Work was continued to evaluate Michigan's estimated 4.5 million acres of organic soils, potentially yielding energy comparable to 270 million short tons of bituminous coal. The goal of the project remained one of determining the ''amount and location of fuel-grade peat in Michigan that may be harvested and utilized in an environmentally acceptable manner.''Michigan is divided into 16 soil-geomorphic provinces for the peat estimation study, and second year field efforts in Provinces III and IV resulted in 207 sections transected and 540 samples collected for analysis. Well-equipped teams used McCauley peat augers with extensions to extract samples in accordance with the sampling plan designed at Michigan Technological University to achieve the objectives of the project. This sampling plan utilizes a multistage sampling approach based on clustering and multiple stratification. The plan was developed to estimate organic soil characteristics by section, township, county, province, and finally the state as a whole when all the 16 soil-geomorphic provinces are covered. The procedure in brief involves running two transects across organic soil deposit areas and taking five systematic depth measurements on each transect. Samples are then extracted as prescribed by the sampling routine. Large samples are taken for proximate, ultimate, and Btu analyses. During the second year of the project, surveys in Provinces III and IV sought to determine acreages of potential fuel-grade peat. At the end of the second year, project plans anticipated completion of the peat resource estimation for the state of Michigan by the end of fiscal year 1983. 8 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs.