SEARCH · Search USGS

Results for “Natural Resources”

Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 685 records · Page 38Linked to original sources

USGS2019

Economic Impacts of Restoration in National Parks

The National Park Service’s (NPS) Resource Protection Branch (RPB) works with parks under the authority of the System Unit Resource Protection Act (SURPA) and the Oil Pollution Act, among others, to conduct damage assessment and restoration activities for NPS resources that have been injured. Funds used for restoration support jobs in local economies across the Nation. This report demonstrates the economic impacts associated with RPB-administered restoration projects through an analysis of small-scale (less than $1,000,000 spent per project) and large-scale (more than $1,000,000 spent per project) projects. Using a national-level economic input-output model, direct and secondary jobyears, labor income, value added, and total economic output were estimated for a sample of restoration projects; impacts from these sampled projects were used to estimate average economicimpacts-per-million-dollars-spent on RPB restoration. In 2017 RPB administered 49 small-scale projects; expenditures for these projects ranged in cost from $200 to $800,000 and totaled $1,686,000 ($923,000 in cultural resource projects, $618,000 in natural resource projects, and $145,000 in facilities projects). Based on the economic-impacts-per million estimates, small-scale RPB projects were found to support an estimated total of 29 job-years, $1,963,000 in labor income, $2,690,000 in value added, and $4,458,000 in total economic output within the national economy in 2017. Economic impacts were also calculated for two large-scale projects: one a $3,900,000 (2017$) hillside stabilization project and the other a $5,574,000 (2017$) ferries (two) fabrication project.

Report↗

USGS2013

U.S. Geological Survey ecosystems science strategy—Advancing discovery and application through collaboration

Executive Summary Ecosystem science is critical to making informed decisions about natural resources that can sustain our Nation’s economic and environmental well-being. Resource managers and policymakers are faced with countless decisions each year at local, regional, and national levels on issues as diverse as renewable and nonrenewable energy development, agriculture, forestry, water supply, and resource allocations at the urban-rural interface. The urgency for sound decisionmaking is increasing dramatically as the world is being transformed at an unprecedented pace and in uncertain directions. Environmental changes are associated with natural hazards, greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing demands for water, land, food, energy, mineral, and living resources. At risk is the Nation’s environmental capital, the goods and services provided by resilient ecosystems that are vital to the health and wellbeing of human societies. Ecosystem science—the study of systems of organisms interacting with their environment and the consequences of natural and human-induced change on these systems—is necessary to inform decisionmakers as they develop policies to adapt to these changes. This Ecosystems Science Strategy is built on a framework that includes basic and applied science. It highlights the critical roles that U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists and partners can play in building scientific understanding and providing timely information to decisionmakers. The strategy underscores the connection between scientific discoveries and the application of new knowledge, and it integrates ecosystem science and decisionmaking, producing new scientific outcomes to assist resource managers and providing public benefits. We envision the USGS as a leader in integrating scientific information into decisionmaking processes that affect the Nation’s natural resources and human well-being. The USGS is uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role in ecosystem science. With its wide range of expertise, the Bureau can bring holistic, cross-scale, interdisciplinary capabilities to the design and conduct of monitoring, research, and modeling and to new technologies for data collection, management, and visualization. Collectively, these capabilities can be used to reveal ecological patterns and processes, explain how and why ecosystems change, and forecast change over different spatial and temporal scales. USGS science can provide managers with options and decision-support tools to use resources sustainably. The USGS has long-standing, collaborative relationships with the Department of the Interior (DOI) and other partners in the natural sciences, in both conducting science and applying the results. The USGS engages these partners in cooperative investigations that otherwise would lack the necessary support or be too expensive for a single bureau to conduct. The heart of this strategy is a framework for USGS ecosystems science that focuses on five long-term goals, which are seen as interconnected components that reinforce our vision of the USGS providing science that is at the forefront of decisionmaking: Improve understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and processes. The focus for this goal is an understanding of how ecosystems work, including the dynamics of species, their populations, interactions, and genetics, and how they change across spatial and temporal scales. Advance understanding of how drivers influence ecosystem change. The challenges here are explaining the drivers of ecosystem change, their spatio-temporal patterns, their uncertainties and interactions, and their influence on ecosystem processes and dynamics. Improve understanding of the services that ecosystems provide to society. Here the emphasis is on the measurement of environmental capital and ecosystem services, and the identification of sources and patterns of change in space and time. Develop tools, technologies, and capacities to inform decisionmaking about ecosystems. This includes developing new technologies and approaches for conducting applications-oriented ecosystem science. A principal challenge will be how to quantify uncertainty and incorporate it in decision analysis. Apply science to enhance strategies for management, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems. These challenges include development of novel approaches to monitoring, assessment, and restoration of ecosystems; new methods to address species of concern and communities at risk; and innovations in decision analysis and support to address imminent ecosystem changes or those that are underway. Closely integrated with the five goals are four strategic approaches that provide the path forward for the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. These approaches cross-cut all of the goals and are seen as essential to the implementation of this strategy: Assess information needs for ecosystem science through enhanced partnerships. Work with the DOI and other agencies and institutions to identify, design, and implement priority decision-driven ecological research. Promote the use of interdisciplinary ecosystem science. Design and conduct interdisciplinary process-oriented research in ecosystem science. Enhance modeling and forecasting. Build models to forecast ecosystem change, assess future management scenarios, and reduce uncertainties through an adaptive learning process. Support decisionmaking. Use quantitative approaches to assess the vulnerabilities of ecosystems, habitats, and species, and evaluate strategies for adaptation, restoration, and sustainable management. Following the four strategic approaches are a set of proposed actions that represent a sampling of specific USGS activities that align with this strategy and that address the Nation’s most pressing environmental needs. The strategy emphasizes coordination of activities across the USGS mission areas pursuant to these goals. Ecosystem science is inherently interdisciplinary and requires a broad perspective that incorporates the biological and physical sciences, climate science, information technology, and scientific capacity in mission areas across the Bureau. With its emphasis on coordination, this strategy can provide a critical underpinning for integrated science efforts with scientists from multiple mission areas of the USGS working together. Of course, the USGS will continue to conduct discipline-specific and interdisciplinary investigations, and both will continue to be vital parts of the ecosystem science portfolio. Finally, the strategy stresses the importance of coordination with other Federal agencies and organizations in the natural resources community. The USGS collaborates with resource agencies in the DOI and other organizations throughout the world to meet societal needs for species and ecosystem management. Working with these agencies and organizations, the USGS will play a key role in guiding sound decisionmaking during the next decade by advancing the scientific foundation for sustaining the natural resources that diverse, productive, resilient ecosystems provide.

Circular↗

USGS2014

Getting the message across: using ecological integrity to communicate with resource managers

This chapter describes and illustrates how concepts of ecological integrity, thresholds, and reference conditions can be integrated into a research and monitoring framework for natural resource management. Ecological integrity has been defined as a measure of the composition, structure, and function of an ecosystem in relation to the system’s natural or historical range of variation, as well as perturbations caused by natural or anthropogenic agents of change. Using ecological integrity to communicate with managers requires five steps, often implemented iteratively: (1) document the scale of the project and the current conceptual understanding and reference conditions of the ecosystem, (2) select appropriate metrics representing integrity, (3) define externally verified assessment points (metric values that signify an ecological change or need for management action) for the metrics, (4) collect data and calculate metric scores, and (5) summarize the status of the ecosystem using a variety of reporting methods. While we present the steps linearly for conceptual clarity, actual implementation of this approach may require addressing the steps in a different order or revisiting steps (such as metric selection) multiple times as data are collected. Knowledge of relevant ecological thresholds is important when metrics are selected, because thresholds identify where small changes in an environmental driver produce large responses in the ecosystem. Metrics with thresholds at or just beyond the limits of a system’s range of natural variability can be excellent, since moving beyond the normal range produces a marked change in their values. Alternatively, metrics with thresholds within but near the edge of the range of natural variability can serve as harbingers of potential change. Identifying thresholds also contributes to decisions about selection of assessment points. In particular, if there is a significant resistance to perturbation in an ecosystem, with threshold behavior not occurring until well beyond the historical range of variation, this may provide a scientific basis for shifting an ecological assessment point beyond the historical range. We present two case studies using ongoing monitoring by the US National Park Service Vital Signs program that illustrate the use of an ecological integrity approach to communicate ecosystem status to resource managers. The Wetland Ecological Integrity in Rocky Mountain National Park case study uses an analytical approach that specifically incorporates threshold detection into the process of establishing assessment points. The Forest Ecological Integrity of Northeastern National Parks case study describes a method for reporting ecological integrity to resource managers and other decision makers. We believe our approach has the potential for wide applicability for natural resource management.

Book chapter↗

USGS2002

Strategic vision for the U. S. Geological Survey in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region, 2001-2010

The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) strategic vision for the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region is that of a healthy ecosystem, whose ecological integrity and economic health are nurtured and sustained through sound resource-management decisions based on reliable, timely, and objective scientific information and data. The USGS is a leader in providing reliable, relevant, timely, and objective scientific data and information at local, statewide, regional, national, and international scales to assist in the management and restoration of the natural resources in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region. The mission of the USGS in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region is to provide natural science information to the broad community of policymakers, resource managers, regulators, scientists, and private citizens who contribute to informed decisions concerning natural-resource management practices and ecosystem quality and integrity. The strategic vision for the USGS in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region is a plan to address complex issues that require integrated natural-science information. The strategic vision describes how the USGS will coordinate existing programs and draw upon the strengths of the entire organization. It provides the framework for long-term coordination and integration of USGS Programs and activities over the next decade (2001-10). The strategic vision describes the role of the USGS in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Region, the coordination of activities within and outside the Bureau and Department of Interior, and interactions between the USGS and its cooperators, partners, and stakeholders in the Region.

Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region↗

USGS2026

Regional conservation planning tool: A spreadsheet model to support spatial prioritization and resource allocation decisions

Prioritization is a central component of natural resource management because conservation needs routinely exceed available resources. Waterfowl and wetland conservation programs in North America are at the forefront of landscape-scale prioritization and transboundary management decisions due to the migratory nature of ducks, geese, and swans. The growing availability of geographic information systems (GIS) and geospatial technologies has accelerated the development of multi-objective landscape prioritization models, including applications of structured decision making and multi-criteria decision analysis to spatial planning for waterfowl and wetlands at the continental scale. However, regional managers and conservationists could benefit from flexibility in downscaling continental tools, selecting objectives, and assigning weights for rapid production of spatial prioritization models at smaller spatial scales without extensive computer coding or GIS analysis. We developed a spatial value model that prioritizes landscapes at sub-continental scales (e.g., states and provinces, bird conservation regions, etc.) and provides flexibility for users to select waterfowl conservation objectives of interest and weights. Our model can be used for direct downscaling of an existing continental geospatial model or further customized with region-specific geospatial data. We illustrate how regional prioritization can vary with the spatial scale selected by the user. The spatial value modeling framework and the downscaling tool presented here could increase the use of multi-criteria decision analysis and linear value modeling in spatial landscape prioritization, while also providing flexibility for selecting scales, objectives, and weights. Our spreadsheet tool was developed specifically for use by regional biologists, conservationists, and managers and does not require knowledge of GIS software (although results can be exported from the spreadsheet for spatial analysis using GIS). Together, the model outputs and the accompanying spreadsheet tool provide a bridge between continental waterfowl conservation and regional implementation, enabling rapid, stakeholder-driven, value-explicit prioritization.

Wildlife Society Bulletin↗

USGS2014

Baseline groundwater quality from 34 wells in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, 2011 and 2013

Wayne County, Pennsylvania, is underlain by the Marcellus Shale, which currently (2014) is being developed elsewhere in Pennsylvania for natural gas. All residents of largely rural Wayne County rely on groundwater for water supply, primarily from bedrock aquifers (shales and sandstones). This study, conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Topographic and Geologic Survey (Pennsylvania Geological Survey), provides a groundwater-quality baseline for Wayne County prior to development of the natural gas resource in the Marcellus Shale. Selected wells completed in the Devonian-age Catskill Formation, undifferentiated; the Poplar Gap and Packerton Members of the Catskill Formation, undivided; and the Long Run and Walcksville Members of the Catskill Formation, undivided, were sampled. Water samples were collected once from 34 domestic wells during August 2011 and August and September 2013 and analyzed to characterize their physical and chemical quality. Samples were analyzed for 45 constituents and properties, including nutrients, major ions, metals and trace elements, radioactivity, and dissolved gases, including methane and radon-222. The quality of the sampled groundwater was generally within U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) drinking-water standards, although in some samples, the concentrations of a few constituents exceeded USEPA drinking-water standards and health advisories. The pH of water samples ranged from 5.5 to 9.3 with a median of 7.0. The pH was outside the USEPA secondary maximum contaminant level (SMCL) range of 6.5 to 8.5 in water samples from 14 of the 34 wells (41 percent). Eleven samples had a pH less than 6.5, and three samples had a pH greater than 8.5. Dissolved oxygen concentrations ranged from 0.2 to 11.5 milligrams per liter (mg/L) with a median of 4.7 mg/L. The dissolved oxygen concentration was less than 1 mg/L in water samples from 6 wells; 5 of these 6 water samples had a pH greater than 7.7. Concentrations of dissolved methane ranged from less than 0.00006 to 3.3 mg/L. Methane was detectable in 22 of the 34 wells sampled (65 percent). Methane concentrations were greatest in the 5 samples with pH of 7.8 or higher, ranging from 0.040 to 3.3 mg/L. These samples also had among the lowest concentrations of dissolved oxygen. Three water samples, which had sufficient dissolved methane concentrations (greater than 0.9 mg/L), were analyzed for isotopes of carbon and hydrogen in the methane. The isotopic ratio values fell within (two samples) or close to (one sample) the range for a thermogenic natural gas source. The total dissolved solids concentration ranged from 33 to 346 mg/L; the median concentration was 126 mg/L. Sodium concentrations ranged from 1.07 to 116 mg/L; the median concentration was 9.42 mg/L. The sodium concentration exceeded the USEPA health advisory for sodium of 20 mg/L in water samples from 7 of the 34 wells (21 percent). Concentrations of dissolved arsenic ranged from less than 0.06 to 21.8 micrograms per liter (µg/L); the median concentration was 0.59 µg/L. Water samples from 2 of the 34 wells (6 percent) exceeded the USEPA maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 µg/L for arsenic. Concentrations of dissolved manganese ranged from less than 0.15 to 61.5 µg/L; the median concentration was 0.42 µg/L. A water sample from 1 of the 34 wells (3 percent) exceeded the USEPA SMCL of 50 µg/L for manganese; the concentration was less than the USEPA lifetime health advisory of 300 µg/L for manganese. Activities of radon-222 in water from the 34 sampled wells ranged from 110 to 7,180 picocuries per liter (pCi/L); the median activity was 2,105 pCi/L. Water samples from 33 of the 34 wells (97 percent) exceeded the proposed USEPA MCL of 300 pCi/L, and 4 water samples (12 percent) exceeded the USEPA proposed alternative MCL of 4,000 pCi/L for radon-222. Differences in groundwater chemistry were related to pH. Water with a pH greater than 7.6 generally had low dissolved oxygen concentrations, indicating reducing conditions in the aquifer. These high pH waters also had relatively elevated concentrations of methane, arsenic, boron, bromide, fluoride, lithium, and sodium but low concentrations of copper, nickel, and zinc. Water samples with a pH greater than 7.8 had methane concentrations equal to or greater than 0.04 mg/L.

Pennsylvania↗

USGS2007

Tag return models allowing for harvest and catch and release: Evidence of environmental and management impacts on striped bass fishing and natural mortality rates

Catch-and-release fisheries have become very important in the management of overexploited recreational fish stocks. Tag return studies, where the tag is removed regardless of fish disposition, have been used to assess the effectiveness of restoration efforts for these fisheries. We extend the instantaneous rate formulation of tag return models to allow for catch and release as well as harvest. The key point of our methods is that, given an estimate of the tag reporting rate, the fishing mortality rate (F) is separated into two components: the mortality on harvested fish and the "mortality" on tags (because the lags are removed) of fish released alive. The total fishing mortality rate for untagged fish is the sum of the Fs due to harvest and hooking mortality suffered by fish released alive. Natural mortality rates can also be estimated. Both age-independent models and age-dependent models are constructed, and the age-dependent models are illustrated by application to data from a study of striped bass Morone saxatilis in Chesapeake Bay from 1991 to 2003 by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. By fitting models of the natural mortality rate with limited age and year dependence, we demonstrate an overall decrease in natural mortality rates as fish age and provide evidence of an increase in natural mortality beginning in the late 1990s, when an outbreak of the disease mycobacteriosis is thought to have begun. Our results indicate that fishing mortality is age dependent; selectivity increases up to age 6, when fish appear to be fully recruited to the fishery. There is also evidence of an increase in fishing mortality since 1995, when regulations were relaxed. ?? Copyright by the American Fisheries Society 2007.

North American Journal of Fisheries Management↗

USGS2008

Estimating the Effects of Conversion of Agricultural Land to Urban Land on Deep Percolation of Irrigation Water in the Grand Valley, Western Colorado

The conversion of agricultural land to urban residential land is associated with rapid population growth in the Grand Valley of western Colorado. Information regarding the effects of this land-use conversion on deep percolation, irrigation-water application, and associated salt loading to the Colorado River is needed to support water-resource planning and conservation efforts. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) assessed deep percolation and estimated salt loading derived from irrigated agricultural lands in the Grand Valley in a 1985 to 2002 monitoring and evaluation study (NRCS M&E). The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Colorado River Salinity Control Forum and the Mesa Conservation District, quantified the current (2005-2006) deep percolation and irrigation-water application characteristics of 1/4-acre residential lots and 5-acre estates, urban parks, and urban orchard grass fields in the Grand Valley, and compared the results to NRCS M&E results from alfalfa-crop sites. In addition, pond seepage from three irrigation-water holding ponds was estimated. Salt loading was estimated for the urban study results and the NRCS M&E results by using standard salt-loading factors. A daily soil-moisture balance calculation technique was used at all urban study irrigated sites. Deep percolation was defined as any water infiltrating below the top 12 inches of soil. Deep percolation occurred when the soil-moisture balance in the first 12 inches of soil exceeded the field capacity for the soil type at each site. Results were reported separately for urban study bluegrass-only sites and for all-vegetation type (bluegrass, native plants, and orchard grass) sites. Deep percolation and irrigation-water application also were estimated for a complete irrigation season at three subdivisions by using mean site data from each subdivision. It was estimated that for the three subdivisions, 37 percent of the developed acreage was irrigated (the balance being impermeable surfaces).

Scientific Investigations Report↗

USGS2022

Value of information and decision pathways: Concepts and case studies

Information used in decision making arises from the structuring of observations and data. The collection, dissemination, and use of information has monetary and non-monetary costs (e.g., competition for attention) and necessitates trade-offs. Understanding the benefits of having information (i.e., the value of information, VOI), including resulting societal outcomes, is useful to information producers/funders and decision makers. Using theory, use cases, and hypotheticals, we describe how information (e.g., geospatial information) is valued and incorporated in decisions and actions related to managing natural resources, environments, and the impacts of natural and anthropogenic hazards. We discuss the nature of information and how it relates to models (conceptual, mental, scientific), beliefs, knowledge, and economic analyses. VOI approaches and behavioral factors that potentially affect information use and value are summarized. Framing of information and VOI through data to decision pathways (DDPs) at first simplifies understanding, then illustrates the benefits of information, and the human and societal challenges encountered in valuing and using it. We present approaches to overcome these challenges. Our transdisciplinary analysis concludes with a summary of critical issues affecting DDPs and VOI, and suggestions for improving both economic analyses and the actionability and use of information.

Frontiers in Environmental Science (Environmental ↗

USGS2012

The U.S. Geological Survey Ecosystem Science Strategy, 2012-2022 - Advancing discovery and application through collaboration

Ecosystem science is critical to making informed decisions about natural resources that can sustain our Nation’s economic and environmental well-being. Resource managers and policy-makers are faced with countless decisions each year at local, state, tribal, territorial, and national levels on issues as diverse as renewable and non-renewable energy development, agriculture, forestry, water supply, and resource allocations at the urban-rural interface. The urgency for sound decision-making is increasing dramatically as the world is being transformed at an unprecedented pace and in uncertain directions. Environmental changes are associated with natural hazards, greenhouse gas emissions, and increasing demands for water, land, food, energy, mineral, and living resources. At risk is the Nation’s environmental capital, the goods and services provided by resilient ecosystems that are vital to the health and well-being of human societies. Ecosystem science—the study of systems of organisms interacting with their environment and the consequences of natural and human-induced change on these systems—is necessary to inform decision-makers as they develop policies to adapt to these changes. This Ecosystems Science Strategy is built on a framework that includes basic and applied science. It highlights the critical roles that USGS scientists and partners can play in building scientific understanding and providing timely information to decision-makers. The strategy underscores the connection between scientific discoveries and the application of new knowledge. The strategy integrates ecosystem science and decision-making, producing new scientific outcomes to assist resource managers and providing public benefits. The USGS is uniquely positioned to play an important role in ecosystem science. With its wide range of expertise, the agency can bring holistic, cross-scale, interdisciplinary capabilities to the design and conduct of monitoring, research, and modeling and to new technologies for data collection, management, and visualization. Collectively, these capabilities can be used to reveal ecological patterns and processes, explain how and why ecosystems change, and forecast change over different spatial and temporal scales. USGS science can provide managers with options and decision-support tools to use resources sustainably. The USGS has long-standing, collaborative relationships with the DOI and other partners in the natural sciences, in both conducting science and its application. The USGS engages these partners in cooperative investigations that otherwise would lack the necessary support or be too expensive for a single bureau to conduct. The heart of this strategy is a framework and vision for USGS ecosystems science that focuses on five long-term goals, which are seen as interconnected and reinforcing components: • Improve understanding of ecosystem structure, function, and processes. The focus for this goal is an understanding of how ecosystems work, including the dynamics of species, their populations, interactions, and genetics, and how they change across spatial and temporal scales. • Advance understanding of how drivers influence ecosystem change. The challenges here are explaining the drivers of ecosystem change, their spatio-temporal patterns, their uncertainties and interactions, and their influence on ecosystem processes and dynamics. • Improve understanding of the services that ecosystems provide to society. Here the emphasis is on the measurement of environmental capital and ecosystem services, and the identification of sources and patterns of change in space and time. • Develop tools, technologies, and capacities to inform decision-making about ecosystems. This includes developing new technologies and approaches for conducting applications-oriented ecosystem science. A principal challenge will be how to quantify uncertainty and incorporate it in decision analysis. • Apply science to enhance strategies for management, conservation, and restoration of ecosystems. These challenges include development of novel approaches to monitoring, assessment, and restoration of ecosystems; new methods to address species of concern and communities at risk; and innovations in decision analysis and support to address imminent ecosystem changes or those that are underway. Closely integrated with the five goals are four strategic approaches that provide the path forward for the USGS Ecosystems Mission Area. These approaches cross-cut all of the goals and are seen as essential to the implementation of this strategy: • Assess information needs for ecosystem science through enhanced partnerships. Work with the DOI and other agencies and institutions to identify, design, and implement priority decision-driven ecological research. • Promote the use of interdisciplinary ecosystem science. Design and conduct interdisciplinary process-oriented research in ecosystem science. • Enhance modeling and forecasting. Build models to forecast ecosystem change, assess future management scenarios, and reduce uncertainties through an adaptive learning process. • Support decision-making. Use quantitative approaches to assess the vulnerabilities of ecosystems, habitats, and species, and evaluate strategies for adaptation, restoration, and sustainable management. Following the strategic approaches are a set of proposed actions that represent a sampling of specific activities that align with this strategy and that address the Nation’s most pressing environmental needs. The strategy emphasizes coordination of activities across the USGS mission areas pursuant to these goals. Ecosystem science is inherently interdisciplinary and requires a broad perspective that incorporates the biological and physical sciences, climate science, information technology, and scientific capacity in mission areas across the Bureau. With its emphasis on coordination, this strategy can provide a critical underpinning for integrated science efforts with scientists from multiple mission areas of the USGS working together. Of course, the USGS will continue to conduct both discipline-specific and interdisciplinary investigations, and both will continue to be vital parts of the ecosystem science portfolio. Finally, the strategy stresses the importance of coordination with other Federal agencies and organizations in the natural resources community. The USGS collaborates with resource agencies in the DOI and other organizations throughout the world to meet societal needs for species and ecosystem management. Working with these agencies and organizations, the USGS will play a key role over the next decade in advancing the scientific foundation for sustaining the natural resources that diverse, productive, resilient ecosystems provide.

Open-File Report↗

USGS2014

Thresholds for protecting Pacific Northwest ecosystems from atmospheric deposition of nitrogen: state of knowledge report

The National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service manage areas in the states of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington – collectively referred to in this report as the Pacific Northwest - that contain significant natural resources and provide many recreational opportunities. The agencies are mandated to protect the air quality and air pollution-sensitive resources on these federal lands. Human activity has greatly increased the amount of nitrogen emitted to the atmosphere, resulting in elevated amounts of nitrogen being deposited in park and forest ecosystems. There is limited information in the Pacific Northwest about the levels of nitrogen that negatively affect natural systems, i.e., the critical loads. The National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service, with scientific input from the U.S. Geological Survey, have developed an approach for accumulating additional nitrogen critical loads information in the Pacific Northwest and using the data in planning and regulatory arenas. As a first step in that process, this report summarizes the current state of knowledge about nitrogen deposition, effects, and critical loads in the region. It also describes ongoing research efforts and identifies and prioritizes additional data needs.

Idaho;Oregon;Washington↗

USGS1970

Ground water in Tooele Valley, Utah

This short report was written by condensing parts of a technical report on the ground water in Tooele Valley, which was prepared as part of a cooperative program between the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, and the U. S. Geological Survey to study water in Utah. If you would like to read the more detailed technical report, write for a copy of the Utah State Engineer Technical Publication 12, “Reevaluation of the ground-water resources of Tooele Valley, Utah” by J. S. Gates. Copies can be obtained free of charge from the Division of Water Rights, State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah 84114.

Utah↗

USGS2017

Social-ecological outcomes in recreational fisheries: The interaction of lakeshore development and stocking

Many ecosystems continue to experience rapid transformations due to processes like land use change and resource extraction. A systems approach to maintaining natural resources focuses on how interactions and feedbacks among components of complex social‐ecological systems generate social and ecological outcomes. In recreational fisheries, residential shoreline development and fish stocking are two widespread human behaviors that influence fisheries, yet emergent social‐ecological outcomes from these potentially interacting behaviors remain under explored. We applied a social‐ecological systems framework using a simulation model and empirical data to determine whether lakeshore development is likely to promote stocking through its adverse effects on coarse woody habitat and thereby also on survival of juvenile and adult fish. We demonstrate that high lakeshore development is likely to generate dependency of the ecosystem on the social system, in the form of stocking. Further, lakeshore development can interact with social‐ecological processes to create deficits for state‐level governments, which threatens the ability to fund further ecosystem subsidies. Our results highlight the value of a social‐ecological framework for maintaining ecosystem services like recreational fisheries.

Ecological Applications↗

USGS2004

Urbanization impacts on the structure and function of forested wetlands

The exponential increase in population has fueled a significant demographic shift: 60% of the Earth's population will live in urban areas by 2030. While this population growth is significant in its magnitude, the ecological footprint of natural resource consumption and use required to sustain urban populations is even greater. The land use and cover changes accompanying urbanization (increasing human habitation coupled with resource consumption and extensive landscape modification) impacts natural ecosystems at multiple spatial scales. Because they generally occupy lower landscape positions and are linked to other ecosystems through hydrologic connections, the cascading effects of habitat alteration on watershed hydrology and nutrient cycling are particularly detrimental to wetland ecosystems. I reviewed literature relevant to these effects of urbanization on the structure and function of forested wetlands. Hydrologic changes caused by habitat fragmentation generally reduce species richness and abundance of plants, macroinvertebrates, amphibians, and birds with greater numbers of invasives and exotics. Reduction in soil saturation and lowered water tables result in greater nitrogen mineralization and nitrification in urban wetlands with higher probability of NO − 3 export from the watershed. Depressional forested wetlands in urban areas can function as important sinks for sediments, nutrients, and metals. As urban ecosystems become the predominant human condition, there is a critical need for data specific to urban forested wetlands in order to better understand the role of these ecosystems on the landscape.

Urban Ecosystems↗

USGS2007

Science and the storms: The USGS response to the hurricanes of 2005

This report is designed to give a view of the immediate response of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to four major hurricanes of 2005: Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Some of this response took place days after the hurricanes; other responses included fieldwork and analysis through the spring. While hurricane science continues within the USGS, this overview of work following these hurricanes reveals how a Department of the Interior bureau quickly brought together a diverse array of its scientists and technologies to assess and analyze many hurricane effects. Topics vary from flooding and water quality to landscape and ecosystem impacts, from geotechnical reconnaissance to analyzing the collapse of bridges and estimating the volume of debris. Thus, the purpose of this report is to inform the American people of the USGS science that is available and ongoing in regard to hurricanes. It is the hope that such science will help inform the decisions of those citizens and officials tasked with coastal restoration and planning for future hurricanes. Chapter 1 is an essay establishing the need for science in building a resilient coast. The second chapter includes some hurricane facts that provide hurricane terminology, history, and maps of the four hurricanes’ paths. Chapters that follow give the scientific response of USGS to the storms. Both English and metric measurements are used in the articles in anticipation of both general and scientific audiences in the United States and elsewhere. Chapter 8 is a compilation of relevant ongoing and future hurricane work. The epilogue marks the 2-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. An index of authors follows the report to aid in finding articles that are cross-referenced within the report. In addition to performing the science needed to understand the effects of hurricanes, USGS employees helped in the rescue of citizens by boat and through technology by “geoaddressing” 911 calls after Katrina and Rita so that other rescuers could find persons trapped in attics and porches. They also delivered food and water to residents stranded along the lower Mississippi River for several days. That work is reported in chapter 3 of this volume. A great number of scientists contributed to this peer-reviewed report designed for a general audience. Because they work for USGS—an unbiased, multidisciplinary science organization that focuses on biology, geography, geology, geospatial information, and water—they are dedicated to the timely, relevant, and impartial study of the landscape and natural resources of the Nation, as well as natural hazards, like hurricanes, that threaten the Nation. To learn more about their work, visit the USGS Web site (www.usgs.gov).

Circular↗

USGS2003

Geologic map of the Buckeystown quadrangle, Frederick and Montgomery Counties, Maryland, and Loudoun County, Virginia

The Buckeystown quadrangle is underlain mostly by rocks of the western Piedmont province and a portion of the eastern Blue Ridge province. The western Piedmont province is underlain by Late Proterozoic(?) and Lower Cambrian(?) metasedimentary rocks of the Westminster terrane, Lower and Middle Cambrian metasedimentary rocks and Upper Cambrian to Lower Ordovician carbonate rocks of the Frederick Valley synclinorium, Upper Triassic sedimentary rocks of the Mesozoic Culpeper basin, and Early Jurassic dikes; Lower Cambrian metasedimentary rocks underlie the Blue Ridge province. Within the western Piedmont, Lower Cambrian(?) metasedimentary rocks of the Sugarloaf Mountain anticlinorium are interpreted to be exposed in a tectonic window (A.A. Drake, Jr., U.S. Geological Survey, oral commun., 1989; Horton and others, 1989; Rankin and others, 1989) through the complexly deformed allochthonous rocks of the Westminster terrane (Muller and others, 1989). The undated rocks of the Westminster terrane are interpreted to be rise-slope deep-water deposits of the Iapetus Ocean that were transported westward onto the Laurentian margin (ancestral North America) along the Martic thrust fault during the Ordovician Taconic orogeny (Horton and others, 1989). Continental margin strata, which underlie the Sugarloaf Mountain anticlinorium and continental margin-slope strata which underlie the Frederick Valley synclinorium, are here correlated with the Lower Cambrian Chilhowee Group and overlying carbonate rocks on the limbs of the Blue Ridge-South Mountain anticlinorium to the west. The relation of the Sugarloaf Mountain Quartzite (Jonas and Stose, 1938b) to surrounding rocks is controversial (Scotford, 1951; Stose and Stose, 1951; Thomas, 1952). The Martic thrust fault (Jonas, 1924, 1927; Knopf and Jonas, 1929) and the interpretation that the Sugarloaf Mountain anticlinorium (Scotford, 1951; Thomas, 1952) is a tectonic window through the Martic thrust sheet (A.A. Drake, Jr., U.S. Geological Survey, oral commun., 1989) further complicate the stratigraphic correlation of these rocks. Upper Triassic sedimentary rocks of the Culpeper basin consist of westward-dipping conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone. These rocks, as well as intrusive Early Jurassic diabase dikes, accumulated during an early Mesozoic rifting event that resulted in the opening of the Atlantic Ocean. Contractional faults of Paleozoic orogenesis and extensional faults related to Mesozoic rifting indicate a complex tectonic history for this region. Cenozoic deposits, which overlie the bedrock, include high- and low-level alluvial terraces, residual gravel, colluvium, and alluvium. Terrace deposits of the ancestral Potomac River and the Monocacy River are as much as 183 ft and 140 ft, respectively, above the present river levels. Isolated residual gravel deposits that form in place from the weathering of the Upper Cambrian Frederick Formation superficially resemble terrace deposits. Colluvium of quartzite boulders is concentrated in hillslope depressions on Sugarloaf Mountain, and fanlike aprons of colluvial quartz pebbles cover the Triassic rocks on the west side of the Culpeper basin. Alluvium was mapped along the Potomac and Monocacy Rivers and all their tributaries. Altitude ranges from 200 ft along the Potomac River to 1,282 ft on the crest of Sugarloaf Mountain. The map area includes the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park, and the Monocacy Natural Resources Area. Sugarloaf Mountain is a registered natural landmark. Parts of the Buckeystown quadrangle were mapped by Jonas and Stose (1938a, scale 1:62,500), Scotford (1951, scale 1:12,500), Thomas (1952, scale 1:25,000), Cloos and Cook (1953, 1:62,500), Reinhardt (1974, scale 1:62,500), Froelich 1975, scale 1:62,500), and Lee (1979, scale 1:24,000). The map area is subdivided into five domains. Allochthonous rocks of the Westminster terrane are thrust onto rocks of the Frederick Valley synclinorium. Within the Westminster terrane of Muller and others (1989), the Sugarloaf Mountain Quartzite and Urbana Formation underlie the parautochthonous Sugarloaf Mountain anticlinorium. The Lower and Middle Cambrian Araby Formation and Upper Cambrian Frederick Formation crop out on the east limb of the Frederick Valley synclinorium. The Frederick Formation and Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician Grove Formation lie in the trough of the Frederick Valley synclinorium. Lower Cambrian Harpers, Antietam, and Tomstown Formations crop out on the east limb of the Blue Ridge-South Mountain anticlinorium in the extreme northwest corner of the map. The Blue Ridge-South Mountain anticlinorium is separated from the Frederick Valley synclinorium by Upper Triassic sedimentary rocks in the Culpeper basin half graben.

Maryland, Virginia↗

USGS1996

Predevelopment freshwater heads in the glaciofluvial, Saginaw, and Marshall aquifers in the Michigan Basin

Maps showing predevelopment freshwater heads were developed for the major aquifers in the Michigan Basin. The Michigan Basin is an isolated, regional ground-water-flow system consisting of a glaciofluvial aquifer and three bedrock aquifers separated by confining units. The bedrock aquifers investigated are the Saginaw, Parma-Bayport, and Marshall aquifers. Fractured sandstones within the bedrock aquifers comprise the principal water-bearing zones. Withdrawals from supply wells in the glaciofluvial aquifer, and more so from the Saginaw and Marshall aquifers, have lowered the potentiometric surface in several areas. The Marshall aquifer is a highly developed natural resource. Locally, extensive withdrawals of brine and natural gas from the Marshall aquifer have lowered the potentiometric surface to below pre-1890's predevelopment levels. The maps of freshwater heads were prepared from hydraulic-head measurements made from the late 1800's through 1976. Lake and river stages also were used to prepare a water-table map.

Michigan↗

USGS2010

Hydrogeomorphic segments and hydraulic microhabitats of the Niobrara River, Nebraska— With special emphasis on the Niobrara National Scenic River

The Niobrara River is an ecologically and economically important resource in Nebraska. The Nebraska Department of Natural Resources’ recent designation of the hydraulically connected surface- and groundwater resources of the Niobrara River Basin as “fully appropriated” has emphasized the importance of understanding linkages between the physical and ecological dynamics of the Niobrara River so it can be sustainably managed. In cooperation with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, the U.S. Geological Survey investigated the hydrogeomorphic and hydraulic attributes of the Niobrara River in northern Nebraska. This report presents the results of an analysis of hydrogeomorphic segments and hydraulic microhabitats of the Niobrara River and its valley for the approximately 330-mile reach from Dunlap Diversion Dam to its confluence with the Missouri River. Two spatial scales were used to examine and quantify the hydrogeomorphic segments and hydraulic microhabitats of the Niobrara River: a basin scale and a reach scale. At the basin scale, digital spatial data and hydrologic data were analyzed to (1) test for differences between 36 previously determined longitudinal hydrogeomorphic segments; (2) quantitatively describe the hydrogeomorphic characteristics of the river and its valley; and (3) evaluate differences in hydraulic microhabitat over a range of flow regimes among three fluvial geomorphic provinces. The statistical analysis of hydrogeomorphic segments resulted in reclassification rates of 3 to 28 percent of the segments for the four descriptive geomorphic elements. The reassignment of classes by discriminant analysis resulted in a reduction from 36 to 25 total hydrogeomorphic segments because several adjoining segments shared the same ultimate class assignments. Virtually all of the segment mergers were in the Canyons and Restricted Bottoms (CRB) fluvial geomorphic province. The most frequent classes among hydrogeomorphic segments, and the dominant classes per unit length of river, are: a width-restricted valley confinement condition, sinuous-planview pattern, irregular channel width, and an alternate bar configuration. The Niobrara River in the study area flows through a diversity of fluvial geomorphic settings in its traverse across northern Nebraska. In the Meandering Bottoms (MB) fluvial geomorphic province, river discharge magnitudes are low, and the valley exerts little control on the channel-planview pattern. Within the CRB province, the river flows over a diversity of geologic formations, and the valley and river narrow and expand in approximate synchronicity. In the Braided Bottoms (BB) fluvial geomorphic province, the river primarily flows over Cretaceous Pierre Shale, the valley and channel are persistently wide, and the channel slope is generally uniform. The existence of vegetated islands and consequent multithread channel environments, indicated by a higher braided index, mostly coincided with reaches having gentler slopes and less unit stream power. Longitudinal hydrology curves indicate that the flow of the Niobrara River likely is dominated by groundwater as far downstream as Norden. Unit stream power values in the study area vary between 0 and almost 2 pounds per foot per second. Within the MB province, unit stream power steadily increases as the Niobrara gains discharge from groundwater inflow, and the channel slope steepens. The combination of steep slopes, a constrained channel width, and persistent flow within the CRB province results in unit stream power values that are between three and five times greater than those in less confined segments with comparable or greater discharges. With the exception of hydrogeomorphic segment 3, which is affected by Spencer Dam, unit stream power values in the BB province are generally uniform. Channel sinuosity values in the study area varied generally between 1 and 2.5, but with locally higher values measured in the MB province and at the entrenched bedrock meanders of hydrogeomorphic segment 18 in the CRB province. The differences in channel morphology and hydraulic geometries between fluvial geomorphic provinces are evident in the types, relative abundance, and response of hydraulic microhabitats to changing discharges. The four gaging stations chosen for hydraulic microhabitat analysis are distributed among three different fluvial geomorphic provinces. In the MB province, the smaller channel and lower discharges resulted in the dominance of shallow and intermediate-depth hydraulic environments with the vast majority of hydraulic microhabitat restricted to shallow categories even during upper-decile discharges. In the CRB province, intermediate depth hydraulic conditions, particularly intermediate-swift, dominate over all ranges of discharge. Hydraulic microhabitat conditions were most diverse in the BB province, with most hydraulic microhabitat categories present over the entire range of discharges analyzed. The calculated differences in hydraulic microhabitat distributions, abundance, and adjustments between streamflow-gaging stations were the result of differences in physical structure of the channel and subsequent channel hydraulic geometry. At the reach scale, field measurements made in water years 2008 and 2009 in four study reaches within the Scenic Reach were used to (1) characterize the elevation and geomorphic processes associated with fluvial landforms, (2) build hydraulic geometry relations, (3) examine flow hydraulics over a range of discharges, and (4) examine the types and responses of hydraulic microhabitats to a range of flow magnitudes. Four landform groups were identified and named in order of increasing elevation: low flood plains, intermediate flood plains, low terraces, and high terraces. The terraces were poorly characterized because the surveys did not extend across the full width of the alluvial valley bottom. The two lowest fluvial landforms are likely active in the modern hydroclimatic regime. Sediment samples obtained in the study reaches indicate that the primary bed material in the active channel ranged in size from coarse silt to coarse sand. Grain-size distributions from samples also indicate that the bed of the Niobrara River among the study reaches coarsens and has increasing grainsize variability in the downstream direction. Values of at-a-station hydraulic geometry exponents indicate that the Niobrara River in the study reaches adjusts its geometry to changing discharges primarily through increases in flow depth and velocity. Relations at one cross section indicated that, at least locally, changes in width were also an important channel adjustment mechanism. Hydraulic behavior over the range of flows measured was not consistent among all study reaches, but two general modes of hydraulic behavior were observed in the reaches with substantial coverage of the bed by fine sediment. At the Sunny Brook and Muleshoe study reaches, average boundary-shear stress remained approximately constant, and hydraulic resistance decreased, for discharges below 900 cubic feet per second (ft 3 /s). Above 900 ft 3 /s, average boundary shear stress and hydraulic resistance both increased. The Rock Barn study reach did not exhibit the same two-mode hydraulic behavior observed at the Sunny Brook and Muleshoe reaches. The coincident increase in boundary shear stress above 900 ft 3 /s observed at the Sunny Brook and Muleshoe study reaches represents a potential hydraulic threshold above which bedload transport rates were likely to increase markedly. No consistent bed-adjustment pattern (scour or fill) was identified in the study reaches over the range of flows or over the measurement season. Analysis of hydraulic microhabitats over the range of discharges measured at the study reaches indicates that some percentage of most habitat niche categories was available for at least one discharge condition, but the majority of hydraulic habitat available was within the intermediate-swift and deepswift habitat niche categories. Deep-swift conditions dominated nearly all study reaches under all measured discharge conditions. Slight differences in habitat distributions were observed between the study reaches with substantial coverage of the bed by fine sediment—Sunny Brook, Muleshoe, and Rock Barn—and the bedrock-dominated reach, Crooked Creek. Although the four study reaches occupy three different hydrogeomorphic segments, the types, relative abundance, and response of hydraulic microhabitat niche distributions to changing discharge conditions generally were similar among all reaches.

Nebraska↗