Images

Taken 7/11/2017 in Suisun City, CA. A USGS employee teaches children at the California Waterfowl Association's "Youth Hunter Camp" to measure the vegetation surrounding waterfowl nests.

WERC researcher conducting elevation surveys in San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Tips of Brazilian waterweed (Egeria densa) break the surface at low tide in Lindsey Slough in the northern Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. More commonly, this invasive plant is completely submerged.

Photo of two students painting a lifelike Caspian tern decoy. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Geological Survey visited an elementary school to teach students about their scientific studies on waterbirds in the South San Francisco Bay.

Photo of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intern showing elementary students how to paint a Caspian tern decoy. Scientists from the USFWS and USGS Western Ecological Research Center are using these decoys to draw Caspian terns to restored habitat in the South San Francisco Bay.

Photo of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service environmental education specialist Genie Moore with a student. The USGS Western Ecological Research Center and USFWS collaborated to host an outreach event at a California elementary school.

Photo of a USGS scientist holding a hen mallard equipped with a GPS transmitter. 

USGS researchers collect water samples from the Research Vessel Dorah Henry to measure suspended sediment concentration in Central San Francisco Bay. Samples were collected using a D-96 sampler that collects samples over the entire depth of the water column allowing for a  depth-integrated sample.

A photo of USGS biological science technician Desmond Mackell holding a male mallard. USGS scientists based out of Dixon, CA are banding and marking mallards and other waterfowl with GPS transmitters as part of an ongoing study in the Suisun Marsh. 

A photo of USGS biological science technician releasing a male pintail in Suisun Marsh, CA. USGS Western Ecological Research Center scientists based out of Dixon, CA are marking and tagging waterfowl with GPS transmitters as part of an ongoing study.

Photo of a hen pintail equipped with a camouflage GPS transmitter. USGS Western Ecological Research Center scientists based out of Dixon, CA are marking and tagging waterfowl in Suisun Marsh with GPS transmitters as part of an ongoing study.

Photo of a USGS employee holding a mallard chick. USGS Western Ecological Research Center scientists based out of Dixon, CA are marking and tagging adult waterfowl with GPS transmitters as part of an ongoing study.

San Francisco Bay — which has already lost the majority of its marsh habitat since the 19th Century — could lose even more marshes by the year 2100 due to sea level rise, according to a new USGS report.

In San Francisco Bay, a 15,000-acre tidal wetland restoration project is relying on USGS ecological and hydrological science to inform its planning phases and actions -- actions that will provide America's Silicon Valley with natural flood control, recreational access and wildlife habitat in the coming decades.

Scientists sampling Forster's Tern chicks for avain influenza during salt pond restoration work in south San Francisco Bay salt ponds.

Scientists prepare to release Forster's Tern chicks following sampling for avian influenza study.

Scientists sampling Forster's Tern chicks for avain influenza during salt pond restoration work in south San Francisco Bay salt ponds.

Scientist prepares to release Forster's Tern chicks.

Scientists heading out to collect Forster's Tern chicks.

USGS scientists Patrick Barnard (left) and Jeff Hansen navigate personal watercraft equipped with GPS and echo sounders through the waters of San Francisco Bay. They are collecting bathymetric, or depth, information in order to create maps of the bottom of the Bay.

Picturesque view of Mt.Diablo early in the morning from Suisun Marsh.