Integrated Science: Providing a More Complete Understanding of Complex Problems
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3056
Integration among sciences is critical in order to address some of our most pressing problems. Because of the inherent complexity of natural systems, and the increasing complexity of human demands on them, narrowly-focused approaches are no longer sufficient. USGS Workshop on Enhancing Integrated Science, November 1998. The Mid-Continent Geographic Science Center is...
Land Cover Trends Project
William Acevedo
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3020
The Land Cover Trends Project is designed to document the types, rates, causes, and consequences of land cover change from 1973 to 2000 within each of the 84 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Level III ecoregions that span the conterminous United States. The project's objectives are to: * Develop a comprehensive...
USGS EROS Interdisciplinary Science Collaboration with BRD, GD, GIO, and WRD
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3073
The USGS Land Cover Institute
Christopher Barnes
2006, Fact Sheet 2005-3115
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Land Cover Institute (LCI) is located at the Center for Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It provides a focal point for advancing USGS land cover studies and applications. Satellite images and other remotely sensed data play an important role...
LANDFIRE: Collaboration for National Fire Fuel Assessment
Zhi-Liang Zhu
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3019
The implementation of national fire management policies, such as the National Fire Plan and the Healthy Forest Restoration Act, requires geospatial data of vegetation types and structure, wildland fuels, fire risks, and ecosystem fire regime conditions. Presently, no such data sets are available that can meet these requirements. As a...
Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET)
James P. Verdin
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3022
The FEWS NET mission is to identify potentially food-insecure conditions early through the provision of timely and analytical hazard and vulnerability information. U.S. Government decision-makers act on this information to authorize mitigation and response activities. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) FEWS NET provides tools and data for monitoring and forecasting...
Understanding Amphibian Declines Through Geographic Approaches
Alisa Gallant
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3021
Growing concern over worldwide amphibian declines warrants serious examination. Amphibians are important to the proper functioning of ecosystems and provide many direct benefits to humans in the form of pest and disease control, pharmaceutical compounds, and even food. Amphibians have permeable skin and rely on both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems...
Genetics/Genomics Research in the Central Region
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3053
Genetics-based research within the Biological Resources Discipline (BRD) Science Centers in the Central Region incorporates many aspects of the field of genetics. Research activities range from documenting patterns of genetic variation in order to investigate relationships among species, populations and individuals to investigating the structure, function and expression of genes...
U.S. Geological Survey's alert notification system for volcanic activity
Cynthia A. Gardner, Marianne C. Guffanti
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3139
The United States and its territories have about 170 volcanoes that have been active during the past 10,000 years, and most could erupt again in the future. In the past 500 years, 80 U.S. volcanoes have erupted one or more times. About 50 of these recently active volcanoes are monitored,...
Pesticides in Ground Water of the Maryland Coastal Plain
Judith M. Denver, Scott W. Ator
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3119
Selected pesticides are detectable at low levels (generally less than 0.1 microgram per liter) in unconfined ground water in many parts of the Maryland Coastal Plain. Samples were recently collected (2001-04) from 47 wells in the Coastal Plain and analyzed for selected pesticides and degradate compounds (products of pesticide degradation)....
Garnet--An Essential Industrial Mineral and January's Birthstone
James G. Evans, Phillip R. Moyle, David G. Frank, Donald W. Olson
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3149
Garnet is one of the most common minerals in the world. Occurring in almost any color, it is most widely known for its beauty as a gem stone. Because of its hardness and other properties, garnet is also an essential industrial mineral used in abrasive products, non-slip surfaces, and filtration....
Monitoring Inland Storm Surge and Flooding from Hurricane Rita
Benton D. McGee, Roland W. Tollett, Mason Jr.
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3136
Pressure transducers (sensors) and high-water marks were used to document the inland water levels related to storm surge generated by Hurricane Rita in southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas. On September 22-23, 2005, an experimental monitoring network of sensors was deployed at 33 sites over an area of about 4,000 square...
Estimating magnitude and frequency of floods using the PeakFQ program
Kathleen M. Flynn, William H. Kirby, Robert Mason, Timothy A. Cohn
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3143
Monitoring for methane gas in Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah, 1995-2003
Andrew L. Burr, Bernard J. Stolp, Kevin K. Johnson, Gilbert L. Hunt
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3113
The release of methane gas from coal beds creates the potential for it to move into near-surface environments through natural and human-made pathways. To help ensure the safety of communities and determine the potential effects of development of coal-bed resources, methane gas concentrations in soils and ground water in Carbon...
Ground water in the Anchorage area, Alaska: Meeting the challenges of ground-water sustainability
Edward H. Moran, Devin L. Galloway
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3148
Ground water is an important component of Anchorage's water supply. During the 1970s and early 80s when ground water extracted from aquifers near Ship Creek was the principal source of supply, area-wide declines in ground-water levels resulted in near record low streamflows in Ship Creek. Since the importation of Eklutna...
Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources of the Powder River Basin Province of Wyoming and Montana— 2006 update
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3135
Using a geology-based assessment method, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated means of 16.6 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas, 639 million barrels of undiscovered oil, and 131 million barrels of natural gas liquids in the Powder River Basin Province....
U.S. Geological Survey and Bureau of Land Management Cooperative Coalbed Methane Project in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3132
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Wyoming Reservoir Management Group and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a cooperative project in 1999 to collect technical and analytical data on coalbed methane (CBM) resources and quality of the water produced from coalbeds in the Wyoming part of the Powder River...
Coalbed Methane Extraction and Soil Suitability Concerns in the Powder River Basin, Montana and Wyoming
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3137
The Powder River Basin is located in northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. It is an area of approximately 55,000 square kilometers. Extraction of methane gas from the coal seams that underlie the Powder River Basin began in Wyoming in the late 1980s and in Montana in the late 1990s. About...
Natural and Man-Made Chemicals in North American Soils--Continental-Scale Pilot Study Completed
Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3115
The U.S. Geological Survey and the Geological Survey of Canada recently completed a continental-scale pilot study for a proposed geochemical survey of North American soils. This survey will provide baseline soil chemistry data against which future changes in soil composition can be measured and that can be used by Federal,...
Pesticides in ground water - Sublette County, Wyoming, 2004-2005
Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller, Kendra J. Remley
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3121
In 1991, members of local, State, and Federal governments, as well as industry and interest groups, formed the Ground-water and Pesticide Strategy Committee to prepare the State of Wyoming's generic Management Plan for Pesticides in Ground Water. Part of this management plan is to sample and analyze Wyoming's ground water...
Pesticides in ground water - Campbell County, Wyoming, 2004-2005
Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller, Kendra J. Remley
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3123
In 1991, members of local, State, and Federal governments, as well as industry and interest groups, formed the Ground-water and Pesticide Strategy Committee to prepare the State of Wyoming's generic Management Plan for Pesticides in Ground Water. Part of this management plan is to sample and analyze Wyoming's ground water...
Pesticides in ground water - Carbon County, Wyoming, 2004-2005
Cheryl A. Eddy-Miller, Kendra J. Remley
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3122
In 1991, members of local, State, and Federal governments, as well as industry and interest groups, formed the Ground-water and Pesticide Strategy Committee to prepare the State of Wyoming's generic Management Plan for Pesticides in Ground Water. Part of this management plan is to sample and analyze Wyoming's ground water...
Digital data set of orchards where arsenical pesticides were likely used in Clark and Frederick Counties, Virginia, and Berkeley and Jefferson Counties, West Virginia
Bradley W. Reed, Peter Larkins, Gilpin R. Robinson Jr.
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3134
This Fact Sheet provides information on a digital data set that identifies orchard areas under cultivation between the 1920s and 1960s in Clarke and Frederick Counties, Virginia and Berkeley and Jefferson Counties, West Virginia. The apple orchards in these areas likely used arsenical pesticides during this time. The digital data...
Negotiation Training Courses for Natural Resource Professionals
Nina Burkardt, M. Earlene Swann, Katherine Walters
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3116
FORT's Policy Analysis and Science Assistance Branch (PASA) has been conducting and publishing research on multi-party natural resource negotiation since the 1980s. This research has led to the development of basic and advanced negotiation training courses. Each course is two-and-a-half days. Both courses are a mix of lecture, hands-on training,...
Land-based lidar mapping: a new surveying technique to shed light on rapid topographic change
Brian D. Collins, Robert Kayen
2006, Fact Sheet 2006-3111
The rate of natural change in such dynamic environments as rivers and coastlines can sometimes overwhelm the monitoring capacity of conventional surveying methods. In response to this limitation, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are pioneering new applications of light detection and ranging (lidar), a laser-based scanning technology that promises to...
