requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. (.pdf)

State Soil - Chesuncook (.pdf)

Soil Survey Program in Maine

National Soils Website

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