Images

The USGS researches land use and honey bee health in the northern Great Plains. This research will be useful in equipping land managers and policy makers with the best-available science to improve forage and habitat for pollinators in a part of the country that is undergoing rapid land-use change.

Honey bees live and work in highly collaborative, social colonies with a sole reproducing queen, and they make honey by storing nectar from flowering plants in their hives for use during food scarcities.

Giant sequoias have fared better than other tree species in California's recent hotter drought, but many have shown unprecedented foliage dieback in response to the drought.

Closeup shot of the same area above. The cross-cutting feature is a road cut going through the fault.

Scientists Jonathan Godt and Rex Baum examine a fresh debris-flow deposit near Buena Vista, CO.

USGS scientist Game McGimsey gathers equipment for an aerial observation and gas monitoring flight.

Yellow-headed blackbird fledgling. This species is also recorded in the Bird Phenology Program cards.

North American Bird Phenology Program Coordinator Jessica Zelt working with old migration bird cards.

Workers repairing a road.

While the susceptibility of endangered akepa honeycreepers to avian malaria is unknown, it is likely very high given their current restriction to the highest elevation forests on the island of Hawaii.

Rocks from the Stillwater Mine are brought to the USGS in Denver, Colorado, where they are sledged and ground before entering the plasma melter at Zybek Advanced Products.
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View of the Stullwater Mine, where rocks are collected for making lunar regolith simulant.
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The USGS has created man-made moon dirt, or regolith, to help NASA prepare for upcoming moon explorations. Four tons of the simulant is expected to be made by this summer of 2009 and turned over to the scientific community involved in lunar exploration.

A USGS student employee and sophomore at the Colorado School of Mines, was among the first hired by USGS using Recovery Act funding to upgrade the seismic stations of the Advanced National Seismic System (ANSS) Backbone.

The Vegetation Drought Response Index (VegDRI) incorporates satellite observations of vegetation to monitor at a finer spatial detail than other commonly used drought indicators.

The agglutinate created by the plasma melting process is later ground and blended with other materials to create lunar regolith simulant.
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The agglutinate created by the plasma melting process is later ground and blended with other materials to create lunar regolith simulant.
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A view of the landscape at the Sweetwater Marsh Unit of San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge; Recovery Act funding will enable the refuge to build a new Visitor Center to better serve the public. Related to the R8AA — Construct Headquarters Visitor Building — San Diego Bay NWR project.

This is a pack saddle used by Arnold Hague in the late 1800s. The wooden saddle has leather straps and a cinch used for the animal's comfort when carrying especially large loads. Pack saddles could be used to carry panniers or other large objects.
Object ID: USGS-000014

Objects like this canteen and canvas case tell about the daily activities of scientists in the field. Life centered around the campsite and is extremely different than the experiences of today's scientists.
Object ID: USGS-000065

This is a Coleman lantern used by field scientists at campsites. This particular lantern has a black leather case with a spring inside the lid to stabilize the lantern during travel.
Object ID: USGS-000038

This alidade consists of straightedges with a rigidly-mounted telescope that can be rotated through the vertical angle ±30. The telescope is set on a high standard or post (4 inches in height) to raise it above the table. The telescope for the high standard is 16 power, inverting type with internal focusing.