Minnesota Association of Professional Soil Scientists (MAPSS)
Welcome to MAPSS Soil Scientists at work Membership Licensing Events/Job Opportunities Legislative News MAPSS State Soil Credits/Feedback Links |
Who or What is MAPSS? Quick MAPSS Information - Announcements, Events, Deadlines, etc. What does MAPSS do? Brief history of MAPSS as told by a charter member. Other MAPSS information (constitution, SOP). Looking for a job? click here for the event and job page. Who We AreEstablished in 1973, the Minnesota Association of Professional Soil Scientists (MAPSS) is the only organization representing the professional interests of soil scientists in Minnesota. MAPSS promotes the understanding and wise use of Minnesota's soil resources. Our members consists of professional soil scientists, consultants, researchers, teachers and students, as well as those who just have an interest in soils.Announcements, Events, Deadlines and Quick MAPSS InformationMAPSS Calendar. Submit events to mapss@mnsoilscientist.orgOctober 10, 2008 - MAPSS is sponsoring a soils workshop in Redwood Falls, Minnesota for subsurface sewage treatment professionals. Click here for the brochure that includes the registration form. December 5, 2008 - MAPSS Winter Technical Event in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Additional information will follow. PSS licenses must have been renewed by June 30, 2008. To renew go to www.aelslagid.state.mn.us. Kim Steffen is the MAPSS Soil Scientist of the Year for 2007!! The 85th Minnesota Legislature 2008 Regular Session has ended. A summary of the House files and Senate files that may affect soil scientists is provided in the Legislative News tab on the left side of this web page. Renew your MAPSS membership for 2008 today! Click here for the 2008 renewal form. Have you read the current (Spring/Summer 2008) issue of the MAPSS newsletter? May (Spring/Summer) 2008. Back issues of the Auger can be found by clicking here: The Auger. Congratulations! $10,000.00 was raised for the Minnesota Soil Monolith at the Smithsonian Soils Exhibit! Click here to view the thank you letter! The opening day of the exhibit was July 19, 2008. The official name of the exhibit at the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum is "Dig It! The Secrets of Soil" Curious about the status of the soil survey in a specific county in Minnesota? Click here to find out! What We DoWe support activities that provide continuing education for professional soil scientists and promote the understanding of soils. MAPSS offers:History of MAPSS as recalled by Richard O. PaulsonDick was one of the charter members of the professional soil scientist's organization in Minnesota.The roots to the Minnesota Association of Professional Soil Scientists began about 1968 one evening during our annual workshop for Soil Conservation Service and University of Minnesota soil scientists. The discussion brought out the need to have an organization by which soil scientists could be certified and be recognized by other professionals such as engineers, etc.. The soil scientists in North Dakota were already organizing and were preparing legislation to establish a certification process in their state. All the soil scientists at the workshop agreed that we should proceed and each contributed $5 towards covering the initial costs of postage, etc. Out of this idea began an organization called "Minnesota Association of Professional Soil Classifiers". There were about 50 soil scientists in Minnesota who would qualify as "Professional Soil Classifiers". We adopted a constitution and by-laws about 1970 or 1971. Soil scientists who became members paid an initial fee of $50. This gave our organization some money to work with, particularly as we began the process of certification. MAPSC was certified as an organization by the Minnesota Secretary of State July 5, 1974. At a meeting of MAPSC held on October 26, 1974, the members decided to proceed with certification and registration. "A Proposal for Registration" was prepared and reviewed at the December 5, 1974 annual meeting, and was approved, with some minor modifications. The plans were to proceed with having a bill introduced with sponsors in both the house and senate. I recall there were several other miscellaneous bills introduced such as the state muffin to be the blueberry muffin. We decided not to follow through with our proposal, as it would not receive the attention and support it needed. There was sufficient support to sponsor a summer tour each year to be held in different parts of the state for soil scientists to share their work with others. The first summer field trip was held in Kandiyohi County. The hosts were Allan Giencke, Party Leader for the Kandiyohi County Soil Survey and Lowell Hanson, Extension Soil Specialist with the University of Minnesota St. Paul. It was well attended and the interest has continued, so our summer tours are still a part of MAPSS. In the early 1980s, many of the MAPSC members began to think we needed to expand our membership base and include soil scientists who work in other fields besides soil survey. A committee was formed in 1982 to study the issue. A report was made to the December 1982 annual meeting. It recommended the inclusion of soil scientists working in other disciplines. The thought was also that we might have more than on certification level: soil classification, research, teaching, fertility, management, etc. The membership approved the concept of broadening our membership base and be more inclusive. Thus, the name Minnesota Association of Soil Classifiers, was changed to Minnesota Association of Professional Soil Scientists, MAPSS, in 1983. We never lost sight of our goal to become registered and certified. This finally occurred in 1997 when we became a part of the legislation which had been in place for engineers in Minnesota. Currently many of our members have become or are in the process of becoming licensed professional geoscientists with the Board of AELSLAGID. MAPSS Organization InformationMAPSC & MAPSS History of Officers and Awards (pdf file)MAPSS Constitution (pdf file) MAPSS Standard Operating Procedures (pdf file) - updated September, 2006 Please send comments about the website to: webmaster@mnsoilscientist.org. 
| |