This issue of Earth Science Matters highlights recently published Climate R&D Program research that contributes to an improved understanding of how changing land use, climate, and environment affect communities, ecosystems, and the services they provide.

This issue of Earth Science Matters highlights recent collaborations with stakeholders and newly published research products that contribute to an improved understanding of how changing land use, climate, and environment affect communities, ecosystems, and the services they provide.

This issue of Earth Science Matters highlights recently published research that contribute to an improved understanding of how changing land use, climate, and environment affect communities, ecosystems, and the services they provide.

This issue of Earth Science Matters focuses on several different projects that aim to better understand how changes in land use, climate, and environment affect components of the Earth system.

This issue focuses on the forest ecosystems in the western United States. These forests stretch from the boreal forests of Alaska through the giant sequoia forests of the Sierra Nevadas to the mixed conifer forests of the southern Rocky Mountains. All these habitats are affected by a combination of climate variability and changes in land management.

This issue of Earth Science Matters highlights USGS research on Rocky Mountain ecosystems and their sensitivity to changing climate and land use, historic patterns of land use in the conterminous United States, and changes in seasonal wind patterns related to glaciation.

This issue of the newsletter highlights USGS research on patterns and impacts of drought on ecosystems of the western United States, the effects oil and gas development on landscapes, and the processes that influence coastal wetlands.

This issue of Earth Science Matters focuses on USGS research from the Climate Research and Development Program designed to improve understanding of patterns of precipitation and drought in the western U.S., impacts of climate variability on the land surface and carbon sequestration, and the use of climate models to understand climate patterns of the past and present.

Welcome to Earth Science Matters, a newsletter that highlights current activities in the USGS Climate Research & Development Program (Climate R&D). In this issue, we include a feature article about a long-term research effort that focuses on the study of several important North American glaciers, in addition to summaries of six recently published papers on various aspects of climate science.