From the 2020 NACD Annual Meeting. At the field level, new technology is supporting producers’ stewardship decisions, including the NRCS Highly Erodible Land Determination Tool.

1. NRCS
Highly Erodible Land
Determination Tool
Winter 2020

2. NRCS Highly Erodible Land (HEL)
Determination Tool: A Brief
History
• 1990s: Manual methods & some GIS
• 2010s: GIS tool by Kevin Godsey, MO-Soil
Survey, adopted by several states
• Uses digital soil layer with HEL frozen values
• Evaluates HEL soil data within CLU fields
• Report of acres and percent HEL soils per field
• Access to LiDAR data enables offsite
evaluation of PHEL

3. NRCS Highly Erodible Land
Determination Tool: A Brief
History
• The tool also produced a CPA-026e Highly
Erodible Land Determination and a letter to the
producer detailing the determination by field.
• Over the years, the tool has been perfected by
states which have adopted it. Today, over a dozen
states use some form of this tool.
• The tool is built within existing approved software
(ArcGIS Desktop and Microsoft Access).

4. The Virtual
HEL
Symposium
• Forty Soil Scientists, GIS Specialists, State
Conservationists, State Resource Conservationists,
Technical Center Specialists, and the National
Compliance Specialist joined the Deputy Chief for
S&T to examine HEL tools being used.
• Thirteen states participated, as well as NHQ, CNTSC
& ENTSC.
• The group examined each tool, benchmarked the
top tools, and agreed to develop a tool for states to
adopt if they so chose.
• The tool incorporates FSA policy requirements and
produces a consistent high quality product that can
uphold FSA HEL compliance appeals.

5. About the Tool
• The Tool is based on the Missouri HEL Tool modified by Minnesota, with a user interface
for completed products based on New Jersey’s model.
• Other tools, developed by States who have more advanced tools, i.e., Indiana’s, will not
be replaced by this tool.
• Adoption of this tool is at each state’s discretion.
• State GIS specialists are best suited to maintain this tool, but once deployed, it is
expected field users at any level within the agency can use this tool.
• The tool platform is an ArcGIS toolbox created in Python script. It uses existing software
approved by the OCIO and is stand-alone from Conservation Desktop at this time.

6. Benefits of the Tool
• Enhanced customer service and faster
response times for HEL determinations
• NRCS completes 60,000 determinations per
year
• Time savings is 2.5 hours per determination
or 53 staff years annually
• Increased product quality & consistency
• Ease of use for field staff of all skill levels,
including Program Assistants
• Installation does not require IT/CEC

7. How the Tool Functions:
• Digital Soil HEL layer containing 1990 frozen
HEL factors.
• Calculates 33.3% or 50-acre threshold for fields
• LiDAR allows evaluation of potentially
highly erodible land (PHEL) mapunits
• Tool works without LiDAR for HEL and NHEL
units
• The tool creates the CPA-026e,
Determination Map, Transmittal Letter, and
summary acreage reports

8. How the Tool Functions:
Adding Some New Concepts
• The user-friendly interface, developed by NJ,
allows point and click production of Client and
NRCS Planner Reports.
• A start-up package has been developed for
States deployment. The start-up package is
available at the GIS SharePoint. Contents
include:
• Administrator data and tool setup
documentation
• Deployment recommendations
• User guides
• Demonstration Video

9. What’s Left?
For states that are new to
using a tool, up-front work
involves creating a digital soil
HEL layer that contains the
frozen HEL factors.
The tool and documentation
are available on the NRCS GIS
SharePoint.
Support to date has been
provided by ad-hoc
development team
members.
The Soil Survey staff is
examining ways to help
states with limited GIS
resources create the required
digital soils data for the tool.