USGS Science⌕ Search

SEARCH · USGS Science

Results for “Resources Policy”

Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 775 records · Page 43Linked to original sources
USGS2010

Shifting environmental foundations: The unprecedented and unpredictable future: Chapter 4

As described in Chapter 2, protected area managers have been directed, through statutes and agency policy, to preserve natural conditions in parks and wilderness. Although preserving naturalness has always been a challenge for managers, there has never been much question about whether this is the right thing to do. But given what is known now about the pace and magnitude of ongoing global changes, the appropriateness of naturalness as a management goal must be reexamined. A host of anthropogenic environmental stressors are reshaping ecosystems, including those protected in parks and wilderness. Pollution is now ubiquitous worldwide, and invasive species are common in most landscapes. Habitats have become highly fragmented, and climatic changes are dramatically altering the abiotic conditions in which biota live. Given these changes, some attempts to restore and maintain naturalness may at best be ineffective; at worst, they could waste precious resources and even contribute to loss of some of the values that managers are trying to protect.

Book chapter↗
USGS2014

Integrating land cover modeling and adaptive management to conserve endangered species and reduce catastrophic fire risk

Land cover modeling is used to inform land management, but most often via a two-step process, where science informs how management alternatives can influence resources, and then, decision makers can use this information to make decisions. A more efficient process is to directly integrate science and decision-making, where science allows us to learn in order to better accomplish management objectives and is developed to address specific decisions. Co-development of management and science is especially productive when decisions are complicated by multiple objectives and impeded by uncertainty. Multiple objectives can be met by the specification of tradeoffs, and relevant uncertainty can be addressed through targeted science (i.e., models and monitoring). We describe how to integrate habitat and fuel monitoring with decision-making focused on the dual objectives of managing for endangered species and minimizing catastrophic fire risk. Under certain conditions, both objectives might be achieved by a similar management policy; other conditions require tradeoffs between objectives. Knowledge about system responses to actions can be informed by developing hypotheses based on ideas about fire behavior and then applying competing management actions to different land units in the same system state. Monitoring and management integration is important to optimize state-specific management decisions and to increase knowledge about system responses. We believe this approach has broad utility and identifies a clear role for land cover modeling programs intended to inform decision-making.

Land↗
USGS2018

A social–ecological perspective for riverscape management in the Columbia River Basin

Riverscapes are complex, landscape-scale mosaics of connected river and stream habitats embedded in diverse ecological and socioeconomic settings. Social–ecological interactions among stakeholders often complicate natural-resource conservation and management of riverscapes. The management challenges posed by the conservation and restoration of wild salmonid populations in the Columbia River Basin (CRB) of western North America are one such example. Because of their ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic importance, salmonids present a complex management landscape due to interacting environmental factors (eg climate change, invasive species) as well as socioeconomic and political factors (eg dams, hatcheries, land-use change, transboundary agreements). Many of the problems in the CRB can be linked to social–ecological interactions occurring within integrated ecological, human–social, and regional–climatic spheres. Future management and conservation of salmonid populations therefore depends on how well the issues are understood and whether they can be resolved through effective communication and collaboration among ecologists, social scientists, stakeholders, and policy makers.

Columbia River Basin↗
USGS1978

Geologic conditions in the Baltimore Canyon Trough area: A summary of U.S.G.S. second-year environment studies

Geologic studies of the outer Continental Shelf off the Middle Atlantic States (Baltimore Canyon Trough Area) have been carried out for two years to assess conditions and hazards which might cause or distribute oil spills and other potential pollution associated with petroleum exploration and development. These detailed investigations were requested and funded by the Bureau of Land Management to carry out its responsibility under the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act (67 Stat 462) of 1953 and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Because of the energy crisis, these studies had to be mounted quickly so that a substantial body of data would be available for making decisions concerning environmental constraints on potential lease tracts. Indeed, pertinent data were available prior to Lease Sale #40 in the Middle Atlantic in August 1976. This was in part due to the alacrity of BLM's Environmental Division management, and in part due to the depth of USGS' experience in the area. For example, geophysical data and bottom samples had been collected since 1962 as part of the Geological Survey's role to "conduct geological and geophysical exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf" (43 U.S.C. 1340). At the advent of the energy crisis, the Atlantic-Gulf Coast Branch focused in-house resources and environmental assessment efforts on the Middle Atlantic OCS area. Thus, considerable information was available to guide the needed detailed studies.

Baltimore Canyon Trough area↗
USGS2011

Guidelines for collecting and maintaining archives for genetic monitoring

Rapid advances in molecular genetic techniques and the statistical analysis of genetic data have revolutionized the way that populations of animals, plants and microorganisms can be monitored. Genetic monitoring is the practice of using molecular genetic markers to track changes in the abundance, diversity or distribution of populations, species or ecosystems over time, and to follow adaptive and non-adaptive genetic responses to changing external conditions. In recent years, genetic monitoring has become a valuable tool in conservation management of biological diversity and ecological analysis, helping to illuminate and define cryptic and poorly understood species and populations. Many of the detected biodiversity declines, changes in distribution and hybridization events have helped to drive changes in policy and management. Because a time series of samples is necessary to detect trends of change in genetic diversity and species composition, archiving is a critical component of genetic monitoring. Here we discuss the collection, development, maintenance, and use of archives for genetic monitoring. This includes an overview of the genetic markers that facilitate effective monitoring, describes how tissue and DNA can be stored, and provides guidelines for proper practice.

Conservation Genetics Resources↗
USGS2024

From causes of conflict to solutions: Shifting the lens on human–carnivore coexistence research

Human-carnivore conflicts pose significant challenges in the management and conservation of carnivores across the globe. Abundant research has led to generalizable insights into the causes of such conflicts. For example, conflicts predictably occur when carnivores have access to human food resources, particularly when their natural foods are scarce. However, similar insights into the effectiveness of interventions aimed at coexistence remains comparatively scarce. We hypothesized that this disparity might be reflected in a bias toward research focused on causes of conflict rather than interventions to address it. To test our hypothesis, we evaluated the content of studies on human–carnivore conflicts and coexistence in Canada and the United States from 2010 to 2021. We found that studies disproportionately focused on causes of conflict, with that discrepancy increasing through our study period. We also found a disproportionate focus on black bears and wolves and western jurisdictions, and a disproportionate use of observational (vs. experimental) approaches. Studies on conflict interventions were primarily directed at the carnivores themselves (e.g., lethal approaches) versus human elements (e.g., attractant management, policies), despite evidence that the latter are more effective. We expect that a shift in focus toward solutions-oriented research, integrating insights across geographies, taxa, social contexts, and disciplines, would facilitate effective interventions and foster coexistence, improving outcomes for people and carnivores alike.

Conservation Science and Practice↗
USGS2015

Implementation of a framework for multi-species, multi-objective adaptive management in Delaware Bay

Decision analytic approaches have been widely recommended as well suited to solving disputed and ecologically complex natural resource management problems with multiple objectives and high uncertainty. However, the difference between theory and practice is substantial, as there are very few actual resource management programs that represent formal applications of decision analysis. We applied the process of structured decision making to Atlantic horseshoe crab harvest decisions in the Delaware Bay region to develop a multispecies adaptive management (AM) plan, which is currently being implemented. Horseshoe crab harvest has been a controversial management issue since the late 1990s. A largely unregulated horseshoe crab harvest caused a decline in crab spawning abundance. That decline coincided with a major decline in migratory shorebird populations that consume horseshoe crab eggs on the sandy beaches of Delaware Bay during spring migration. Our approach incorporated multiple stakeholders, including fishery and shorebird conservation advocates, to account for diverse management objectives and varied opinions on ecosystem function. Through consensus building, we devised an objective statement and quantitative objective function to evaluate alternative crab harvest policies. We developed a set of competing ecological models accounting for the leading hypotheses on the interaction between shorebirds and horseshoe crabs. The models were initially weighted based on stakeholder confidence in these hypotheses, but weights will be adjusted based on monitoring and Bayesian model weight updating. These models were used together to predict the effects of management actions on the crab and shorebird populations. Finally, we used a dynamic optimization routine to identify the state dependent optimal harvest policy for horseshoe crabs, given the possible actions, the stated objectives and our competing hypotheses about system function. The AM plan was reviewed, accepted and implemented by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission in 2012 and 2013. While disagreements among stakeholders persist, structured decision making enabled unprecedented progress towards a transparent and consensus driven management plan for crabs and shorebirds in Delaware Bay.

Biological Conservation↗
USGS2016

Toward a national, sustained U.S. ecosystem assessment

The massive investment of resources devoted to monitoring and assessment of economic and societal indicators in the United States is neither matched by nor linked to efforts to monitor and assess the ecosystem services and biodiversity that support economic and social well-being. Although national-scale assessments of biodiversity ( 1 ) and ecosystem indicators ( 2 ) have been undertaken, nearly a decade has elapsed since the last systematic assessment ( 2 ). A 2011 White House report called for a national biodiversity and ecosystem services assessment ( 3 ), but the initiative has stalled. Our aim here is to stimulate the process and outline a credible framework and pathway for an ongoing assessment of ecosystem functioning (see the photo). A national assessment should engage diverse stakeholders from multiple sectors of society and should focus on metrics and analyses of direct relevance to policy decisions, from local to national levels. Although many technical or science-focused components are in place, they need to be articulated, distilled, and organized to address policy issues.

Science↗
USGS2007

A Quantitative Threats Analysis for the Florida Manatee ( Trichechus manatus latirostris )

The Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) is an endangered marine mammal endemic to the southeastern United States. The primary threats to manatee populations are collisions with watercraft and the potential loss of warm-water refuges. For the purposes of listing, recovery, and regulation under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), an understanding of the relative effects of the principal threats is needed. This work is a quantitative approach to threats analysis, grounded in the assumption that an appropriate measure of status under the ESA is based on the risk of extinction, as quantified by the probability of quasi-extinction. This is related to the qualitative threats analyses that are more common under the ESA, but provides an additional level of rigor, objectivity, and integration. In this approach, our philosophy is that analysis of the five threat factors described in Section 4(a)(1) of the ESA can be undertaken within an integrated quantitative framework. The basis of this threats analysis is a comparative population viability analysis. This involves forecasting the Florida manatee population under different scenarios regarding the presence of threats, while accounting for process variation (environmental, demographic, and catastrophic stochasticity) as well as parametric and structural uncertainty. We used the manatee core biological model (CBM) for this viability analysis, and considered the role of five threats: watercraft-related mortality, loss of warm-water habitat in winter, mortality in water-control structures, entanglement, and red tide. All scenarios were run with an underlying parallel structure that allowed a more powerful estimation of the effects of the various threats. The results reflect our understanding of manatee ecology (as captured in the structure of the CBM), our estimates of manatee demography (as described by the parameters in the model), and our characterization of the mechanisms by which the threats act on manatees. As an example of the type of results generated, we estimated that the probability of the manatee population falling to less than 250 adults on either the Atlantic or Gulf coasts (from a current statewide population size of near 3300) within 100 years is 8.6%. Complete removal of the watercraft threat alone would reduce this risk to 0.4%; complete removal of the warm-water threat to 4.2%; removal of both threats would reduce the risk to 0.1%. The modeling approach we have taken also allows us to consider partial removal of threats, as well as removal of multiple threats simultaneously. We believe the measure we have proposed (probability of quasi-extinction over y years, with quasi-extinction defined as dropping below a threshold of z on either coast) is a suitable measure of status that integrates a number of the elements that are relevant to interpretation under the ESA (it directly integrates risk of extinction and reduction of range, and indirectly integrates loss of genetic diversity). But the identification of the time frame of interest and the tolerable risk of quasi-extinction are policy decisions, and an ecology-based quasi-extinction threshold has not yet been determined. We have endeavored to provide results over a wide range of these parameters to give decision-makers useful information to assess status. This assessment of threats suggests that watercraft-related mortality is having the greatest impact on manatee population growth and resilience. Elimination of this single threat would greatly reduce the probability of quasi-extinction. Loss of warm-water is also a significant threat, particularly over the long-term. Red tide and entanglement, while noticeable threats, have had less of an impact on the manatee population. The effect of water control structures may have already been largely mitigated. We did not, however, consider an exhaustive list of threats. Other threats (e.g., reduction of food resources due to storms and development) may play a

Open-File Report↗
USGS2012

Complexity of human and ecosystem interactions in an agricultural landscape

The complexity of human interaction in the commercial agricultural landscape and the resulting impacts on the ecosystem services of water quality and quantity is largely ignored by the current agricultural paradigm that maximizes crop production over other ecosystem services. Three examples at different spatial scales (local, regional, and global) are presented where human and ecosystem interactions in a commercial agricultural landscape adversely affect water quality and quantity in unintended ways in the Delta of northwestern Mississippi. In the first example, little to no regulation of groundwater use for irrigation has caused declines in groundwater levels resulting in loss of baseflow to streams and threatening future water supply. In the second example, federal policy which subsidizes corn for biofuel production has encouraged many producers to switch from cotton to corn, which requires more nutrients and water, counter to national efforts to reduce nutrient loads to the Gulf of Mexico and exacerbating groundwater level declines. The third example is the wholesale adoption of a system for weed control that relies on a single chemical, initially providing many benefits and ultimately leading to the widespread occurrence of glyphosate and its degradates in Delta streams and necessitating higher application rates of glyphosate as well as the use of other herbicides due to increasing weed resistance. Although these examples are specific to the Mississippi Delta, analogous situations exist throughout the world and point to the need for change in how we grow our food, fuel, and fiber, and manage our soil and water resources.

Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri↗
USGS2023

America's most wanted fishes: Cataloging risk assessments to prioritize invasive species for management action

Hundreds of fish species enter the United States through human intervention (e.g., importation) and some of these fishes pose a substantial risk to the nation’s assets and ecosystems. Prevention, early detection, and rapid response (EDRR) are vital to stop species invasions, but time and resources to manage the large suite of fish species that enter the nation are limited. Evaluating the risk of a species’ invasion in a location is one way to prioritize among many species for management action. Species risk assessments are often associated with information systems or are published within grey literature or peer-reviewed journal articles. Improving access to available risk assessments could help in prioritizing management action for the most potentially invasive fish species. We aggregated fish species risk assessments, synthesizing the current knowledge on the risk of fish invasions in the United States. To accomplish this, we searched information systems and conducted a literature review. We then summarized risk assessment results along with the importation statuses of fish species and identified if imported, high-risk species are managed under federal or state policy. Within the scope of the conterminous U.S., we found 98 high-risk fish species. Eighteen of these species are imported to the country, but only three species have been recently prohibited from importation according to the Lacey Act. We observed similar patterns at the scales of the Great Lakes region and Florida. Collectively, our work provides a baseline estimate of the high-risk fish invaders that enter the U.S. through importation, underscoring species to consider for priority management action, as well as a benchmark of species that lack risk assessments. Insights from this work can be enriched when joined with other invasive species information, which could be accomplished through a national EDRR information system, an information sharing hub in development by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Management of Biological Invasions↗
USGS2014

Park Break: collaborative opportunity established for graduate students

Among the many topics discussed during the 2007-2008 George Wright Society (GWS) board meetings was the subject of how to inspire students seeking careers in science and natural resource management to consider the Department of Interior (DOI) in general, and the National Park Service (NPS) and the US Geological Survey (USGS) in particular, as good options for future employment. Board members participating in these discussions included Suzette Kimball, now acting director of USGS, and Gillian Browser, now a research scientists with Colorado State University, who envisioned a program that would offer an alternative to the break from classes that universities typically offer students in early spring. Since those initial discussions among the GWS board members, Park Break sessions have been held in eleven different NPS sites across the country. Each session has sponsored six to eight graduate students in various stages off their university programs for a week-long seminar focused on a specific theme relevant to the host park, such as conversation policy and climate change. Sessions have varied in format but all generally have been composed of a week of field and classroom activity with participation from local, state, and national experts.

The George Wright Forum↗
USGS1985

Cost-effectiveness of the U.S. Geological Survey's stream-gaging programs in Massachusetts and Rhode Island

The report documents the results of a study of the cost-effectiveness of the U.S. Geological Survey 's continuous-record stream-gaging programs in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Data uses and funding sources were identified for 91 gaging stations being operated in Massachusetts are being operated to provide data for two special purpose hydrologic studies, and they are planned to be discontinued at the conclusion of the studies. Cost-effectiveness analyses were performed on 63 continuous-record gaging stations in Massachusetts and 15 stations in Rhode Island, at budgets of $353,000 and $60,500, respectively. Current operations policies result in average standard errors per station of 12.3% in Massachusetts and 9.7% in Rhode Island. Minimum possible budgets to maintain the present numbers of gaging stations in the two States are estimated to be $340,000 and $59,000, with average errors per station of 12.8% and 10.0%, respectively. If the present budget levels were doubled, average standards errors per station would decrease to 8.1% and 4.2%, respectively. Further budget increases would not improve the standard errors significantly. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1982

South Atlantic summary report 2: A revision of Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activities in the South Atlantic (U.S.) and their onshore impacts, a summary report, July 1980

The search for oil and gas on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) in the South Atlantic Region began in 1960, when geophysical surveys of the area were initiated. In 1977, a Continental Offshore Stratigraphic Test (COST) well was drilled in the Southeast Georgia Embayment. In March 1978, the first lease sale, Sale 43, was held, resulting in the leasing of 43 tracts. Approximately a year later, in May 1979, the first exploratory drilling began, and by February 1980, six exploratory wells had been drilled by four companies. Hydrocarbons were not found in any of these wells. Lease Sale 56, the second lease sale in the South Atlantic Region, was held in August 1981. The sale resulted in the leasing of 47 tracts. Most of the leased tracts are in deep water along the Continental Slope off North Carolina. To date, no drilling has occurred on these tracts, but it is likely that two wells will be drilled or will be in the process of being drilled by the end of 1982. Reoffering Sale RS-2 is scheduled for July 1982, and it will include tracts offered in Lease Sale 56 that were not awarded leases. Lease Sale 78 is scheduled to be held in July 1983. The most recent (March 1982) estimates of risked resources for leased lands in the South Atlantic OCS are 27 million barrels of oil and 120 billion cubic feet of gas. To date, onshore impacts resulting from OCS exploration have been minimal, and they were associated with Lease Sale 43 exploratory activities. Tenneco, using existing facilities, established a support base in Savannah, Georgia; Getty, Transco, and Exxon used a support base established for them by the city of Brunswick, Georgia. The port at Morehead City, North Carolina, is expected to provide the onshore facilities for exploration in the near future on Lease Sale 56 tracts. Arrangements for the use of these facilities are currently being negotiated. In June 1981, the South Atlantic Regional Technical Working Group prepared a Regional Transportation Management Plan for the South Atlantic OCS. The plan is principally an integration of regulatory frameworks, policies, and plans that are applicable to pipeline siting from each of the South Atlantic coastal States and Federal agencies with jurisdiction in the area.

Outer Continental Shelf, South Atlantic↗
USGS1907

Twenty-eighth annual report of the Director of the United States Geological Survey

The plan of operations for the last fiscal year, including an itemized statement of the appropriations, amounting to $1,758,720, with the allotments thereof, was approved by the Secretary of the Interior on July 10, 1906. The work of the various branches and divisions conformed to this plan, and a detailed statement of their operations may be found on later pages. On January 23 the former Director, Charles D. Walcott, was appointed to the position of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, and his resignation as Director was accepted by the President, becoming effective April 30, 1907. Mr. Walcott has been a member of the Survey since its organization, and the thirteen years of his service as the administrative head of the bureau cover the period of its greatest growth. At the beginning of his directorship Mr. Walcott disclaimed any desire to make radical changes in either the policy or the administration of the Survey as developed under his predecessors, King and Powell, but in his first report, the Director's sixteenth, he mentioned certain readjustments which he deemed desirable in order that the Survey might better meet the economic and educational needs of the country. It is noteworthy that, almost without exception, these improvements have been accomplished, and even more fully than as then outlined. Among these changes may be mentioned : The raising of the standard of the topographic maps, with the representation thereon of land subdivision lines, and the extension of exact leveling and primary triangulation; the placing of the entire topographic and geologic force within the classified service; the obtaining of authority from Congress to issue separates of the annual report in pamphlet form, thus permitting advance publication of chapters of the Mineral Resources report, as well as of papers on economic geology; the enlargement of the work of the divisions of hydrography, mineral resources, and geology, in the last case providing for reconnaissance surveys of regions of economic importance. Equally notable was the growth of the Survey under Mr. Walcott's administration, as shown by the increase in both the extent and the scope of its operations. The appropriations for the last fiscal year amounted to more than four times the total of those made thirteen years ago, and there was, of course, a corresponding increase in the amount of field and office work performed. The development of the relations between the Geological Survey and the public within the same period is measured by a more than fourfold increase in amount of official correspondence, nearly fourfold increase in number of printed pages in the various reports of the year, and a more than fivefold increase in copies of maps printed, while the total annual distribution of publications, books, and maps grew from less than 200,000 to nearly a million copies, the sales increasing from $2,100 to over $18,000. The extent to which the results of the work by this organization are now utilized by both the industrial world and the educational and scientific institutions furnishes the best index of the degree of success attained by Mr. Walcott and his colleagues.

Annual Report↗
USGS2022

Taking steps to address inequities in open-access publishing through an early career publication honor

Access to resources—whether human, financial, or social—is a key indicator of research output and, in turn, academic career progression. However, resources are not equally distributed among scientists and disparities often stem from external factors. This reality is particularly impactful for early career researchers (ECRs) who have limited control over the resources available to them to advance their careers. The resources needed to fund open-access (OA) publishing are a well-known source of academic inequity (Ross-Hellauer 2022 ). Despite this, wide support for OA publishing exists across the scientific community, largely because OA articles increase access to the scientific literature by removing costly paywalls (Piwowar et al. 2018 ). Benefits of OA publishing also exist for individual researchers; OA studies are read and cited more, so much so that an “open access citation advantage” has been described (McCabe and Snyder 2014 ). Depending on the methods and journals studied, this advantage ranges from an 8 to 40% increase in citation rate (Piwowar et al. 2018 ). The OA publishing model is set to expand further, with influential groups seeking to mandate OA publishing (e.g., Plan S; Else 2021 ) including recent guidance from the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy (The White House 2022 ). However, OA publishing remains expensive, often prohibitively so, and OA fees deter ECRs broadly (Sarabipour et al. 2019 ), and particularly those from the Global South (Kwon 2022 ; Santidrián Tomillo et al. 2022 ).

Limnology and Oceanography Letters↗
USGS2022

Exposure of cultural resources to 21st-century climate change: Towards a risk management plan

Anthropogenic climate change during the 21st century presents a significant challenge to the protection of cultural resources (CRs) on federal lands that encompass ∼ 28% of the U.S. In particular, CRs on this land base may be adversely affected by a wide range of climate-change hazards, including damage by sea-level rise, enhanced deterioration by increasing temperature and precipitation, and destruction by more-frequent and severe wildfire. Most current measures to manage the impacts of hazards on CRs use vulnerability assessments, but because these require that all CRs be treated as having an equal chance of being affected by climate-change hazards (i.e., equal exposure) across large landscapes, the cost and resources required for such analyses are overwhelming to land management agencies. Projections of changes in many hazards, however, show that the probability of hazard occurrence will be unevenly distributed on the landscape. Incorporating this information into a risk assessment thus allows CR managers to prioritize their efforts on assessing impacts to CRs in those areas where the probability of the hazard is greatest, thus increasing efficiency. We provide several heuristic examples of implementing the first part of a CR risk assessment by using 21st-century projections of several hazards most likely to adversely affect CRs on nine National Forests (NFs) managed by the U.S. Forest Service in northern Idaho and Montana. Overlaying the projected distribution of hazards on these NFs with the distribution of CRs identifies CR exposure that, with information on their vulnerability, is required to determine risk. Additional policy and field studies will be needed to determine how to prioritize those CRs that are most at risk according to their significance as well as identify how impacts can be reduced and managed through adaptation planning and implementation. Adaptation will follow the iterative risk management process particularly by improving projection resolution. Finer scale, process-based modeling informed by the highest priority CRs would also provide a means to assess various adaptation options that might change the estimated risk and increase the odds of CRs being as little affected as possible.

Idaho, Montana↗
USGS1978

Proceedings of Conference V: communicating earthquake hazard reduction information: convened under auspices of National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program 22-24 May, 1978

Under the Earthquake Hazard Reduction Act of 1977, the federal government is significantly increasing its effort "to reduce the risk of life and property from future earthquakes in the United States through the establishment and maintenance of an effective earthquake hazards reduction program". This prgoram is sponsored primarily by the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Science Foundation and includes research by geologists, geophysicists, seismologists, engineers, sociologists, educators, and public policy experts. In the USGS program, there is a strong emphsis on effective communication of the results of research to a wide community of decision makers and users. This action is the key to implementation at all levels in federal, state, and local government, in the private sector, and on an individual basis. The U.S. Geological Survey convened a workshop involving approximately 65 people on May 22-24, 1978 in Denver, Colorado, to examine the communication problem. The purpose of the workshop was to evaluate critically the information-flow process for a number of past experiences, including: (1) land use planning in Portola Valley, California, (2) the seismic safety element, Santa Clara County, California (3) earthquake preparedness, Puget Sound, Washington area, (4) mitigation of geological hazards in Colorado, (5) earthquake planning in the Mississippi-Arkansas-Tennessee area, (6) water resource and land use planning in the northeast United States, (7) acquiring and disseminating scientific and engineering information following an earthquake, (8) development, use, and review of geologic and seismological data fro sitting of nuclear power plants, (9) development and use of building codes that incorporate earthquake provisions, (10) use of research products produced in the HUD/USGS San Francisco Bay region study, and (11) achieving landslide hazard reduction. The objective was to identify the most significant lessons learned during the course of each experience and to develop recommendations for improving communication that might be incorporated in the search program of the USGS.

Open-File Report↗