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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Hydrologic modeling for flow-ecology science in the Southeastern United States and Puerto Rico Hydrologic modeling for flow-ecology science in the Southeastern United States and Puerto Rico
An understanding of the applicability and utility of hydrologic models is critical to support the effective management of water resources throughout the Southeastern United States (SEUS) and Puerto Rico (PR). Hydrologic models have the capacity to provide an estimate of the quantity of available water at ungauged locations (i.e., areas of the country where a U.S. Geological Survey [USGS]
Authors
Peter V. Caldwell, Jonathan G. Kennen, Ernie F. Hain, Stacy A.C. Nelson, Ge Sun, Steven G. McNulty
2017 Monitoring and tracking wet nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park 2017 Monitoring and tracking wet nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), the National Park Service (NPS), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Nitrogen Deposition Reduction Plan (NDRP) in 2007 to address the effects and trends of nitrogen deposition at Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). The agencies chose a glidepath approach to reduce wet nitrogen deposition to a...
Authors
Kristi Morris, M. Alisa Mast, Gregory A. Wetherbee, Jill S. Baron, Jim Cheatham, Jim Bromberg, Lisa Devore, James Hou, Kristi Gebhart, Mike Bell, David Gay, Michael Olson, Timothy Weinmann, Daniel Bowker
Optimization of salt marsh management at the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex through use of structured decision making Optimization of salt marsh management at the Rhode Island National Wildlife Refuge Complex through use of structured decision making
Structured decision making is a systematic, transparent process for improving the quality of complex decisions by identifying measurable management objectives and feasible management actions; predicting the potential consequences of management actions relative to the stated objectives; and selecting a course of action that maximizes the total benefit achieved and balances tradeoffs among
Authors
Hilary A. Neckles, James E. Lyons, Jessica L. Nagel, Susan C. Adamowicz, Toni Mikula, Nicholas T. Ernst
Columbia Environmental Research Center Columbia Environmental Research Center
The U.S. Geological Survey Columbia Environmental Research Center performs research to solve challenging environmental problems related to contaminants and habitat alterations in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The research is interdisciplinary and pursued through partnerships within the U.S. Geological Survey and with national, international, state, and local agencies...
Authors
2016 Chief Joseph hatchery annual report 2016 Chief Joseph hatchery annual report
The Colville Confederated Tribes (CCT) Chief Joseph Hatchery (CJH) is the fourth hatchery obligated under the Grand Coulee Dam/Dry Falls project, originating in the 1940s. Leavenworth, Entiat, and Winthrop National Fish Hatcheries were built and operated as mitigation for salmon blockage at Grand Coulee Dam, but the fourth hatchery was not built, and the obligation was nearly forgotten...
Authors
Andrea Pearl, Matthew Laramie, Casey Baldwin, John Rohrback, Brian Dietz, Pat Phillips, Taylor Scott
Summary of hydrologic testing, wellbore-flow data, and expanded water-level and water-quality data, 2011–15, Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California Summary of hydrologic testing, wellbore-flow data, and expanded water-level and water-quality data, 2011–15, Fort Irwin National Training Center, San Bernardino County, California
In view of the U.S. Army’s historical reliance and plans to increase demands on groundwater to supply its operations at Fort Irwin National Training Center (NTC), California, coupled with the continuing water-level declines in some developed groundwater basins as a result of pumping, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Army, evaluated the water resources...
Authors
Joseph M. Nawikas, Jill N. Densmore, David R. O'Leary, David C. Buesch, John A. Izbicki
Study design and methods for a wetland condition assessment on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fee-title lands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, USA Study design and methods for a wetland condition assessment on U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service fee-title lands in the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana, USA
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) manages wetlands and grasslands for wildlife habitat throughout the central North American Prairie Pothole Region (PPR). PPR wetlands, or potholes, are widely recognized as critical habitats for North American migratory waterfowl, waterbirds, and other wildlife. Potholes also provide other ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration, flood...
Authors
Brian Tangen, Sheel Bansal, Rachel R. Fern, Edward S. DeKeyser, Christina L. M. Hargiss, David M. Mushet, Cami S. Dixon
Status of three-dimensional geological mapping and modeling activities in the U.S. Geological Survey Status of three-dimensional geological mapping and modeling activities in the U.S. Geological Survey
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), created in 1879, is the national geological survey for the United States and the sole science agency within its cabinet-level bureau, the Department of the Interior. The USGS has a broad mission, including: serving the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from...
Authors
Donald S. Sweetkind, Russell Graymer, D.K. Higley, Oliver S. Boyd
Targeting wildlife crime interventions through geographic profiling Targeting wildlife crime interventions through geographic profiling
Seeing an animal hanging lifelessly from a snare is a heart-wrenching experience. Knowing that most animals caught in snares are left to rot without being used for meat or any other purpose might be worse. Over an eight-year period, 2001–2009, we recorded 10,231 incidents of illegal hunting in a wildlife conservation area in southeastern Zimbabwe, the Savé Valley Conservancy (SVC). Sixty...
Authors
Stephanie Romanach, Sally C. Faulkner, Michael C.A. Stevens, Peter A. Lindsey, Steven C. Le Comber
Quantifying the eroded and deposited mass of mercury-contaminated sediment by using terrestrial laser scanning at the confluence of Humbug Creek and the South Yuba River, Nevada County, California, 2011–13 Quantifying the eroded and deposited mass of mercury-contaminated sediment by using terrestrial laser scanning at the confluence of Humbug Creek and the South Yuba River, Nevada County, California, 2011–13
High-resolution, terrestrial laser scanning, also known as ground-based lidar (light detection and ranging), was used to quantify the volume of mercury-contaminated sediment eroded from an outcrop of historical placer-mining debris at the confluence of Humbug Creek and the South Yuba River in the Sierra Nevada foothills, about 17 kilometers northeast of Grass Valley, California, and...
Authors
James F. Howle, Charles N. Alpers, Jeffrey Kitchen, Gerald W. Bawden, Sandra Bond
Comparison of groundwater-model construction methods, representations of glacial geology, model designs, and groundwater-model flow simulations within Elkhart County, Indiana Comparison of groundwater-model construction methods, representations of glacial geology, model designs, and groundwater-model flow simulations within Elkhart County, Indiana
Automated data-processing methods allow hydrologists to efficiently incorporate digital well-record datasets into the construction of hydrostratigraphic frameworks for groundwater-flow models. The method selected to construct the hydrostratigraphic framework can affect the extent of geologic heterogeneity that can be included in the model. The detail generated from a hydrostratigraphic...
Authors
Leslie D. Arihood, David C. Lampe, E. Randall Bayless, Steven E. Brown
Sediment classification and the characterization, identification, and mapping of geologic substrates for the glaciated Gulf of Maine seabed and other terrains, providing a physical framework for ecological research and seabed management Sediment classification and the characterization, identification, and mapping of geologic substrates for the glaciated Gulf of Maine seabed and other terrains, providing a physical framework for ecological research and seabed management
A geologic substrate is a surface (or volume) of sediment or rock where physical, chemical, and biological processes occur, such as the movement and deposition of sediment, the formation of bedforms, and the attachment, burrowing, feeding, reproduction, and sheltering of organisms. Seabed mapping surveys in the Stellwagen Bank region off Boston, Massachusetts, from 1993 to 2004 have led...
Authors
Page C. Valentine