Northeast Region Urban Landscapes Capabilities Team

Northeast Region Urban Landscapes Capability Team

Urban landscapes commonly are impacted in many ways, including degraded water quality, fragmented habitats, invasive species, contaminant spills and transport, reduced groundwater recharge, increasing streamflow flashiness, and others. Urban development disrupts native biological communities, particularly the loss of sensitive biota. Every aquifer or stream can be degraded by inputs of nutrients, contaminants and/or sediments. In addition, stormwater runoff is a major problem in urban areas, increasing flooding or contaminant loads in local streams and rivers and costing cities millions of dollars to mitigate. The USGS Northeast Region has been an active participant in the Urban Waters Federal Partnership (UWFP), which is a White House sponsored program designed to reconnect urban communities, particularly those that are overburdened or economically distressed, with their waterways by improving coordination among Federal agencies and collaborating with community-led revitalization efforts to improve our Nation’s water systems and to promote their economic, environmental, and social benefits. Through the Urban Waters Federal Partnership, the Northeast Region is working with many Federal, state and local partners to improve and protect water quality, restore urban watersheds, create recreational opportunities, and improve social and economic conditions in unserved urban communities. Understanding the processes controlling urban impacts on ecosystems is not only a critical focus of the White House through the UWFP, but also of the USEPA, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, and many State and local stakeholders.

GOALS

The Northeast Region Urban Landscapes Capability Team will advance the Northeast Region as a leader in urban science and decision support programs. The Team will be a resource to assist the Region and its Science Centers to develop and maintain science programs that provide information on impacts of urban development on ecosystems, aquifer systems, streams and other waterbodies and implications for watershed management. Specific areas for technical collaboration will include:

• Impacts on streams and other waterbodies;
• Effects on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems;
• Effects on flood discharge and frequency;
• Green infrastructure and ecosystem services;
• Impact on communities;
• Ways to minimize impact on urban waters quality and quantity from urban development

MAJOR OBJECTIVES

• Major objectives for the Northeast Region Urban Landscapes Capability Team will include:
• Build and maintain urban science program for Northeast Region SCs and assist the Northeast Region Headquarters staff with regional program development through technical support.
• Work with Northeast Region scientists to develop a technical vision for new urban waters science work and decision making tools.
• Keep Region technical staff aware of urban waters science related developments through Webinars and face-to-face meetings. Maintain forums for Region SCs to share technical problems and ideas.
• Interface with other USGS Regions, particularly the Midwest Region (since it is also developing an emphasis on urban science), to draw upon their expertise and foster information exchange.
• Support the UWFP by providing the necessary science to advance the initiative.
• Develop expertise to support communities in understanding and addressing the impacts from a changing climate, (e.g., more frequent and intense storms, increasing coastal events, sea-level rise) and building a more resilient community.
• Build expertise in understanding the unique impacts from natural disasters on urban areas and develop tools and resources to help communities recover from those impacts.

STUDIES CURRENTLY UNDERWAY

• Microplastics in Urban Streams of the Northeast Region

ULCT MEMBERS

Northeast

Gregory E Granato, New England WSC, ggranato@usgs.gov

Guy K Holzer, New England WSC, gholzer@usgs.gov

James F Coles, New England WSC jcoles@usgs.gov

Kimberly W Campo, New England WSC kcampo@usgs.gov

Leslie A Desimone, New England WSC ldesimon@usgs.gov

Robert H Flynn, New England WSC rflynn@usgs.gov

Amy Simonson, New York WSC asimonso@usgs.gov

Brett A Hayhurst, New York WSC bhayhurs@usgs.gov

Christopher E Schubert, New York WSC schubert@usgs.gov

Irene Fisher, New York WSC ifisher@usgs.gov

James P Tucci, New York WSC jtucci@usgs.gov

Karen Riva Murray, New York WSC, krmurray@usgs.gov

Robert F Breault, New York WSC, rbreault@usgs.gov

Robert J Welk, New York WSC, rwelk@usgs.gov

Shawn C Fisher, New York WSC, scfisher@usgs.gov

Stephen A Terracciano, New York WSC, saterrac@usgs.gov

Tia-Marie Scott, New York WSC, tia-mariescott@usgs.gov

Daniel D Skulski, New Jersey WSC, dskulski@usgs.gov

Kaitlin M Zoida, New Jersey WSC, kzoida@usgs.gov

Pamela A Reilly, New Jersey WSC, jankowsk@usgs.gov

Zoltan Szabo, New Jersey WSC, zszabo@usgs.gov

Heather Eggleston, Pennsylvania WSC, egglesto@usgs.gov

Joseph W Duris, Pennsylvania WSC, jwduris@usgs.gov

Lee W Eicholtz, Pennsylvania WSC, eicholtz@usgs.gov

Leif E Olson, Pennsylvania WSC, leolson@usgs.gov

Robin A Brightbill, Pennsylvania WSC, rabright@usgs.gov

Tammy M Zimmerman, Pennsylvania WSC, tmzimmer@usgs.gov

Brenda F Majedi, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. WSC, blfeit@usgs.gov

Charles W Walker, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. WSC, cwwalker@usgs.gov

David P Brower, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. WSC, dpbrower@usgs.gov

Edward J Doheny, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. WSC, ejdoheny@usgs.gov

Emily H Majcher, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. WSC, emajcher@usgs.gov

Fisseha S Mengistu, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. WSC, fmengistu@usgs.gov

Joseph M Bell, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. WSC, jmbell@usgs.gov

Rosemary M Fanelli, Maryland-Delaware-D.C. WSC, rfanelli@usgs.gov

Alyssa K Melberg, Virginia-West Virginia WSC, amelberg@usgs.gov

Dianna M Hogan, Virginia-West Virginia WSC, dhogan@usgs.gov

John D Jastram, Virginia-West Virginia WSC, jdjastra@usgs.gov

Kenneth E Hyer, Virginia-West Virginia WSC, kenhyer@usgs.gov

Timothy J McHale, Great Lakes SC, tmchale@usgs.gov

Harold B Underwood, Patuxent SC, hbunderw@usgs.gov

Kristina G Hopkins, Eastern Geographic SC, khopkins@usgs.gov

Midwest

Ralph J Haefner, Michigan WSC, rhaefner@usgs.gov

Austin K Baldwin, Idaho WSC, akbaldwi@usgs.gov

Kevin D Richards, Iowa WSC, krichard@usgs.gov

William R Selbig, Wisconsin WSC, wrselbig@usgs.gov

Southwest

Zulimar Lucena, New Mexico WSC, zlucena@usgs.gov

David J Hester, Southwest Geographic, SC dhester@usgs.gov

Daniel K Jones, Utah WSC, dkjones@usgs.gov

Jack B Epstein, Emeritus (geologist), jepstein@usgs.gov

Mark A Drummond, Fort Collins SC, madrummond@usgs.gov

Headquarters

Cherie V Miller, Headquarters (Reston, VA), cvmiller@usgs.gov

Daniel J Hippe, Headquarters (Reston, VA), djhippe@usgs.gov

Douglas J Yeskis, Headquarters (Reston, VA), djyeskis@usgs.gov

Peter S Murdoch, Headquarters (Reston, VA), pmurdoch@usgs.gov

Timothy J Reilly, Headquarters (Reston, VA), tjreilly@usgs.gov

Vivian P Nolan, Headquarters (Reston, VA), vpnolan@usgs.gov

Sister agencies

Catherine Bozek, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, catherine_bozek@fws.gov

Susan E Wells, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, susan_wells@fws.gov

Heather M Passchier, National Park Service, Heather_Passchier@nps.gov

DOI

Pelstring Lisa M, U.S. Department of the Interior, Lisa_Pelstring@ios.doi.gov