Soils – Grid – Hydric Rating

This data layer is a composite raster of Soil Hydric Rating obtained from the Natural Resources Conservation Service's Gridded Soil Survey Geographic Database (gSSURGO) and U.S. Digital General Soil Map (STATSGO2). It was compiled by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. SSURGO contains information on soils collected by the National Cooperative Soil Survey over the course of a century. STATSGO2 is a generalized classification of soils where detailed soil surveys are not available. Hydric soils are formed in areas that are either permanently or seasonally saturated with water and, as a result, develop anaerobic conditions at some point during the growing season. These conditions affect the types of vegetation they can support. Hydric soils are also an important indicator of wetlands and information on their locations are often included in models that predict wetland location.