Unified Interior Regions

Dr. Pamela Pietz, a research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, was recently granted the U.S. Department of the Interior's Meritorious Service Award—the second highest award for a DOI career employee—and elected Fellow of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU), one of the oldest and largest organizations in the world devoted to the scientific study of birds.

Dr. Ned H. Euliss, Jr., research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey, was recently granted the U.S. Department of the Interior's Meritorious Service Award—the second highest award for a DOI career employee—for his contributions to ecological science.

Flood plains along several streams in southeast Cherokee County, Kan., are contaminated by an ongoing input of lead and zinc from historical mining in the area that ended several decades ago, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study.

USGS Airborne Surveys Back Up Previous Decorah Research
 

The U.S. Geological Survey has released a new report detailing changes of groundwater levels in the High Plains Aquifer. The report presents water-level change data in the aquifer in two separate periods: from 1950–the time prior to significant groundwater irrigation development–to 2011, and 2009 to 2011. 

Ken Pierce, U.S. Geological Survey Geologist Emeritus, has been selected as the recipient of the Distinguished Career Award of the Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division of the Geological Society of America, to be presented at the 2012 Annual Meeting in Charlotte, N.C.  

Former U.S. Geological Survey Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) scientist, Lewis M. Cowardin, was recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Wetland Scientists for his pioneering work with waterfowl ecology, wetland classification, remote sensing, and model-assisted decision making.

Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), will be used August 21-23 to monitor Missouri River bank erosion on the Lower Brule Reservation, S.D. 

Streamflow levels are below normal across much of the Midwest states of Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois and Wisconsin, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Many states are experiencing severe drought, such as Iowa, where flows are less than 25 percent of normal streamflow conditions for the majority of the state. 

Algal toxins and related taste-and-odor compounds were transported 173 miles down the Kansas River during reservoir releases in September and October of 2011, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study.  

The Platte River near Duncan streamgage, just upstream from the Platte's confluence with the Loup River, began operating on June 4, 1895. For more than a century of operation, this U.S. Geological Survey streamgage has contributed abundant information about water levels to farmers, decision makers, scientists, planners, and the public by helping assure future water supplies, sound...