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Region 5: Missouri Basin

Welcome to Region 5! Our Region includes Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. We conduct science to inform resource managers on issues such as invasive species, water quality/quantity, flood response, oil and gas, and restoration of fish/wildlife and their habitats.

News

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President Proposes Nearly $1.8 Billion for USGS Science in FY 2024

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Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds geochemistry surveying in central United States

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Climate change and pesticides imperil a once common pollinator

Publications

Spatiotemporal dynamics of CO2 gas exchange from headwater mountain streams

Mountain streams play an important role in the global carbon cycle by transporting, metabolizing, and exchanging carbon they receive from the terrestrial environment. The rates at which these processes occur remain highly uncertain because of a paucity of observations and the difficulty of measuring gas exchange rates in steep, turbulent mountain streams. This uncertainty is compounded by large te

USGS National Water Quality Monitoring Network

What is the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Monitoring Network?Understanding the water quality of U.S. streams and rivers requires consistent data collection and analysis over decades. The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Water Quality Network (NWQN) was established to facilitate national-scale understanding of surface-water quality conditions through the collection of compar

Multi-region assessment of chemical mixture exposures and predicted cumulative effects in USA wadeable urban/agriculture-gradient streams

Chemical-contaminant mixtures are widely reported in large stream reaches in urban/agriculture-developed watersheds, but mixture compositions and aggregate biological effects are less well understood in corresponding smaller headwaters, which comprise most of stream length, riparian connectivity, and spatial biodiversity. During 2014–2017, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) measured 389 unique orga

Science

Long-Term Surface-Water Monitoring in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has collected water-quality samples from selected stream sites upstream from Missoula since 1985.
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Long-Term Surface-Water Monitoring in the Upper Clark Fork River Basin

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has collected water-quality samples from selected stream sites upstream from Missoula since 1985.
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Rocky Mountain Regional Snowpack Chemistry Monitoring Study

Snowpacks collect atmospheric deposition throughout the snowfall season and offer a unique opportunity to obtain a composite sample of the chemistry of most of the annual precipitation at high elevations [> 1,800 meters]. The purpose of the snowpack network is to determine annual concentrations and depositional amounts of selected nutrients and other constituents in snow resulting from atmospheric...
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Rocky Mountain Regional Snowpack Chemistry Monitoring Study

Snowpacks collect atmospheric deposition throughout the snowfall season and offer a unique opportunity to obtain a composite sample of the chemistry of most of the annual precipitation at high elevations [> 1,800 meters]. The purpose of the snowpack network is to determine annual concentrations and depositional amounts of selected nutrients and other constituents in snow resulting from atmospheric...
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EcoFlows: Understanding Streamflow Dynamics in Small Mountain Streams

The WY-MT WSC is collaborating with the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center to understand the dynamics of streamflows in small, mountain streams during the course of the year, and to describe the amount of variability associated with those measurements. These findings will assist fisheries biologists who are researching temperature and streamflow effects on cutthroat trout and will help...
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EcoFlows: Understanding Streamflow Dynamics in Small Mountain Streams

The WY-MT WSC is collaborating with the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center to understand the dynamics of streamflows in small, mountain streams during the course of the year, and to describe the amount of variability associated with those measurements. These findings will assist fisheries biologists who are researching temperature and streamflow effects on cutthroat trout and will help...
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