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At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
USGS2018

Collection methods and quality assessment for Escherichia coli, water quality, and microbial source tracking data within Tumacácori National Historical Park and the upper Santa Cruz River, Arizona, 2015-16

Tumacácori National Historical Park protects the culturally important Mission, San José de Tumacácori, while also managing a portion of the ecologically diverse riparian corridor of the Santa Cruz River. This report describes the methods and quality assurance procedures used in the collection of water samples for the analysis of Escherichia coli ( E. coli ), microbial source tracking markers, suspended sediment, water-quality parameters, turbidity, and the data collection for discharge and stage; the process for data review and approval is also described. Finally, this report provides a quantitative assessment of the quality of the E. coli , microbial source tracking, and suspended sediment data. The data-quality assessment revealed that bias attributed to field and laboratory contamination was minimal, with E. coli detections in only 3 out of 33 field blank samples analyzed. Concentrations in the field blanks were several orders of magnitude lower than environmental concentrations. The microbial source tracking (MST) field blank was below the detection limit for all MST markers analyzed. Laboratory blanks for E. coli at the USGS Arizona Water Science Center and laboratory blanks for MST markers at the USGS Ohio Water Microbiology Laboratory were all below the detection limit. Irreplicate data for E. coli and suspended sediment indicated that bias was not introduced to the data by combining samples collected using discrete sampling methods with samples collected using automatic sampling methods. The split and sequential E. coli replicate data showed consistent analytical variability and a single equation was developed to explain the variability of E. coli concentrations. An additional analysis of analytical variability for E. coli indicated analytical variability around 18 percent relative standard deviation and no trend was observed in the concentration during the processing and analysis of multiple split-replicates. Two replicate samples were collected for MST and individual markers were compared for a base flow and flood sample. For the markers found in common between the two types of samples, the relative standard deviation for the base flow sample was more than 3 times greater than the markers in the flood sample. Sequential suspended sediment replicates had a relative standard deviation of about 1.3 percent, indicating that environmental and analytical variability was minimal. A holding time review and laboratory study analysis supported the extended holding times required for this investigation. Most concentrations for flood and base-flow samples were within the theoretical variability specified in the most probable number approach suggesting that extended hold times did not overly influence the final concentrations reported.

Arizona↗
USGS2008

Report of the Federal Advisory Committee on the Bird Banding Laboratory

In the fall of 2005, the Directors of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) determined that to ensure that the Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) of the USGS maintains and continues its important support of conservation and management of birds, it should be guided by a clear vision for the future. In order to carry out this task, they impaneled a fourteen-member Federal Advisory Committee (FAC) on the Bird Banding Laboratory. It was made up of representatives of the broad bird-banding community, public and private, and was cochaired by a senior representative from each agency. The Committee met four times and a writing subgroup met three times over the course of its work. The Committee identified a new vision and mission for the BBL and identified six goals that it believes should be integral to the development of a strategic plan to achieve them. Those goals are: 1. Facilitate the identification of individual birds through marking. 2. Create automated, electronic systems that efficiently verify, accept, store, and manage data associated with individually marked birds. 3. Facilitate access to and use of data from marked birds for science, conservation, and management. 4. Administer permits in an efficient, timely, and modern manner, and use them to ensure that bird welfare and data quality remain top priorities. 5. Work closely with national and international partners to achieve the mission of the BBL. 6. Manage the BBL in an efficient, cost-effective manner to maximize use of available resources. Most of the report is structured around these goals. The Committee made 2 programmatic recommendations and identified 23 objectives and 58 specific recommendations. The programmatic recommendations are: (1) that the primary role of the BBL is and should continue to be to support the use of banding and banding data by researchers and managers engaged in science, conservation, and management of birds, and not to play a lead role in original research; and (2) that the BBL be managed nationally by USGS headquarters as a research and operational support unit and provided with the resources appropriate to its national and international functions and responsibilities; it should continue to be located physically at the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center (PWRC). In order to achieve its vision and mission, the Committee believes that the BBL must work towards achieving all of the recommendations in this report. Nevertheless, it identified five objectives that stand out as high priority, and they are as follows: *Objective 1.1?to ensure a continuing, adequate supply of high-quality, Federally issued numeric bands of required sizes, materials, and types; *Objective 2.1?to improve mechanisms for verifying, accepting, storing, and managing bird-banding data; *Objective 2.3?to accommodate recapture data; *Objective 4.1?to ensure through the permitting process that banders know how to safely handle birds, collect data accurately, and maintain birds in humane and healthful conditions; and *Objective 5.3?to encourage the development of banding programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. Finally, this Committee believes that the BBL will be well served if it continues to support a Federal Advisory Committee, composed similarly to this one, to continue offering guidance and direction from the broad bird-banding community.

Circular↗
USGS2019

Long-term trajectories of fractional component change in the Northern Great Basin, USA

The need to monitor change in sagebrush steppe is urgent due to the increasing impacts of climate change, shifting fire regimes, and management practices on ecosystem health. Remote sensing provides a cost effective and reliable method for monitoring change through time and attributing changes to drivers. We report an automated method of mapping rangeland fractional component cover over a large portion of the northern Great Basin from 1986 to 2016 using a dense Landsat imagery time-series. Our method improved upon the traditional change vector method by considering the legacy of change at each pixel. We evaluate cover trends stratified by climate bin and assess spatial and temporal relationships with climate variables. Finally, we statistically evaluate the minimum time density needed to accurately characterize temporal patterns and relationships with climate drivers. Over the 30-year period shrub cover declined and bare ground increased. While few pixels had > 10% cover change, a large majority had at least some change. All fractional components had significant spatial relationships with water year precipitation (WYPRCP), maximum temperature (WYTMAX), and minimum temperature (WYTMIN) in all years. Shrub and sagebrush cover in particular respond positively to warming WYTMIN, resulting from the largest increases in WYTMIN being in the coolest and wettest areas, and negatively to warming WYTMAX since the largest increases in WYTMAX are in the warmest and driest areas. The trade-off of lowering temporal density against removing cloud-contaminated years is justified as temporal density appears to have only a modest impact on trends and climate relationships until n ≤ 6, but multi-year gaps are proportionally more influential. Gradual change analysis is likely to be less sensitive to n than abrupt change. These data can be used to answer critical questions regarding the influence of climate change and the suitability of management practices.

California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah↗
USGS2004

Surface-Water and Ground-Water Interactions in the Central Everglades, Florida

Recharge and discharge are hydrological processes that cause Everglades surface water to be exchanged for subsurface water in the peat soil and the underlying sand and limestone aquifer. These interactions are thought to be important to water budgets, water quality, and ecology in the Everglades. Nonetheless, relatively few studies of surface water and ground water interactions have been conducted in the Everglades, especially in its vast interior areas. This report is a product of a cooperative investigation conducted by the USGS and the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) aimed at developing and testing techniques that would provide reliable estimates of recharge and discharge in interior areas of WCA-2A (Water Conservation Area 2A) and several other sites in the central Everglades. The new techniques quantified flow from surface water to the subsurface (recharge) and the opposite (discharge) using (1) Darcy-flux calculations based on measured vertical gradients in hydraulic head and hydraulic conductivity of peat; (2) modeling transport through peat and decay of the naturally occurring isotopes 224 Ra and 223 Ra (with half-lives of 4 and 11 days, respectively); and (3) modeling transport and decay of naturally occurring and "bomb-pulse" tritium (half-life of 12.4 years) in ground water. Advantages and disadvantages of each method for quantifying recharge and discharge were compared. In addition, spatial and temporal variability of recharge and discharge were evaluated and controlling factors identified. A final goal was to develop appropriately simplified (that is, time averaged) expressions of the results that will be useful in addressing a broad range of hydrological and ecological problems in the Everglades. Results were compared with existing information about water budgets from the South Florida Water Management Model (SFWMM), a principal tool used by the South Florida Water Management District to plan many of the hydrological aspects of the Everglades restoration.

Florida↗
USGS2005

Vascular Plant and Vertebrate Inventory of Tumacacori National Historical Park

Executive Summary This report summarizes the results of the first comprehensive biological inventory of Tumacacori National Historical Park (NHP) in southern Arizona. These surveys were part of a larger effort to inventory vascular plants and vertebrates in eight National Park Service units in Arizona and New Mexico. From 2000 to 2003 we surveyed for vascular plants and vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) at Tumacacori NHP to document presence of species within the administrative boundaries of the park's three units. Because we used repeatable study designs and standardized field techniques, these inventories can serve as the first step in a long-term monitoring program. We recorded 591 species at Tumacacori NHP, significantly increasing the number of known species for the park (Table 1). Species of note in each taxonomic group include: * Plants: second record in Arizona of muster John Henry, a non-native species that is ranked a 'Class A noxious weed' in California; * Amphibian: Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad; * Reptiles: eastern fence lizard and Sonoran mud turtle; * Birds: yellow-billed cuckoo, green kingfisher, and one observation of the endangered southwestern willow flycatcher; * Fishes: four native species including an important population of the endangered Gila topminnow in the Tumacacori Channel; * Mammals: black bear and all four species of skunk known to occur in Arizona. We recorded 79 non-native species (Table E.S.1), many of which are of management concern, including: Bermudagrass, tamarisk, western mosquitofish, largemouth bass, bluegill, sunfish, American bullfrog, feral cats and dogs, and cattle. We also noted an abundance of crayfish (a non-native invertebrate). We review some of the important non-native species and make recommendations to remove them or to minimize their impacts on the native biota of the park. Based on the observed species richness, Tumacacori NHP possesses high biological diversity of plants, fish, and birds for a park of its size. This richness is due in part to the ecotone between ecological provinces (Madrean and Sonoran), the geographic distribution of the three units (23 km separates the most distant units), and their close proximity to the Santa Cruz River. The mesic life zone along the river, including rare cottonwood/willow forests and adjacent mesquite bosque at the Tumacacori unit, is representative of areas that have been destroyed or degraded in many other locations in the region. Additional elements such as the semi-desert grassland vegetation community are also related to high species richness for some taxonomic groups. This report includes lists of species recorded by us (or likely to be recorded with additional effort) and maps of study sites. We also suggest management implications and ways to maintain or enhance the unique biological resources of Tumacacori NHP: limit development adjacent to the park, exclude cattle and off-road vehicles, develop an eradication plan for non-native species, and hire a natural resource specialist. These recommendations are intended to assist park staff with addressing many of the goals set out in their most recent natural resources management plan. This study is the first step in a long-term process of compiling information on the biological resources of Tumacacori NHP and its surrounding areas, and our findings should not be viewed as the final authority on the plants and animals of the park. Therefore, we also recommend additional inventory and monitoring studies and identify components of our effort that could be improved upon, either through the application of new techniques (e.g., use of genetic markers) or by extending the temporal and/or spatial scope of our research.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2002

Atlas of natural hazards in the Hawaiian coastal zone

The purpose of this report is to communicate to citizens and regulatory authorities the history and relative intensity of coastal hazards in Hawaii. This information is the key to the wise use and management of coastal resources. The information contained in this document,we hope,will improve the ability of Hawaiian citizens and visitors to safely enjoy the coast and provide a strong data set for planners and managers to guide the future of coastal resources. This work is largely based on previous investigations by scientific and engineering researchers and county, state, and federal offices and agencies. The unique aspect of this report is that, to the extent possible, it assimilates prior efforts in documenting Hawaiian coastal hazards and combines existing knowledge into a single comprehensive coastal hazard data set. This is by no means the final word on coastal hazards in Hawaii. Every hazardous phenomenon described here, and others such as slope failure and rocky shoreline collapse, need to be more carefully quantified, forecast, and mitigated. Our ultimate goal, of course, is to make the Hawaiian coast a safer place by educating the people of the state, and their leaders, about the hazardous nature of the environment. In so doing, we will also be taking steps toward improved preservation of coastal environments, because the best way to avoid coastal hazards is to avoid inappropriate development in the coastal zone. We have chosen maps as the medium for both recording and communicating the hazard history and its intensity along the Hawaiian coast.Two types of maps are used: 1) smallscale maps showing a general history of hazards on each island and summarizing coastal hazards in a readily understandable format for general use, and 2) a large-scale series of technical maps (1:50,000) depicting coastal sections approximately 5 to 7 miles in length with color bands along the coast ranking the relative intensity of each hazard at the adjacent shoreline.

Hawaii↗
USGS1995

Hydrologic conditions, habitat characteristics, and occurrence of fishes in the Apalachicola River floodplain, Florida; second annual report of progress, October 1993-September 1994

This report describes progress and interim results of the second year of a 4-year study. The purpose of the 4-year study is to describe aquatic habitat types in the Apalachicola River floodplain and quantify the amount of habitat inundated by the river at various stages. Final results will be used to determine possible effects of altered flows on floodplain habitats and their associated fish communities. The study is being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Northwest Florida Water Management District as part of a comprehensive study of water needs throughout two large river basins in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. By the end of the second year, approxi- mately 80 to 90 percent of field data collection was completed. Water levels at 56 floodplain and main channel locations at study sites were read numerous times during low water and once or twice during high water. Rating curves estimating the relationship between stage at a floodplain site and flow of the Apalachicola River at Chattahoochee are presented for 3 sites in the upper river. Elevation, substrate type, and amount of vegetative structure were described at 27 cross sections representing eight different floodplain tributary types at upper, middle, and lower river study sites. A summary of substrate and structure information from all cross sections is presented. Substrate and structure characteristics of floodplain habitats inundated when river flow was at record low flow, mean annual low flow, and mean flow are described for 3 cross sections in the upper river. Digital coverage of high-altitude infra-red aerial photography was processed for use in a Geographic Information System which will be used to map aquatic habitats in the third year of the study. A summary of the literature on fish utilization of floodplain habitats is described. Eighty-one percent of the species collected in the main channel of the Apalachicola River are known to occur in floodplain habitats of eastern rivers.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2007

Preliminary Geologic Map of the Lake Mead 30' X 60' Quadrangle, Clark County, Nevada, and Mohave County, Arizona

Introduction The geologic map of the Lake Mead 30' x 60' quadrangle was completed for the U.S. Geological Survey's Las Vegas Urban Corridor Project and the National Parks Project, National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program. Lake Mead, which occupies the northern part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area (LAME), mostly lies within the Lake Mead quadrangle and provides recreation for about nine million visitors annually. The lake was formed by damming of the Colorado River by Hoover Dam in 1939. The recreation area and surrounding Bureau of Land Management lands face increasing public pressure from rapid urban growth in the Las Vegas area to the west. This report provides baseline earth science information that can be used in future studies of hazards, groundwater resources, mineral and aggregate resources, and of soils and vegetation distribution. The preliminary report presents a geologic map and GIS database of the Lake Mead quadrangle and a description and correlation of map units. The final report will include cross-sections and interpretive text. The geology was compiled from many sources, both published and unpublished, including significant new mapping that was conducted specifically for this compilation. Geochronologic data from published sources, as well as preliminary unpublished 40Ar/39Ar ages that were obtained for this report, have been used to refine the ages of formal Tertiary stratigraphic units and define new informal Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic units.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2019

Climate change adaptation for coastal national wildlife refuges

National Wildlife Refuges (NWRs) along the East Coast of the United States protect habitat for a host of wildlife species, while also offering storm surge protection, improving water quality, supporting nurseries for commercially important fish and shellfish, and providing recreation opportunities for coastal communities. Yet in the last century, coastal ecosystems in the eastern U.S. have been severely altered by human development activities as well as sea-level rise and more frequent extreme events related to climate change. These influences threaten the ability of NWRs to protect our nation’s natural resources and to sustain their many beneficial services. Through this project, researchers are collaborating with managers of the North Carolina Coastal Refuges Complex, Cape Romain NWR, South Carolina, and other local interested partners to assist with their long-term planning under uncertain conditions regarding sea-level rise and other global change processes. Researchers are using a variety of state-of-the-art approaches, including formal decision science for systematically analyzing management alternatives and scenario planning methods for engaging with stakeholders to explore possible futures. These approaches are aimed at helping NWR staff develop management objectives, identify and weigh potential management actions for adaptation, and generate decision-support tools and models. Outcomes and products from these efforts will aid managers as they plan for and adapt to the complex challenges facing the NWR system as changing climate and other conditions make their work increasingly more difficult.

Final Project Memorandum↗
USGS2012

Data resources for range-wide assessment of livestock grazing across the sagebrush biome

The data contained in this series were compiled, modified, and analyzed for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) report "Range-Wide Assessment of Livestock Grazing Across the Sagebrush Biome." This report can be accessed through the USGS Publications Warehouse (online linkage: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2011/1263/). The dataset contains spatial and tabular data related to Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Grazing Allotments. We reviewed the BLM national grazing allotment spatial dataset available from the GeoCommunicator National Integrated Land System (NILS) website in 2007 (http://www.geocommunicator.gov). We identified several limitations in those data and learned that some BLM State and/or field offices had updated their spatial data to rectify these limitations, but maintained the data outside of NILS. We contacted appropriate BLM offices (State or field, 25 in all) to obtain the most recent data, assessed the data, established a data development protocol, and compiled data into a topologically enforced dataset throughout the area of interest for this project (that is, the pre-settlement distribution of Greater Sage-Grouse in the Western United States). The final database includes three spatial datasets: Allotments (BLM Grazing Allotments), OUT_Polygons (nonallotment polygons used to ensure topology), and Duplicate_Polygon_Allotments. See Appendix 1 of the aforementioned report for complete methods. The tabular data presented here consists of information synthesized by the Land Health Standard (LHS) analysis (Appendix 2), and data obtained from the BLM Rangeland Administration System (http://www.blm.gov/ras/). In 2008, available LHS data for all allotments in all regions were compiled by BLM in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by a private organization. The BLM provided us with a copy of these data. These data provided three major types of information that were of interest: (1) date(s) (if any) of the most recent LHS evaluation for each allotment; (2) whether if evaluated, each region-specific standard (3–8 LHS depending on region) had been met on a given allotment; and (3) whether livestock contributed to any of these standards not being met. A description of how we processed the original data to prepare for analysis is described in Appendix 2, and the synthesized dataset can be found in the table "lhs_x_walk." Permitted use dates, livestock type (horse, sheep or cattle), number of livestock, and Animal Unit Months [the number of animal units (1,000-pound animal equivalents) that can be grazed for 31 days with the available forage in a sustainable manner] are the legal maximum grazing amounts for a given allotment, and legal adjustments to these numbers occur infrequently. We summarized permitted use by BLM allotment in the table "Permitted_Use." Billed use records are used for calculations of permittees' annual grazing bills. We summarized billed use by allotment for BLM grazing year in the table "Billed_Use." All three tables can be joined with the allotment spatial data in a geographic information system (GIS) environment, using the IDENT attribute as the primary key.

Data Series↗
USGS2024

The impact of future changes in climate on breeding waterfowl pairs in the US Prairie Pothole Region

Millions of small (< 10 ha) waterbodies embedded in grassland and agroecosystems in midcontinental North America provide breeding habitat to an estimated 50–80% of North America’s migratory ducks. Tens of millions of dollars are invested annually to conserve and enhance upland and wetland habitats for breeding ducks by prioritizing locations predicted to have high densities of breeding pairs under average precipitation conditions. An implicit assumption of this approach is that the distribution of breeding habitat remains relatively static. Climate change is an identified risk to this strategy. To assess this assumption and plan for potential forthcoming conditions, we estimated changes in potential breeding duck pairs under different climate scenarios by combining results of 1) a mechanistic hydrology model that simulates ecosystem processes for a subset of wetlands distributed across the U.S. Prairie Pothole Region (USPPR); 2) four downscaled climate model projections at mid- and late-century time horizons; and 3) U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service multi-decadal datasets and predictive breeding waterfowl pair statistical models. We conducted virtual and in-person informational sessions with partners to inform them on the best practices of using downscaled global circulation models and approaches for climate scenario planning. This close coordination led to a joint presentation at a monthly North Central Climate Adaptation Science Center seminar. We are also co-developing simulated wetland- waterfowl responses under different climate futures for wetlands. Information from these robust predictions of waterfowl habitat and settling patterns in this region provides land-management agencies insights in prioritizing current conservation actions given uncertainty. In addition, understanding how many breeding pairs the USPPR might support in coming decades will likely influence overall breeding population sizes and sustainable harvest objectives across North America.

Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dak↗
USGS2026

Working group on American Eel (WGAMEEL; outputs from 2024 meeting)

The Working Group on American Eel (WGAMEEL) met virtually three times in 2022-2024 to address the five Terms of Reference (ToRs) of its three-year term. The first two ToRs tasked WGAMEEL with listing and evaluating data on American eel landings, abundance indices, and spatial and habitat data and also to describe assessment methods used in Canada and the US. Canada-wide American eel trajectory was estimated using 12 fishery-independent datasets. Generally, longer datasets had more negative trends than shorter ones. Limiting data to the post-2000 years produced fewer negative trends that did not differ from zero, suggesting the observed declines occurred pre-2000. Spatial modelling for American eel requires knowledge and mapping that covers the breadth of habitat types occupied by the species, including freshwater, estuarine, and marine environments. In recent years there has been an expansion of online databases with data from the aquatic environment, particularly in freshwater, with estuarine and marine data less consistently documented. This report broadly compiles abiotic data series of relevance to American eel. A larger challenge for spatial modelling will be acquiring enough high quality, georeferenced biological data sets with suitable observations to assess occurrence, abundance, and trends over time in a spatial framework. The third ToR considered Indigenous Knowledge Systems for American eel. A survey reaching First Nations representatives from four Canadian provinces confirmed the cultural importance of eels in Indigenous communities, and that Indigenous knowledge possessed by the participant groups are place-based and contextual, especially regarding threats impacting eels. The final two ToRs focused on identifying stock assessment modelling approaches applicable to American and European eel, and assessing whether any of these approaches might be appropriate for American eel management moving forward. WGAMEEL evaluated the various approaches for assessing American eel or providing management advice. Two approaches that could be completed in the next few years because of their minimal data needs are index-based methods and catch-only method. A suite of approaches considered by WGAMEEL that would take more time and data were spatial or habitat models, management strategy evaluation, and spawner-per-recruit (SPR) models potentially paired with meta-population models.

ICES Scientific Reports↗
USGS2007

Ground-Water Flow Model for the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer, Spokane County, Washington, and Bonner and Kootenai Counties, Idaho

This report presents a computer model of ground-water flow in the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie (SVRP) aquifer in Spokane County, Washington, and Bonner and Kootenai Counties, Idaho. The aquifer is the sole source of drinking water for more than 500,000 residents in the area. In response to the concerns about the impacts of increased ground-water withdrawals resulting from recent and projected urban growth, a comprehensive study was initiated by the Idaho Department of Water Resources, the Washington Department of Ecology, and the U.S. Geological Survey to improve the understanding of ground-water flow in the aquifer and of the interaction between ground water and surface water. The ground-water flow model presented in this report is one component of this comprehensive study. The primary purpose of the model is to serve as a tool for analyzing aquifer inflows and outflows, simulating the effects of future changes in ground-water withdrawals from the aquifer, and evaluating aquifer management strategies. The scale of the model and the level of detail are intended for analysis of aquifer-wide water-supply issues. The SVRP aquifer model was developed by the Modeling Team formed within the comprehensive study. The Modeling Team consisted of staff and personnel working under contract with the Idaho Department of Water Resources, personnel working under contract with the Washington Department of Ecology, and staff of the U.S. Geological Survey. To arrive at a final model that has the endorsement of all team members, decisions on modeling approach, methodology, assumptions, and interpretations were reached by consensus. The ground-water flow model MODFLOW-2000 was used to simulate ground-water flow in the SVPR aquifer. The finite-difference model grid consists of 172 rows, 256 columns, and 3 layers. Ground-water flow was simulated from September 1990 through September 2005 using 181 stress periods of 1 month each. The areal extent of the model encompasses an area of approximately 326 square miles. For the most part, the model extent coincides with the 2005 revised extent of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie aquifer as defined in a previous report. However, the model excludes Spirit and Hoodoo Valleys because of uncertainties about the ground-water flow directions in those valleys and the degree of hydraulic connection between the valleys and northern Rathdrum Prairie. The SVRP aquifer is considered to be a single hydrogeologic unit except in Hillyard Trough and the Little Spokane River Arm. In those areas, a continuous clay layer divides the aquifer into an upper, unconfined unit and a lower, confined unit. The model includes all known components of inflows to and outflows from the aquifer. Inflows to the SVRP aquifer include (1) recharge from precipitation, (2) inflows from tributary basins and adjacent uplands, (3) subsurface seepage and surface overflows from lakes that border the aquifer, (4) flow from losing segments of the Spokane River to the aquifer, (5) return percolation from irrigation, and (6) effluent from septic systems. Outflows from the SVRP aquifer include (1) ground-water withdrawals from wells, (2) flow from the aquifer to gaining segments of the Spokane River, (3) aquifer discharge to the Little Spokane River, and (4) subsurface outflow from the lower unit at the western limit of the model area near Long Lake. These inflow and outflow components are represented in the model by using MODFLOW-2000 packages. The parameter-estimation program PEST was used to calibrate the SVRP aquifer model. PEST implements a nonlinear least-squares regression method to estimate model parameters so that the differences between measured and simulated quantities are minimized with respect to an optimal criterion. Calibration data include 1,573 measurements of water levels and 313 measurements of streamflow gains and losses along segments of the Spokane and Little Spokane Rivers. Model parameters estimated during calib

Scientific Investigations Report↗
USGS2012

Use of real-time monitoring to predict concentrations of select constituents in the Menomonee River drainage basin, Southeast Wisconsin, 2008-9

The Menomonee River drainage basin in southeast Wisconsin is undergoing changes that may affect water quality. Several rehabilitation and flood-management projects are underway, including removal of concrete channels and the construction of floodwater retention basins. The city of Waukesha may begin discharging treated wastewater into Underwood Creek, thus approximately doubling the current base-flow discharge. In addition, the headwater basins, historically dominated by agriculture and natural areas, are becoming increasingly urbanized. In an effort to monitor these and future changes to the basin, the U.S. Geological Survey and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District initiated a study in 2008 to develop regression models to estimate real-time concentrations and loads of selected water-quality constituents. Water-quality sensors and automated samplers were installed at five sites in the Menomonee River drainage basin. The sensors continuously measured four explanatory variables: water temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity. Discrete water-quality samples were collected and analyzed for five response variables: chloride, total suspended solids, total phosphorus, Escherichia coli bacteria, and fecal coliform bacteria. Regression models were developed to continuously estimate the response variables on the basis of the explanatory variables. The models to estimate chloride concentrations all used specific conductance as the explanatory variable, except for the model for the Little Menomonee River near Freistadt, which used both specific conductance and turbidity as explanatory variables. Adjusted R 2 values for the chloride models ranged from 0.74 to 0.97. Models to estimate total suspended solids and total phosphorus used turbidity as the only explanatory variable. Adjusted R 2 values ranged from 0.77 to 0.94 for the total suspended solids models and from 0.55 to 0.75 for the total phosphorus models. Models to estimate indicator bacteria used water temperature and turbidity as the explanatory variables, with adjusted R 2 values from 0.54 to 0.69 for Escherichia coli bacteria models and from 0.54 to 0.74 for fecal coliform bacteria models. Dissolved oxygen was not used in any of the final models. These models may help managers measure the effects of land-use changes and improvement projects, establish total maximum daily loads, estimate important water-quality indicators such as bacteria concentrations, and enable informed decision making in the future.

Wisconsin↗
USGS2009

Anacostia River fringe wetlands restoration project: final report for the five-year monitoring program (2003 through 2007)

The 6-hectare (ha) freshwater tidal Anacostia River Fringe Wetlands (Fringe Wetlands) were reconstructed along the mainstem of the Anacostia River in Washington, DC (Photograph 1, Figure 1) during the summer of 2003. The Fringe Wetlands consist of two separate planting cells. Fringe A, located adjacent to Lower Kingman Island, on the west bank of the Anacostia River, occupies 1.6 ha; Fringe B, located on the east bank of the Anacostia River, occupies 4.4 ha. This project is the third in a series of freshwater tidal wetland reconstructions on the Anacostia River designed and implemented by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Baltimore District and District Department of the Environment (DDOE) on lands managed by the National Park Service (NPS). The first was Kenilworth Marsh, reconstructed in 1993 (Syphax and Hammerschlag 2005); the second was Kingman Marsh, reconstructed in 2000 (Hammerschlag et al. 2006). Kenilworth and Kingman were both constructed in low-energy backwaters of the Anacostia. However, the Fringe Wetlands, which were constructed on two pre-existing benches along the high-energy mainstem, required sheet piling to provide protection from erosive impacts of increased flow and volume of water associated with storm events during the establishment phase (Photograph 2). All three projects required the placement of dredged sediment materials to increase elevations enough to support emergent vegetation (Photograph 3). The purpose of all three wetland reconstruction projects was to restore pieces of the once extensive tidal freshwater marsh habitat that bordered the Anacostia River historically, prior to the dredge and fill operations and sea wall installation that took place there in the early to mid-1900's (Photograph 4).

Washington;D.C.↗
USGS1994

Multipurpose Wetlands Phase II/III: final design and ongoing research investigations

The Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD), the Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), and the National Biological Survey (NBS), in consultation with other governmental agencies, the academic community, and environmental groups, are involved in a cooperative wetlands research and demonstration effort. This report reflects progress through the first 3 years of a 5-year program. The goal of the Multipurpose Wetlands Research and Demonstration Project is to evaluate and expand the use of reclaimed water and contaminated ground water through the incorporation of multipurpose constructed wetlands into EMWD's total water resources management program. The focus of the wetlands is the development of design, construction, and operation criteria that will provide a cost-effective and innovative alternative for managing water resources and provide other public benefits in arid areas. The program also recognizes the fact that naturally-occurring wetlands, both coastal and inland, have been disappearing at an alarming rate.

Report↗
USGS1987

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, Coastal Plain Resource Assessment: Report and recommendation to the Congress of the United States and final legislative environmental impact statement

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, in the northeastern corner of Alaska, was first established as the Arctic National Wildlife Range by Public Land Order 2214 in 1960, for the purpose of preserving unique wildlife, wilderness, and recreational values. The original 8.9-millionacre Range was withdrawn from all forms of appropriation under the public land laws, including mining laws but not including mineral leasing laws. This order culminated extensive efforts begun more than a decade earlier to preserve this unique part of Alaska. The following report analyzes the potential environmental consequences of five management alternatives for the coastal plain, ranging from opening for lease of the entire area for oil and gas development, to wilderness designation. A legislative environmental impact statement has been integrated into the report.

Alaska↗
USGS2024

Water-quality constituent concentrations and loads computed using real-time water-quality data for the Republican River, Clay Center, Kansas, August 2018 through July 2023

Milford Lake, the largest reservoir by surface area in Kansas, has had confirmed harmful algal blooms every summer since reporting began in 2011, except 2018–19. Milford Lake has been listed as impaired and designated hypereutrophic under section 303(d) of the 1972 Clean Water Act. In 2014, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment established a total maximum daily load for eutrophication and dissolved oxygen impairments. In 2018, the Natural Resources Conservation Service funded the Regional Conservation Partnership Program for the Milford Lake Watershed to focus on best management practices in the Lower Republican River Basin. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kansas Water Office, completed this study to assess and quantify water-quality constituent concentrations and loads for total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and suspended sediment (SS) using previously published models for the Republican River near Clay Center, Kansas (U.S. Geological Survey station 06856600), about 15 miles upstream from Milford Lake, during August 1, 2018, through July 31, 2023. TN, TP, and SS concentrations and loads were monitored because of their relation to water supply and water-quality issues in Milford Lake, including nutrient and sediment transport, taste-and-odor events, potentially toxic cyano-harmful algal bloom events, and subsequent downstream transport of contaminants. Data from this report can be used to evaluate changing conditions, provide science-based information for decision making, and help meet regulatory requirements. The study mean annual loads for TN and TP were greater than the reported mean annual total maximum daily load and exceeded the watershed reduction goals as well as Kansas nonpoint source reduction goals defined by the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy for the Lower Republican watershed. TN and TP annual loads during 2019–20 were greater than the defined mean annual total maximum daily load. During 2022, TN and TP annual loads were less than the Kansas nonpoint source reduction goal and during 2023 were less than the watershed reduction goal. SS loads were less than the mean annual sedimentation rate computed from the total maximum daily load for the entirety of the study period, and the study mean annual load was 72 percent less than the designed annual reservoir sedimentation rate for Milford Lake. Data collected during the study period represented a wide range of streamflow and water-quality conditions at the Clay Center site, ranging from low-flow with less frequent runoff during 2023 to high-flow with frequent runoff during 2018. Nutrient reduction goals were only met in the final 2 years of the study period when annual mean flow conditions were lower than normal, indicating that goals may be unattainable during average or high-flow conditions. In all years except 2019, the annual mean SS load was less than the 20-year sediment load reduction target. Although annual SS loads at the Clay Center site generally decreased over time, corresponding reductions in annual streamflow indicated that these reductions may primarily be related to less frequent runoff from the upstream basin. Continued water-quality monitoring and tracking of best management practices are necessary to understand the success of Regional Conservation Partnership Program efforts to reduce nutrient transport in the Milford Lake Watershed.

Kansas↗