Use of forest soils information by New Hampshire foresters

ABSTRACT:

A considerable amount of forest soils information exists. Little is known, however, about how the information is used by forest managers. New Hampshire foresters were surveyed to determine the importance of forest soils information and the extent to which the foresters used three distinct information sources. The respondents placed a high value on such information, with almost 75 percent indicating that soils information will play an important role in future land use deliberations. More than 70 percent of the respondents had used county soil surveys for forest management decisions during the past year. Less than one-half had used the important forest soils groups or Leak's habitat classification system. Differences in the use rates were attributed primarily to differences in the length of time for which the information sources have been available and the lack of training opportunities and habitat maps for the recently developed information.