NFI Soil Chemistry: Soil Nutrient Data from UK National Forest Inventory Plots, 2023/24

NFI Soil Chemistry provides quantitative soil chemical properties and nutrients from samples collected within National Forest Inventory woodland plots across England during the 2023/24 survey period. The dataset is georeferenced using a delocalised grid and includes polygon centroid coordinates and area. Forestry Commission copyright and/or database right 2025, with data generated by NatureMetrics as part of the Defra-funded Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme.

Use Cases

• Model soil carbon stocks based on quantitative soil chemistry data.
• Analyze spatial patterns of soil nutrients across English woodlands using georeferenced samples.
• Assess soil health indices for forest management using reported chemical properties.
• Integrate soil chemistry with biodiversity data as part of the Soil Biodiversity and Chemistry Monitoring Project.

Strengths

• Data is georeferenced with polygon centroid coordinates and area.
• Specific survey period (2023/24) provides temporal context.
• Links to technical documentation (Advice Sheets 41 & 45) for metric interpretation.
• Funded by a specific UK government programme (Defra's NCEA).

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Users must read supporting documentation including limitations statements before use.

Provenance

Source

Forestry Commission, with data generated by NatureMetrics.

Collection Method

Soil samples collected within National Forest Inventory woodland plots.

Time Range

2023/24 survey period.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-29 22:10:31.939273.

Geography

England.