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Western Geographic Science Center

The WGSC is responsible for research and applications to understand coupled human-environmental systems in the face of land change and delivering pertinent information to decision makers on the vulnerability and resilience of these systems.  WGSC scientists collaborate with partners to advance the goals of the USGS Core Science Systems and Ecosystems Mission Areas and their programs. 

News

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The Geographical Podcast: Can Desertification Be Stopped?

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Prestigious Talbert Abrams Grand Prize Award of ASPRS for Itiya Aneece and Prasad S. Thenkabail 2022

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WGSC Research Geographer Visits India under the Professional Engineer and Scientist Exchange Program

Publications

Riparian vegetation response amid variable climate conditions across the Upper Gila River watershed: informing Tribal restoration priorities

Restoring degraded river systems is an enormous challenge, especially given the uncertainty in a time of climate change. Here, Roy Petrakis explains how restoration approaches informed by remote sensing and a climate adaptation framework increase the potential for overall success. He discusses research being done on the Gila River as a case study of how it might work.
Authors
Roy Petrakis

Time, climate, and soil settings set the course for reclamation outcomes following dryland energy development

Soil attributes, climate, and time since reclamation have important implications for oil and gas reclamation success on drylands. It is uncertain if reclaimed well pads, on highly degraded drylands, can successfully regain ecological function or meet indicator benchmarks for reclamation. Here, our goals were to assess patterns in reclamation outcomes relative to (1) soil attributes, climate, and t
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Randi Corrine Lupardus, Aarin Sengsirirak, Keven Griffen, Anna C Knight, Brandon E McNellis, John B. Bradford, Seth M. Munson, Sasha C. Reed, Miguel L. Villarreal, Michael C. Duniway

Resilience of riparian vegetation productivity to early 21st century drought in northern California, USA

Drought and intensive land use can interact as stressors on riparian vegetation, especially along rivers flowing through seasonally dry landscapes. Knowledge of past riparian vegetation response to drought and land use change can provide land managers with a better understanding of changes induced by upstream management actions, climate change, and chronic stressors. To investigate the response of
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Paul Selmants, Caroline Rose Conrad, Tamara S. Wilson, Miguel L. Villarreal

Science

New Tools for Modern Land Management Decisions

In an era of rapid land use changes and shifting climates, it is imperative that land managers and policymakers have actionable and current information available for decision processes. In this work, we seek to meet these needs through new data products and decision support tools built on digital soil mapping, new vegetation cover maps, agency inventory and monitoring data sets, and cutting-edge...
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New Tools for Modern Land Management Decisions

In an era of rapid land use changes and shifting climates, it is imperative that land managers and policymakers have actionable and current information available for decision processes. In this work, we seek to meet these needs through new data products and decision support tools built on digital soil mapping, new vegetation cover maps, agency inventory and monitoring data sets, and cutting-edge...
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Developing General Coastal Vegetation Maps for Coastal Morphodynamic Models

The USGS is collaborating with researchers from other agencies, academia, and industry to predict coastal impacts from hurricanes. The results from this study will better inform coastal morphological change models, which will lead to improved hurricane impact projections.
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Developing General Coastal Vegetation Maps for Coastal Morphodynamic Models

The USGS is collaborating with researchers from other agencies, academia, and industry to predict coastal impacts from hurricanes. The results from this study will better inform coastal morphological change models, which will lead to improved hurricane impact projections.
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Remote Sensing of Mercury Pollution in South San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay has a long history of being subject to natural resources exploitation and pollution. Ongoing flux of contaminants into the bay, legacy pollution from the Gold Rush era and structural modifications still influence the natural ecosystem today. This project aims to map multiple forms (i.e. species) of mercury -- one of the major contaminants in the bay -- to help inform restoration...
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Remote Sensing of Mercury Pollution in South San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Bay has a long history of being subject to natural resources exploitation and pollution. Ongoing flux of contaminants into the bay, legacy pollution from the Gold Rush era and structural modifications still influence the natural ecosystem today. This project aims to map multiple forms (i.e. species) of mercury -- one of the major contaminants in the bay -- to help inform restoration...
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