Fresno El Peco Soil Reclassification Project Madera County

Splash photo provided by Rafael Ortiz Vazquez

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Hanford Soil Survey office is looking for farmers to assist in the reclassification of soils in Madera County in spring and summer 2022. The purpose is to update descriptions of the Fresno and El Peco soils, to reflect differences after ripping, irrigating and amending.

Information will updated on the the soil’s productivity and likely groundwater recharge potential. Fresno and El Peco have a hardpan between 14” and 30” below the surface and the soils vary between slightly saline alkali and strongly saline alkali, and common production practices such as ripping and leaching will likely change these attributes, but work needs to be done to validate these suspicions.

Growers who have sites that have soils classified as Fresno or El Peco can participate by either digging, or allowing NRCS soil scientists to dig pits in their land to do soil survey work. As these pits can be fairly large (6 feet x 6 feet x 6 feet), they’re looking for sites that have recently had orchards removed, vegetable or row crops harvested, or are installing irrigation pipes.

Locations in Madera county are in the accompanying image, shaded in either green or orange. The soil series are primarily on the south-western side of the County.

If you are interested in helping out, you can contact:

Rafael Ortiz – Hanford MLRA Soil Scientist
Email: Rafael.ortizvazquez@usda.gov
559-852-9965

Or

Madera NRCS office:
Priscilla Baker (559) 363-4599

Or

Madera Chowchilla Resource Conservation District
Amy Siliznoff (626) 483-1345