Unified Interior Regions
Salton Sea
The Salton Sea is facing many challenges as inflows and water levels decline. USGS science helps identify problems and evaluate possible solutions.
Read moreRegion 8: Lower Colorado Basin
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The Lower Colorad Basin includes Arizona, southern Nevada, and souther California. The Regional Office, headquartered in Sacramento, provides Center oversight and support, facilitates internal and external collaborations, and works to further USGS strategic science directions. Our scientists do a broad array of research and technical assistance throughout the U.S. and across the globe.
News
RAMPS NEWSLETTER - Spring 2021 Edition
Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS)
A Program of the Southwest Biological Science Center & Ecosystems Mission Area
To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit: https://listserv.usgs.gov/mailman/listinfo/ramps
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Aerial Mapping of the Colorado River over Memorial Day Weekend
The USGS will collect high-resolution aerial imagery over Grand Canyon National Park for approximately one week beginning Saturday, May 29, to document, observe and track long-term ecosystem changes in the Colorado River. Visitors along the Colorado River in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park may see and hear aircraft more frequently during this time.
Media Advisory: A Jaguar’s Field of Dreams – Live Online Public Lecture
The U.S. Geological Survey public lecture series is back and virtual. News reporters are invited to attend to learn how USGS scientists are helping protect one of the only jaguars that lives in the U.S.
Publications
The value of US coral reefs for flood risk reduction
Habitats, such as coral reefs, can mitigate increasing flood damages through coastal protection services. We provide a fine-scale, national valuation of the flood risk reduction benefits of coral habitats to people, property, economies and infrastructure. Across 3,100 km of US coastline, the top-most 1 m of coral reefs prevents the 100-yr flood...
Reguero, Borja G.; Storlazzi, Curt; Gibbs, Ann E.; Shope, James B.; Cole, Aaron D.; Cumming, Kristen A.; Beck, Mike
Landscape evolution in eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California
This study investigates sedimentary and geomorphic processes in eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California, a region of arid, basin-and-range terrain where extensive solar-energy development is planned. The objectives of this study were to (1) measure local weather parameters and use them to model aeolian sediment-transport potential...
East, Amy E.; Gray, Harrison J.; Redsteer, Margaret Hiza; Ballmer, Matthew The impacts of the 2015/2016 El Niño on California's sandy beaches
The El Niño Southern Oscillation is the most dominant mode of interannual climate variability in the Pacific. The 2015/2016 El Niño event was one of the strongest of the last 145 years, resulting in anomalously high wave energy across the U.S. West Coast, and record coastal erosion for many California beaches. To better manage coastal resources,...
Smith, Schuyler A; Barnard, Patrick L.
The Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Alert Risk Mapper (ARM)
The Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) program has developed a new tool, the NAS Alert Risk Mapper (ARM), to characterize waterbodies in the conterminous U.S. and Hawaii at potential risk of invasion from a new nonindigenous species sighting.
Defining Native Ranges of U.S. Inland Fishes
Understanding the native versus non-native range of a species can provide useful information about dispersal, population distribution patterns, and human mediated movement across hydrologic barriers. The USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) Program is working with partners to define native ranges of inland fishes in the United States to help identify which species should be included in the...
The Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Flood and Storm Tracker (FaST)
Storm-related flooding can lead to the potential spread of nonindigenous (or non-native) aquatic species into waterways they have not been seen in before. The USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species program has developed an innovative mapping tool to help natural resource managers with post-storm nonindigenous aquatic species detection and assessment efforts.
Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) Program
Welcome to the Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) information resource for the United States Geological Survey. Located at Gainesville, Florida, this site has been established as a central repository for spatially referenced biogeographic accounts of introduced aquatic species. The program provides scientific reports, online/realtime queries, spatial data sets, distribution maps, and general...
The value of US coral reefs for flood risk reduction
Habitats, such as coral reefs, can mitigate increasing flood damages through coastal protection services. We provide a fine-scale, national valuation of the flood risk reduction benefits of coral habitats to people, property, economies and infrastructure. Across 3,100 km of US coastline, the top-most 1 m of coral reefs prevents the 100-yr flood...
Reguero, Borja G.; Storlazzi, Curt; Gibbs, Ann E.; Shope, James B.; Cole, Aaron D.; Cumming, Kristen A.; Beck, Mike Landscape evolution in eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California
This study investigates sedimentary and geomorphic processes in eastern Chuckwalla Valley, Riverside County, California, a region of arid, basin-and-range terrain where extensive solar-energy development is planned. The objectives of this study were to (1) measure local weather parameters and use them to model aeolian sediment-transport potential...
East, Amy E.; Gray, Harrison J.; Redsteer, Margaret Hiza; Ballmer, Matthew The impacts of the 2015/2016 El Niño on California's sandy beaches
The El Niño Southern Oscillation is the most dominant mode of interannual climate variability in the Pacific. The 2015/2016 El Niño event was one of the strongest of the last 145 years, resulting in anomalously high wave energy across the U.S. West Coast, and record coastal erosion for many California beaches. To better manage coastal resources,...
Smith, Schuyler A; Barnard, Patrick L. Morphology, structure, and kinematics of the San Clemente and Catalina faults based on high-resolution marine geophysical data, southern California Inner Continental Borderland
Catalina Basin, located within the southern California Inner Continental Borderland (ICB), is traversed by two active submerged fault systems that are part of the broader North America-Pacific plate boundary: the San Clemente fault (along with a prominent splay, the Kimki fault) and the Catalina fault. Previous studies have suggested that the San...
Walton, Maureen A. L.; Brothers, Daniel; Conrad, James E.; Maier, Katherine L.; Roland, Emily C.; Kluesner, Jared; Dartnell, Peter Understanding tidal marsh trajectories: Evaluation of multiple indicators of marsh persistence
Robust assessments of ecosystem stability are critical for informing conservation and management decisions. Tidal marsh ecosystems provide vital services, yet are globally threatened by anthropogenic alterations to physical and biological processes. A variety of monitoring and modeling approaches have been undertaken to determine which tidal...
Wasson, Kerstin; Ganju, Neil Kamal; Defne, Zafer; Endris, Charlie; Elsey-Quirk, Tracy; Thorne, Karen M.; Freeman, Chase; Guntenspergen, Glenn R.; Nowacki, Daniel J. ; Raposa, Kenneth B.
U.S. regions in the tropical-to-temperate transition
A map showing North America's tropical-to-temperate transition zone. Red, orange, and yellow depict the more tropical zones, and blues depict the more temperate zones, based on to the coldest recorded temperature for each area between 1980 and 2009. Photos show some cold-sensitive plants and animals with northern range limits governed by winter cold temperature extremes.
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Subtropical snook gather at a warm Florida springhead in winter
Winter temperature extremes control the distributions of subtropical fishes. Common snook (Centropomus undecimalis), aggregate at a spring in northern Florida during winter. Snook are warm saltwater game fish, common in Florida, that have been moving further northward as extreme cold spells become less frequent and less intense.
Fires transforming Sonoran Desert
Restoring areas infested with invasive species that carry catastrophic fire is a top priority for the Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southest (RAMPS) and our partners. In 2019 & 2020, fires carried by the invasive red brome (Bromus rubens) grass destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of Sonoran Desert Scrub, resulting in some of the
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How does restoration affect soils?
How do restoration plantings alter ecosystem function? NAU PhD student Kathleen Balazs and technician Sarah Negovan measure soil water infiltration rates at a RestoreNet site near La Sal, Utah. These measurements will illustrate how restoration plantings effect certain ecosystem functions
Dragonfly Mercury Project specimen collection in Glacier NP
Researchers instruct volunteers on how to collect dragonfly larvae in Glacier NP as a part of the Dragonfly Mercury Project.
Managing Fire on the US Mexico Borderlands
RAMPS met with DOI Office of Wildland Fire, US Customs and Border Patrol, and US Fish & Wildlife Service staff at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge in southern AZ last November. The group is developing tools to reduce wildfire risk, conserve wildlife habitat and natural resources, and increase safety and security of border operations.
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Arid grassland
Arid grasslands in the U.S. Mexico border are fire adapted and used by diverse groups. Science from the Southwest Biological Science Center and the Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS) is helping these groups find common ground to manage this dynamic landscape.
RestoreNet scientists develop guidance for dryland restoration
RestoreNet is a networked experiment testing treatments for improving restoration in drylands. Find out more at www.usgs.gov/sbsc/ramps
Supporting Tribal Seed Sovereignty
USGS Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS) is helping to build capacity in ecosystem restoration on the Navajo Nation with a series of projects in collaboration with Navajo Nation Department of Natural Hertiage, Dine Native Plant Program, and the Native-led non-profit Tolani Lake Enterprises. For more information visit:
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Juniper Skeletons
Thinning rangelands by removing trees such as juniper is a common mangement action done across the intermountain west. The goals of this type of vegetation treatment typically are to increase forage and habitat for grazing animals, improve soil conditions, and/or reduce risks of catastrophic fire. In this photo, skeletons leftover from a chaining treatment dot a range in
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A single species stand of nonnative tamarisk
Single species stand of nonnative tamarisk on the Lower Colorado River at Cibola National Wildlife Refuge, California
Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS)
A Program of the Southwest Biological Science Center & Ecosystems Mission Area
To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit: https://listserv.usgs.gov/mailman/listinfo/ramps
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The USGS will collect high-resolution aerial imagery over Grand Canyon National Park for approximately one week beginning Saturday, May 29, to document, observe and track long-term ecosystem changes in the Colorado River. Visitors along the Colorado River in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and Grand Canyon National Park may see and hear aircraft more frequently during this time.
The U.S. Geological Survey public lecture series is back and virtual. News reporters are invited to attend to learn how USGS scientists are helping protect one of the only jaguars that lives in the U.S.
Cold-sensitive plants, animals moving north due to fewer, weaker winter freezes
Fort Collins, CO – Considered one of the most imperiled ecosystems in the world and home to mule deer, pronghorn, sage-grouse, pygmy rabbits and more than 350 other species of conservation concern, the sagebrush ecosystem continues to shrink rapidly due to a host of growing threats, according to a new scientific report.
Streamflow in the Southwestern U.S. is projected to decrease by as much as 36–80% by the end of this century, reports a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey. Decreases of this magnitude would challenge our ability to meet future water demand in this region and could jeopardize compliance with interstate and international water-sharing agreements.
Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest (RAMPS)
A Program of the Southwest Biological Science Center & Ecosystems Mission Area
To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit: https://listserv.usgs.gov/mailman/listinfo/ramps
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A total of $133,016 will fund new research and preserve important data across the Grand Canyon State.
The scarcity or overabundance of water presents some of the most dangerous, damaging and costly threats to human life, ecosystems and property in the form of drought, floods and debris flows.
This season's edition of the Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest Newsletter contains recent program highlights including research updates, new projects, field updates and more.
To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit: https://listserv.usgs.gov/mailman/listinfo/ramps
Read more about how the network or RAMPS is enhancing restoration in drylands.
RestoreNet is a networked ecological experiment testing restoration treatments across the arid Southwest. Seven experimental sites were installed in the Summer of 2018 on the rangelands of Northern Arizona. The experiments tested seed mixes with various treatments to increase revegetation success (see photos above). These are the results after the first year.
Read more about RestoreNet here.
This season's edition of the Restoration Assessment and Monitoring Program for the Southwest Newsletter contains recent program highlights including research updates from our RestoreNet experiment, recently awarded funding, field updates and more.
To subscribe to our newsletter, please visit: https://listserv.usgs.gov/mailman/listinfo/ramps
Get the latest updates from RAMPS here.
Contacts
Locations
Region 8: Lower Colorado Basin
Phone: 916-278-9551