Analysis of Soil and Vegetation Maps:  Accuracy and Utility for Describing Actual Habitats

There are four sources of landscape information from maps at the project level a few miles on a side.  Topogaphic maps, satellite maps, soil service maps, and vegetation maps.   

Comparing soil and vegetation maps at this scale is complicated by inaccuracies of both map sources and the strange ambiguity of aerial photography.  Soil was mapped by NRCS into 6 major soils.  However, two of the soils are described as compound soils, regions of undefined patches possibly intergrading continuously into one another.  For example, Pyote-Maljamar soils (PU on soil map) have a layer of fine sand everywhere, but there are unmapped bits and pieces of caliche at around 50 inches (Maljamar soils) in a matrix of deep sand (Pyote soils).

Soil map created using the NRCS Web Soil Survey showing major soil types.  PT and PU are deep sands, BH and KO are shallower silty soils, and TF is intermediate.  (PA and BA are extensions of PT and TF, respectively, in Eddy county.)

Soil Profiles:

	PT	PU		TF	BH		KO
Soil Name	Pyote	Pyote	Maljamar	Tunuco	Berino	Cacique	Kimbrough
0-10	A: Loamy fine sand	A: fine sand	A: fine sand	A: loamy fine sand	A: fine sand	A: fine sand	A: gravelly loam
10-20				AC: loamy fine sand	Btk: sandy clay loam	Bt: sandy clay loam	Bkm: cemented material
20-30				Bkm: cemented material
30-40	Bt: Fine sandy loam	Bt: fine sandy loam	Bt: sandy clay loam			Bkm: cemented material
40-50
50-60			Bkm: cemented material
Type	Sandy eolian deposits	Sandy eolian deposits	Sandy eolian deposits	Sandy eolian deposits	Sandy eolian deposits over sandy calcaereous alluvium	Calcaerous eolian deposits	Calcaerous alluvium and/or eolian deposits

Selected Soil Properties

	PT	PU	TF	BH	KO
Depth to restrictive layer	>200cm	127cm	43cm	>200cm	15cm
Calcium Carbonate (CaCO3)%	2%	2%	0%	17%	15%
% sand	75.8%	81.9%	78.6%	62.6%	43.0%
Ksat (inches/hour)	7.8	8.5	12.6	1.7	0.5

In this part of NM, depth to a restrictive soil layer indicates the presence of caliche near the surface.  These petrocalcic horizons are denoted Bkm on the soil profile.  KO has the shallowest effective soil, followed by TF.  Some parts of BH appear quite shallow, but in the table the depth to a restrictive layer is listed as greater than 200cm, possibly because some of the soil (i.e. the Berino component) lacks a caliche layer. Caliche is composed of calcium carbonate, so BH and KO are listed with the most calcium, and the least sand in their profile. 

Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) refers to the ease with which pores in a saturated soil transmit water. The estimates are expressed in inches/hour for ease of comparison to possible rainfall rates. They are based on soil characteristics observed in the field, particularly structure, porosity, and texture.

Restrictive soil layers and overall soil texture contribute to the ability of a soil to drain water.  PT, PU, and TF are listed as very well drained soils because they can all drain more than 7 inches of rain an hour, whereas BH and KO are significantly less porous, draining only 1.7 and 0.5 inches of rain an hour, respectively.  Most of the water from heavy rains probably runs off of these soil types, limiting the amount available to grow plants. 

Saturated hydraulic conductivity is considered in the design of soil drainage systems and septic tank absorption fields. It probably has the greatest impact on plant production of any soil parameter in SE NM.

Hydraulic conductivity is the rate at which a soil can absorb water.  Red areas have the least ability to absorb rainfall, while blue areas have the greatest ability to absorb rainfall. Map created using NRCS Web Soil Survey.  

Vegetation Map

Vegetation map from USGS GAP Vegetation Mapper uses NatureServe Ecological System Classification.

Vegetation Map Key and Attributes

Table 3. Vegetation Map Key and Attributes

Color	ReGAP Community Name	Vegetation Type	Dominant Species	Accuracy
	Great Plains Shortgrass Prairie	Grassland	Biennial wormwood, Russian thistle	Low – should be mapped as disturbed area
	Mesquite Upland	Thornscrub	Mesquite, Catclaw Acacia, Mimosa, Yucca	High - mesquite dominant
	Sandhill Shrubland	Shrub	Shinnery oak, Catclaw acacia, Giant dropseed	Medium – not all dune
N/A	Sandy Plains Semi-Desert Grassland	Grassland	Purple three-awn, Sand dropseed, Sand muhly	Low – not mapped

The GAP national land cover data, based on the NatureServe Ecological Systems Classification, are the foundation of the most detailed, consistent map of vegetative associations available for the United States.  The soil map is interpolated based on soil pits and vegetation patterns, so in a way it functions as a hand-drawn vegetation map.  Vegetation patterns have changed from the time the soil survey was completed (1960’s?) to now.  This GAP high-resolution vegetation map was produced via satellite mapping and computer algorithms. 

The prairies of the southern Great Plains are also called the Llano Estacado, a region where vast flat to rolling uplands are covered with blue grama grass.  However, this vegetation type is misclassified.  GAP maps roads and disturbed areas with low grass as shortgrass prairie (brown on image) because these areas look similar to prairie in multispectral satellite imagery.  It maps the rest of the project area as a fractal pattern of mesquite upland (mauve) patches and sandhill shrubland (green) patches. 

Mesquite has spread throughout areas with deep sandy soils and now forms the default vegetation community across much of the area. Mesquite can also invade sandhills and desert washes and other coarse-textured soil areas. It is especially invasive in grasslands such as Sandy Plains Semi-Desert Grasslands, Great Plains Shortgrass Prairie, and Chihuahan Semi-Desert Grasslands. 

Mesquite grows best when soils are deep, lacking the caliche or clay pan that would limit infiltration and storage of winter precipitation in deeper soils layers. Mesquite and other deep-rooted shrubs exploit the deep soil moisture that is unavailable to cacti or grasses. 

The effects of major soil boundaries are evident: deep sand (PT and PU) soils support more sandhill shrubland, whereas soils with shallow restrictive horizons (BH and KO) tend to have more mesquite upland patches.  The vegetation map fails to identify patches of Lehman lovegrass grasslands, or catclaw acacia shrublands, but it does correctly identify shinnery oak areas as sandhill shrubland. 

However, the map misses out on an important intermediate community, sandy plains semi-desert grassland.  Sandy plains grasslands are actually the dominant community throughout much of the project area.  It is distinguishable on the ground by the greater proportion of grass than shrubs on sandy soils, often with Aristida purpurea, Muhlenbergia arenicola, and especially Sporobolus flexuousus.  However, this community has been invaded by mesquite shrubs (some areas of which have been recently killed with herbicides) so these grassland patches can be difficult to distinguish from true shrublands.

Topo Map

A topo map shows that areas with accumulating sand are typically uplands, especially breaks in slope where winds drop eolian deposits.  Eroding, exposed slopes reveal deeper, more-developed paleosoils, possibly Pleistocene clays (Steve Hall, 2006 Geomorphology of Mescalero Sand Dunes).  

On top of soil and geomorphic landscape-determined vegetation patterns, local populations of invasive species have overlaid an unpredictable pattern of monocultures of Lehman Lovegrass, Artemisia biennis, and occasional plants of Salsola tragus around wellpads.  Note that none of these invasive species are NM state-listed noxious weeds.  There are also surprising areas of intact, diverse Chihuahuan grasslands with healthy stands of black grama , muhly arenicola, and sporobolus cryptandrus.  All of the sand dunes here, despite presence of shinnery oak, and even some Artemisia filifolia, are coppice or hummock dunes that formed around shrubs during historical time (Hall, 2006). 

 Conclusion

Unfortunately, there are no map sources of reliable data on habitats and vegetation communities at field- or project area-scale.  Each source provides valuable clues along with misleading simplifications, errors, and obfuscations of actual on-the-ground conditions. 

Appendix: Soil Properties Maps

Depth to a restrictive soil layer:

Percent sand:

Percent calcium carbonate:

2015 Summer Monsoon Totals

The NWS maintains a report of monsoon totals for the ABQ metro area.

Percent of normal monsoon moisture received in July, August, and September 2015.

Moisture during the summer was spotty, but usually above average.

Roadsides Provide Critical Habitat for Pollinators

"Over the past 18 months, support for pollinators has undergone a seismic shift, led by President Obama, who called for a national Pollinator Task Force in the spring of 2014. Less than a year later, in a book-length "Strategy to Protect the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators," the federal government set ambitious goals that include the restoration or enhancement of 7 million acres of land for pollinator habitat over the next five years. Roadsides will comprise a significant portion of that acreage..."
Read the rest of the article.

Xenotopias

We lack –we need—a term for those places where one experiences a transition from a known landscape into new country or another world: somewhere we feel and think significantly differently.

 I have for some time been imagining such transitions as ‘border crossings’. These borders do not correspond to national boundaries, and papers and documents are unrequired at them. Their traverse is generally unbiddable, and no reliable map exists of their routes and outlines. They exist even in familiar landscapes: there where you cross a certain watershed, treeline or snowline, or enter rain, storm, or mist, or pass from boulder clay onto sand, or chalk onto greenstone.

 Such moments are rites of passage that reconfigure local geographies, leaving known places outlandish or quickened, revealing continents within countries.

What might we call such incidents and instances – or, rather, how to describe the lands that are found beyond these frontiers? I suggest the term ‘Xenotopias’, perhaps, meaning ‘foreign places’ or ‘out-of-place places’, a term to complement our ‘utopias’ and our ‘dystopias’.

[A quotation from Robert MacFarlane's The Old Ways]

Juridicational Wetlands

 The Clean Water Act (CWA) regulates all of the "navigable" water bodies in the U.S.  The precise definition of navigable waters is important for specifying what impacts may or may not be allowed to the Waters Of The United States (WOTUS).  However, since the inception of the CWA, numerous Supreme Court cases have challenged the definition of WOTUS.  On May 27, 2015, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issuing a new definition of WOTUS.  While the new definition is already the subject of numerous lawsuits, it is now the new basis of the CWA.

Graphic from SWCA, The Wire.

So what does the new definition say?  Well, it is pretty straight-forward.  There are just 8 possible cases:  

1. traditional navigable waters

2. interstate waters

3. territorial seas

4. impoundments (of 1 - 3 above and 5 below)

5. tributaries

6. adjacent waters

7. five special groups of similarly situated waters

8. case-specific significant nexus waters  

For more information, see this excellent article in SWCA's The Wire.

Smoke from WA Wildfires Reaches Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The smoke from large wildfires burning in NE Washington, N Idaho, and N. Montana reached as far as Albuquerque, New Mexico on Sunday morning.

The smoke covers a large part of the Western U.S.

Cliff Mass has excellent reporting on the smoke from the WA wildfires.

Airquality.weather.gov has the best air pollution monitoring data.  The AIRPACT website has high-resolution models of smoke production and transport in the PNW.

U.S. Wildfire Activity Map.  From ESRI.

A Very Strong El Nino

Dr. Jeff Masters discusses.

Taos - Water in the Desert

Threatened and Endangered Species of the Williamette Valley Prairie Savannas

There are 6 listed species endemic to the ecoregion.

Fender's Blue butterfly (E) (Icaricia icarioides fenderi)
Willamette daisy (E) (Erigeron decumbens var. decumbens)
Bradshaw's desert-parsley (E) (Lomatium bradshawii)
Kincaid's Lupine (T) (Lupinus sulphureus ssp. kincaidii)
Nelson's checker-mallow (T) (Sidalcea nelsoniana)
Golden Paintbrush (T) (Castilleja levisecta) - extirpated from Williamette valley

Several other nonlisted species are also considered sensitive:

Taylor’s (whulge) checkerspot butterfly, Euphydryas editha taylori
Pale larkspur, Delphinium leucophaeum
Willamette Valley larkspur, Delphinium oreganum
Peacock larkspur, Delphinium pavonaceum
Shaggy horkelia, Horkelia congesta ssp. congesta
White-topped aster, Sericocarpus rigidus
Hitchcock’s blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium hitchcockii

There are two major rare habitats in the Williamette valley responsible for the listed and sensitive species: upland prairies and wet prairies. Prairies are dependent on disturbance to prevent succession, and many have been either plowed under or allowed to develop into forests or shrublands.  A recovery plan extends throughout the Williamette valley, and south of Roseburg to the Douglas county line to include a third disjunct habitat in the Umpqua valley.  

The plant composition of upland prairies is dominated by bunchgrasses, including Festuca idahoensis, Danthonia californica, Elymus glaucus, Achnatherum lemmonii, and Koeleria macrantha.  The spaces between the bunchgrasses are typically covered by mosses, fruticose lichens, or native forbs. Showy, slow-growing perennial forbs include Eriophyllum lanatum, Potentilla gracilis, Fragaria virginiana, Sidalcea malviflora, and Symphotrichum (=Aster) hallii, and the bulbs Calochortus tolmiei and Dichelostemma congestum. Some fast-growing annual forbs, including various species of tarweed (Madia spp.) and Clarkia, are also prominent members   The main threat are vegetatively spreading non native grasses included Agrostis, Festuca, as well as Rubus (blackberry).

Wet praries are dominated by herbs. Deschampsia cespitosa (tufted hairgrass),and tufted microhabitats. Non-native Agrostis and Cirsiums are threat.

El Nino in the Spring

March, April, May and the first week of June have been quite wet for the East slopes of the Rockies and the Western Great Plains, with large regions receiving more than three or four times normal precipitation.  Meanwhile, the West has continued its drought, with CA looking especially dry.

NM has significant regions above 400% of normal precipitation.  While there is lush growth in some areas, other areas are not appreciably greener than they might otherwise be.  Sometimes this can be attributed phenology (e.g. to summer grasses not responding to early spring rains, or perhaps the exact timing is important for annual germination), but some must also be due to the severe productivity reduction of overgrazed and eroded soils.

El Nino has strengthened in recent months.  An active fall hurricane season supplyied NM with abundant moisture in the fall, In the winter a steady progression of Pacific storms brought an average amount of precipitation.  And since late May we have already experienced large moisture plumes from yet more unusually-strong Eastern Pacific hurricanes,  Andres and now, currently, Blanca.