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USGS2013

U.S. Geological Survey environmental health science strategy — Providing environmental health science for a changing world

Executive Summary America has an abundance of natural resources. We have bountiful clean water, fertile soil, and unrivaled national parks, wildlife refuges, and public lands. These resources enrich our lives and preserve our health and wellbeing. These resources have been maintained because of our history of respect for their value and an enduring commitment to their vigilant protection. Awareness of the social, economic, and personal value of the health of our environment is increasing. The emergence of environmentally driven diseases caused by exposure to contaminants and pathogens is a growing concern worldwide. New health threats and patterns of established threats are affected by both natural and anthropogenic changes to the environment. Human activities are key drivers of emerging (new and re-emerging) health threats. Societal demands for land and natural resources, quality of life, and economic prosperity lead to environmental change. Natural earth processes, climate trends, and related climatic events will compound the environmental impact of human activities. These environmental drivers will influence exposure to disease agents, including viral, bacterial, prion, and fungal pathogens, parasites, synthetic chemicals and substances, natural earth materials, toxins, and other biogenic compounds. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) defines environmental health science broadly as the interdisciplinary study of relations among the quality of the physical environment, the health of the living environment, and human health. The interactions among these three spheres are driven by human activities, ecological processes, and natural earth processes; the interactions affect exposure to contaminants and pathogens and the severity of environmentally driven diseases in animals and people. This definition provides USGS with a framework for synthesizing natural science information from across the Bureau and providing it to environmental, natural resource, agricultural, and public health managers. USGS specializes in science at the environment-health interface, by characterizing the processes that affect the interaction among the physical environment, the living environment, and people, and the resulting factors that affect ecological and human exposure to disease agents. The USGS is a Federal science agency with a broad range of natural science expertise relevant to environmental health. USGS provides scientific information and tools as a scientific basis for management and policy decisionmaking. This report describes a 10-year strategy that encompasses the portfolio of USGS environmental health science. It summarizes national environmental health priorities that USGS is best suited to address, and will serve as a strategic framework for USGS environmental health science goals, actions, and outcomes for the next decade. Implementation of this strategy is intended to aid coordination of USGS environmental health activities and to provide a focal point for disseminating information to stakeholders. The “One Health” paradigm advocated by the World Health Organization (WHO; World Health Organization, 2011), and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA; American Veterinary Medical Association, 2008), among others, is based on a general recognition that the health of humans, animals, and the environment are inextricably linked. Thus, successful efforts to protect that health will require increased interdisciplinary research and increased communication and collaboration among the broader scientific and health community. This strategy is built upon that paradigm.

Circular↗
USGS2009

Oil and gas development in southwestern Wyoming— Energy data and services for the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI)

The purpose of this report is to explore current oil and gas energy development in the area encompassing the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative. The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative is a long-term science-based effort to ensure southwestern Wyoming's wildlife and habitat remain viable in areas facing development pressure. Wyoming encompasses some of the highest quality wildlife habitats in the Intermountain West. At the same time, this region is an important source of natural gas. Using Geographic Information System technology, energy data pertinent to the conservation decision-making process have been assembled to show historical oil and gas exploration and production in southwestern Wyoming. In addition to historical data, estimates of undiscovered oil and gas are included from the 2002 U.S. Geological Survey National Assessment of Oil and Gas in the Southwestern Wyoming Province. This report is meant to facilitate the integration of existing data with new knowledge and technologies to analyze energy resources development and to assist in habitat conservation planning. The well and assessment data can be accessed and shared among many different clients including, but not limited to, an online web-service for scientists and resource managers engaged in the Initiative.

Wyoming↗
USGS2020

Microplastics

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is working with Federal, State, and local partners to monitor and evaluate microplastics in our lakes, rivers, and coastal waters. Microplastics are very small pieces of plastic, some-times so small that they cannot be seen with the naked eye. The USGS is taking an active role in monitoring and assessing our natural resources in New York and throughout the Nation. To support microplastics research, the USGS has created two laboratories to identify the type and quantity of microplastic particles in water, air, sediment, and animal life. These results will help decisionmakers learn about the presence and potential bioavailability of microplastics in ecosystems and public water supplies.

General Information Product↗
USGS1982

Mineral resource potential map of the Shining Rock Wilderness, Haywood County, North Carolina

The Shining Rock Wilderness is in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Haywood County, N. C., and is underlain by complexly folded, high-grade metamorphic rocks. These rocks contain a few small, subeconomic deposits of sheet muscovite mica that have a small potential for scrap mica. Quartz as a source of silica (SiO2) and gneiss and schist suitable for common building stone and crushed rock are the only identified economic mineral resources. Other minerals and rocks, including kaolin, soapstone, copper, corundum, and dunite, have been prospected or mined nearby, but either they do not occur or have no current economic potential in the wilderness. A possibility exists for the presence of natural gas at depths greater than 5,000 ft (1,500 m).

North Carolina↗
USGS2020

Forage and habitat for pollinators in the northern Great Plains—Implications for U.S. Department of Agriculture conservation programs

Managed and wild pollinators are critical components of agricultural and natural systems. Despite the well-known value of insect pollinators to U.S. agriculture, Apis mellifera (Linnaeus, 1758; honey bees) and wild bees currently face numerous stressors that have resulted in declining health. These declines have engendered support for pollinator conservation efforts across all levels of government, private businesses, and nongovernmental organizations. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Geological Survey initiated an interagency agreement to evaluate honey bee forage across multiple States in the northern Great Plains and upper Midwest. The long-term goal of this study was to provide an empirical evaluation of floral resources used by honey bees, and the relative contribution of multiple land covers and USDA conservation programs to bee health and productivity. Our multi-State analysis of land-use change from 2006 to 2016 revealed loss of grassland and increases in corn and soybean area in North and South Dakota, representing a significant loss of bee-friendly land covers in areas that support the highest density of summer bee yards in the entire United States. Our landscape models demonstrate the importance of the Conservation Reserve Program in providing safe locations for beekeepers to keep honey bees during the summer and highlights how land use in the northern Great Plains has a lasting effect on the health of honey bee colonies during almond pollination the subsequent spring. Our multiseason, multi-State genetic analysis of honey bee-collected pollen revealed Melilotus spp., Asteraceae, Trifolium spp., Fabaceae, Sonchus arvensis , Symphyotrichum cordifolium , and Solidago spp. were the top taxa detected; Melilotus spp. represented 42 percent of all detected taxa. Symphyotrichum cordifolium , Solidago spp., and Grindelia spp. were the top native forbs detected in honey bee-collected pollen. We also conducted plant and bee surveys on private lands enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program and Environmental Quality Incentives Program. In general, we found significant variability in floral resources and pollinator utilization across USDA programs and practices. On average, greater than 75 percent of honey bee flower observations on private lands enrolled in a USDA conservation program were on non-native forbs, whereas 33 percent of wild bee flower observations were on non-native forbs. Melilotus officinalis and Medicago sativa were the most visited by honey bees, wherease Medicago sativa and Helianthus maximiliani were the most visited by wild bees. Our analysis of nectar dearth periods in June and September for honey bees revealed that although Melilotus officinalis and Medicago sativa were highly visited, less common native forb species such as Ratibida columnifera , Agastache foeniculum , and Gaillardia aristata were preferred species. However, these preferred species were relatively rare on the landscape and are, therefore, unlikely to make up a sizable part of the honey bee diet. In addition to our empirical results, we also showcase how the U.S. Geological Survey Pollinator Library, a decision-support tool for natural resource managers, can be used to design cost-effective seeding mixes for pollinators. Collectively, the results of this research will assist USDA with maximizing the ecological impact and cost-effectiveness of their conservation programs on pollinators in the northern Great Plains.

Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota↗
USGS2025

Methods for peak-flow frequency analysis for streamgages in or near Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, North Dakota Department of Water Resources, South Dakota Department of Transportation, and the Wyoming Water Development Office, has developed standard methods of peak-flow frequency analysis for studies in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. These methods describe the implementation of national flood frequency guidelines described in Bulletin 17C ( https://doi.org/10.3133/tm4B5 ) for the four States and deviations from Bulletin 17C standard procedures to accommodate unusual hydrologic conditions. A U.S. Geological Survey data release accompanying this report ( https://doi.org/10.5066/P1WHRK8H ) provides example peak-flow frequency analyses for selected streamgages in the study area. The methods described in this report can be used to publish similar data releases for other streamgages in the study area.

Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming↗
USGS2001

Water resources of the Lake Traverse Reservation, South and North Dakota, and Roberts County, South Dakota

In 1994, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe; Roberts County; and the South Dakota Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Geological Survey Program, began a 6-year investigation to describe and quantify the water resources of the area within the 1867 boundary of the Lake Traverse Reservation and adjacent parts of Roberts County. Roberts County is located in extreme northeastern South Dakota, and the 1867 boundary of the Lake Traverse Reservation encompasses much of Roberts County and parts of Marshall, Day, Codington, and Grant Counties in South Dakota and parts of Richland and Sargent Counties in southeast North Dakota. This report includes descriptions of the quantity, quality, and availability of surface and ground water, the extent of the major glacial and bedrock aquifers and named outwash groups, and surface- and ground-water uses within the 1867 boundary of the Lake Traverse Reservation and adjacent parts of Roberts County. The surface-water resources within the 1867 boundary of the Lake Traverse Reservation and adjacent parts of Roberts County include rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands. The Wild Rice and Bois de Sioux Rivers are tributaries of the Red River within the Souris-Red-Rainy River Basin; the Little Minnesota, Jorgenson, and North Fork Whetstone Rivers are tributaries of the Minnesota River within the Upper Mississippi River Basin, and the James and Big Sioux Rivers are tributaries within the Missouri River Basin. Several of the larger lakes within the study area have been developed for recreation, while many of the smaller lakes and wetlands are used for livestock watering or as wildlife production areas. Statistical summaries are presented for the water-quality data of six selected streams within the study area, and the dominant chemical species are listed for 17 selected lakes within the study area. The glacial history of the study area has led to a rather complex system of glacial aquifers. The boundaries of 11 aquifers and 6 named outwash groups were delineated based on hydrogeologic cross sections, water levels, and water-quality similarities/dissimilarities. The glacial aquifers include Coteau Lakes system, Big Sioux, Alta-mont, Revillo, James, Veblen system, Spiritwood, Hankinson, Rosholt, Milnor Channel, and Fairmount; the bedrock aquifer included in this report is the Dakota. Named outwash groups include the Prairie Coteau, Lonesome Lake, Marday, Eden, Roslyn, and Wilmot. A summary of the character-istics of each of the major aquifers and outwash groups and a summary of selected chemical analyses for each aquifer and outwash group are presented. All aquifers and outwash groups in the study area have either moderately hard or very hard water and are considered fresh to slightly saline. One or more water samples from some of the aquifers and outwash groups have a constituent that was above the recommended or mandatory limit for drinking water. Most aquifers and outwash groups have dissolved solids and sulfate contents above the recommended levels of 500 and 250 mg/L (milligrams per liter), respectively. The Dakota aquifer was the only one to have a mean chloride concentration above the recommended level of 250 mg/L. Nitrate concentrations greater than the mandatory limit of 10 mg/L were found in the Big Sioux aquifer and the Coteau Lakes and Veblen aquifer systems. Concentrations of arsenic greater than 10 ?g/L (micrograms per liter) were found in the Coteau Lakes and Veblen aquifer systems, and in the Rosholt and Fairmount aquifers. Municipalities and rural water systems currently provide most of the water used in the study area-nearly all of it from ground-water sources. Surface-water use is limited to livestock watering. About 55 percent of the total water used in Roberts County is for domestic purposes, with most domestic users served by a public supply system. Irrigation accounts for about 10 percent of the total water used. All

North Dakota, South Dakota↗
USGS1989

Effects of three highway-runoff detention methods on water quality of the surficial aquifer system in central Florida

Water quality of the surficial aquifer system was evaluated at one exfiltration pipe, two ponds (detention and retention), and two swales in central Florida, representing three runoff detention methods, to detect any effects from infiltrating highway runoff. Concentrations of major ions, metals, and nutrients were measured in ground water and bottom sediments from 1984 through 1986. At each study area, constituent concentrations in ground water near the structure were compared to concentrations in ground water from an upgradient control site. Ground-water quality data also were pooled by detention method and statistically compared to detect any significant differences between methods. Analysis of variance of the rank-converted water-quality data at the exfiltration pipe indicated that mean concentrations of 14 of 26 water-quality variables are significantly different among sampling locations (the pipe, unsaturated zone, saturated zone, and the control well). Most of these differences are between the unsaturated zone and the other locations. Only phosphorus is significantly higher in ground water near the pipe than in ground water at the control well. Analysis of variance of rank-converted water-quality data at the retention pond indicated significant differences in 14 of 25 water-quality variables among sampling locations (surficial aquifer system, intermediate aquifer, pond and the control well), but mean concentrations in ground water below the pond were never significantly higher than in ground water from the control well. Analysis of variance results at other study areas indicated few significant differences in water quality among sampling locations. Values of water-quality variables measured in ground water at all study areas generally were within drinking water standards. The few exceptions included pH (frequently lower than the limit of 6.5 at one pond and both swales), and iron, which frequently exceeded 300 micrograms per liter in ground water at one swale and the detention pond. Large concentrations of polyaromatic hydrocarbons were measured in sediments at the retention pond but qualitative analysis of organic compounds in ground water from three wells indicated concentrations of only 1 to 5 micrograms per liter at one site, and below detection level (1 microgram per liter) at the other two sites. This may be an indication of immobilization of organic compounds in sediments. Significant differences for most variables were indicated among ground-water quality data pooled by detention method. Nitrate nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations were highest in ground water near swales and the exfiltration pipe, and Kjeldahl nitrogen was highest near ponds. Chromium, copper, and lead concentrations in ground water were frequently below detection levels at all study areas, and no significant differences among detention methods were detected for any metal concentration with the exception of iron. High iron concentrations in ground water near the detention pond and one swale most likely were naturally occurring and unrelated to highway runoff. Results of the study indicate that natural processes occurring in soils attenuate inorganic constituents in runoff prior to reaching the receiving ground water. However, organic compounds detected in sediments at the retention pond indicate a potential problem that may eventually affect the quality of the receiving ground water.

Florida↗
USGS1993

Ground-water resources of the Caguas-Juncos Valley, Puerto Rico

?The Caguas-Juncos valley, which occupies an area of 35 square miles in east-central Puerto Rico, is underlain by the largely unconfined alluvial aquifer. Withdrawals from this aquifer for public water supply and for agricultural, industrial, and domestic water uses totalled about 3.0 million gallons per day in 1988. Some wells in the valley yield as much as 310 gallons per minute from the alluvial deposits along Rio Gurabo near Gurabo and near Juncos. Wells used at dairy farms in the area commonly yield about 30 gallons per minute. The potentiometric surface of the alluvial aquifer varies seasonally and generally is highest near the end of December and lowest in April. Transmissivity of the alluvial aquifer, estimated from specific capacity and slug test data, ranges from 65 to 4,800 feet squared per day. The estimated specific yield of the water-table is about 10 to 15 percent. The amount of water stored in the aquifer is estimated to be about 122,000 acre-feet. Analyses of ground-water samples revealed the presence of two distinct problems-- high natural concentrations of iron and manganese, and localized areas of human- related contamination scattered throughout the valley. The ground water is a calcium-bicarbonate type and typically has dissolved solids concentrations of less than 500 milligrams per liter.

Puerto Rico↗
USGS2001

Managing Minnesota's recovered wolves

The Minnesota wolf (Canis lupus) population was estimated by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources at 2,450 during winter 1997-1998 and had increased at an average annual rate of 4.5% since winter 1988-1989. The population may be removed from the federal endangered species list by 2002, and management would then return to the state. A federal recovery team recommended a population goal of 1,250

Wildlife Society Bulletin↗
USGS1985

Determination of roughness coefficients for streams in Colorado

Most hydraulic calculations of flow in channels and overbank areas require an evaluation of flow resistance, generally expressed as Manning 's roughness coefficient. The degree of roughness depends on many factors. The report summarizes and relates several methods of estimating roughness and presents additional channel-roughness verification data on higher-gradient streams with slopes greater than 0.002. A procedure is outlined that enables the user to systematically evaluate the factors affecting natural, agricultural, and urban channel and overbank roughness. Two prediction equations are presented to aid in the calculation of coefficients for natural stable channels in which roughness changes dramatically with depth of flow. Roughness coefficients can be determined from low-to-high flow conditions as long as the channel remains fairly stable, sediment concentrations are not so great as to result in mudflows or debris flows, and stream slopes are less than 0.05. Because of extreme turbulence, large energy losses, and hence large roughness coefficients, flow in high-gradient, cobble- and boulder-bed mountain streams generally is subcritical. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report↗
USGS1980

Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activities in the Mid-Atlantic and their onshore impacts: a summary report, November 1979

Outer continental shelf (OCS) activity in the Mid-Atlantic Region to date has been limited to exploratory drilling. The first rig began drilling in March 1978. More rigs quickly moved into the Region, and as many as nine were working at the same time for a brief period in January 1979. As of November 1979, nineteen exploratory wells and two stratigraphic test wells had been drilled by the oil companies. One of these test wells and three exploratory wells have had shows of natural gas, but none of the oil companies has yet announced that it has found enough gas to go forward with plans for production. Because of the somewhat disappointing results so far, exploratory drilling has declined. Only one company is currently operating a rig, and one other company has announced plans to begin drilling this winter. The most recent risked estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey of undiscovered, economically recoverable oil and gas resources in the Mid-Atlantic tracts currently under lease are 8 million barrels of oil and 860 billion cubic feet of natural gas. The resource estimate for oil does not represent a commercially producible quantity. On the basis of the geologic information gained from wells completed to date and the huge capital costs of building a pipeline to bring the gas ashore, the natural gas estimate for currently leased tracts in the Mid-Atlantic Region appears to be short of a commercially producible amount. To date, onshore impacts resulting from OCS exploration consist of two support bases: a helicopter base in Atlantic City, New Jersey, from which crews are flown out to the drilling rigs; and a support base in Davisville, Rhode Island, from which equipment and supplies are ferried out to the rigs by boat. It is expected that exploratory activity will remain close to present levels for at least the next six months; consequently, support activity at Davisville and Atlantic City for Mid-Atlantic OCS operations during the same period is expected to correspond to current levels.

New Jersey;Rhode Island↗
USGS2013

Natural-color and color-infrared image mosaics of the Colorado River corridor in Arizona derived from the May 2009 airborne image collection

The Grand Canyon Monitoring and Research Center (GCMRC) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) periodically collects airborne image data for the Colorado River corridor within Arizona (fig. 1) to allow scientists to study the impacts of Glen Canyon Dam water release on the corridor’s natural and cultural resources. These data are collected from just above Glen Canyon Dam (in Lake Powell) down to the entrance of Lake Mead, for a total distance of 450 kilometers (km) and within a 500-meter (m) swath centered on the river’s mainstem and its seven main tributaries (fig. 1). The most recent airborne data collection in 2009 acquired image data in four wavelength bands (blue, green, red, and near infrared) at a spatial resolution of 20 centimeters (cm). The image collection used the latest model of the Leica ADS40 airborne digital sensor (the SH52), which uses a single optic for all four bands and collects and stores band radiance in 12-bits. Davis (2012) reported on the performance of the SH52 sensor and on the processing steps required to produce the nearly flawless four-band image mosaic (sectioned into map tiles) for the river corridor. The final image mosaic has a total of only 3 km of surface defects in addition to some areas of cloud shadow because of persistent inclement weather during data collection. The 2009 four-band image mosaic is perhaps the best image dataset that exists for the entire Arizona part of the Colorado River. Some analyses of these image mosaics do not require the full 12-bit dynamic range or all four bands of the calibrated image database, in which atmospheric scattering (or haze) had not been removed from the four bands. To provide scientists and the general public with image products that are more useful for visual interpretation, the 12-bit image data were converted to 8-bit natural-color and color-infrared images, which also removed atmospheric scattering within each wavelength-band image. The conversion required an evaluation of the histograms of each band’s digital-number population within each map tile throughout the corridor and the determination of the digital numbers corresponding to the lower and upper one percent of the picture-element population within each map tile. Visual examination of the image tiles that were given a 1-percent stretch (whereby the lower 1- percent 12-bit digital number is assigned an 8-bit value of zero and the upper 1-percent 12-bit digital number is assigned an 8-bit value of 255) indicated that this stretch sufficiently removed atmospheric scattering, which provided improved image clarity and true natural colors for all surface materials. The lower and upper 1-percent, 12-bit digital numbers for each wavelength-band image in the image tiles exhibit erratic variations along the river corridor; the variations exhibited similar trends in both the lower and upper 1-percent digital numbers for all four wavelength-band images (figs. 2–5). The erratic variations are attributed to (1) daily variations in atmospheric water-vapor content due to monsoonal storms, (2) variations in channel water color due to variable sediment input from tributaries, and (3) variations in the amount of topographic shadows within each image tile, in which reflectance is dominated by atmospheric scattering. To make the surface colors of the stretched, 8-bit images consistent among adjacent image tiles, it was necessary to average both the lower and upper 1-percent digital values for each wavelength-band image over 20 river miles to subdue the erratic variations. The average lower and upper 1-percent digital numbers for each image tile (figs. 2–5) were used to convert the 12-bit image values to 8-bit values and the resulting 8-bit four-band images were stored as natural-color (red, green, and blue wavelength bands) and color-infrared (near-infrared, red, and green wavelength bands) images in embedded geotiff format, which can be read and used by most geographic information system (GIS) and image-processing software. The tiff world files (tfw) are provided, even though they are generally not needed for most software to read an embedded geotiff image. All image data are projected in the State Plane (SP) map projection using the central Arizona zone (202) and the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD83). The map-tile scheme used to segment the corridor image mosaic followed the standard USGS quarter-quadrangle (QQ) map borders, but the high resolution (20 cm) of the images required further quarter segmentation (QQQ) of the standard QQ tiles, where the image mosaic covered a large fraction of a QQ map tile (segmentation shown in (figure 6), where QQ_1 to QQ_4 shows the number convention used to designate a quarter of a QQ tile). To minimize the size of each image tile, each image or map tile was subset to only include that part of the tile that had image data. In addition, some QQQ image tiles within a QQ tile were combined when adjacent QQQ map tiles were small. Thus, some image tiles consist of combinations of QQQ map tiles, some consist of an entire QQ map tile, and some consist of two adjoining QQ map tiles. The final image tiles number 143, which is a large number of files to list on the Internet for both the natural-color and color-infrared images. Thus, the image tiles were placed in seven file folders based on the one-half-degree geographic boundaries within the study area (fig. 7). The map tiles in each file folder were compressed to minimize folder size for more efficient downloading. The file folders are sequentially referred to as zone 1 through zone 7, proceeding down river (fig. 7). The QQ designations of the image tiles contained within each folder or zone are shown on the index map for each respective zone (figs. 8–14).

Arizona↗
USGS1965

Summary of ground-water conditions in Michigan in 1964

The purpose of this report is to make available records of groundwater level changes in the principal aquifers of the State during 1964 and compile other related data, such as ground-water pumpage, data on municipal, public and industrial water supply facilities, and the effects of precipitation on ground-water levels. Records of water level changes in areas of heavy pumpage and in areas where changes are principally from natural influences are illustrated or tabulated (table 2) to allow comparison between these two types of water-level fluctuations. The water-level and related data prOvide a day-to-day evaluation of available ground-water supplies. These long-term records serve as a framework to which many short-term records collected during an intensive investigation may be related. This report is written for those persons, municipalities, industries, institutions, consultants, drillers and hydrologists interested in the_groundwater resources of the State.

Michigan↗
USGS2006

Environmental setting of Maple Creek watershed, Nebraska

The Maple Creek watershed covers a 955-square-kilometer area in eastern Nebraska, which is a region dominated by agricultural land use. The Maple Creek watershed is one of seven areas currently included in a nationwide study of the sources, transport, and fate of water and chemicals in agricultural watersheds. This study, known as the topical study of 'Agricultural Chemicals: Sources, Transport, and Fate' is part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey. The Program is designed to describe water-quality conditions and trends based on representative surface- and ground-water resources across the Nation. The objective of the Agricultural Chemicals topical study is to investigate the sources, transport, and fate of selected agricultural chemicals in a variety of agriculturally diverse environmental settings. The Maple Creek watershed was selected for the Agricultural Chemicals topical study because its watershed represents the agricultural setting that characterizes eastern Nebraska. This report describes the environmental setting of the Maple Creek watershed in the context of how agricultural practices, including agricultural chemical applications and irrigation methods, interface with natural settings and hydrologic processes. A description of the environmental setting of a subwatershed within the drainage area of Maple Creek is included to improve the understanding of the variability of hydrologic and chemical cycles at two different scales.

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2008

Weather and Climate Monitoring Protocol, Channel Islands National Park, California

Weather and climate are strong drivers of population dynamics, plant and animal spatial distributions, community interactions, and ecosystem states. Information on local weather and climate is crucial in interpreting trends and patterns in the natural environment for resource management, research, and visitor enjoyment. This document describes the weather and climate monitoring program at the Channel Islands National Park (fig. 1), initiated in the 1990s. Manual and automated stations, which continue to evolve as technology changes, are being used for this program. The document reviews the history of weather data collection on each of the five Channel Islands National Park islands, presents program administrative structure, and provides an overview of procedures for data collection, archival, retrieval, and reporting. This program overview is accompanied by the 'Channel Islands National Park Remote Automated Weather Station Field Handbook' and the 'Channel Islands National Park Ranger Weather Station Field Handbook'. These Handbooks are maintained separately at the Channel Island National Park as 'live documents' that are updated as needed to provide a current working manual of weather and climate monitoring procedures. They are available on request from the Weather Program Manager (Channel Islands National Park, 1901 Spinnaker Dr., Ventura, CA 93001; 805.658.5700). The two Field Handbooks describe in detail protocols for managing the four remote automated weather stations (RAWS) and the seven manual Ranger Weather Stations on the islands, including standard operating procedures for equipment maintenance and calibration; manufacturer operating manuals; data retrieval and archiving; metada collection and archival; and local, agency, and vendor contracts.

Techniques and Methods↗