Glossary:Land capability classification

The designation of soil units for showing their suitability for specific uses, such as cropping, grazing, woodland, wildlife, or others, usually divided into eight classes. The classes range from Group I for soils which are very productive, easy to work with, and have few if any limitations for most uses to Group VIII for soils or land conditions which are minimally productive, extremely difficult to work, with and have very severe limitations. Lower case letters represent subclasses such as "e" for highly erodible; "w" for excess wetness; "s" for droughty, or stoney; and "c" for prolonged coldness.