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Jill D. Frankforter

Jill Frankforter is the Director for the USGS Nevada Water Science Center. 

Jill works with Senior Staff to focus Center program goals in order to expand and enhance the Center’s scientific research and data collection capabilities. Prior to this role, Jill was Deputy Director of the USGS’s Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center and worked as the Center’s Chief of the Water Quality Unit and was lead ecologist on the Nebraska WSC’s Central Nebraska Basin’s National Water-Quality Program study area. Jill has a background in water quality and stream ecology, focusing on nutrient effects on aquatic ecosystems.

Education and Certifications

  • M.S. University of Nebraska-Lincoln-Natural Resources (Aquatic Ecology), 2005

  • B.S. University of Nebraska-Lincoln-Biology, 1992

Science and Products

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Extremely low water levels at Lahontan Reservoir in Nevada during drought

Drought in Nevada

Ongoing drought, in Nevada and across the West, will require scientists to develop new ideas and techniques for measuring, monitoring, modeling, and managing water resources. NVWSC has the capabilities to meet these challenges with our extensive scientific expertise in data collection, modeling, and research. We also are creating new ways to provide data to the public and stakeholders through...
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Nevada Water Science Center
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Drought in Nevada

Ongoing drought, in Nevada and across the West, will require scientists to develop new ideas and techniques for measuring, monitoring, modeling, and managing water resources. NVWSC has the capabilities to meet these challenges with our extensive scientific expertise in data collection, modeling, and research. We also are creating new ways to provide data to the public and stakeholders through...
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Potential effects of energy development on environmental resources of the Williston Basin in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota—Water resources

The Williston Basin has been a leading oil and gas producing area for more than 50 years. While oil production initially peaked within the Williston Basin in the mid-1980s, production rapidly increased in the mid-2000s, largely because of improved horizontal (directional) drilling and hydraulic fracturing methods. In 2012, energy development associated with the Bakken Formation was identified as a
Authors
Timothy T. Bartos, Steven K. Sando, Todd M. Preston, Gregory C. Delzer, Robert F. Lundgren, Rochelle A. Nustad, Rodney R. Caldwell, Zell E. Peterman, Bruce D. Smith, Kathleen M. Macek-Rowland, David A. Bender, Jill D. Frankforter, Joel M. Galloway
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Water Resources Mission Area, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Potential effects of energy development on environmental resources of the Williston Basin in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota—Executive summary

Executive SummaryThe Williston Basin, which includes parts of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in the United States and parts of Manitoba and Saskatchewan in Canada, has been explored as a potential source of energy resources since the early 20th century; however, commercially viable petroleum drilling and recovery began in earnest in the 1950s. When oil prices rose in the mid-1980s, the nu
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Max Post van der Burg, Kevin C. Vining, Jill D. Frankforter
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Potential effects of energy development on environmental resources of the Williston Basin in Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota

About this volumeThe Williston Basin, which includes parts of Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota in the United States, has been a leading domestic oil and gas producing area. To better understand the potential effects of energy development on environmental resources in the Williston Basin, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, and in support of the nee
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Species Management Research Program, Dakota Water Science Center, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Response of algal metrics to nutrients and physical factors and identification of nutrient thresholds in agricultural streams

Many streams within the United States are impaired due to nutrient enrichment, particularly in agricultural settings. The present study examines the response of benthic algal communities in agricultural and minimally disturbed sites from across the western United States to a suite of environmental factors, including nutrients, collected at multiple scales. The first objective was to identify the r
Authors
Robert W. Black, Patrick W. Moran, Jill D. Frankforter
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Water Resources Mission Area, Washington Water Science Center

Environmental and biological data for assessment of the nutrient enrichment effects on agricultural stream ecosystems, 2006-08: A project of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program

No abstract available.
Authors
Robin A. Brightbill, Jill D. Frankforter
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Water Resources Mission Area, Pennsylvania Water Science Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Water Quality of Combined Sewer Overflows, Stormwater, and Streams, Omaha, Nebraska, 2006-07

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Omaha, investigated the water quality of combined sewer overflows, stormwater, and streams in the Omaha, Nebraska, area by collecting and analyzing 1,175 water samples from August 2006 through October 2007. The study area included the drainage area of Papillion Creek at Capeheart Road near Bellevue, Nebraska, which encompasses the tributa
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Jason R. Vogel, Jill D. Frankforter, David L. Rus, Christopher M. Hobza, Matthew T. Moser
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Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center

Characterization of Ground-Water Quality, Upper Republican Natural Resources District, Nebraska, 1998-2001

Nearly all rural inhabitants and livestock in the Upper Republican Natural Resources District (URNRD) in southwestern Nebraska use ground water that can be affected by elevated nitrate concentrations. The development of ground-water irrigation in this area has increased the vulnerability of ground water to the introduction of fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals. In 1998, the U.S. Geologic
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Jill D. Frankforter, Daniele T. Chafin

Water-quality assessment of the central Nebraska basins — Entering a new decade

No abstract available.
Authors
Ronald B. Zelt, Jill D. Frankforter
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Water Resources Mission Area, Nebraska Water Science Center, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Ground-water quality in the Upper Republican Natural Resources District, southwestern Nebraska, 1998-99

No abstract available.
Authors
Jill D. Frankforter, A.D. Druliner, Sonya A. Jones
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Nebraska Water Science Center

Potential effects of large floods on the transport of atrazine into the alluvial aquifer adjacent to the lower Platte River, Nebraska

No abstract available. 
Authors
Jill D. Frankforter, Patrick J. Emmons
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Water Resources Mission Area, Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center

Compilation of atrazine and selected herbicide data from previous surface-water-quality investigations within the Big Blue River basin, Nebraska, 1983-92

Atrazine has been detected in the surface water of the Big Blue River Basin during every month of the year. Recent data (1983-92) documenting the occurrence of atrazine and related herbicides in the surface water of the basin are compiled in this report. In samples analyzed during these studies, atrazine was the herbicide detected most frequently within the basin. Of the 385 samples analyzed, 369
Authors
J.D. Frankforter
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USGS Participation in Annual Lake Tahoe Summit

The USGS Nevada and California Water Science Centers participate in annual Lake Tahoe Summit

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Historical Mining Impacts Decreasing in Some Stream Reaches in Upper Clark Fork Basin

Streams in the Upper Clark Fork Basin have shown a decrease or no change in the occurrence of metals and arsenic associated with historical mining...
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