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General Information Product↗
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USGS Information Technology Strategic Plan: Fiscal Years 2007-2011
Introduction: The acquisition, management, communication, and long-term stewardship of natural science data, information, and knowledge are fundamental mission responsibilities of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). USGS scientists collect, maintain, and exchange raw scientific data and interpret and analyze it to produce a wide variety of science-based products. Managers throughout the Bureau access, summarize, and analyze administrative or business-related information to budget, plan, evaluate, and report on programs and projects. Information professionals manage the extensive and growing stores of irreplaceable scientific information and knowledge in numerous databases, archives, libraries, and other digital and nondigital holdings. Information is the primary currency of the USGS, and it flows to scientists, managers, partners, and a wide base of customers, including local, State, and Federal agencies, private sector organizations, and individual citizens. Supporting these information flows is an infrastructure of computer systems, telecommunications equipment, software applications, digital and nondigital data stores and archives, technical expertise, and information policies and procedures. This infrastructure has evolved over many years and consists of tools and technologies acquired or built to address the specific requirements of particular projects or programs. Developed independently, the elements of this infrastructure were typically not designed to facilitate the exchange of data and information across programs or disciplines, to allow for sharing of information resources or expertise, or to be combined into a Bureauwide and broader information infrastructure. The challenge to the Bureau is to wisely and effectively use its information resources to create a more Integrated Information Environment that can reduce costs, enhance the discovery and delivery of scientific products, and improve support for science. This Information Technology Strategic Plan for the USGS outlines key information technology (IT) strategic goals and objectives that will support the Bureau's science mission, while also aligning with the Department of the Interior (DOI) IT Strategic Plan and the DOI Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) Strategic Plan.
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U.S. Geological Survey activities related to American Indians and Alaska Natives: Fiscal year 2006
In the late 1800s, John Wesley Powell, the second director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), followed his interest in the tribes of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau and studied their cultures, languages, and surroundings. From that early time, the USGS has recognized the importance of Native knowledge and living in harmony with nature as complements to the USGS mission to better understand the Earth. Combining traditional ecological knowledge with empirical studies allows the USGS and Native American governments, organizations, and people to increase their mutual understanding and respect for this land. The USGS is the earth and natural science bureau within the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). The USGS does not have regulatory or land management responsibilities.
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Digital geologic map data for the Ozark National Scenic Riverways and adjacent areas along the Current River and Jacks Fork, Missouri
The geology of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways (ONSR) in southern Missouri has been mapped at 1:24,000 scale. This endeavor was achieved through the combined efforts of U.S. Geological Survey and Missouri Geological Survey individual quadrangle mapping and additional fieldwork by the authors of this report. Geologic data covering the area of the ONSR and a 1-mile (1.6-kilometer) buffer zone surrounding the park, as well as geologic data from a few key adjoining areas, have been compiled into a single, seamless geographic information system database. The intent is to provide base geologic information for natural science research and land management in the park and surrounding areas. The data are served online at ScienceBase ( https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/ ), where they are provided in Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) file geodatabase format, and are accompanied by metadata files. These data can be accessed at: http://dx.doi.org/10.5066/F7CJ8BKB . Additional detailed geologic information about the ONSR and surrounding areas is available in the separate 1:24,000-scale quadrangle maps and in a 1:100,000-scale map and report on the regional geology.
Missouri↗
Data for a regional approach to the development of an effects-based nutrient criterion for wadable streams
States are required by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to establish nutrient criteria (concentrations of nutrients above which water quality is deteriorated) as part of their water-quality regulations. A study of wadable streams in the Mid-Atlantic Region was undertaken by the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Maryland Department of the Environment, with assistance from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, to help define current concentrations of nutrients in streams with the goal of associating different nutrient-concentration levels with their effects on water quality. During the summers of 2004 and 2005, diel concentrations of dissolved oxygen, nutrient concentrations, concentrations of chlorophyll a in attached algae, and algal-community structure were measured at 46 stream sites in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia. Data from this work can be used by individual state agencies to define nutrient criteria. Quality-control measures for the study included submitting blank samples, duplicate samples, and reference samples for analysis of nutrients, total organic carbon, chlorophyll a, and algal biomass. Duplicate and split samples were submitted for periphyton identifications. Three periphyton split samples were sent to an independent lab for a check on periphyton identifications. Neither total organic carbon nor nutrients were detected in blank samples. Concentrations of nutrients and total organic carbon were similar for most duplicate sample pairs, with the exception of a duplicate pair from Western Run. Concentrations of ammonia plus organic nitrogen for this duplicate pair differed by as much as 34 percent. Total organic carbon for the duplicate pair from Western Run differed by 102 percent. The U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory performance on the only valid reference sample submitted was excellent; the relative percent difference values were no larger than 5 percent for any constituent analyzed. For periphyton identifications, duplicate samples had Jaccard Coefficient of Community values slightly greater than 0.5. This indicates the periphyton sampling protocol used provided a sample that was only moderately reproducible. Jaccard Coefficients for three periphyton samples split between two independent labs were 0.2, 0.11, and 0.08. These very low values suggest a poor concurrence on species identifications performed by the two labs. As a result of these quality-control samples, the slides prepared for diatom identifications were sent to the Academy of Natural Sciences for re-identification. Caution is urged when interpreting periphyton-community information from this study. This report and the raw data from the study are available online at http://pubs.usgs.gov/ds257
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia↗
U.S. Geological Survey Programs in Minnesota
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maps, describes, and seeks to understand Minnesota's mineral, water, and biological resources. The USGS is known for impartial data collection and data interpretation that enable resource planners and others to make informed decisions. Today's issues are more pressing than ever - understanding natural hazards to minimize their effects on life and property, the continuing need for mineral- and water-resource development, and understanding the effects of human activities on water resources. As the Nation's leading natural-science agency, the USGS works with other Federal agencies and State and local agencies in addressing these issues. Watershed districts; soil- and water-conservation districts; Tribal governments; mining industries; educators; city, county, regional, State, and Federal planning agencies; consulting firms; crop consultants; farmers; and other private citizens use USGS maps, interpretive reports, and data to manage Minnesota's resources.
Fact Sheet↗
Geographic Information Office, Information Policy and Services Office
The Geographic Information Office, Information Policy and Services Office (IPSO) oversees the bureau's policies and functions related to information services and delivery, i.e., Libraries, Enterprise Web, information centers (through the Natural Science Network), Information Resources Management, and Enterprise Publishing. For more infomiation about IPSO activities, contact: Hedy Rossmeissl: Senior Advisor, Donna Bums: Administrative Assistant
Fact Sheet↗
The Enterprise Web
The Enterprise Web is a bureau wide approach to managing U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) information on the Web. Under the direction of the USGS Geographic Information Office, the Enterprise Web operates the Bureau's Web servers and their associated sites. Through a network of people and resources, the Enterprise Web or "E-Web" works with programs and partners to effectively use the USGS Web presence to advance and deliver natural science information. It provides the corporate infrastructure, best practices, and tools to focus the Bureau's Web presence on customer and business needs and to ensure that USGS Web sites are reliable, secure, and in compliance with all applicable laws, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requirements, and Department of the Interior (DOI) policy.
Fact Sheet↗
Libraries program
The U.S. Congress authorized a library for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 1879. The library was formally established in 1882 with the naming of the first librarian and began with a staff of three and a collection of 1,400 books. Today, the USGS Libraries Program is one of the world's largest Earth and natural science repositories and a resource of national significance used by researchers and the public worldwide.
General Information Product↗
Hurricane Mitch: Landscape Analysis of Damaged Forest Resources of the Bay Islands and Caribbean Coast of Honduras
The advent of analog and digital video has provided amateur photographers with professional-like technology to capture dynamic images with ease and clarity. Videography is also rapidly changing traditional business and scientific applications. In the natural sciences, camcorders are being used largely to record timely observations of plant and animal behavior or consequence of some catastrophic event. Spectacular video of dynamic events such as hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and wildfire document the active process and aftermath. Scientists can analyze video images to quantify aspects of a given event, behavior, or response, temporally and spatially. In this study we demonstrate the simple use of an aerial application of videography to record the spatial extent and damage expression of mangrove forest in the Bay Islands and mainland coast of northern Honduras from wind damage following Hurricane Mitch (1998). In this study, we conducted a video overflight of coastal forests of the Bay Islands and mainland coast of northern Honduras 14 months after impact by Hurricane Mitch (1998). Coastal areas were identified where damage was evident and described relative to damage extent to forest cover, windfall orientation, and height of downed trees. The variability and spatial extent of impact on coastal forest resources is related to reconstructed wind profiles based on model simulations of Mitch's path, strength, and circulation during landfall.
Open-File Report↗
Analyzing stakeholder preferences for managing elk and bison at the National Elk Refuge and Grand Teton National Park: An example of the disparate stakeholder management approach
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Park Service (NPS) are preparing a management plan for bison and elk inhabiting the National Elk Refuge (NER) and Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A management plan is needed to evaluate current and possible changes to habitat management, disease management, winter feeding and hunting programs related to the NER and GTNP. In order to make good decisions, managers need to incorporate the opinions and values of the involved stakeholders as well as understand the complex institutional constraints and opportunities that influence the decision making process. Federal, state, local, private and public stakeholders have diverse values and preferences about how to use and manage resources, and underlying institutional factors give certain stakeholders more influence over the outcome. How stakeholders use their influence can greatly affect the time, effort and costs of the decision making process. The overall result will depend both on the stakeholder’s relative power and level of conviction for their preferences. Many programs and tools have been developed by different disciplines to facilitate group negotiation and decision making. Three examples are relevant here. First, decision analysis models such as the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) are commonly used to prioritize the goals and objectives of stakeholders’ preferences for resource planning by formally structuring conflicts and assisting decision makers in developing a compromised solution (Forman, 1998). Second, institutional models such as the Legal Institutional Analysis Model (LIAM) have been used to describe the organizational rules of behavior and the institutional boundaries constraining management decisions (Lamb and others, 1998). Finally, public choice models have been used to predict the potential success of rent-seeking activity (spending additional time and money to exert political pressure) to change the political rules (Becker, 1983). While these tools have been successful at addressing various pieces of the natural resource decision making process, their use in isolation is not enough to fully depict the complexities of the physical and biological systems with the rules and constraints of the underlying economic and political systems. An approach is needed that combines natural sciences, economics, and politics.
Wyoming↗
Priority questions in multidisciplinary drought research
Addressing timely and relevant questions across a multitude of spatio-temporal scales, state-of-the-art interdisciplinary drought research will likely increase in importance under projected climate change. Given the complexity of the various direct and indirect causes and consequences of a drier world, scientific tasks need to be coordinated efficiently. Drought-related research endeavors ranging from individual projects to global initiatives therefore require prioritization. Here, we present 60 priority questions for optimizing future drought research. This topical catalogue reflects the experience of 65 scholars from 21 countries and almost 20 fields of research in both natural sciences and the humanities. The set of drought-related questions primarily covers drought monitoring, impacts, forecasting, climatology, adaptation, as well as planning and policy. The questions highlight the increasingly important role of remote sensing techniques in drought monitoring, importance of drought forecasting and understanding the relationships between drought parameters and drought impacts, but also challenges of drought adaptation and preparedness policies.
Climate Research↗
Plant and insect herbivore community variation across the Paleocene–Eocene boundary in the Hanna Basin, southeastern Wyoming
Ecosystem function and stability are highly affected by internal and external stressors. Utilizing paleobotanical data gives insight into the evolutionary processes an ecosystem undergoes across long periods of time, allowing for a more complete understanding of how plant and insect herbivore communities are affected by ecosystem imbalance. To study how plant and insect herbivore communities change during times of disturbance, we quantified community turnover across the Paleocene–Eocene boundary in the Hanna Basin, southeastern Wyoming. This particular location is unlike other nearby Laramide basins because it has an abundance of late Paleocene and Eocene coal and carbonaceous shales and paucity of well-developed paleosols, suggesting perpetually high water availability. We sampled approximately 800 semi-intact dicot leaves from five stratigraphic levels, one of which occurs late in the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). Field collections were supplemented with specimens at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. Fossil leaves were classified into morphospecies and herbivore damage was documented for each leaf. We tested for changes in plant and insect herbivore damage diversity using rarefaction and community composition using non-metric multidimensional scaling ordinations. We also documented changes in depositional environment at each stratigraphic level to better contextualize the environment of the basin. Plant diversity was highest during the mid-late Paleocene and decreased into the Eocene, whereas damage diversity was highest at the sites with low plant diversity. Plant communities significantly changed during the late PETM and do not return to pre-PETM composition. Insect herbivore communities also changed during the PETM, but, unlike plant communities, rebound to their pre-PETM structure. These results suggest that insect herbivore communities responded more strongly to plant community composition than to the diversity of species present.
Wyoming↗
The Washington Biologists' Field Club : Its members and its history (1900-2006)
This book is based on the interesting one-hundred-plus-year history of the Club and its members. Plummers Island and the historic cabin on the Island have served as a common meeting area where the Club members have conducted research and held many social activities for over a century. The history has been written and revised over the years by members, and the biographical sketches also have been collected and written by the members. The Club was formed in 1900 and incorporated as a society in 1901 for scientists in the Washington, D.C., area. In recent years the Club has sponsored research by many non-member local scientists with grants totaling over $305,000. The cumulative total of 267 members represents all branches of natural science, with a strong emphasis on biology as the Club name indicates. In addition to the biologists there have been famous naturalists (e.g., John Burroughs), high-level administrators (e.g., Ira Gabrielson), and well-known artists (e.g., Roger Tory Peterson). Most members have been biological scientists, working for agencies in the Washington, D.C., area, who have published many articles and books dealing with biology and related subjects. The book is publIshed mainly for the benefit of the living Club members and for relatives of the deceased members. The members hope that the book will find its way into libraries across the country and that in the future, persons interested in some of the pioneer scientists, in the various professional areas of science, can obtain biographical information from a well-documented source. Most of the 542 illustrations of the members, cabin, and the Island have not been published previously. It is hopeful that the biographical sketches, pictures, and other information presented in this book can generate new information for future publications and for the website of the Washington Biologists' Field Club, which is updated frequently.
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Proceedings of the ninetieth stated meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union
The Ninetieth Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union was held 14-18 August 1972 at Grand Forks, North Dakota, under the sponsorship of the University of North Dakota and the North Dakota Natural Science Society. Business and technical sessions were held on the campus of the University; some social activities were held at the Westward Ho Motel. Daylong field trips were taken to Lake Itasca, Minnesota, State Park and to saline lakes and prairie potholes in central North Dakota. A longer post-meeting trip to western North Dakota was offered.
The Auk↗
[Book review] Illustrations of the birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America
John Cassin was one of the leading American ornithologists of the 19th century. Appointed Honorary Curator of Birds at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia in 1842, he built and studied the collections of that institution (although engaged full time in business) until his death in 1869. This book represents perhaps his most important and least well known endeavor.
The Auk↗
Integrating adaptive management and ecosystem services concepts to improve natural resource management: Challenges and opportunities
Executive Summary—Overview Natural resource managers must make decisions that affect broad-scale ecosystem processes involving large spatial areas, complex biophysical interactions, numerous competing stakeholder interests, and highly uncertain outcomes. Natural and social science information and analyses are widely recognized as important for informing effective management. Chief among the systematic approaches for improving the integration of science into natural resource management are two emergent science concepts, adaptive management and ecosystem services. Adaptive management (also referred to as “adaptive decision making”) is a deliberate process of learning by doing that focuses on reducing uncertainties about management outcomes and system responses to improve management over time. Ecosystem services is a conceptual framework that refers to the attributes and outputs of ecosystems (and their components and functions) that have value for humans. This report explores how ecosystem services can be moved from concept into practice through connection to a decision framework—adaptive management—that accounts for inherent uncertainties. Simultaneously, the report examines the value of incorporating ecosystem services framing and concepts into adaptive management efforts. Adaptive management and ecosystem services analyses have not typically been used jointly in decision making. However, as frameworks, they have a natural—but to date underexplored—affinity. Both are policy and decision oriented in that they attempt to represent the consequences of resource management choices on outcomes of interest to stakeholders. Both adaptive management and ecosystem services analysis take an empirical approach to the analysis of ecological systems. This systems orientation is a byproduct of the fact that natural resource actions affect ecosystems—and corresponding societal outcomes—often across large geographic scales. Moreover, because both frameworks focus on resource systems, both must confront the analytical challenges of systems modeling—in terms of complexity, dynamics, and uncertainty. Given this affinity, the integration of ecosystem services analysis and adaptive management poses few conceptual hurdles. In this report, we synthesize discussions from two workshops that considered ways in which adaptive management approaches and ecosystem service concepts may be complementary, such that integrating them into a common framework may lead to improved natural resource management outcomes. Although the literature on adaptive management and ecosystem services is vast and growing, the report focuses specifically on the integration of these two concepts rather than aiming to provide new definitions or an indepth review or primer of the concepts individually. Key issues considered include the bidirectional links between adaptive decision making and ecosystem services, as well as the potential benefits and inevitable challenges arising in the development and use of an integrated framework. Specifically, the workshops addressed the following questions: How can application of ecosystem service analysis within an adaptive decision process improve the outcomes of management and advance understanding of ecosystem service identification, production, and valuation? How can these concepts be integrated in concept and practice? What are the constraints and challenges to integrating adaptive management and ecosystem services? And, should the integration of these concepts be moved forward to wider application—and if so, how?
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Northwest Boreal Landscape Conservation Cooperative strategic plan 2015 - 2025
The Northwest Boreal Landscape Conservation Cooperative (NWB LCC) is a voluntary, diverse, self-directed management-science partnership, informing and promoting integrated science, sustainable natural and cultural resource management, and conservation to address impacts of climate change and other stressors within and across ecosystems. The NWB LCC area includes parts of Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and British Columbia. Our partnership reflects both the broad geographic scope and an extensive array of active and engaged participants including resource management organizations, government representatives, policy makers, Tribes and First Nations, industry leaders, researchers, non-governmental organizations, and research/education institutions. Bringing together diverse partners will help assure the northwest boreal is a functioning, sustainable landscape. We live in an era of profound conservation challenges, including the loss and fragmentation of habitats, genetic isolation, invasive species, and unnatural wildfire. The effects of rapidly changing climate are already evident on the landscape. In these circumstances, it is imperative that natural resource management agencies, science providers, Tribes, First Nations, conservation organizations, and other stakeholders work together to understand the drivers and impacts of landscape change and to determine how best to address those challenges. Further, it is essential that the public and communities receive clear communication about the vision and activities of the NWB LCC. Open public access to NWB LCC activities and products will promote acceptance and support of the science that guides potential changes in management action and conservation strategy. This strategic plan provides a great opportunity for the NWB LCC to share our approach and intentions to the LCC members, collaborators, communities, and the public at large.
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