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A striking contrast between the clear water in the Middle Fork Willamette River and brown water in Fall Creek. The flows from Fall Creek dam during this time had heavy loads of suspended sediment from the reservoir drawdown.

Night-blooming jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum), a highly invasive plant in Hawai‘i.

Climate change data from the USGS National Climate Change Viewer tool is shown by US state and county for the contiguous US.

CASC Fellows visit exhibitors during the break to learn more about opportunities and projects supporting environmental and climate justice.

USGS's Kirk Rodgers offers information on the science and data being conducted in the Southeast Region.

CASC Fellow uses the USGS Career Cards to better understand what career opportunities may exists within the USGS.

Messages from beyond the grave? Don't grab the Ouija board just yet!

These messages are coming to us through the efforts of paleoecologists, who use fossils to learn how the Earth's climate has changed over time. This information can help us understand modern-day trends in climate and how to adapt to them.

Old growth forests have two very important functions:

1. They absorb and store more carbon than they release, reducing carbon in the atmosphere.
2. They provide important Bigfoot habitat.

Find more Climate Illustrations here. 

Everybody needs a beach day, right? And if you're a mythical snake-like sea monster, having a living shoreline to relax on is crucial! Living shorelines protect coastlines from storms and flooding and provide important habitat for creatures known and unknown.

Fires are actually an important part of many ecosystems' regeneration cycles, including the Pine Barrens. Properly managed prescribed fires can help these cycles by burning underbrush and letting new native plants sprout. Prescribed fires can also reduce wildfire risk by removing the build-up of tinder and fuel on the forest floor.

While these vast open spaces might seem uniform, they're actually home to diverse plant and animal species, and they provide a whole host of ecosystem services! Migratory birds and grazing animals increase biodiversity and are loved by all. Wildflowers support pollinators that are vital to sustainable agriculture.

Terrible omen, or friendly pollinator?

Either way, planting native flowers and plants will help you stay on Mothman's good side! (It can't hurt, right?) By providing food and habitat, native plants can attract all manner of winged pollinators to your yard, including bees, butterflies, and moths.
 

After a hard day's work creepin' the swamps and backroads of the Everglades, you just want to sit back and relax into a nice, tepid bath of frog larvae and pond scum. But only a properly working wetland that's filtering water, storing carbon, reducing flooding, and providing important habitat can give your gnarled, human-like hair this kind of silky sheen.

A phenomenon in Arctic boreal forests, zombie fires ignite in warm months, lay dormant in the soil over winter, then resurrect when the weather warms!

Expanded alt text: A panel of illustrations shows a plane putting out a wildfire, the burnt forest during the winter, and a zombie hand on fire reaching out of the ground. Text is described above.

The USGS provides science to other Department of the Interior agencies to inform natural resource management.