Reports
Science Quality and Integrity
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
The USGS provides unbiased, objective, and impartial scientific information upon which our audiences, including resource managers, planners, and other entities, rely.
Browse more than 82,000 reports authored by our scientists over the past 100+ year history of the USGS and refine search by topic, location, year, and advanced search.
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Science framework for the conservation and restoration strategy of DOI secretarial order 3336: Utilizing resilience and resistance concepts to assess threats to sagebrush ecosystems and greater sage-grouse, prioritize conservation and restoration actions, Science framework for the conservation and restoration strategy of DOI secretarial order 3336: Utilizing resilience and resistance concepts to assess threats to sagebrush ecosystems and greater sage-grouse, prioritize conservation and restoration actions,
The Science Framework for the Conservation and Restoration Strategy of the Department of the Interior, Secretarial Order 3336 (SO 3336), Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management and Restoration, provides a strategic, multiscale approach for prioritizing areas for management and determining effective management strategies across the sagebrush biome. The emphasis of this version is on...
Authors
Jeanne C. Chambers, Steve Campbell, John Carlson, Jeffrey L. Beck, Karen J. Clause, Jonathan B. Dinkins, Kevin E. Doherty, Shawn Espinosa, Kathleen A. Griffin, Thomas J. Christiansen, Michele R. Crist, Steve E. Hanser, Douglas W. Havlina, Kenneth F. Henke, Jacob D. Hennig, Laurie L. Kurth, Jeremy D. Maestas, Kenneth E. Mayer, Mary E. Manning, Brian A. Mealor, Clinton McCarthy, Mike Pellant, Karen L. Prentice, Marco A. Perea, Lief A. Wiechman, David A. Pyke, Amarina Wuenschel
Status and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2015 Status and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2015
In 2015, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 76 nearshore and 33 offshore stations. Spring and summer water temperatures in 2015 were colder than average, but warmer than that observed in 2014. In the nearshore zone, a total of 11,882 individuals from 22 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 1.8 kg/ha, which was...
Authors
Mark R. Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Owen T. Gorman, Daniel L. Yule
Status and trends of the Lake Huron offshore demersal fish community, 1976-2015 Status and trends of the Lake Huron offshore demersal fish community, 1976-2015
The USGS Great Lakes Science Center has conducted trawl surveys to assess annual changes in the offshore demersal fish community of Lake Huron since 1973. Sample sites include five ports in U.S. waters with less frequent sampling near Goderich, Ontario. The 2015 fall bottom trawl survey was carried out between 14 and 28 October and included all U.S. ports, as well as Goderich, ON. The...
Authors
Edward F. Roseman, Margret Ann Chriscinske, Dana Kristina Castle, Carson G. Prichard
Status of alewife and rainbow smelt in U.S. waters of Lake Ontario, 2015 Status of alewife and rainbow smelt in U.S. waters of Lake Ontario, 2015
In 2015 the joint USGS and NYSDEC surveys for Alewife and Rainbow Smelt were combined for the first time into a comprehensive spring pelagic prey fish survey. The adult Alewife abundance and weight indices in 2015 increased slightly from 2014 levels, and adult Alewife abundance has remained relatively stable for the past five years. Adult Alewife condition in both spring and fall...
Authors
Maureen Walsh, Brian Weidel, Michael J. Connerton, Jeremy P. Holden
Status of pelagic prey fishes in Lake Michigan, 2015 Status of pelagic prey fishes in Lake Michigan, 2015
Acoustic surveys were conducted in late summer/early fall during the years 1992-1996 and 2001-2015 to estimate pelagic prey fish biomass in Lake Michigan. Midwater trawling during the surveys as well as target strength provided a measure of species and size composition of the fish community for use in scaling acoustic data and providing species-specific abundance estimates. The 2015...
Authors
David M. Warner, Randall M. Claramunt, Steve A. Farha, Dale Hanson, Timothy J. Desorcie, Timothy P. O’Brien
Streamflow and estimated loads of phosphorus and dissolved and suspended solids from selected tributaries to Lake Ontario, New York, water years 2012–14 Streamflow and estimated loads of phosphorus and dissolved and suspended solids from selected tributaries to Lake Ontario, New York, water years 2012–14
This report presents results of the evaluation and interpretation of hydrologic and water-quality data collected as part of a cooperative program between the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Streamflow, phosphorus, and solids dissolved and suspended in stream water were the focus of monitoring by the U.S. Geological Survey at 10 sites on 9 selected...
Authors
Brett A. Hayhurst, Benjamin N. Fisher, James E. Reddy
Synthesis of juvenile lamprey migration and passage research and monitoring at Columbia and Snake River Dams Synthesis of juvenile lamprey migration and passage research and monitoring at Columbia and Snake River Dams
We compiled and summarized previous sources of data and research results related to the presence, numbers, and migration timing characteristics of juvenile (eyed macropthalmia) and larval (ammocoetes) Pacific lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus, in the Columbia River basin (CRB). Included were data from various screw trap collections, data from historic fyke net studies, catch records of...
Authors
Matthew G. Mesa, Lisa K. Weiland, Helena E. Christiansen
Tabulated Transmissivity and Storage Properties of the Floridan Aquifer System in Florida and Parts of Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama Tabulated Transmissivity and Storage Properties of the Floridan Aquifer System in Florida and Parts of Georgia, South Carolina, and Alabama
A goal of the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Resources Program is to assess the availability of fresh water within each of the principal aquifers in the United States with the greatest groundwater withdrawals. The Floridan aquifer system (FAS), which covers an area of approximately 100,000 square miles in Florida and parts of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and South Carolina, is one...
Authors
Eve L. Kuniansky, Jason C. Bellino
Targets set to reduce Lake Erie algae Targets set to reduce Lake Erie algae
In February 2016, the Great Lakes Executive Committee, which oversees the implementation of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) between the U.S. and Canada, approved phosphorus loading targets for Lake Erie to reduce the size of harmful algal blooms (HABs), reduce the presence of the low oxygen zone in the central basin, and protect nearshore water quality. The targets are...
Authors
Mary Anne Evans
Testing and use of radar water level sensors by the U.S. Geological Survey Testing and use of radar water level sensors by the U.S. Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey uses water-level (or stage) measurements to compute streamflow at over 8000 stream gaging stations located throughout the United States (waterwatch.usgs.gov, 2016). Streamflow (or discharge) is computed at five minute to hourly intervals from a relationship between water level and discharge that is uniquely determined for each station. The discharges...
Authors
Janice M. Fulford
The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Hawaii The 3D Elevation Program: summary for Hawaii
Elevation data are essential to a broad range of applications, including forest resources management, wildlife and habitat management, national security, recreation, and many others. For the State of Hawaii, elevation data are critical for infrastructure and construction management, flood risk management, geologic resource assessment and hazard mitigation, natural resources conservation...
Authors
William J. Carswell
The history of Patuxent: America’s wildlife research story The history of Patuxent: America’s wildlife research story
This report, based on a symposium held on October 13, 2011, at the National Wildlife Visitor Center at the Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel, MD, documents the history of the Patuxent Research Refuge and the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, collectively known as Patuxent. The symposium was one of the many activities occurring at that time to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the...