Profiles in History

Abstract

1990 When it comes to loving soils, few individuals have the kind of enthusiasm that Frank Watts of Hilliard, FL has exhibited for many years. Watts, who served for 35 years as a soil scientist with USDA-SCS/NRCS, led efforts in the late 1980s to establish Myakka fine sand as Florida's official state soil. Above, Watts poses with a Myakka monolith in 1990. Frank Watts with Florida's state soil monolith. Watts, a Kentucky native, received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in soil science from Murray State University, Murray, KY. He began his career in Kentucky with USDA-SCS in 1968 by contributing to two published soil surveys. In 1970, Watts transferred to Florida, where he contributed to 16 published soil surveys throughout the state and served as soil survey project leader in six counties before retiring in 2003. He was instrumental in developing methodology to interpret soil morphological features for determining depth to seasonal high water tables and in developing hydric soil indicators. Frank Watts was the senior author of “History of Establishing a State Soil: Florida's Myakka Fine Sand,” and “Determining Depths to the Seasonal High Water Table and Hydric Soils in Florida,” which were publish in Soil Survey Horizons in the early 1990s. Watts is the senior author of Soils of Florida, a book published by the Soil Science Society of America in 2008, which shows the beauty of soils with its 168 color photos of Florida soil profiles. 1969 Kan Kim Chang, best known as Kim Chang, is shown describing a Milham soil while working on the Soil Survey of Kern County, California, Northwestern Part. Upon graduating from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo in 1959, Chang was hired as a fulltime soil scientist by USDA-SCS. After being drafted in 1961, Chang served for two years in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, testing soils, asphalt, and concrete. Upon returning to USDA-SCS in 1963, Chang worked on the Soil Survey of Eastern Fresno Area, California, prior to his project leader work on the Soil Survey of Kern County, Northwestern Part, which he authored in 1988. Kim Chang describes soil in California's San Joaquin Valley. Chang completed the second half of his illustrious 43-year career as the Area Soil Scientist for the USDA-NRCS in Fresno, CA. He was known as an excellent field soil scientist and trainer of soil scientists. In his job as Area Soil Scientist he was responsible for field reviews of soil surveys being conducted by three U.S. government agencies. As an Area Soil Scientist, Chang worked as a soil liaison with many USDA-NRCS field offices throughout California. He is also known for the valuable assistance he has provided to FFA land judging competitions in the San Joaquin Valley for more than 50 years. Information courtesy of Kerry Arroues, NRCS, Soil Scientist (retired), Hanford, CA. 1939 An accelerated program of soil survey and classification was initiated within the Tennessee Valley in 1935, shortly after the inception of the TVA. It developed as a cooperative project within the overall objectives described in the Memorandum of Understanding signed on November 20, 1934, by TVA, USDA, and the agricultural colleges of the seven valley states, specifying for a coordinated program of agricultural research, extension, and land-use planning. The need for an up-to-date inventory of available soil resources was recognized as a necessity for making adjustments in land use and development of agriculture in the Tennessee Valley region. Flooding, soil erosion, and abuse of farmland were very serious problems throughout the Tennessee Valley at this time. At initiation of the project, only 38 of the Tennessee River watershed counties had soil surveys, and most of these were inadequate, even by 1935 standards, and needed updating. Soil surveyors in the Tennessee Valley. The photograph above was taken in May of 1939 during a field inspection trip in Scott County, VA. Soil surveyors are (left to right): H.H. Perry, H.C. Porter, D.D. Mason, J.W. Moon (Regional Inspector, Soil Survey, USDA), Dr. S.S. Obenshain (Virginia Polytechnic Institute Soil Classification Project Leader), R.C. Jurney, C.S. Coleman, E.F. Henry, and A.C. Orvedal. Information courtesy of Dr. John M. Soileau, Research Soil Scientist (retired), Tennessee Valley Authority, Florence, AL.