Images

Microscopic view of tree rings from a ponderosa pine in northern New Mexico. Photo by Ellis Margolis (USGS).

An animated heat map of greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) annual peak male counts from 1990 to 2023 using the standardized sage-grouse lek database. The color ramp uses light blue (fewest number of males counted on leks) to purple (greatest number of males counted on leks), reflecting local minimum and maximum counts of males.

Field station staff use microscopes to date fire scars in wood samples from Aztec Springs, NM. Photo by Ellis Margolis (USGS).

FORT Geneticist Jennifer Fike teaches 6th graders from Compass Community Collaborative School about extracting DNA from strawberries. Photo by Emma Dietrich (USGS).

Sagebrush and conifers in the Frisco Herd Management Area, Utah. Photo by L. Prevot (USGS).

A wild horse stands in the Frisco Herd Management Area, Utah. Photo by E. Long (USGS)

Wild horses of the Frisco Herd Management Area, Utah. 

Photo by E. Long (USGS).

Photograph of cheatgrass by Fort Collins Science Center biologist Janet Prevéy (USGS).

Photograph of a post-fire landscape by Fort Collins Science Center biologist Janet Prevéy (USGS).

Landscape with invasive annual grasses. Photograph by FORT biologist Janet Prevéy (USGS).

USGS table at the USGS Open House held in Albuquerque at the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) on Tuesday September 26, as part of a series of Tribal engagement events on drought

USGS scientists lead a panel at the USGS Open House held in Albuquerque at the Southwest Indian Polytechnic Institute (SIPI) on Tuesday September 26, as part of a series of Tribal engagement events

Vegetation growth is assisting the Muddy Creek channel in becoming deeper and narrower (Carbon County, Wyoming).  Photo by Patrick Anderson (USGS)

USGS scientist Jason Alexander, a fluvial geomorphologist with the Wyoming Montana Water Science Center, explains how he used sediment traps to evaluate sediment deposition in Littlefield Creek (Carbon County, Wyoming). Photo by Patrick Anderson (USGS).

Muddy Creek reach showing bank erosion and the development of a point sandbar that is being stabilized by vegetation (Carbon County, Wyoming).  Photo by Patrick Anderson.

Small rodents disturb surface soil on banks which contribute to fine sediments in the upper reaches of Littlefield Creek (Carbon County, Wyoming). Photo by Patrick Anderson (USGS).

Similar nearby headwater streams are being evaluated to determine how shifts in habitat availability and connectivity in drought years affect fish populations (Carbon County, Wyoming). Photo by Patrick Anderson (USGS).

Constructed wetland complex associated with Muddy Creek near Dad, Wyoming. USGS science indicates that the development of the wetland complex and changes to livestock grazing management practices have greatly reduced severe bank erosion and stream headcutting over the last few decades. Photo by Patrick Anderson (USGS)

This workshop was attended by 30 individuals from the Yakama Nation, Quinault Indian Nation, Kalispel Tribe, Sauk-Suiattle Indian Tribe, Umatilla Tribe, Yurok Tribe, Snoqualmie Tribe, Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, Colville Tribe, White Mountain Apache, Pueblo of Isleta, Navajo Nation and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, as well as sister agencies within D

Burros of the Lake Pleasant Herd Management Area, Arizona. Photo by K. Whyle (USGS).

Tricolored Bat hanging upside down in a cave. Photo by Andrea Schuhmann (USGS).