Land Scorecard – Getting the Balanced View on Land Use

First of all, there is a need to understand what exactly the balanced scorecard is. This is an approach that has the ability to raise the profile of important projects, augment functionality and even predict the performance in the future. Thus, it helps in leading the organization to get greater financial earnings. This methodology has already existed for several years now but it was formally introduced in the year 1992 by Robert Kaplan and David Norton. These two not only gave the approach an official name but also devised a way on how to properly use this in order to measure the performance and function of the organization. Generally, this has become a way to plan out and translate the business information that had been too complex before into understandable information. Now, this can be applied on land use with the land scorecard.

Basically, the land scorecard can help you assess the utilization of a certain land area as well as its characteristics. One of the things that you can evaluate here is the percent slope which refers to the rise and fall of the land in 100 feet. To determine this, you will need to subtract the difference of two heights. Then you will need to multiply the result by four when you have taken the slope at 25 feet. After you have gotten the percent slope, you can assess whether it is nearly level, gently to strongly sloping and moderately to very steep.

You can use the land use scorecard to determine the surface layer thickness and the degree of deposition and erosion as well. These are directly associated with the percent slope and can be measured from the top of the outline up to where the subsoil begins. Meanwhile, when the surface layer is more than nine inches, this means that there is no confirmation of subsoil mixing and can be concluded that there is none up to slight soil erosion. Another is that you can pinpoint the soil profile characteristics according to the color and the percentage of organic matter in the surface layer.

The characteristics of the soil profile can also be evaluated through the texture, which can range from fine to coarse. The scorecard also allows you to evaluate the structure of the soil. Since there are different soil compositions, you will have to determine which among them it belongs to. Determining this will allow you to become aware whether the soil is heavily composed of sand, if it is not the real topsoil and if it is platy. The latter pertains to the state, wherein the soil produces clods, which come out of the horizontal contours. Other structures can be deemed as blocky and columnar or prismatic.

The land scorecard also enables you to determine other associate features of the soil including inner drainage and ventilation. This is coordinated with the color of the subsoil and therefore, there is a need to check on that matter first in order to determine such soil aspect. After the data have been collected, the land scorecard user will be able to determine the performance of the soil.