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Ecosystems science: Genes to landscapes

Bountiful fisheries, healthy and resilient wildlife, flourishing forests and vibrant grasslands are coveted resources that benefit all Americans. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) science supports the conservation and management of the Nation’s fish and wildlife, and the landscapes they inhabit. Our biological resources—ecosystems and the wild things that live in them—are the foundation of our conservation heritage and an economic asset to current and future generations of Americans. The USGS Ecosystems Mission Area, the biological research arm of the Department of the Interior (DOI), provides science to help America achieve sustainable management and conservation of its biological resources. This work is done within the broader mission of the USGS—to serve the Nation with science that advances understanding of our natural resources, informs land and water stewardship, and helps safeguard communities from natural and environmental hazards. The Ecosystems Mission Area provides research, technical assistance, and education conducted by Cooperative Research Units and Science Centers located in nearly every State. The quality of life and economic strength in America hinges on healthy ecosystems that support living things and natural processes. Ecosystem science better enables society to understand how and why ecosystems change and to guide actions that can prevent damage to, and restore and sustain ecosystems. It is through this knowledge that informed decisions are made about natural resources that can enhance our Nation’s economic and environmental well-being.

Fact Sheet

U. S. Geological Survey programs in Michigan

For more than 100 years, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has provided earth-science information on which managers, scientists, and other interested citizens base decisions regarding Michigan’s natural resources and natural hazards. The non-regulatory and scientific nature of the USGS work ensures that our products are technically sound, unbiased, and equally accessible and available to all interested parties. The various programs of the USGS in Michigan reflect a response to the citizens of Michigan and their need for geologic, topographic, biologic, and hydrologic information. Much of the work of the USGS in Michigan is part of cooperative programs in which the diversity of interests among local, regional, State, Tribal, and Federal agencies is accommodated through joint planning and funding.

Michigan

Advanced and applied remote sensing of environmental conditions

"Remote sensing” is a general term for monitoring techniques that collect information without being in physical contact with the object of study. Overhead imagery from aircraft and satellite sensors provides the most common form of remotely sensed data and records the interaction of electromagnetic energy (usually visible light) with matter, such as the Earth’s surface. Remotely sensed data are fundamental to geographic science. The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Eastern Geographic Science Center (EGSC) is currently conducting and promoting the research and development of several different aspects of remote sensing science in both the laboratory and from overhead instruments. Spectroscopy is the science of recording interactions of energy and matter and is the bench science for all remote sensing. Visible and infrared analysis in the laboratory with special instruments called spectrometers enables the transfer of this research from the laboratory to multispectral (5–15 broad bands) and hyperspectral (50–300 narrow contiguous bands) analyses from aircraft and satellite sensors. In addition, mid-wave (3–5 micrometers, µm) and long-wave (8–14 µm) infrared data analysis, such as attenuated total reflectance (ATR) spectral analysis, are also conducted. ATR is a special form of vibrational infrared spectroscopy that has many applications in chemistry and biology but has recently been shown to be especially diagnostic for vegetation analysis.

Fact Sheet

Proceedings of the Fourth Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds—Observing, Studying, and Managing for Change

These proceedings contain the abstracts, manuscripts, and posters of presentations given at the Fourth Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds—Observing, Studying, and Managing for Change, held at the Westmark Hotel in Fairbanks, Alaska, September 26–30, 2011. The conference was jointly hosted by the Bureau of Land Management and the National Park Service. Watersheds face resource impacts driven by accelerated change related to land use, population, and climate. About every three years a conference is held to bring together watershed researchers, observers, and managers to share scientific advances and management strategies. This year, the Fourth ICRW took a wider perspective on watershed science and examined some pressing issues of watershed science and management in our largest and perhaps most vulnerable state, Alaska. The purpose of the conference was to better understand the processes driving change and help managers incorporate societal needs and scientific uncertainty in the management of natural resources. The conference echoed similar themes to the last, highlighting the challenges of managing watersheds based on available science when considerably uncertainty remains regarding the hypothesized relationships between observed environmental changes and their ultimate effects. For example, while the scientific case for anthropogenic climate change has been well presented, confirming possible cause and effect relationships between climatic change and physical and ecological impacts in highly variable, natural systems continues to represent a scientific challenge. This goal becomes even more difficult when superimposed upon a long history of natural resource and land management practices that have fundamentally changed the physical, chemical and biological processes important in maintaining naturally functioning ecosystems. Designing and implementing studies to better understand watersheds and clearly communicating the findings to decisionmakers will be the primary challenge for natural resource scientists and managers into the foreseeable future.

Scientific Investigations Report

The transformation of dryland rivers: The future of introduced tamarisk in the U.S.

Tamarix spp. (tamarisk or saltcedar), a shrub-like tree, was intentionally introduced to the U.S. from Asia in the mid-1800s. Tamarisk thrives in today’s human-altered streamside (riparian) habitats and can be found along wetlands, rivers, lakes, and streams across the western U.S. In 2001, a biological control agent, Diorhabda spp. (tamarisk leaf beetle), was released in six states, and has since spread throughout the southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. Beetle defoliation of tamarisk has altered tamarisk’s water use and effectiveness as erosion control, as well as dynamics of native and nonnative plant and wildlife species. The full effects of the tamarisk leaf beetle on ecosystem function remain unknown. The U.S. Geological Survey collaborates with Tribal, State, Federal agencies, and other institutions to provide current, fact-based information on the effects of tamarisk and the tamarisk leaf beetle on managed resources, and provides sound science for conservation and restoration of riparian habitats in the southwestern U.S.

Fact Sheet

A Study of the Connection Among Basin-Fill Aquifers, Carbonate-Rock Aquifers, and Surface-Water Resources in Southern Snake Valley, Nevada

The Secretary of the Interior through the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act approved funding for research to improve understanding of hydrologic systems that sustain numerous water-dependent ecosystems on Federal lands in Snake Valley, Nevada. Some of the streams and spring-discharge areas in and adjacent to Great Basin National Park have been identified as susceptible to ground-water withdrawals (Elliott and others, 2006) and research has shown a high potential for ground-water flow from southern Spring Valley into southern Snake Valley through carbonate rocks that outcrop along a low topographic divide known as the Limestone Hills (Welch and others, 2007). Comprehensive geologic, hydrologic, and chemical information will be collected and analyzed to assess the hydraulic connection between basin-fill aquifers and surface-water resources, water-dependent ecological features, and the regional carbonate-rock aquifer, the known source of many high-discharge springs. Understanding these connections is important because proposed projects to pump and export ground water from Spring and Snake Valleys in Nevada may result in unintended capture of water currently supplying springs, streams, wetlands, limestone caves, and other biologically sensitive areas (fig. 1). The methods that will be used in this study may be transferable to other areas in the Great Basin. The National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and U.S. Forest Service submitted the proposal for funding this research to facilitate science-based land management. Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources and Geologic Disciplines, and the University of Nevada, Reno, will accomplish four research elements through comprehensive data collection and analysis that are concentrated in two distinct areas on the eastern and southern flanks of the Snake Range (fig. 2). The projected time line for this research is from July 2008 through September 2011.

Fact Sheet

Geologic map and digital database of the Redlands 7.5' quadrangle, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, California

This geologic database of the Redlands 7.5' quadrangle was prepared by the Southern California Areal Mapping Project (SCAMP), a regional geologic-mapping project sponsored jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey and the California Geological Survey. The database was developed as a contribution to the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program's National Geologic Map Database, and is intended to provide a general geologic setting of the Redlands quadrangle. The database and map provide information about earth materials and geologic structures, including faults and folds that have developed in the quadrangle due to complexities in the San Andreas Fault system. The Redlands 7.5' quadrangle contains earth materials and structures that provide insight into the late Cenozoic geologic evolution of the southern California Inland Empire region. Important stratigraphic and structural elements include (1) the modern trace of the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults and (2) late Tertiary and Quaternary sedimentary materials and geologic structures that formed during the last million years or so and that record complex geologic interactions within the San Andreas Fault system. These materials and the structures that deform them provide the geologic framework for investigations of earthquake hazards and ground-water recharge and subsurface flow. Geologic information contained in the Redlands database is general-purpose data that is applicable to land-related investigations in the earth and biological sciences. The term "general-purpose" means that all geologic-feature classes have minimal information content adequate to characterize their general geologic characteristics and to interpret their general geologic history. However, no single feature class has enough information to definitively characterize its properties and origin. For this reason the database cannot be used for site-specific geologic evaluations, although it can be used to plan and guide investigations at the site-specific level. This summary pamphlet discusses major categories of surficial materials in the Redlands quadrangle, and provides a conceptual framework and basis for how geologicmap units containing such materials are recognized and correlated.

California

Water-quality, bed-sediment, and biological data, for streams in the upper Prickly Pear Creek watershed, Montana, 2001

The upper Prickly Pear Creek watershed encompasses the upstream 15 miles of Prickly Pear Creek, south of Helena, Montana (fig. 1). The headwaters of Prickly Pear Creek and its tributaries (Beavertown Creek, Clancy Creek, Dutchman Creek, Golconda Creek, Lump Gulch, Spring Creek, and Warm Springs Creek) are primarily in the Helena National Forest, whereas the central part of the watershed primarily is within either Bureau of Land Management (BLM) or privately owned property. Three mining districts are present in the upper Prickly Pear Creek watershed: Alhambra, Clancy, and Colorado. Numerous prospects, adits, tailings piles, mills, dredge piles, and mines (mostly inactive) are located throughout the watershed. These districts contain polymetallic (Ag, Au, Cu, Pb, Zn) vein deposits and precious-metal (Au-Ag) vein and disseminated deposits that were exploited beginning in the 1860’s. Placer Au deposits in the major streams were extensively mined in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. As part of a cooperative effort with Federal land management agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is currently using an integrated approach to investigate two mining impacted watersheds in the western United States (the Animas River in Colorado and the Boulder River in Montana). These studies provide the USDA Forest Service and BLM scientific data for implementing informed land-management decisions regarding cleanup of abandoned mine lands within each watershed. A similar integrated-science approach will be used to characterize the upper Prickly Pear Creek watershed with respect to water and streambed sediment chemistry, aquatic biota, and geologic framework. This integrated database presents data that will be used to identify important pathways of metals movement and biological impacts, thereby guiding resource management decisions of land-managers in several publications that are in preparation. Watershed-level characterization in terms of water quality, streambed sediment chemistry, and fish health will facilitate determinations of whether removal of contaminated materials or other cleanup activities are necessary, planning of short- and long-term restoration efforts, and development of a monitoring plan to document cleanup effectiveness.

Montana

Cranes in East Asia; Proceedings of the symposium held in Harbin, People's Republic of China, June 9-18, 1998

Introductory Remarks (R.C. Stendell): I appreciate the opportunity to be in Harbin and participate in the International Scientific Workshop on Cranes in East Asia. I would like to provide some background information on how this meeting came to be. Almost one year ago, in July 1997, Dr. Kun John of the Seoul National University contacted the U.S. Geological Survey’s Midcontinent Ecological Science Center (MESC) requesting that we host a meeting of scientists from the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to discuss the biology and ecology of cranes on the Korean peninsula. Dr. John and his colleagues expressed concern about three species of cranes that migrate up and down the Korean peninsula and use the Demilitarized Zone. The species of interest are the Red-crowned Crane, White-naped Crane, and the Hooded Crane. The primary question was the conservation of these species in this part of the world. Another concern involved exploring potential economic values and opportunities associated with these species. Richard Johnson, an economist at MESC, assumed responsibility as the primary MESC contact to help bring about this meeting.

Open-File Report

Developing accurate survey methods for estimating population sizes and trends of the critically endangered Nihoa Millerbird and Nihoa Finch.

This report describes the results of a comparative study of bird survey methods undertaken for the purpose of improving assessments of the conservation status for the two endemic passerines on the Island of Nihoa—Nihoa Millerbird (Sylviidae: Acrocephalus familiaris kingi ) and Nihoa Finch (Fringilidae: Telespiza ultima ; also referred herein as millerbird and finch)—both listed as endangered under the Federal Endangered Species Act (ESA) and Hawai`i Revised Statutes 195D. The current survey protocol, implemented since 1967, has produced a highly variable range of counts for both the millerbird and finch, making difficult assessments of population size and trend. This report details the analyses of bird survey data collected in 2010 and 2011 in which three survey methods were compared―strip-transect, line-transect, and point-transect sampling―and provides recommendations for improved survey methods and protocols. Funding for this research was provided through a Science Support Partnership grant sponsored jointly by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). Point-transect surveys indicated that millerbirds were more abundant than shown by the striptransect method, and were estimated at 802 birds in 2010 (95%CI = 652 – 964) and 704 birds in 2011 (95%CI = 579 – 837). Point-transect surveys yielded population estimates with improved precision which will permit trends to be detected in shorter time periods and with greater statistical power than is available from strip-transect survey methods. Mean finch population estimates and associated uncertainty were not markedly different among the three survey methods, but the performance of models used to estimate density and population size are expected to improve as the data from additional surveys are incorporated. Using the pointtransect survey, the mean finch population size was estimated at 2,917 birds in 2010 (95%CI = 2,037 – 3,965) and 2,461 birds in 2011 (95%CI = 1,682 – 3,348). Preliminary testing of the line-transect method in 2011 showed that it would not generate sufficient detections to effectively model bird density, and consequently, relatively precise population size estimates. Both species were fairly evenly distributed across Nihoa and appear to occur in all or nearly all available habitat. The time expended and area traversed by observers was similar among survey methods; however, point-transect surveys do not require that observers walk a straight transect line, thereby allowing them to avoid culturally or biologically sensitive areas and minimize the adverse effects of recurrent travel to any particular area. In general, pointtransect surveys detect more birds than strip-survey methods, thereby improving precision and resulting population size and trend estimation. The method is also better suited for the steep and uneven terrain of Nihoa

Hawaii

Science center capabilities to monitor and investigate Michigan’s water resources, 2016

Michigan faces many challenges related to water resources, including flooding, drought, water-quality degradation and impairment, varying water availability, watershed-management issues, stormwater management, aquatic-ecosystem impairment, and invasive species. Michigan’s water resources include approximately 36,000 miles of streams, over 11,000 inland lakes, 3,000 miles of shoreline along the Great Lakes (MDEQ, 2016), and groundwater aquifers throughout the State. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) works in cooperation with local, State, and other Federal agencies, as well as tribes and universities, to provide scientific information used to manage the water resources of Michigan. To effectively assess water resources, the USGS uses standardized methods to operate streamgages, water-quality stations, and groundwater stations. The USGS also monitors water quality in lakes and reservoirs, makes periodic measurements along rivers and streams, and maintains all monitoring data in a national, quality-assured, hydrologic database. The USGS in Michigan investigates the occurrence, distribution, quantity, movement, and chemical and biological quality of surface water and groundwater statewide. Water-resource monitoring and scientific investigations are conducted statewide by USGS hydrologists, hydrologic technicians, biologists, and microbiologists who have expertise in data collection as well as various scientific specialties. A support staff consisting of computer-operations and administrative personnel provides the USGS the functionality to move science forward. Funding for USGS activities in Michigan comes from local and State agencies, other Federal agencies, direct Federal appropriations, and through the USGS Cooperative Matching Funds, which allows the USGS to partially match funding provided by local and State partners. This fact sheet provides an overview of the USGS current (2016) capabilities to monitor and study Michigan’s vast water resources. More information regarding projects by the Michigan Water Science Center (MI WSC) is available at http://mi.water.usgs.gov/ .

Michigan

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Western Region: Coastal ecosystem responses to influences from land and sea, Coastal and Ocean Science

Sea otters and the nearshore ecosystems they inhabit-from highly urbanized California to relatively pristine Alaska-are the focus of a new multidisciplinary study by scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and a suite of international, academic and government collaborators. The Coastal Ecosystem Responses to Influences from Land and Sea project will investigate the many interacting variables that influence the health of coastal ecosystems along the Northeast Pacific shore. These ecosystems face unprecedented challenges, with threats arising from the adjacent oceans and lands. From the ocean, challenges include acidification, sea level rise, and warming. From the land, challenges include elevated biological, geological and chemical pollutants associated with burgeoning human populations along coastlines. The implications of these challenges for biological systems are only beginning to be explored. Comparing sea otter population status indicators from around the northeastern Pacific Rim, will begin the process of defining factors of coastal ecosystem health in this broad region.

Fact Sheet

National Biological Service Research Supports Watershed Planning

The National Biological Service's Leetown Science Center is investigating how human impacts on watershed, riparian, and in-stream habitats affect fish communities. The research will provide the basis for a Ridge and Valley model that will allow resource managers to accurately predict and effectively mitigate human impacts on water quality. The study takes place in the Opequon Creek drainage basin of West Virginia. A fourth-order tributary of the Potomac, the basin falls within the Ridge and Valley. The study will identify biological components sensitive to land use patterns and the condition of the riparian zone; the effect of stream size, location, and other characteristics on fish communities; the extent to which remote sensing can reliable measure the riparian zone; and the relationship between the rate of landscape change and the structure of fish communities.

West Virginia

Western Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center--providing comprehensive earth science for complex societal issues

Minerals in the environment and products manufactured from mineral materials are all around us and we use and come into contact with them every day. They impact our way of life and the health of all that lives. Minerals are critical to the Nation's economy and knowing where future mineral resources will come from is important for sustaining the Nation's economy and national security. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Resources Program (MRP) provides scientific information for objective resource assessments and unbiased research results on mineral resource potential, production and consumption statistics, as well as environmental consequences of mining. The MRP conducts this research to provide information needed for land planners and decisionmakers about where mineral commodities are known and suspected in the earth's crust and about the environmental consequences of extracting those commodities. As part of the MRP scientists of the Western Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center (WMERSC or 'Center' herein) coordinate the development of national, geologic, geochemical, geophysical, and mineral-resource databases and the migration of existing databases to standard models and formats that are available to both internal and external users. The unique expertise developed by Center scientists over many decades in response to mineral-resource-related issues is now in great demand to support applications such as public health research and remediation of environmental hazards that result from mining and mining-related activities. Western Mineral and Environmental Resources Science Center Results of WMERSC research provide timely and unbiased analyses of minerals and inorganic materials to (1) improve stewardship of public lands and resources; (2) support national and international economic and security policies; (3) sustain prosperity and improve our quality of life; and (4) protect and improve public health, safety, and environmental quality. The MRP supports approximately 40 USGS research specialists who utilize cooperative agreements with universities, industry, and other governmental agencies to support their collaborative research and information exchange. Scientists of the WMERSC study how and where non-fuel mineral resources form and are concentrated in the earth's crust, where mineral resources might be found in the future, and how mineral materials interact with the environment to affect human and ecosystem health. Natural systems (ecosystems) are complex - our understanding of how ecosystems operate requires collecting and synthesizing large amounts of geologic, geochemical, biologic, hydrologic, and meteorological information. Scientists in the Center strive to understand the interplay of various processes and how they affect the structure, composition, and health of ecosystems. Such understanding, which is then summarized in publicly available reports, is used to address and solve a wide variety of issues that are important to society and the economy. WMERSC scientists have extensive national and international experience in these scientific specialties and capabilities - they have collaborated with many Federal, State, and local agencies; with various private sector organizations; as well as with foreign countries and organizations. Nearly every scientific and societal challenge requires a different combination of scientific skills and capabilities. With their breadth of scientific specialties and capabilities, the scientists of the WMERSC can provide scientifically sound approaches to a wide range of societal challenges and issues. The following sections describe examples of important issues that have been addressed by scientists in the Center, the methods employed, and the relevant conclusions. New directions are inevitable as societal needs change over time. Scientists of the WMERSC have a diverse set of skills and capabilities and are proficient in the collection and integration of

Circular

Assessment of general health of fishes collected at selected sites in the Great Lakes Basin In 2012

During the past decade, there has been a substantive increase in the detection of “emerging contaminants”, defined as a new substance, chemical, or metabolite in the environment; or a legacy substance with a newly expanded distribution, altered release, or a newly recognized effect (such as endocrine disruption). Emerging contaminants include substances such as biogenic hormones (human and animal), brominated flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, plasticizers, current use pesticides, detergents, and nanoparticles. These contaminants are frequently not regulated or inadequately regulated by state or Federal water quality programs. Information about the toxicity of these substances to fish and wildlife resources is generally limited, compared to more highly regulated contaminants, and some classes have been shown to cause affects (for example feminization of male fish, immunomodulation) that are not evaluated via traditional toxicity testing protocols. As a result, these compounds may pose a substantial, but currently poorly documented threat to aquatic ecosystems. Failure to identify and understand the impacts of these emerging contaminants on fish and wildlife resources may result in deleterious impacts to Great Lakes resources that can result in adverse ecological, economic and recreational consequences. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service received funding through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) for an Early Warning Program to detect and identify emerging contaminants and to evaluate the effects of these contaminants on fish and wildlife. The U.S. Geological Survey (WV Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and National Fish Health Research Laboratory, Leetown Science Center) developed and implemented a biological effects monitoring protocol to assist in this program. Fish collections and measurements of biomarkers of exposure in Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 occurred at individual sites within select Areas of Concern (AOCs). They provided an assessment of the utility of the suite of biomarkers and also identified sites for more in-depth analyses. Selected areas are characterized as areas with known emerging contaminants, sensitive or listed species, areas downstream from municipal wastewater discharges or receiving waters for industrial facilities, and/or areas susceptible to agricultural or urban contamination, or harbors or ports. The results of the 2010- 2011 studies were summarized in Blazer et al. 2014 a, b, c; Braham et al. in review and Blazer et al. in review.

Great Lakes

Arizona black rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis cerberus)

The Arizona black rattlesnake makes its home at higher elevations in Arizona and far western New Mexico. The snake's use of high-altitude habitat and its black coloration as an adult distinguishes it from other subspecies of the western rattlesnake (Crotalus viridis), which prefer lower elevations and range from tan to reddish in color as adults. These physical and habitat differences are also reflected in genetic differences that suggest that the Arizona black rattlesnake may be a new species of rattlesnake. Despite the species's limited range, basic biological information needed to make management decisions is lacking for most Arizona black rattlesnake populations. To address this need, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists conducted research on the species in Arizona national park units from 2003 to 2005. The research examined relative population abundance, movement patterns, range requirements, dietary habits, and winter and summer habitat. Research in Arizona national parks was made possible through the support of the Western National Parks Association, Tonto National Monument, and the USGS Science Internships for Workforce Diversity Program. Importantly, the park-based research was used to augment a long-term mark-recapture study of the species that has been conducted by USGS biologists at sites near Flagstaff, Arizona, since 1999. USGS researchers were the first to conduct extensive studies of this species in the wild.

Fact Sheet

Windrow composting as an effective method to dispose of large numbers of fish

During July 1998, at the USGS Leetown Science Center, Kearneysville, West Virginia, an epizootic occurred in 16-month-old Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The cause ofmortality was diagnosed as furunculosis, a serious disease in salmonid fishes caused by the bacterium Aeromonas salmonicida. The fish were being maintained as part ofongoing research and were held in uncovered 30-m-Iong concrete raceways, each supplied with about 757 L per minute of 12 ?C pathogen-free spring water. The means by which the fish became infected could not be determined, and there was no recent history offurunculosis in the hatchery system.

Biological Information and Technology Notes

Geologic map and digital database of the Pinto Mountain 7.5 minute quadrangle, Riverside County, California

The geologic map and digital database of the Pinto Mountain quadrangle are products of a regional geologic mapping effort undertaken in the eastern Transverse Ranges in and around Joshua Tree National Park. This investigation, part of the Southern California Areal Mapping Project (SCAMP), is conducted in cooperation with the California Geologic Survey and the National Park Service. In line with the goals of the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program (NCGMP), mapping of the Pinto Mountain and other quadrangles has been directed toward generating a multipurpose digital geologic map database that is applicable to land-related investigations in the earth and biological sciences. This mapping is conducted to further understanding of bedrock geology and surficial processes in the region and to document evidence for seismotectonic activity in the eastern Transverse Ranges. It is also intended to serve as a base layer suitable for ecosystem and mineral resource assessment and for building a hydrogeologic framework for Pinto Basin. Initial investigations span Pinto Basin from the Hexie and Eagle Mountains northward into the Pinto Mountains. Quadrangles mapped include the Conejo Well 7.5-minute quadrangle (Powell, 2001a), the Porcupine Wash 7.5-minute quadrangle (Powell, 2001b), the Pinto Mountain 7.5-minute quadrangle, and the San Bernardino Wash 7.5-minute quadrangle (Powell, 2002). Parts of the Pinto Mountain quadrangle had been mapped previously at a variety of scales (Weir, and Bader, 1963; Hope, 1966, 1969; Jennings, 1967; Powell, 1981, 1993).

California