RESTON, Va. – The Biden-Harris administration today submitted to Congress the President’s budget request for fiscal year 2025, including $1.6 billion for the U.S. Geological Survey to deliver publicly accessible science that informs the responsible stewardship of our nation’s lands, waters and biological resources, and contributes to the safety and security of the American people and the economy.

The proposal reiterates the President’s vision to build on his administration’s recent investments in next-generation tools to understand our changing world.  

“The President’s FY 2025 budget request emphasizes the value that USGS science brings to strengthening our nation’s economic growth and security,” said David Applegate, USGS Director.   

Investments requested in the budget proposal focus on several key aspects of the USGS science portfolio, including: 

Landsat Next Satellite Mission 

The President’s FY 2025 budget request funds the development of Landsat Next, which has the capability to unlock new applications for sustainable water use and crop production and provide critical information to assess habitat change, climate and snow dynamics, soil health and other variables.   

The Landsat satellite program, a joint USGS-NASA venture, is the world’s longest running space-based Earth observation program. It provides a continuous 52-year record of changes to the Earth’s surface. The program provides publicly available, foundational data and science essential to farmers and ranchers, land managers and others whose decisions depend on accurate information for effective management of wildfire, drought and floods, coastal change, and myriad of other challenges.  

The Landsat Next satellite mission would ensure continuity of the program while also revolutionizing the breadth and depth of actionable information freely available to end users. 

The proposed $12 million increase for Landsat Next would support the satellite’s ground system development in partnership with NASA. 

Strengthening Integrated Laboratory Support 

To ensure the USGS remains the gold standard for science to inform unbiased and evidence-based decision making, the budget includes a $1.7 million investment to strengthen scientific quality and integrity through an integrated laboratory support, training and oversight program.  

The program would strengthen safety, risk management, quality, integrity, and animal welfare best practices in USGS laboratories.   

Drought Response  

The FY 2025 budget request makes targeted investments in drought science, bringing USGS scientific capabilities to bear on mitigating and adapting to this significant climate-driven challenge. Stakeholders, including the agriculture industry and federal, state, Tribal and local governments, have an immediate need for drought information, data and tools that the USGS is ideally positioned to provide. 

Investments made in drought response will provide science and monitoring to inform longer-term management, planning and decision-making efforts for potential transformational shifts in ecosystems.  

Within the budget request, the USGS proposes to expand the Federal Priority Streamgage Network, advance national and regional Integrated Water Availability Assessments, and bolster the 3D Hydrography Program, all of which would provide decision makers with improved water data and assessments as they manage and plan for drought, fire and floods as well as agricultural conservation planning, drinking water protection, and ecosystem management.  

Continued investments in these activities will further our understanding of factors contributing to drought and will help build a robust predictive capability for drought resilience planning at local, regional and national levels.   

Delivering Conservation, Restoration and Stewardship Information to Decision Makers  

The President’s FY 2025 budget request proposes to increase the information to support decisions affecting our national security and effective use of natural resources: specifically, through the USGS’s Energy and Minerals Resources and Ecosystems mission areas.  

Through the Energy and Mineral Resources Mission Area, the USGS would expand critical mineral supply chain forecasting and improve scenario and risk analysis methodologies for supply chain disruptions ranging from trade wars to natural disasters to electric vehicle market penetration. This work would inform billions of dollars of investment decisions by both the federal and private sectors.  

The Ecosystems Mission Area would make additional investments to meet the science needs of the Department of the Interior’s Conservation Strategy. Such investments would support numerous federal agencies, Tribes and western states by developing a better understanding of wildlife migration corridors, especially for big game populations. The FY 2025 budget request would allow the USGS to build a science-delivery architecture for a full inventory of existing migrations and deliver publicly available, interactive migration maps that would aid decision makers in the conservation, restoration and stewardship of America’s lands and waters.  

Continue to Leverage Scientific Investments and Impacts through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act  

The President’s FY 2025 budget request leverages the once-in-a-generation investments in our Nation made through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (P.L. 117-58), which the President signed on November 15, 2021.  

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law provided $511 million for the USGS to better understand and characterize mineral resources across the country through integrated mapping, the collection and preservation of geological and geophysical data, and a replacement laboratory facility for energy and minerals research. The 2025 budget request builds upon these investments by continuing to invest in critical mineral mapping and research that will support the growth of the U.S. economy and security of the nation.   

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provided $23 million to produce, collect, disseminate and use 3-dimensional (3D) elevation data. The 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) is the first-ever national baseline of consistent high-resolution topographic maps that can meet the needs of numerous business, governmental and social sectors.  

The IRA funding advanced the goal of completing national 3DEP baseline coverage, helping to ensure efficient and timely data processing and delivery, and supporting research and acquisition to establish the 3D National Topography Model. About 70 percent of the IRA funding was used for data acquisition for the baseline and next generation of 3DEP and leverage funding from Federal, State, local and other partners. 

Through the efforts described above and its ongoing programs funded by the President’s FY 2025 budget request, the USGS will continue to advance delivery of science that informs evidence-based decision making and benefits every American.  

Additional details regarding the Department of the Interior's FY 2025 Budget are available via the Department’s press release here and DOI Budget in Brief for FY2025 here.  

For more information on the President’s FY 2025 budget request for the USGS, please see the USGS’s FY 2025 Budget Justification here.