SBAAG - Roles and Responsibilities
Group members represent individuals working at the development level with input from key MO and state level positions for the development, production, and dissemination of soil survey data and information. Advisors and liaisons represent a cross-section of agency business areas and their soil information needs.
Executive Sponsor – Director, Soil Science Division, provides perspective on the overall vision for soil survey program needs.
Chair – National Leader for Soil Business Systems, NSSC, or as appointed by the Director, Soil Science Division (SSD).
Rotating Members – Rotating members are changed every two to three years. These include a State Soil Scientist, an MLRA Soil Survey Regional Office (MO) Leader, and a Soil Data Quality Specialist.
Permanent Members – Provide connectivity to other groups, look for emerging issues that affect soil business, and identify opportunities to pool and leverage resources. The makeup of this group is relatively static and responds to evolving national soil resource management needs. SBAAG permanent members include individuals from the National Soil Survey Center (NSSC), National Cartography and Geospatial Center (NCGC), and Information Technology Center (ITC).
Advisors – The Director of the SSD and the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Information Technology Division provide perspective on the information system development and direction for the agency, as it pertains to soil survey business needs. The Director for the National Soil Survey Center provides perspective on the overall management of the soil survey program.
Ad Hoc Advisory Members – These members are named as needed and can include the following: MLRA Project Leader, Resource Soil Scientist, NASIS User Group, NSSC Forester, NSSC Range Management Specialist, NSSC Agronomist, NCGC Remote Sensing Laboratories, U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (NPS), and others.
SBAAG is authorized to advise the Director of the Soil Science Division on issues and opportunities that pertain to successful delivery of the Soil Survey Program. In carrying out its duties, the group may develop questionnaires, contact cooperators, manage a travel allocation, establish Ad Hoc work groups within SBAAG, or recommend formation of outside task forces that have specialized technical capabilities.