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At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources
USGS2020

Multiple conceptualizations of nature are key to inclusivity and legitimacy in global environmental governance

Despite increasing scientific understanding of the global environmental crisis, we struggle to adopt the policies and practices science suggests we should. One of the reasons for this is the general absence of inclusive engagement and dialogue among a wide range of actors with distinct interactions with nature. Furthermore, there is little consideration of the role of language in understanding and shaping human-nature relations across different worldviews and cultures. In this paper, we propose that engagement and dialogue between the different actors involved in, or affected by, efforts to address the global environmental crisis can be strengthened by being mindful of the breadth of the diverse human-nature relations found around the globe. Examininge diverse conceptualizations of “nature” in more than 60 languages, we find that concpetualisaitions of nature fall into three broad clusters: inclusive conceptualizations where humans are viewed as an integral component of nature; non-inclusive conceptualizations where humans are separate from nature; and deifying conceptualizations where nature is understood and experienced within a spiritual dimension. Considering and respecting this rich repertoire for describing, thinking about and relating to nature can help us articulating global environmental governance in ways that resonate across cultures and worldviews. This repertoire also provides a resource we can draw on when defining policies, sustainability scenarios and practical interventions for the future thus offering opportunities for finding solutions to global environmental challenges, such as illustrated by the different laws granting legal personality to nature adopted around the world.

Environmental Science and Policy↗
USGS2014

Groundwater-flow and land-subsidence model of Antelope Valley, California

Antelope Valley, California, is a topographically closed basin in the western part of the Mojave Desert, about 50 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The Antelope Valley groundwater basin is about 940 square miles and is separated from the northern part of Antelope Valley by faults and low-lying hills. Prior to 1972, groundwater provided more than 90 percent of the total water supply in the valley; since 1972, it has provided between 50 and 90 percent. Most groundwater pumping in the valley occurs in the Antelope Valley groundwater basin, which includes the rapidly growing cities of Lancaster and Palmdale. Groundwater-level declines of more than 270 feet in some parts of the groundwater basin have resulted in an increase in pumping lifts, reduced well efficiency, and land subsidence of more than 6 feet in some areas. Future urban growth and limits on the supply of imported water may increase reliance on groundwater. In 2011, the Los Angeles County Superior Court of California ruled that the Antelope Valley groundwater basin is in overdraft—groundwater extractions are in excess of the Court-defined safe yield of the groundwater basin. The Court determined that the safe yield of the adjudicated area of the basin was 110,000 acre-feet per year (acre-ft/yr). Natural recharge is an important component of total groundwater recharge in Antelope Valley; however, the exact quantity and distribution of natural recharge, primarily in the form of mountain-front recharge, is uncertain, with total estimates ranging from 30,000 to 160,000 acre-ft/yr. Technical experts, retained by parties to the adjudication, used 60,000 acre-ft/yr to estimate the sustainable yield of the basin, and this value was used in this study. In order to better understand the uncertainty associated with natural recharge and to provide a tool to aid in groundwater management, a numerical model of groundwater flow and land subsidence in the Antelope Valley groundwater basin was developed using old and new geohydrologic information. The groundwater-flow system consists of three aquifers: the upper, middle, and lower aquifers. The three aquifers, which were identified on the basis of the hydrologic properties, age, and depth of the unconsolidated deposits, consist of gravel, sand, silt, and clay alluvial deposits and clay and silty clay lacustrine deposits. Prior to groundwater development in the valley, recharge was primarily the infiltration of runoff from the surrounding mountains. Groundwater flowed from the recharge areas to discharge areas around the playas where it discharged from the aquifer system as either evapotranspiration or from springs. Partial barriers to horizontal groundwater flow, such as faults, have been identified in the groundwater basin. Water-level declines owing to groundwater development have eliminated the natural sources of discharge, and pumping for agricultural and urban uses have become the primary source of discharge from the groundwater system. Infiltration of return flow from agricultural irrigation has become an important source of recharge to the aquifer system. The groundwater-flow model of the basin was discretized horizontally into a grid of 130 rows and 118 columns of square cells 1 kilometer (0.621 mile) on a side, and vertically into four layers representing the upper (two layers), middle (one layer), and lower (one layer) aquifers. Faults that were thought to act as horizontal-flow barriers were simulated in the model. The model was calibrated to simulate steady-state conditions, represented by 1915 water levels and transient-state conditions during 1915–95, by using water-level and subsidence data. Initial estimates of the aquifer-system properties and stresses were obtained from a previously published numerical model of the Antelope Valley groundwater basin; estimates also were obtained from recently collected hydrologic data and from results of simulations of groundwater-flow and land-subsidence models of the Edwards Air Force Base area. Some of these initial estimates were modified during model calibration. Groundwater pumpage for agriculture was estimated on the basis of irrigated crop acreage and crop consumptive-use data. Pumpage for public supply, which is metered, was compiled and entered into a database used for this study. Estimated annual agricultural pumpage peaked at 395,000 acre-feet (acre-ft) in 1951 and then declined because of declining agricultural production. Recharge from irrigation return flows was assumed to be 30 percent of agricultural pumpage; delays associated with return flow moving through the unsaturated zone were also simulated. The annual quantity of mountain-front recharge initially was based on estimates from previous studies. The model was calibrated using the PEST software suite; prior information from the area was incorporated through the use of Tikhonov regularization. During model calibration, the estimated mountain-front recharge was reduced from the previous estimate of 30,300 acre-ft/yr to 29,150 acre-ft/yr. Results of the simulations using the calibrated model indicate that simulated groundwater pumpage exceeded recharge in most years, resulting in an estimated cumulative depletion in groundwater storage of 8,700,000 acre-ft during the transient-simulation period (1915–2005). About 15,000,000 acre-ft of cumulative groundwater pumpage was simulated during the transient-simulation period (1915–2005), reaching a maximum rate of about 400,000 acre-ft/yr in 1951. Groundwater pumpage resulted in simulated hydraulic heads declining by more than 150 feet (ft) compared to 1915 conditions in agricultural areas. The decline in hydraulic head in the groundwater basin is the result of this depletion of groundwater storage. In turn, the simulated decline in hydraulic head in the groundwater basin has resulted in the decrease in natural discharge from the basin and has caused compaction of aquitards, resulting in land subsidence. The areal distribution of total simulated land subsidence for 2005, after about 90 years of groundwater development, indicates that land subsidence occurred throughout almost the entire Lancaster subbasin, with a maximum of about 9.4 ft in the central and eastern parts of the subbasin. An important objective of this study was to systematically address the uncertainty in estimates of natural recharge and related aquifer parameters by using the groundwater-flow and land-subsidence model with observational data and expert knowledge. After the model was calibrated to the observations and a reasonable parameter set obtained, the parameter null space—parameter values that do not appreciably affect the model calibration but may have importance for prediction—was identified. The effect of parameter uncertainty on the estimation of mountain-front recharge was addressed using the Null-Space Monte Carlo method. The Pareto trade-off method of visualizing uncertainty was also used to portray the reasonableness of larger natural-recharge rates. Results indicate that the total mountain-front recharge likely ranges between 28,000 and 44,000 acre-ft/yr, which is appreciably less than published estimates of 60,000 acre-ft/yr. Additionally, expected errors associated with agricultural pumpage estimates used in this study were found to have relatively little effect on the estimates of mountain-front recharge, reflecting the difficulty in increasing recharge through manipulation of other components of the water budget. The calibrated model was used to simulate the response of the aquifer to potential future pumping scenarios: (1) no change in the distribution of pumpage, or status quo; (2) redistribution of pumpage; and (3) artificial recharge. All three of these scenarios specify a total pumpage throughout the Antelope Valley of 110,000 acre-ft/yr according to the safe yield value ruled by the Los Angeles County Superior Court of California. This reduction in groundwater pumpage is assumed uniform throughout the basin, based on a 10-percent reduction of the total pumpage in 2005 to achieve the 110,000 acre-ft/yr level. The calibrated Antelope Valley groundwater-flow and land-subsidence model was used to simulate the hydrologic effects of the three groundwater-management scenarios during a 50-year period by using the reduced, temporally constant, pumpage distribution. Results from the first scenario indicated that the total drawdown observed since predevelopment would continue, with values exceeding 325 ft near Palmdale; consequently, land subsidence would also continue, with additional subsidence (since 2005) exceeding 3 ft in the central part of the Lancaster subbasin. The second scenario evaluated redistributing pumpage from areas in the Lancaster subbasin where simulated hydraulic-head declines were the greatest to areas where declines were smallest. Neither a formal optimization algorithm nor water-rights allocations were considered when redistributing the pumpage. Results indicated that hydraulic heads near Palmdale, where the pumpage was reduced, would recover by about 200 ft compared to 2005 conditions, with only 30 ft of additional drawdown in the northwestern part of the Lancaster subbasin, where the pumpage was increased. The magnitude of the simulated additional land subsidence decreased slightly compared to the first, status quo, scenario but land subsidence continued to be simulated throughout most of the northern part of the Lancaster subbasin. The third scenario consisted of two artificial-recharge simulations along the Upper Amargosa Creek channel and at a site located north of Antelope Buttes. Results indicate that applying artificial recharge at these sites would yield continued drawdowns and associated land subsidence. However, the magnitudes of drawdown and subsidence would be smaller than those simulated in the status quo scenario, indicating that artificial-recharge operations in the Antelope Valley could be expected to reduce the magnitude and extent of continued water-level declines and associated land subsidence.

California↗
USGS2013

Fertilizer consumption and energy input for 16 crops in the United States

Fertilizer use by U.S. agriculture has increased over the past few decades. The production and transportation of fertilizers (nitrogen, N; phosphorus, P; potassium, K) are energy intensive. In general, about a third of the total energy input to crop production goes to the production of fertilizers, one-third to mechanization, and one-third to other inputs including labor, transportation, pesticides, and electricity. For some crops, fertilizer is the largest proportion of total energy inputs. Energy required for the production and transportation of fertilizers, as a percentage of total energy input, was determined for 16 crops in the U.S. to be: 19–60% for seven grains, 10–41% for two oilseeds, 25% for potatoes, 12–30% for three vegetables, 2–23% for two fruits, and 3% for dry beans. The harvested-area weighted-average of the fraction of crop fertilizer energy to the total input energy was 28%. The current sources of fertilizers for U.S. agriculture are dependent on imports, availability of natural gas, or limited mineral resources. Given these dependencies plus the high energy costs for fertilizers, an integrated approach for their efficient and sustainable use is needed that will simultaneously maintain or increase crop yields and food quality while decreasing adverse impacts on the environment.

Natural Resources Research↗
USGS2010

Stakeholder perspectives on land-use strategies for adapting to climate-change-enhanced coastal hazards: Sarasota, Florida

Sustainable land-use planning requires decision makers to balance community growth with resilience to natural hazards. This balance is especially difficult in many coastal communities where planners must grapple with significant growth projections, the persistent threat of extreme events (e.g., hurricanes), and climate-change-driven sea level rise that not only presents a chronic hazard but also alters the spatial extent of sudden-onset hazards such as hurricanes. We examine these stressors on coastal, long-term land-use planning by reporting the results of a one-day community workshop held in Sarasota County, Florida that included focus groups and participatory mapping exercises. Workshop participants reflected various political agendas and socioeconomic interests of five local knowledge domains: business, environment, emergency management and infrastructure, government, and planning. Through a series of alternating domain-specific focus groups and interactive plenary sessions, participants compared the county 2050 comprehensive land-use plan to maps of contemporary hurricane storm-surge hazard zones and projected storm-surge hazard zones enlarged by sea level rise scenarios. This interactive, collaborative approach provided each group of domain experts the opportunity to combine geographically-specific, scientific knowledge on natural hazards and climate change with local viewpoints and concerns. Despite different agendas, interests, and proposed adaptation strategies, there was common agreement among participants for the need to increase community resilience to contemporary hurricane storm-surge hazards and to explore adaptation strategies to combat the projected, enlarged storm-surge hazard zones.

Florida↗
USGS2021

Native American fire management at an ancient wildland–urban interface in the Southwest United States

The intersection of expanding human development and wildland landscapes—the “wildland–urban interface” or WUI—is one of the most vexing contexts for fire management because it involves complex interacting systems of people and nature. Here, we document the dynamism and stability of an ancient WUI that was apparently sustainable for more than 500 y. We combine ethnography, archaeology, paleoecology, and ecological modeling to infer intensive wood and fire use by Native American ancestors of Jemez Pueblo and the consequences on fire size, fire–climate relationships, and fire intensity. Initial settlement of northern New Mexico by Jemez farmers increased fire activity within an already dynamic landscape that experienced frequent fires. Wood harvesting for domestic fuel and architectural uses and abundant, small, patchy fires created a landscape that burned often but only rarely burned extensively. Depopulation of the forested landscape due to Spanish colonial impacts resulted in a rebound of fuels accompanied by the return of widely spreading, frequent surface fires. The sequence of more than 500 y of perennial small fires and wood collecting followed by frequent “free-range” wildland surface fires made the landscape resistant to extreme fire behavior, even when climate was conducive and surface fires were large. The ancient Jemez WUI offers an alternative model for fire management in modern WUI in the western United States, and possibly other settings where local management of woody fuels through use (domestic wood collecting) coupled with small prescribed fires may make these communities both self-reliant and more resilient to wildfire hazards.

Arizona, New Mexico↗
USGS2001

U.S. Geological Survey Ground-Water Resources Program, 2001

Ground water is among the Nation's most important natural resources. It provides drinking water to urban and rural communities, supports irrigation and industry, sustains the flow of streams and rivers, and maintains riparian and wetland ecosystems. In many areas of the Nation, the future sustainability of ground-water resources is at risk from over use and contamination. Because ground-water systems typically respond slowly to human actions and climate variability, a long-term perspective is needed to manage this valuable resource. The U.S. Geological Survey Ground-Water Resources Program provides regional evaluations, fundamental data, and predictive tools to help assure the sustainability of our Nation's ground-water resources.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2025

A partnership between the USGS and the Klamath Tribes to apply structured decision making for chronic wasting disease management

Project Overview: The Klamath Tribes (TKT) are the Klamath, Modoc, and Yahooskin Paiute peoples, and are the first peoples of the land, having lived in ancestral lands of Oregon and California since time immemorial. Members of TKT have rights to hunt, fish, trap, and gather, including the harvest of mule deer ( Odocoileus hemionus ) and elk ( Cervus canadensis nelsoni ) within the 1.19 million acres of their Reserved Treaty Rights Area. Anthropogenic changes threaten the well-being of mule deer and elk and of the Tribes that rely on them. Today, these species are a primary protein source for TKT. They are traded within TKT and among other Tribes and provide materials for cultural and sacred items such as regalia. However, mule deer numbers have been declining across the western states for the past several decades because of multiple stressors, including persistent and frequent drought and wildfires, habitat loss and degradation, vehicle mortality, and increasing barriers to migratory movements between summer and winter ranges. The migratory movements of mule deer, which allow deer to access the best available seasonal habitats, put them at risk of another potential stressor—infection with chronic wasting disease (CWD). Chronic wasting disease is a fatal prion disease of deer that has been detected in 36 U.S. states. It was detected in free-ranging mule deer in northern Idaho in 2021, prompting the Tribes to initiate a planning process for CWD surveillance, prevention, and response measures to preserve and protect the deer and elk within the Reserved Treaty Rights Area. In 2023, the Klamath Tribes Natural Resources Department began to develop their CWD plan by incorporating preliminary input provided by the Klamath Indian Game Commission (KIGC) and working with scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). This collaborative effort includes the application of structured decision making and the development of mathematical models to analyze potential CWD management strategies. The result will be a transparent assessment that incorporates TKT values throughout the process and can inform place-based management of the cultural, natural, and physical resources upon which the Tribes depend. In addition, this process may provide opportunities for broader coordination by natural resource management agencies to work together to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of deer and elk populations within the Reserved Treaty Rights Area and throughout the state of Oregon.

Oregon↗
USGS2018

Aligning environmental management with ecosystem resilience: a First Foods example from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Oregon, USA

The concept of “reciprocity” between humans and other biota arises from the creation belief of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR). The concept acknowledges a moral and practical obligation for humans and biota to care for and sustain one another, and arises from human gratitude and reverence for the contributions and sacrifices made by other biota to sustain human kind. Reciprocity has become a powerful organizing principle for the CTUIR Department of Natural Resources, fostering continuity across the actions and policies of environmental management programs at the CTUIR. Moreover, reciprocity is the foundation of the CTUIR “First Foods” management approach. We describe the cultural significance of First Foods, the First Foods management approach, a resulting management vision for resilient and functional river ecosystems, and subsequent shifts in management goals and planning among tribal environmental staff during the first decade of managing for First Foods. In presenting this management approach, we highlight how reciprocity has helped align human values and management goals with ecosystem resilience, yielding management decisions that benefit individuals and communities, indigenous and nonindigenous, as well as human and nonhuman. We further describe the broader applicability of reciprocity-based approaches to natural resource management.

Oregon↗
USGS2025

Update of the 2008 provisional Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) assessment for the Great Basin, USA

In response to the Energy Act of 2020, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is updating the Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) resource assessment for the Great Basin, USA. The previous 2008 provisional assessment estimated how much electricity could be generated from EGS resources of the western United States using models of electric-grade heat, models of heat extraction over time, and estimates of how much rock might be stimulated to produce viable amounts of heat. Herein, a similar conceptual strategy is applied, using updated models of heat extraction as a function of fracture spacing and well distance. Previously used reservoir heat delivery models are updated to have a dependence on fracture and well spacing, potentially improving future estimates of EGS resources as ongoing research provides a better understanding about the success of reservoir stimulation as a function of geology and location. For a range of well distances (250-1000 m) and fracture spacings (1-50 m), heat extraction efficiency ranges from 25-62%, demonstrating the importance of accounting for the most likely results of proven viable fracturing technologies. Although fracturing is important, the biggest uncertainty by far in estimating the EGS resource for the Great Basin is estimating which geologic units at what depths can be stimulated sufficiently to produce geothermal energy economically and efficiently. Uncertainties in these factors yield estimates that range over two orders of magnitude with an upper limit of ~174 terawatts-thermal (TWth) produced for 30 years from the upper 7 km of the crust. This upper limit would require significant technological advances to access most of the electric-grade resource across the Great Basin. Assuming that 1% of this estimate will be accessible in the next few decades gives a resource estimate similar to that made in the 2008 provisional assessment. These estimated EGS heat extraction rates far exceed ( greater than 100x) the natural geothermal heat production rate, thus geothermal electricity production at these rates might not be sustainable unless heat is also recharged from other sources (e.g., excess solar energy when supply exceeds demand). In addition to assessment maps and cumulative estimates, the new models of fractured reservoirs developed herein can be used to estimate steady power production given a set of fractures and well spacing, and estimates can be made for setback distances to ensure no thermal interference with nearby powerplants.

Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah↗
USGS2013

Ecological impacts of energy-wood harvests: Lessons from whole-tree harvesting and natural disturbance

Recent interest in using forest residues and small-diameter material for biofuels is generating a renewed focus on harvesting impacts and forest sustainability. The rich legacy of research from whole-tree harvesting studies can be examined in light of this interest. Although this research largely focused on consequences for forest productivity, in particular carbon and nutrient pools, it also has relevance for examining potential consequences for biodiversity and aquatic ecosystems. This review is framed within a context of contrasting ecosystem impacts from whole-tree harvesting because it represents a high level of biomass removal. Although whole-tree harvesting does not fully use the nonmerchantable biomass available, it indicates the likely direction and magnitude of impacts that can occur through energy-wood harvesting compared with less-intensive conventional harvesting and to dynamics associated with various natural disturbances. The intent of this comparison is to gauge the degree of departure of energy-wood harvesting from less intensive conventional harvesting. The review of the literature found a gradient of increasing departure in residual structural conditions that remained in the forest when conventional and whole-tree harvesting was compared with stand-replacing natural disturbance. Important stand- and landscape-level processes were related to these structural conditions. The consequence of this departure may be especially potent because future energy-wood harvests may more completely use a greater range of forest biomass at potentially shortened rotations, creating a great need for research that explores the largely unknown scale of disturbance that may apply to our forest ecosystems.

Journal of Forestry↗
USGS2019

The future of recreational fisheries: Advances in science, monitoring, management, and practice

Recreational fisheries (RF) are complex social-ecological systems that play an important role in aquatic environments while generating significant social and economic benefits around the world. The nature of RF is diverse and rapidly evolving, including the participants, their priorities and behaviors, and the related ecological impacts and social and economic benefits. RF can lead to negative ecological impacts, particularly through overexploitation of fish populations and spread of non-native species and genotypes through stocking. Hence, careful management and monitoring of RF is essential to sustain these ecologically and socioeconomically important resources. This special issue on recreational fisheries contains diverse research, syntheses, and perspectives that highlight the advances being made in RF research, monitoring, management, and practice, which we summarize here. Co-management actions are rising, often involving diverse interest groups including government and non-government organizations; applying collaborative management practices can help balance social and economic benefits with conservation targets. Technological and methodological advances are improving the ability to monitor biological, social, and economic dynamics of RF, which underpin the ability to maximize RF benefits through management actions. To ensure RF sustainability, much research focuses on the ecological aspects of RF, as well as the development of management and angling practices that reduce negative impacts on fish populations. For example, angler behavior can be influenced to conform to conservation-minded angling practices through regulations, but is often best accomplished through growing bottom-up social change movements. Anglers can also play an important role in fisheries monitoring and conservation, including providing data on fish abundance and assemblages (i.e., citizen science). The increasing impacts that growing human populations are having on the global environment are threatening many of the natural resources and ecosystem services they provide, including valuable RF. However, with careful development of research initiatives, monitoring and management, sustainable RF can generate positive outcomes for both society and natural ecosystems and help solve allocation conflicts with commercial fisheries and conservation.

Fisheries Research↗
USGS2019

Back from the brink: Sustainable management of the Lake Erie walleye fishery

This chapter describes management actions implemented after a large-scale population decline of the Walleye Sander vitreus population in Lake Erie, one of the Laurentian Great Lakes in North America. Intensive fishery exploitation during the 1950s combined with declining water quality conditions collapsed the Walleye stock during the early 1960s. The fishery persisted at low levels until 1970 when the fishery was closed (1970–1972) due to elevated mercury concentrations in Walleye tissue. Lake Erie fishery managers at the time recognized the need for a coordinated, multi-agency approach to protect this ecologically, economically, and socially important resource. The harvest ban was lifted in 1973 when mercury levels dropped below advisory levels. In 1976, an interagency management framework was established, which relied on a coordinated, science-based management philosophy consisting of estimating safe harvest levels, performing applied research, and conducting annual population assessments. The population rebounded during the 1980s in response to improving environmental conditions, regulated harvest, and a series of strong recruitment events. Declines in harvest and population size were again observed during the late 1990s and mid-2000s, likely due to variation in natural processes controlling recruitment, and fishery managers enacted harvest practices during this period to promote long-term sustainability. Today, Lake Erie Walleyes support one of the largest self-sustaining freshwater fisheries in North America. Throughout the years, Lake Erie managers have iteratively adopted changes to their population assessment model and altered harvest policies to avoid future fishery and population collapses. More than 40 years later, Lake Erie continues to support commercial and recreational fisheries lake wide. Lessons learned from the stock recovery and subsequent coordinated management for fishery sustainability include the importance of conducting routine population assessments, using science-based research to address key uncertainties, adopting modern stock assessment approaches, incorporating stakeholder input into the quota setting process, and addressing environmental concerns collaboratively at the lake level.

Book chapter↗
USGS2012

Groundwater quality in the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu basaltic-rock and basin-fill aquifers in the Northwestern United States and Hawaii, 1992-2010

This assessment of groundwater-quality conditions of the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu for the period 1992–2010 is part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program. It shows where, when, why, and how specific water-quality conditions occur in groundwater of the three study areas and yields science-based implications for assessing and managing the quality of these water resources. The primary aquifers in the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu are mostly composed of fractured basalt, which makes their hydrology and geochemistry similar. In spite of the hydrogeologic similarities, there are climatic differences that affect the agricultural practices overlying the aquifers, which in turn affect the groundwater quality. Understanding groundwater-quality conditions and the natural and human factors that control groundwater quality is important because of the implications to human health, the sustainability of rural agricultural economies, and the substantial costs associated with land and water management, conservation, and regulation. The principal regional aquifers of the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu are highly vulnerable to contamination by chemicals applied at the land surface; essentially, they are as vulnerable as many shallow surficial aquifers elsewhere. The permeable and largely unconfined character of principal aquifers in the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu allow water and chemicals to infiltrate to the water table despite depths to water commonly in the hundreds of feet. The aquifers are essentially unconfined over large areas, having few extensive clay layers to impede infiltration through permeable volcanic rock and alluvial sediments. Agriculture is intensive in all three study areas, and heavy irrigation has imposed large artificial flows of irrigation recharge that rival or exceed natural recharge rates. Fertilizers and pesticides applied at land surface are leached from soil and transported to deep water tables with the infiltrating irrigation recharge, resulting in a layer of degraded water quality overlying better quality regional groundwater beneath. This “irrigation-recharge layer” is best known on Oahu, where it has been studied since the 1960s; however, the extent of nitrate and pesticide contamination in the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain indicate that the same situation exists in those areas. Contamination from agricultural and urban activities is present not only at shallow depths in surficial materials of the three areas, but extends regionally in the deep, principal bedrock aquifers that are tapped for drinking water by domestic and public-supply wells. Naturally occurring constituents and nitrate concentrations above human-health benchmarks—Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs), and Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs)—were more common in the Columbia Plateau and the Snake River Plain than in Oahu. Concentrations of anthropogenic constituents (constituents related to human activities) above human-health benchmarks were more common in Oahu. Naturally occurring contaminants, such as arsenic and radon, may be present in groundwater at concentrations of potential concern for human health in relatively undeveloped settings that otherwise may not be perceived as susceptible to contamination. Even though the median depth to groundwater in Oahu is more than 300 feet, the common occurrence of anthropogenic compounds in groundwater indicates that Oahu has a high susceptibility to contamination. Nitrate concentrations in groundwater were above the national background concentrations of 1 milligram per liter (mg/L) in all three study areas. In the Columbia Plateau, nitrate exceeded the human-health benchmark of 10 mg/L in 20 percent of the wells sampled. In the Snake River Plain, nitrate exceeded the human-health benchmark of 10 mg/L in 3 percent of the wells sampled. Nitrate can persist in groundwater for years and even decades in the oxygen-rich groundwater of the Columbia Plateau and the Snake River Plain, so prudent groundwater protection measures are critical to protect drinking water resources by reducing nitrate leaching from the land surface. Nitrate logistic regression models indicated that areas with a high percentage of land in crops (such as potatoes or sugarcane) and soils with low amounts of organic matter are most likely to have elevated nitrate concentrations in the groundwater. Areas where agricultural activities were absent had much lower probabilities of detecting elevated nitrate concentrations. The Columbia Plateau had a much higher probability of having elevated nitrate concentrations, with most of the land area having greater than a 50 percent probability of elevated nitrate concentrations. Oahu and the Snake River Plain had a much lower probability of having elevated nitrate concentrations because of their lower percentage of agricultural land. Pesticides were detected at many sites in groundwater of the Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu but generally at low concentrations below human-health benchmarks. Atrazine and its degradate (a compound produced from the breakdown of a parent pesticide), deethylatrazine, were the most commonly detected pesticides in groundwater sampled in the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain. Bromacil was the most commonly detected pesticide on Oahu. The other pesticides most commonly detected in the study areas include simazine, hexazinone, metribuzin, diuron, prometon, metolachlor, p,p’ -DDE, dieldrin, 2-4-D, and alachlor. DDE (a degradate of DDT) and dieldrin are still being detected in groundwater despite having been banned for more than 30 years. Codetection of multiple pesticides in water from a single well was common. The widespread occurrence of pesticides in groundwater in the study areas indicates that the groundwater is highly susceptible to pesticide contamination. Some pesticides were detected in groundwater samples from all three study areas, but other pesticides were detected only in samples from Oahu, or only in samples from the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain. This is because some pesticides (such as atrazine) are broad-spectrum pesticides that are used on many crops in many different areas of the United States. Other pesticides (such as simazine, metribuzin, and metolachlor) are used on row crops (such as potatoes, barley, and alfalfa) grown in the Columbia Plateau and Snake River Plain, but not on pineapple or sugarcane grown in Oahu. Atrazine logistic-regression models indicate that areas with a high percentage of land in crops (such as potatoes or sugarcane), a low percentage of fallow land, and highly permeable soils with low amounts of organic matter are most likely to have atrazine detected in the groundwater. Areas where agricultural activities were absent had much lower probabilities of atrazine being detected. The Snake River Plain had a much higher probability of atrazine detections, with more than 50 percent of the land area having greater than a 50 percent probability of atrazine contamination. Oahu had a much lower probability of atrazine contamination, with only 24 percent of the land area having greater than a 50 percent probability of atrazine contamination. Oahu and the Columbia Plateau had some of the highest percentages of soil fumigant detections in groundwater in the United States. Soil fumigants are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) used as pesticides, which are applied to soils to reduce populations of plant parasitic nematodes (harmful rootworms), weeds, fungal pathogens, and other soil-borne microorganisms. They are used in Oahu and the Columbia Plateau on crops such as pineapple and potatoes. All three areas (Columbia Plateau, Snake River Plain, and Oahu) had fumigant concentrations exceeding human-health benchmarks for drinking water.

Hawai'i, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, ↗
USGS2019

The Value of Data – The Qatar Geologic Mapping Project

The State of Qatar is in a period of rapid development, modernization, and population growth. One of the most important factors influencing the long-term success and sustainability of future development is a comprehensive understanding of the region’s geologic regime, geotechnical conditions, natural resources, and environmental constraints. To obtain this understanding, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment (MME) of the State of Qatar has undertaken the Qatar Geological Mapping Project (QGMP). The project was envisioned with the strategic foresight to compile and utilize existing and legacy subsurface data collected as part of its massive infrastructure and development projects as the foundation for developing modern scientific resources including geologic maps, digital thematic maps, and a 3-dimensional geological model of the Doha metropolitan area. Recently, the MME, in consultation with Gannett Fleming, Inc. (GF) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) concluded the data collection and analysis phase (Phase I) of the two-phase QGMP. Phase I included: the development of a comprehensive geotechnical relational database populated with data digitized from more than 13,000 subsurface data logs; a detailed data quality analysis and distribution assessment; an extensive gap analysis and needs assessment; and careful design of the geologic mapping and subsurface investigation programs for the next phase of the project.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2026

Mississippi’s resiliency and changing environmental conditions

Mississippi is experiencing shifts in environmental conditions, many of which are expected to intensify in the coming decades, and will have important implications for ecosystems, species, and natural resource management across the state. Historical climate analyses and downscaled projections summarized for the state’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) level III Ecoregions show that Mississippi will likely face increases in extremely hot days, more intense heatwaves, greater evapotranspiration, and reductions in cold-season extremes. Temperature trends indicate that while Mississippi has warmed relatively little over the last century, recent years have been among the warmest on record. Projections suggest substantial increases in the number of days with maximum temperatures at or above 95°F across all Ecoregions, particularly under higher warming scenarios. Correspondingly, the number of freezing nights is expected to decline, with statewide decreases of 7–21 days depending on the global warming level and timeframe. These combined patterns are likely to reshape habitat conditions, influence species’ thermal stress, and alter ecological processes such as soil moisture retention and stream temperature regimes. Mississippi’s hydrological systems are also expected to be significantly affected. Extreme rainfall events, particularly the most intense 1% of precipitation days, are projected to increase across the state, raising risks of flooding, erosion, and altered stream flow. Coastal Mississippi faces additional stress from sea‑level rise, which is already contributing to more frequent high‑tide flooding; projections show continued increases in inundation risk throughout the century. These flooding patterns, combined with stronger hurricane rainfall rates and the potential for landfalling storms to stall, pose ongoing threats to coastal ecosystems and communities. The state is also vulnerable to extreme weather hazards such as tornadoes. Recent research shows a geographic shift in tornado activity toward the Southeast, with Mississippi experiencing some of the nation’s greatest increases in favorable tornado days and nighttime tornado frequency—hazards that have direct implications for wildlife, habitat stability, and human safety. Drought conditions may intensify as well: higher temperatures and increased evapotranspiration during dry spells could worsen water stress regardless of uncertainty in average annual precipitation. These changing environmental conditions have important consequences for Mississippi’s Species of Greatest Conservation Need (SGCN). Vulnerability assessments and ecological niche models indicate that several fish, mussel, crayfish, plant, amphibian, bird, and mammal species may face heightened stress due to warming temperatures, shifting hydrology, habitat loss, and increases in extreme events. For example, many cold‑water and moisture‑dependent species in the state’s rivers and wetlands are already near their thermal limits, and further warming could reduce suitable habitat. Birds breeding in bottomland hardwood forests, such as the Prothonotary Warbler, are increasingly susceptible to nest loss from flooding. Similarly, species like the Louisiana Black Bear may encounter higher risks from habitat inundation and shifting food availability. The “A Closer Look” section underscores the vulnerability of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain—one of the state’s most ecologically rich yet heavily altered Ecoregions. Its bottomland hardwood forests, wetlands, and floodplain habitats support diverse wildlife but are increasingly threatened by rising temperatures, hydrological changes, development pressures, and compounded disturbances. These habitats provide critical ecosystem services such as water filtration, flood attenuation, and biodiversity support, making their conservation particularly urgent under future conditions. Collectively, these findings indicate that Mississippi’s ongoing and projected environmental changes present both challenges and opportunities for natural resource management. Incorporating adaptation strategies into the State Wildlife Action Plan will be essential for sustaining habitats, mitigating risks, and supporting the long‑term resilience of Mississippi’s wildlife and ecosystems.

Mississippi↗
USGS1977

Ground-water supplies in the Murfreesboro area, Tennessee

Ground water occurs in the Murfreesboro area in solution openings in the otherwise dense paleozoic limestones that underlie most of central Tennessee. Test drilling based on conceptual models of ground-water occurrence in carbonate-rock aquifers indicate that multimillion-gallon-per-day supplies could be developed from strategically located production wells in the Shiloh and Overall Creek localities. The Shiloh locality which encompasses an elongated synclinal depression in the bedrock has the potential to supply 5 to 8 million gallons per day. The Overall Creek locality which straddles a joint-oriented lineament has the potential to supply 3 to 6 million gallons per day. Some local springs could be used as a supplemental source of potable water, but storage facilities would be needed to offset poorly sustained flows during dry periods. An exception is Fox Camp Spring which appears to be a natural well. The quality of ground water in the Murfreesboro area is typically hard, moderately mineralized and moderately to highly alkaline. Although the shallowest aquifers are subject to bacterial contamination from the land surface, aquifers beneath a depth of 100 feet are prone to yield potable water. (Woodard-USGS)

Tennessee↗
USGS2023

Striped bass exploitation in tailwater habitats of east-central Oklahoma

Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) is naturally anadromous, but a few land-locked populations have been documented that are self-sustaining, including fish in the Arkansas River, Oklahoma. This rare population is the source of brood stock for the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation hatcheries and is an important sportfish stock. Striped Bass often congregate in tailwater habitats, where anecdotal observations indicate anglers can harvest numerous fish daily. This suggests the need to evaluate the sustainability of harvest in these locations. It is unknown what portion of fish from the Arkansas River population use tailwater habitats or the timing and duration of use. The objectives of this study were to: 1) determine size structure , abundance, and total mortality rate of Striped Bass in the tailwaters of Tenkiller Lake and Lake Eufaula; 2) determine the extent and timing of immigration and emigration of Striped Bass in tailwater habitats to determine the potential for overharvest when they congregate in tailwater areas; 3) estimate delayed hooking mortality of Striped Bass in spring and summer; and 4) using the above data and modeling simulations, determine the potential for growth overfishing of Striped Bass in the tailwater reaches. We sampled 2,730 Striped Bass using boat electrofishing and tagged with passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags to estimate demographic data using a capture-recapture model. A subset of these Striped Bass was tagged with angler reward tags (internal anchor tags, n = 681) and dual technology acoustic-radio telemetry tags (n = 111) to estimate exploitation and track movements, respectively. Anglers returned 116 tags from 2020 to 2022; and our angler reporting rate was estimated to be 14.3%. Annual harvest mortality is minimally 7% (unadjusted for reporting rate) but could be as high as 42% (i.e., adjusting for compliance; but this exceeds the measured total mortality rate (34.3%) so true exploitation is probably 7–34.3%). Our abundance estimates for Striped Bass varied seasonally (ranging from 782 to 38,597 seasonally) and had a high level of uncertainty likely due to relatively low recapture rates. Additionally, our results indicated that Striped Bass exhibited a strong fidelity to their respective habitats within seasons, with fidelity probabilities ranging from 0.98 to 1.00. Movement among segments was common among seasons, indicating these localized populations mix with a larger population annually. Striped Bass were primarily in tailwater habitats during summer. Delayed hooking mortality data were collected in summer 2022. Due to habitat conditions that year, angling catch rates were low. Twenty-nine Striped Bass were tagged, and only eight Striped Bass remained tagged long enough to be tracked at least one day. The total time tracked for these eight fish was between one and three days. There were no confirmed mortalities, treatment, or control. Because of the low sample size, literature values for delayed hooking mortality were also used to supplement field data in the models. The yield-per-recruit model indicated exploitation at 30% or higher leads to recruitment overfishing. A 600 mm minimum TL regulation and 25–30% exploitation rate achieve maximum yield (954 kg/1,000 recruits). Maximum yield related to an average size at harvest of 718-mm TL; thus, growth overfishing occurs for any regulation where average size of harvest is smaller than 718 mm (which the model predicted would occur for any minimum length < 600, and for minimum length = 600 if exploitation was > 30%, it never occurred with minimum length requirements > 650). Increasing the minimum length regulation improves size structure, but a maximum length regulation had minimal effect unless it was implemented at a sufficiently small size (i.e., < 700 mm). Although catch-and-release mortality can be relatively high at times in the literature, according to our model, it appears to have a small effect on size structure, except when exploitation rates are > 50% and a restrictive maximum size regulation (< 800 mm) is used. The current population appears sustainable, especially considering the annual mixing dynamics and apparently large population (though we see a lot of uncertainty in the population estimates). However, modeling indicates that if enhancing size structure is an agency priority, then implementing more restrictive regulations could be advantageous.

Oklahoma↗
USGS1967

Trends in ground-water levels in Wisconsin through 1966

The water supplies of Wisconsin are the State's most valuable natural resource. Although the State has abundant water supplies to maintain the perennial flow of most streams, and to sustain large increases in municipal, agricultural, and industrial use in many areas, the available supply is not distributed equally throughout the State, either areally or in time. Intelligent development of all water resources depends on knowledge of the occurrence, distribution and movement of water, the amount of discharge to and from a region, the interrelationship of ground and surface water, and the quantity and quality of the water available.

Wisconsin↗