Science and Decisions Center
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The Science and Decisions Center (SDC) is an interdisciplinary USGS center that advances the use and value of science in societal decisions relating to natural resources and hazards. The Center focuses on research and applications in four science areas that cross cut the USGS: natural resource economics, decision science, ecosystem services and natural capital, open innovation and crowd sourcing.
News
The Right Tool for the Right Job
Land managers, regulators and other participants in market-based conservation wanting to assess the ecological benefits provided by restored, enhanced and preserved land now have a one-stop shop for the quantification tools used to measure these benefits, courtesy of the USGS and the USDA.
Better Together: How Ecosystem Services and Adaptive Decision-Making Can Improve Land Management
An ecosystem services approach combined with adaptive decision-making can aid land and resource managers in administering their regions for the benefit of communities and stakeholders, according to a recent report by the U.S. Geological Survey and Resources for the Future
USGS Releases Selenium Modeling Framework for Montana and British Columbia’s Lake Koocanusa
Resource managers, regulators, and stakeholders of Montana and British Columbia’s Lake Koocanusa now have a new approach for understanding the implications of different levels of selenium, and to explore alternative selenium criteria for waters in the Lake.
Publications
Trends in biodiversity and habitat quantification tools used for market‐based conservation in the United States
Market-based conservation mechanisms are designed to facilitate conservation and mitigation actions for habitat and biodiversity. Their potential is partly hindered, however, by issues surrounding the quantification tools used to assess habitat quality and functionality. Specifically, a lack of transparency and standardization in tool...
Chiavacci, Scott J.; Pindilli, Emily J.
Demonstrating the value of Earth observations—methods, practical applications, and solutions—group on Earth observations side event proceedings
Executive SummaryThe U.S. Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the European Association for Remote Sensing Companies, and the European Space Agency in coordination with the GEOValue Community hosted a side event to the Group on Earth Observations Plenary on October 23–24, 2017, in Washington, D.C. The workshop,...
Pearlman, Francoise; Lawrence, Collin B.; Pindilli, Emily J.; Geppi, Denna; Shapiro, Carl D.; Grasso, Monica; Pearlman, Jay; Adkins, Jeffery; Sawyer, Geoff; Tassa, Alessandra
The Mississippi Alluvial Plain aquifers—An engine for economic activity
U.S. Geological Survey science supports groundwater resource management in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain region. The USGS Science and Decisions Center is working with the Water Availability and Use Science Program to integrate economics into a sophisticated model of groundwater in the region. The model will quantify the status of the groundwater...
Alhassan, Mustapha; Lawrence, Collin B.; Richardson, Steven; Pindilli, Emily J.