42.20.603    VALUATION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND THAT DOES NOT HAVE A PUBLISHED SOIL SURVEY

(1) Denied access (DA) lands and not completed (NOTCOM) lands do not currently have any agricultural use productivity information associated with them from a published soil survey.

(2) When DA and NOTCOM lands are encountered in the department's efforts to assign a productivity to an agricultural use, the department will use Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to determine the average level of productivity in the same agricultural use from the surrounding soils within one mile of the DA or NOTCOM land and will assign the average level of productivity to the DA lands.

(3) Where an inadequate number of acres within the same use class with productivity information are not identified in the one-mile buffer routine, the buffer routine is expanded to include all acres with the same use and productivity information within five miles of the property. On occasion the buffer routine is expanded to 20 miles to ensure that an adequate number of acres with soils productivity information and in the same use are identified.

History: 15-7-111, MCA; IMP, 15-7-201, 15-7-202, 15-7-208, MCA; NEW, 2010 MAR p. 549, Eff. 2/26/10; AMD, 2014 MAR p. 2994, Eff. 12/12/14.