As used in this part:

    (a) "Soil survey" means the identification and description of kinds of soil, the plotting of boundaries on aerial photographs between kinds of soils, and the description and evaluation of their importance and response under various uses and management practices.

    (b) "Soil scientist" means a person who meets the qualification standards of the GS-470 soil scientist series established by the United States civil service commission.

    (1) The department of agriculture shall provide an inventory of the soil resources of the state by a 10-year program for the acceleration of the soil survey on nonfederal lands. Soil surveys will be made on a minimum of 3,000,000 acres over the 10 years following December 14, 1977 under former Act No. 268 of the Public Acts of 1977.

    (2) Soil surveys shall be conducted on a proportional basis of not more than 2 counties in the Lower Peninsula being surveyed for each county in the Upper Peninsula until all counties in the Upper Peninsula have been surveyed. If the soil surveys cannot be conducted on a proportional basis due to the lack of funding from any of the counties, then the department of agriculture shall establish an alternative proportional basis to promote the conducting of the surveys in the time period established in subsection (1).

     The department of agriculture shall implement this part by employing, subject to civil service rules, and equipping soil scientists, within appropriations for that purpose, to make soil surveys through cooperative arrangements with the United States department of agriculture soil conservation service and the Michigan agricultural experiment station. The soil survey shall be conducted under national standards and guidelines for naming, classifying, and interpreting soils and for publishing soil surveys in the United States department of agriculture series. The department of agriculture shall also, in conjunction with the department, design and implement standards and guidelines for use in primarily forested areas. The standards and guidelines may include the additional soil characteristics which must be measured to determine forest growth and continued protection, and the modification of soil body grouping methods to allow interpretation and inventory of soils for forest management purposes. Michigan technological university, Ford forestry center shall provide technical backup with respect to soil survey in forestry areas.

     The department of agriculture shall make yearly budget requests and the legislature shall annually appropriate funds to implement this part.