2023 Annual Soils Refresh

The USDA NRCS, Soil and Plant Science Division refreshes the publicly available soil survey database once a year. This Annual Soils Refresh (ASR) provides new soils data, updates to existing soils data, and new soil interpretations. The ASR also ensures all official soils data adhere to the same standards.

The official soil survey database was refreshed on October 1, 2023. This data is now available to the public through Web Soil Survey (WSS) or Soil Data Access (SDA).  The list below highlights some of the major additions to the official soil survey database.

• 56 million acres of new soils data added 
• 3,377 soil survey areas published* 
• Tabular data refreshed for all soil survey areas 
• Spatial data refreshed for 700 soil survey areas 
• 117 National soils interpretations published 
• 36,000 new soil polygons added 
• 2,000 new map units added 
• 16,000 new soil components added 
• The following soil survey areas had new data added in 2023: 
  • AK638 - Cantwell Area, Alaska
  • AK686 - White Mountains Area, Alaska
  • AK716 - Alaska Peninsula - Port Heiden and Port Moller Area, Alaska**
  • AK747 - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - Beaufort Coastal Plain Area, Alaska**
  • AK748 - Arctic National Wildlife Refuge - Brooks Range East Area, Alaska**
  • AK759 - Brooks Foothills - Killik, Chandler, and Anaktuvuk Rivers Area, Alaska**
  • AK760 - National Petroleum Reserve - Beaufort Coastal Plain Area, Alaska**
  • AK761 - National Petroleum Reserve - Brooks Foothills North Area, Alaska**
  • AK762 - Beaufort Coastal Plain - Deadhorse Area, Alaska**
  • AK763 - White Hills - Kuparuk River Area, Alaska**
  • AR041 - Desha County, Arkansas
  • AR043 - Drew County, Arkansas
  • CA795 - Mojave National Preserve Area, California
  • CA805 - Mojave Desert Area, Northeast Part, California
  • CA806 - Fish Lake and Deep Springs Valleys Area, California
  • CO625 - El Paso County Area, Colorado
  • CO634 - Sangre de Cristo Area, Colorado, Parts of Alamosa, Custer, Fremont, Huerfano, and Saguache Counties
  • CT601 - State of Connecticut, Western Part*
  • CT602 - State of Connecticut, Eastern Part*
  • FL622 - Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida*
  • FL623 - Everglades National Park, Florida*
  • FL624 - Biscayne National Park, Florida* 
  • ID600 - Seven Devils Area, Idaho
  • ID772 - Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho
  • MN031 - Cook County, Minnesota
  • MN075 - Lake County, Minnesota
  • MT623 - Gallatin National Forest Area, Montana
  • MT633 - Bob Marshall, Scapegoat, Great Bear, and Mission Mountain Wilderness Area, Montana
  • OR626 - Malheur National Forest, Oregon
  • OR645 - Malheur County, Oregon, Northern Part
  • OR677 - Wheeler County Area, Oregon
  • TN145 - Roane County, Tennessee
  • UT645 - Manti-Lasal National Forest, Manti Division - Parts of Sanpete and Emery Counties
  • UT649 - Fishlake National Forest, Utah - Tushar-Pavant Division - Parts of Sevier, Millard, Beaver, Piute, Iron, and Garfield Counties
  • WY603 - Big Horn County Area, Wyoming
  • WY617 - Hot Springs County Area, Wyoming
  • WY629 - Park County Area, Wyoming, Eastern Part
  • WY630 - Carbon County Area, Wyoming
  • WY737 - Sweetwater County Area, Wyoming

* Soil survey area FL999 - Department of Interior Lands, Florida, was removed and replaced by FL622 - Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida, FL623 - Everglades National Park, Florida, and FL624 - Biscayne National Park, Florida. Soil survey area CT600 - State of Connecticut was removed and replaced by CT601 - State of Connecticut, Western Part, and CT602 - State of Connecticut, Eastern Part.

** Soil survey area contains generalized order 5 soil mapping, published at a 1:250,000 scale. For comparison, most soil surveys contain detailed order 2 or order 3 soil mapping at the 1:24,000 scale. Please refer to pages 269-275 in Chapter 4 of the Soil Survey Manual for details about order of mapping and how it defines level of detail, accuracy, and scale.

Stay Informed

• To stay updated about various soil-related issues, you may subscribe to GovDelivery, which is a free service.
   
• For assistance with GovDelivery and WSS, send inquiries to SoilsHotline@usda.gov.
   
• For assistance with SDA, send inquiries to soildataaccess@usda.gov.
   
• For assistance from the Soils Hotline, a State soil scientist, or a local NRCS service center, click the “Contact Us” link in WSS or visit the contact information page for State soil scientists.
   
• For questions about soils data in a specific State, contact the State soil scientist.
   
• For more information on WSS, see “I Want Help With…” on WSS Home Page or visit the NRCS Soils web page.