Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Nicole M Herman-Mercer

I am a Research Social Scientist in the Decision Support Branch of the Integrated Information Dissemination Division of the Water Mission Area.

I began at the USGS in 2008 as a Student Intern in Support of Native American Relations (SISNAR), a program funded by the USGS Office of Tribal Relations.  As a SISNAR I completed a case study of Indigenous Observations of Climate Change in a rural Alaska Native Village in the Yukon River Basin while completing my master's degree in social science at the University of Colorado, Denver.  My work explores the interactions between different knowledge systems regarding human dimensions of landscape change and water resources in rural Alaska Native villages. Currently my focus is on the co-production of knowledge utilizing community-based and participatory methods in the Arctic and sub-Arctic to form a better understanding of environmental change and impacts on the populations of this region.  This includes implementing an extensive community-based environmental monitoring program in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region of western Alaska where scientific instruments and local observations are used to produce an increased understanding of change in this region. Methods used in this work include semi-structured interviews with community experts, participatory mapping, and focus groups as well as community and K-12 classroom outreach, workshops, and community meetings.

Education:

University of Colorado, Denver             Anthropology                B.A. 2005

University of Colorado, Denver            Social Science              M.S.S. 2010

 

Science and Products

link
Yukon River near Eagle, Alaska

Q&A: Arctic Rivers Project

Alaska is home to numerous cultural and linguistic Indigenous groups and the largest number of Federally Recognized Tribes in the United States. Indigenous Alaskans, often living in rural remote communities, are facing multiple impacts due to climate change. As infrastructure, landscapes, and subsistence resources continue to be impacted by warming temperatures, the safety, well-being, and...
By
Alaska Science Center
link

Q&A: Arctic Rivers Project

Alaska is home to numerous cultural and linguistic Indigenous groups and the largest number of Federally Recognized Tribes in the United States. Indigenous Alaskans, often living in rural remote communities, are facing multiple impacts due to climate change. As infrastructure, landscapes, and subsistence resources continue to be impacted by warming temperatures, the safety, well-being, and...
Learn More
link
Image Collage of Landsat, pollinator, and volcanologist

Building a Coastal Flood Hazard Assessment and Adaptation Strategy with At-Risk Communities of Alaska

Coastal flooding and erosion are increasingly threatening infrastructure and public safety in Alaska Native communities. While many scientists and projects are attentive to the problem, there are still a limited number of tools that assess vulnerability to coastal flood hazards. Few of the available tools use modeling approaches that can be customized to specific community information needs in a m
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
link

Building a Coastal Flood Hazard Assessment and Adaptation Strategy with At-Risk Communities of Alaska

Coastal flooding and erosion are increasingly threatening infrastructure and public safety in Alaska Native communities. While many scientists and projects are attentive to the problem, there are still a limited number of tools that assess vulnerability to coastal flood hazards. Few of the available tools use modeling approaches that can be customized to specific community information needs in a m
Learn More
link
Image: Blueberry

Alaska’s Berry Future: Planning for Changing Resources in an Altered Climate

Berries are a crucial nutritional and cultural resource to communities and ecosystems in boreal, subarctic and arctic areas; however, berry abundance and the timing of the berry lifecycle is becoming more variable and unpredictable due to climate change. Climate adaptation plans across the state of Alaska identify changes in berry timing and availability as primary concerns and point to the need f
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
link

Alaska’s Berry Future: Planning for Changing Resources in an Altered Climate

Berries are a crucial nutritional and cultural resource to communities and ecosystems in boreal, subarctic and arctic areas; however, berry abundance and the timing of the berry lifecycle is becoming more variable and unpredictable due to climate change. Climate adaptation plans across the state of Alaska identify changes in berry timing and availability as primary concerns and point to the need f
Learn More
link
USGS science for a changing world logo

So you want to build a decision support tool? Assessing successes, pitfalls, and lessons learned for tool design and development

The purpose of this study is to understand how the USGS is using decision support, learning from successes and pitfalls in order to help streamline the design and development process across all levels of USGS scientific tool creation and outreach. What should researchers consider before diving into tool design and development? Our goal is to provide a synthesis of lessons learned and best practice
By
Community for Data Integration (CDI)
link

So you want to build a decision support tool? Assessing successes, pitfalls, and lessons learned for tool design and development

The purpose of this study is to understand how the USGS is using decision support, learning from successes and pitfalls in order to help streamline the design and development process across all levels of USGS scientific tool creation and outreach. What should researchers consider before diving into tool design and development? Our goal is to provide a synthesis of lessons learned and best practice
Learn More
link
Alaskan tundra

Yukon River Basin Indigenous Observation Network

The hydrology of the Yukon River Basin has changed over the last several decades as evidenced by a variety of discharge, gravimetric, and geochemical analyses. The Indigenous Observation Network (ION), a community-based project, was initiated by the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council and USGS. Capitalizing on existing USGS monitoring and research infrastructure and supplementing USGS col
By
Climate Adaptation Science Centers
link

Yukon River Basin Indigenous Observation Network

The hydrology of the Yukon River Basin has changed over the last several decades as evidenced by a variety of discharge, gravimetric, and geochemical analyses. The Indigenous Observation Network (ION), a community-based project, was initiated by the Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council and USGS. Capitalizing on existing USGS monitoring and research infrastructure and supplementing USGS col
Learn More

Human Factors of Water Availability in the Delaware River Basin

Human factors that influence water availability in the Basin were discovered by reviewing hundreds of published literature items and articles from the literature following an extensive keyword search. The different factors were drawn from reviewing the literature, and datasets to support the factor were researched across open data catalogs and the world wide web. Data related to the Human Factors
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Human Factors of Water Availability in the Upper Colorado River Basin

Human factors that influence water availability in the Basin were discovered by reviewing hundreds of published literature items and articles from the literature following an extensive keyword search. The different factors were drawn from reviewing the literature, and datasets to support the factor were researched across open data catalogs and the world wide web. Data related to the Human Factors
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Active Layer Data from the Yukon River Basin in Alaska and Canada

The active layer data available here has been collected as part of a collaborative monitoring project between the US Geological Survey, Yukon River Inter-Tribal Watershed Council, and Yukon River Basin communities known as the Active Layer Network (ALN). The active layer is the layer of soil above the permanently frozen ground (permafrost) that thaws during the summer months and freezes again in t
By
Water Resources Mission Area
Indigenous Knowledge holders share knowledge during a participatory mapping workshop in Kotlik, AK
link

Teams, networks, and networks of networks advancing our understanding and conservation of inland waters

Networks are defined as groups of interconnected people and things, and by this definition, networks play a major role in the science of inland waters. In this article, we bring the latest social network research to understand and improve inland waters science and conservation outcomes. What we found is that relationships matter. Different teams and networks have different objectives and lifespan
By
Water Resources Mission Area, Upper Midwest Water Science Center

USGS permafrost research determines the risks of permafrost thaw to biologic and hydrologic resources

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in collaboration with university, Federal, Tribal, and independent partners, conducts fundamental research on the distribution, vulnerability, and importance of permafrost in arctic and boreal ecosystems. Scientists, land managers, and policy makers use USGS data to help make decisions for development, wildlife habitat, and other needs. Native villages and cities
By
Natural Hazards Mission Area, Water Resources Mission Area, Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, Climate Research and Development Program, Coastal and Marine Hazards and Resources Program, Land Change Science Program, Volcano Hazards Program, Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center , Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Center, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, Geosciences and Environmental Change Science Center, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Volcano Science Center

Climate- and disturbance-driven changes in subsistence berries in coastal Alaska: Indigenous knowledge to inform ecological inference

Berry-producing plants are a key subsistence resource in Indigenous Alaskan communities. High-latitude coastal regions are particularly impacted by global climate change due to their location at the land-sea ecotone subjecting them to terrestrial stressors as well as shifts in ocean dynamics. While vegetation changes have been documented for the subarctic coastal region of Alaska, we know little a
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center

Vulnerability of subsistence systems due to social and environmental change: A case study in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska

Arctic Indigenous communities have been classified as highly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The remoteness of Arctic communities, their dependence upon local species and habitats, and the historical marginalization of Indigenous peoples, enhances this characterization of vulnerability. However, vulnerability is a result of diverse historical, social, economic, political, cultural, institu
By
Office of Tribal Relations

Permafrost stores a globally significant amount of mercury

Changing climate in northern regions is causing permafrost to thaw with major implications for the global mercury (Hg) cycle. We estimated Hg in permafrost regions based on in situ measurements of sediment total mercury (STHg), soil organic carbon (SOC), and the Hg to carbon ratio (RHgC) combined with maps of soil carbon. We measured a median STHg of 43 ± 30 ng Hg g soil−1 and a median RHgC of 1.6
By
Upper Midwest Water Science Center, Mercury Research Laboratory

Multidecadal increases in the Yukon River Basin of chemical fluxes as indicators of changing flowpaths, groundwater, and permafrost

The Yukon River Basin, underlain by discontinuous permafrost, has experienced a warming climate over the last century that has altered air temperature, precipitation, and permafrost. We investigated a water chemistry database from 1982 to 2014 for the Yukon River and its major tributary, the Tanana River. Significant increases of Ca, Mg, and Na annual flux were found in both rivers. Additionally,
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Climate Adaptation Science Centers

Changing times, changing stories: Generational differences in climate change perspectives from four remote indigenous communities in Subarctic Alaska

Indigenous Arctic and Subarctic communities currently are facing a myriad of social and environmental changes. In response to these changes, studies concerning indigenous knowledge (IK) and climate change vulnerability, resiliency, and adaptation have increased dramatically in recent years. Risks to lives and livelihoods are often the focus of adaptation research; however, the cultural dimensions
By
Office of Tribal Relations

Strategic needs of water on the Yukon: an interdisciplinary approach to studying hydrology and climate change in the Lower Yukon River Basin

Strategic Needs of Water on the Yukon (SNOWY) is an interdisciplinary research project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF; http://www.nsf.gov/). The SNOWY team is made up of a diverse group of researchers from different backgrounds and organizations. This partnership between scientists from different disciplines (hydrology, geography, and social science), government agencies, nonprofit
By
Water Resources Mission Area

Community-based water-quality monitoring in the Yukon River Basin and the Kuskokwim Watershed

The unique partnership between the USGS and the YRITWC provides mutual benefits by fostering outreach efforts that have been essential for community empowerment and by generating scientific data for prohibitively large and remote regions that would be challenging for USGS scientists to sample as robustly alone. The addition of a new partnership with the KRWC to create a community-based monitoring

Indigenous observations of climate change in the Lower Yukon River Basin, Alaska

Natural science climate change studies have led to an overwhelming amount of evidence that the Arctic and Subarctic are among the world's first locations to begin experiencing climate change. Indigenous knowledge of northern regions is a valuable resource to assess the effects of climate change on the people and the landscape. Most studies, however, have focused on coastal Arctic and Subarctic com
By
Office of Tribal Relations
link

Changing Times, Changing Stories: Climate Change Perspectives Vary Notably Among Generations in Subarctic Alaska

New research from the U.S. Geological Survey and partners illustrates how climate change is perceived among different generations of indigenous...

Read Article

Science and Products