MLRA REGION 10 NEWSLETTER--FEBRUARY 1, 1999 TREASURE UNCOVERED IN LACROSSE, WISCONSIN BASEMENT While cleaning out the basement of the La Crosse, Wisconsin, County Courthouse in preparation for a move, Steve Kluess, NRCS district conservationist, came across a rarity and a mystery. He found two hand-crafted cases, dated 1916, labeled "Major Soils of the Western Region and Eastern Provinces of the United States." Inside was a collection of about 80 small glass vials containing samples of soil from across the U.S. The Bureau of Soils was formed in 1899, and by 1916 soil surveys were just getting underway in a few areas of the country. This collection may be the first and only of its kind. Steve contacted Duane Simonson, Soil Survey Project Leader in Richland Center, and presented him with his find. Duane did a little investigating to try and find out why a rare collection of American soils would be buried on a shelf in the La Crosse County Courthouse and how long it has been there. No current or retired soil scientists in the State had ever heard of it or anything like it. There were no papers or letters referring to it in La Crosse. One might conjecture that the nearby Coon Creek Watershed Demonstration site, the first large-scale erosion control project in the country in 1935, may have something to do with it. La Crosse was also the site of a USDA Experimental Station working on erosion control, also in the 1930's. Recovering this historic collection could not have been more timely. The year 1999 is the centennial year of the soil survey. NRCS is celebrating a Soil Survey Centennial to help people learn about soil. Wisconsin has contributed the Soils Collection to the Centennial for display around the country during 1999. No more dusty courthouse basements for this treasure of soils. From NRCS This Week ######################################################################### ALL SOIL SCIENTISTS HAVE A ROLE IN MAINTAINING THE NASIS DATA I have returned to the office after visiting several offices this week. This is the first of a series of messages that I am writing. So, don't get too disgusted. I have received a couple of comments from the Technical Soil Scientists about their role in the application and use of NASIS. I wanted to address the importance of ALL soil scientists learning how to use the computer and how to use NASIS. As everyone is aware, the published surveys are aging. In order to "update" these surveys, we must have evaluations. NASIS is a tool that we use to document all work that is completed in the survey area. There are two methods in which I see we can evaluate a survey: 1. Devoting full time to running transects, road checking, and gathering information from appeals, errors, etc. and analyzing and compiling this data to complete a written record of the survey evaluation. 2. Maintaining a historical record of each account that the soil scientist visits the survey area. Then, document what was found, what improvements will be needed, and/or the overall quality of the soil survey information. IF, each one of us would use NASIS to document ALL on site evaluations, we would develop a historical record to the survey area. Your notes can be printed out and attached to a cover letter. This provides the user your comments on the site, it provide the Field Office your documentation and it provides the National Cooperative Soil Survey (5, 6, 8 or 10 years down the road) one location to get your thoughts and ideas of the survey as it existed when you were at the site. Okay, reason 1 for using NASIS - survey/onsite documentation Reason 2 Verification of the data You are responsible for the data we provide to the public. Is it correct? Are the properties populated? Are the interpretations justifiable? Is the FOTG up to date? If a governmental agency in your area asked for an interpretation of the soils in the area, do we have the properties needed to develop the interpretation? I just want you to be aware that the NASIS database is not like the old State Soil Survey Database. The State Office does not "own" and "develop" the database. NASIS is owned and managed by all soil scientists. It is our job to populate, test, verify and develop the information in NASIS . Contributed by Paul Finnell (MLRA Region 5) ######################################################################### SECURITY ON THE NASIS COMPUTER In addition to the security built into the NASIS software, the UNIX operating system on the NASIS computer in MLRA 10 has additional security features that have been activated (at the recommenation of the IT staff in Ft. Collins). Apparently, computer hackers have been successful in gaining access to government computers that have limited security features. The security features that affect most users are: 1. Three failed attempts to log in will inactivate your account--this means three in a row, not three failures over the course of several days, weeks, or months. Failed login attempts usually result from mistyped logins or passwords. Also, please remember that UNIX is case sensitive, so that if you type QWERTY for your login, and it's really qwerty, then QWERTY is incorrect. When an account is made inactive, it means that the user cannot log into the NASIS computer even if the login and password are typed correctly. Inactivation does not alter the user's data, files, directories, etc. Reactivation can be achieved by contacting myself or one of two St. Paul IT staff members [Rich Dougherty (1-651-602 7904) or Cathy McCormick (1-651-602-7906)]. It's about a 60 second procedure. 2. Password aging is set to 6 months. In other words, if you do not change your password at least once every six months, UNIX will disable your account. You will receive a warning 30 days before your password expires--this warning comes when you log in to the NASSSSIS computer, not via e-mail or other means. However, many of you obtain access to NASIS by automated procedures that do not require entry of a password, nor provide you an opportunity to periodically change your password. In these situations, there are two choices--you can contact your system administrator to alter your access procedure to provide you a prompt on the NASIS computer (from which you can change your password), or you can contact myself or one of two St. Paul IT staff members [Rich Dougherty (1-651-602-7904) or Cathy McCormick (1-651-602 7906)] to enable your account--it's about a 60 second procedure. 3. The IP address of your computer must appear on the list that the NASIS computer maintains. If it does, you will be able to login, use telnet, use ftp, and execute remote commands. If this address is not on the list, access to the NASIS computer is completely denied--you will not be able to obtain any kind of prompt or obtain access to NASIS. These IP numbers are entered on the list when your login is established on the NASIS computer. The only time this may affect you is if you attempt to access NASIS from another computer whose IP address does not appear on the list. Prepared by John Handler ######################################################################### COMMONLY ASKED NASIS QUESTIONS Commonly asked questions, and some I have asked myself 1. How can I edit the texture? The field is protected! Yes the field labled Tex Mod & Class [in the Horizon Texture Group Table] is protected and can not be edited. You must go downtable one more time [to the Horizon Texture Table]. The result is a field called Texture. This field can be edited. After you put the correct texture code in this field, put you cursor under the S in the Horizon texture Group. The next step is to go to Options - Calculate Data Elements - Texture Group Name and Apply. This will populate the Texture Modifier and Class field using your data that you just entered in the Texture field. 2. Where in the world is the Hydric Soils Data? How can I edit what I can not find? Go to View - Data Mapunits - Components - Component Interpretation. One of the choices of kind is hydric soil rating. If it is not listed already, use F8 or Edit - Insert to insert a row. Use the choice list for Kind to pick hydric soil rating Fill in the rating then go down table Beneath is the Component Interpretation Restriction. Once again use F8 or Edit - Insert to insert a row The choices include 1, 2a, 2b1, 2b2, 2b3, 3, 4 ... Use the codes you have used in the past with SSSD hydric module to populate this field ALSO Under component there is a field called hydric condition. If a soil is hydric this field should be filled in with the following choices: Farmable under natural conditions Neither wooded nor farmable under natural conditions Wooded under natural conditions 3. I keep getting disconnected from my NASIS session what can I do? If you are going through Kansas city there is a potential for being cut off. There are several reasons and there is more than one thing that you can do about it. A. You can start a second telnet session to try to keep the connection going. If you remember to press return every once in a while in this window it is the most effective method of staying connected. B. You can use network tools to ping another computer and this may help. However, I have not been 100 percent successful with this procedure. Possibly because I may not have my call waiting turned off properly. Even with a Ping going on, I have been cut off. C. In many cases you can reconnect automatically and your nasis session will still be going fine. In may cases Kansas City will give you the same IP address over and over again and you will be able to resume your NASIS session with little interruption. One other helpful hint is that often the mouse can not get your session back in sync. If you remember that F5 is save, you can use an F5 to force the Nasis Session to become active again and you will get the Save message back. As a remote site, it is important to remember to use clean_edit -d nasis before you start a session and anytime you get bumped off and can not reconnect. 4. I have access to a desktop on a UNIXWARE box and I have access to an XTERM but I do not know how to access NASIS from another location. How can I connect? Login as yourself on your XTERM Type xhost (ipaddress) example: xhost 165.221.42.41 for Indianapolis xhost 151.121.208.15 for West Virginia Then telnet to the machine: telnet 151.121.208.15 Login as yourself (you must have a login at the MO to connect). With security you must also be added to the host machine or it will not let you in. then type: set DISPLAY (ipaddress):0 example: set DISPLAY 165.221.42.56:0 You can now run nasis. use nasis_ppp to run dxpc use nasis -nobitmap if you are accessing an MO with a detailed graphic and you do not wish to see it Just type nasis for Indianapolis since we have disabled the graphic. You should be up and running. There are variations on the set DISPLAY command depending upon your system and your own setup. If you are a csh user use the following command: setenv DISPLAY ipaddress:0 If you are a sh user: setenv DISPLAY= ipaddress:0 If you do not know what I am taking about, try both and see which one works. Example: setenv DISPLAY 165.221.42.56:0 where the IP address is for the machine you are working on. Not for the Machine that you are telneting to. If you are having additional problems, please contact your local IRM support. 5. Please forward your ipaddress and logins to me if you need continued access to NASIS. Security measures will require that each NASIS user be recognized by the HP machine that you are logging into. For you in other MO's, this is coming your way and you will have to make arrangements with your users as security is tightened. 6. REMINDER TO BACKUP you computers!! 7. NASIS is valuable as much as a report tool as it is an editing tool. Make use of it! Don't limit yourself. Don't let a few seconds or minutes hold you back. Remember the days when you hand edited your tables, mailed them to another office, waited days, weeks or even months for them to be entered, and to top it off, someone else might have over ridden your proposed changes without asking you. Now is the time to make a difference. Use the report options to evaluate similar components, look at what your neighbors are doing with your series. All the soils data in the country will soon be at your fingertips. Make it count. 8. For those of you with slow printers and poor connections. Try doing a FOCS download. If you do not have access to FOCS, we can load your download and send you a complete set of manuscript tables which can be either printed at our office and mailed to you, or we can send you the file for viewing on your screen. From: Henry Ferguson, MLRA Region 11 ######################################################################### Last month, the following x3780 files were sent to offices having SSSD: x3780.409frig on Jan 04 (22 updated OSDs) @ x3780.410mes on Jan 06 ( 5 updated OSDs) * @ Sent to offices using soils in the frigid soil temperature regime. * Sent to offices using soils in the mesic soil temperature regime. # Sent to all offices. The above x3780s contain the following OSDs: Frigid: ...beseman...bowstring...brophy...bullwinkle...carlos...cathro...dawson... greenwood...haslie...kratka...lupton...markey...merwin...millervill... mooselake...nidaros...rifle...rondeau...seelyevill...tacoosh...tawas... uskabwanka Mesic: ...boots...caron...dunkerton...klossner...medo ######################################################################### ACTIVITY SCHEDULE (through March 15--subject to change) MLRA DATE ACTIVITY LOCATION MO 10 STAFF ---- --------- ------------------------------ --------------- ----------- 90 Feb 01-05 Steering Committee Meeting Hinckley Jahnke Giencke 90 Feb 18-19 NASSIS-Simeth St. Paul Jahnke 90 Feb 22-26 Project Office Visit Rhinelander Jahnke 92 Mar 03-04 Steering Committee Meeting Ashland Jahnke Handler 93 Feb 08-12 NASIS-Schwenner, Carey, Calus Marquette Jahnke 93 Feb 16-17 Ottawa National Forest Ontonagon Jahnke 94B Feb 08-12 NASIS Editing St. Paul DesLauriers 105 Mar 15-19 Final Correlation (La Crosse) St. Paul Jahnke 107 Mar 09-11 Steering Committee Meeting Omaha Hempel Handler ALL Feb 17 MO 10 Staff Meeting St. Paul All ALL Mar 15-19 NASIS Interpretation Training St. Paul All ######################################################################### CONTRIBUTIONS, IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, AND QUESTIONS ARE WELCOME Thanks to those individuals who participated this month. It is your efforts that are making this newsletter a success. * * * * * Please submit your articles at least five days before the end of the month for inclusion in the following month's newsletter. Otherwise it will appear the following month. Occasionally, due to other workload demands, it may be an additional month before the article appears. Generally, articles are inserted in the order they are received. Articles in an electronic format can be submitted to: jfh@mn.nrcs.usda.gov It is best if electronic articles are prepared in a "text only" format. Articles in a paper format can be sent or faxed to: John Handler MLRA Region 10 Office USDA - NRCS 375 Jackson Street - Suite 600 St. Paul, Minnesota 55101-1854 FAX: 1-651-602-7914 * * * * * This newsletter is intended to be a forum to distribute information of a general nature that will benefit soil scientists in soil survey project offices. It is hoped that it will foster communications and sharing of knowledge among those soil scientists in MLRA Region 10. * * * * * The format of this newsletter is intentionally simple so that it can be received, read, and printed by the project office having the least sophisticated computer setup. #########################################################################