Is this a good idea or a bad idea?
Let us brainstorm.
I, for one, think it should be rather expensive, but still juuuust available for hermits and the like, if they work hard enough.
The actual effect, maybe, would be that you pick a few surveys, and they fill themselves out over time. Any leftover dirt from one survey will go into other surveys that need dirt. If any dirt's left after that, then it'll be left on the edges in stockpiles.