National Resources Inventory

The 1997 National Resources Inventory (NRI) is the latest in a series of inventories conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly the Soil Conservation Service. It provides updated information on the status, condition, and trends of land, soil, water, and related resources on the nation's non-Federal land. The 1997 NRI is unique in that it provides a nationally consistent database that was constructed specifically to estimate 5-, 10- and 15-year trends for natural resources from 1982 to 1997.

Data for the 1997 NRI were collected for more than 6,100 locations in Arkansas by NRCS field personnel, resources inventory specialists, and remote sensing data collectors at the Inventory Collection and Coordination Site in Little Rock, Arkansas.  The NRI was scientifically designed and conducted and is based on recognized statistical sampling methods. NRI data are statistically reliable for national, regional, state and substate analysis. Generally, however, interpretations at the local level may be misleading.

As the key to interpreting the state of America's land, NRI information will be used to formulate effective public policies, to fashion agricultural and natural resources legislation, to develop state and national conservation programs, and to allocate USDA financial and technical assistance in addressing natural resource concerns.

History

NRCS has a long history of using natural resource inventories and monitoring to set priorities and focus on needs.

Hugh Hammond Bennett, the first Chief of NRCS (formerly SCS), recognized soil erosion as a national problem and documented it in "Soil Erosion-A National Menace", issued by USDA in 1928. This publication led to the first formal study of erosion, the "1934 National Erosion Reconnaissance Survey", conducted by NRCS's forerunner, the Soil Erosion Service. This survey was the first well-documented nationwide resource inventory ever conducted. Six months after it was completed, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act of 1935, establishing NRCS.

In June of 1945, NRCS published the Soil and Water Conservation Needs Estimates for the United States, by States. This became the Conservation Needs Inventory (CNI) and set the stage for future inventories. The CNI was repeated in 1958 and 1967.

The Rural Development Act of 1972 lead to the development of the present inventory program, beginning with the 1977 NRI. The 1982 NRI was more comprehensive than the 1977 inventory and became the first inventory in the current trending database. Subsequent inventories in 1987, 1992 and 1997 were designed to provide consistent information enabling the NRI to produce a 15-year trend line for the conditions and uses of the Nation's natural resources.

Additional Information

National Resources Inventory

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