Agriculture

Environmentally responsible land management has direct and indirect implications for wildlife, water quality, and air quality in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems far beyond their extent. Agricultural land use accounts for over 50 percent of the surface area of the contiguous United States. Public recognition that social, aesthetic, and recreational values enhance the traditional uses of...

USGS led an interagency team of Federal and State agency biologists to develop a report that synthesizes greater sage-grouse scientific literature.

There is a lack of knowledge and understanding of how widespread use of pesticides may affect bees as they move across a diverse agricultural landscape. Studies have shown there are impacts to honey bees due to exposure to pesticides including neonicotinoid insecticides and fungicides, but the effects of these compounds on native pollinators are largely unknown.

Beginning in 2012, the USGS collaborated with the USDA to assess the effectiveness of pollinator plantings and how alteration of landscapes has affected native pollinators and potentially contributed to their decline. The 2008 Farm Bill recognized contributions made by pollinators and made conservation of pollinator habitat a priority. The USGS is assessing native bee habitat, diversity, and...

Landsat satellites provide high-quality, multi-spectral imagery of the surface of the Earth. These moderate-resolution, remotely sensed images are not just pictures, but contain many layers of data collected at different points along the visible and invisible light spectrum.

To better understand how land-use changes are affecting greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus), FORT is collaborating with USGS centers FRESC, GECSC, WERC, and EROS; the BLM; Colorado State University; and the WLCI to develop information and tools for managing and monitoring grouse.

USGS scientists and colleagues have designed a hierarchical monitoring framework for greater sage-grouse in Nevada, Wyoming, and northeastern California that will provide land managers with a monitoring and detection system to identify sage-grouse breeding locations (known as leks), clusters of leks, and populations where intervention may be necessary to sustain populations and to evaluate...

Agricultural land use accounts for over 50 percent of the surface area of the contiguous United States. How these lands are managed has direct and indirect implications for wildlife, water quality, and air quality in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine ecosystems locally and far beyond their extent.