Saskatchewan Soil Survey
One of the longest-running projects undertaken to understand Saskatchewan's environment began in the 1920s. Following a Better Farming Conference held in Swift Current in 1920, a Royal Commission appointed to assess the farming conditions in southwest Saskatchewan after several years of drought recommended "that a reconnaissance soil survey be undertaken to outline the various soil areas and to classify them as to their suitability for grain growing and stock raising, and that the reconnaissance soil survey be followed by a more complete agricultural survey…"
Eighty years later, after millions of miles traveled over prairie trails and dusty roads in the south and bush trails and cut lines through the forest in the north, this arduous task was completed.
The first soil survey, covering four rural municipalities near Moose Jaw, was started in 1921 under the direction of Professor R. Hansen, head of the Soils Department at the University of Saskatchewan. Over the next decade, under the direction of Professor A.H. Joel, soil surveys were carried out throughout southern Saskatchewan. With the publication of Soil Survey Report No.12 in 1944 and Soil Survey Report No.13 in 1950 by J. Mitchell, H.C. Moss and J.S. Clayton, the first phase of the Royal Commission's recommendation was complete. The reconnaissance soil inventory covered some 68 million acres in the settled regions of the Province, nearly half of the agricultural land in Canada.
In the late 1950s, the soil survey embarked upon an ambitious program to map this area in more detail, utilizing aerial photos and a new system of soil classification. It was a task that would become the focus of the survey for next 40 years. Every summer crews of 10-20 people, working in pairs, traversed all roads and trails in designated map areas, digging holes to examine soil profiles and mapping the soil landscape. The information was later compiled in maps and reports. The survey was also extended into northern forest regions, where helicopters and ATVs were often necessary.
Along the way, the soil survey was asked to evaluate the Province's soil resources for multiple uses as part of the Canada Land Inventory program. It was also asked to conduct special surveys for Indian Reservations, parks, experimental farms, irrigation areas, and the like. Since the completion of the detailed soil mapping in the late 1990s, the focus has shifted to the interpretation and application of the information and making it available in digital format.
Through their appreciation of the interaction of soil forming factors, soil surveyors have literally mapped a picture of the land and its ecosystems. Information obtained for a specific soil type can be applied to other areas having a similar type of soil to determine the best use of land, be it for dry-land farming, irrigation, forestry, community pastures, or habitat for wildlife and waterfowl.
Soil maps and the related research into soil fertility and productivity are crucial to soil conservation. A lack of such information when the province was settled for farming resulted in many problems with erosion and land abandonment.
The work of the many men and women of the Saskatchewan Soil Survey, under the leadership of the Department of Soil Science at the University of Saskatchewan, with support provided by the federal and provincial governments, is a testament to the fact that soil is the foundation of life and that the wise use of the soil is critical to sustaining this life.
Further Reading:
H.C. Moss,
History of the Saskatchewan Soil Survey 1921-1959
(Sask. Inst. Pedology Publ, 1983);
J.G. Ellis,
History of Soil Science Dept and Soil Survey 1949-1985
(Sask. Inst. Pedology Publ, 1987).
For soil survey reports see:
http://sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/publications/sk/