Section 17-47-101 - DefinitionsAs used in this chapter:
(1) "Kind of soil" means a group of natural bodies that has a discrete combination of landscape, morphological, chemical, and physical properties;(2)(A) "Practice of soil classifying" or "practice of professional soil classifying": (i) Means any service or work, the adequate performance of which requires education in the physical, chemical, biological, and soil sciences; training and experience in the application of the special knowledge of these sciences to soil classification; the soil classification by accepted principles and methods; investigation, evaluation, and consultation on the effect of measured, observed, and inferred soil properties upon the various uses; the preparation of soil descriptions, maps, and reports and interpretive drawings, maps, and reports of soil properties; the effect of soil properties upon the various uses; and the effect of the various uses upon kinds of soil, any of which embraces service or work either public or private incidental to the practice of soil classifying. A person shall be construed to practice or offer to practice soil classifying within the meaning and intent of this chapter who by verbal claim, sign, advertisement, letterhead, card, or use of some other title represents himself or herself to be a soil classifier; and(ii) Does not mean or include the practice of soil classifying by persons exempt under the provisions of § 17-47-103, the work ordinarily performed by persons who sample and test soil for fertility status or construction materials, and engineering surveys and soundings to determine soil properties influencing the design and construction of engineering and architectural projects.(B) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions, a person shall not be construed to practice soil classifying unless he or she offers soil classifying services to, or performs soil classifying for, the public;(3) "Professional soil classifier" means a person who, by reason of his or her special knowledge of the physical, chemical, and biological sciences applicable to soils as natural bodies and of the methods and principles of soil classification experienced in the formation, morphology, description, and mapping of soils, is qualified to practice soil classifying, and who has been registered by the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission;(4) "Soil" means all of the groups of natural bodies occupying the unconsolidated portion of the earth's surface capable of supporting plant life and having properties due to the combined effect of climate and living organisms, as modified by topography and time, upon parent materials;(5) "Soil classification" means plotting the boundaries, describing, and evaluating the kinds of soil as to their behavior and response to management under the various uses;(6) "Soil classifier" means a professional soil classifier as defined in subdivision (3) of this section; and(7) "Soil classifier-in-training" means a person who complies with the requirements for education and character and who has passed an examination in the fundamental soil and related subjects as provided for in §§ 17-47-304 and 17-47-305.Amended by Act 2023, No. 691,§ 95, eff. 7/1/2023.Acts 1975, No. 460, § 2; A.S.A. 1947, § 71-2702.