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At least 1,099 records · Page 61Linked to original sources
USGS2010

Legal mechanisms for protecting riparian resource values

Riparian resources include the borders of rivers, lakes, ponds, and potholes. These border areas are very important for a number of reasons, including stream channel maintenance, flood control, aesthetics, erosion control, fish and wildlife habitat, recreation, and water quality maintenance. These diverse functions are not well protected by law or policy. We reviewed law and policies regarding endangered species habitat designation, land use planning, grazing management, water allocation, takings, and federal permits and licenses, along with the roles of federal, state, and local governments. We discuss the politics of implementing these policies, focusing on the difficulties in changing entrenched water and land use practices. Our review indicates a lack of direct attention to riparian ecosystem issues in almost all environmental and land use programs at every level of government. Protection of riparian resource values requires a means to integrate existing programs to focus on riparian zones.

Water Resources Research↗
USGS2010

Economic basis of resource information systems: The case of streamflow network design

A general method for the economic design of natural resource information systems is presented for a certain class of natural phenomena. The system design is determined by the interaction of the technical input‐output relationship, i.e., the production function, the set of resource constraints, and an economic loss function defined in terms of parameter uncertainty. An application of the proposed method to streamflow network design is presented. Results of this analysis indicate that the method is fairly robust with respect to the assumptions. Observations are made which suggest extensions to flood measurement networks, long‐term precipitation networks, and seismic observation network design.

Water Resources Research↗
USGS1999

Diversifying natural resources value measurements: The Trinity River study

An interdisciplinary team set out to establish the economic and social values of the Trinity River in northern California . This information was intended to support the Secretary of the Interior's decision on allocation of Trinity River flows . This team set out to measure the values of Trinity River flows , fishery resources , and rec reation amenities in several different ways . A survey was mailed to users of the Trinity River . This single instrument included economic measures ( willingness - to pay and costs incurred in visiting ) and social - psychological measures ( importance , satisfaction , and water allocation preferences ). A closely related survey measured several of these same values among west coast regional households . The results of these surveys were compiled , and the measured economic and social values were compared . We found that integrating economic and social value information pro vides a greater depth of understanding of the resource's value . In addition , this integration provides a more in - depth understanding through the quantitative and qualitative results that emerge.

Society and Natural Resources↗
USGS2016

Emerging tools for continuous nutrient monitoring networks: Sensors advancing science and water resources protection

Sensors and enabling technologies are becoming increasingly important tools for water quality monitoring and associated water resource management decisions. In particular, nutrient sensors are of interest because of the well-known adverse effects of nutrient enrichment on coastal hypoxia, harmful algal blooms, and impacts to human health. Accurate and timely information on nutrient concentrations and loads is integral to strategies designed to minimize risk to humans and manage the underlying drivers of water quality impairment. Using nitrate sensors as an example, we highlight the types of applications in freshwater and coastal environments that are likely to benefit from continuous, real-time nutrient data. The concurrent emergence of new tools to integrate, manage and share large data sets is critical to the successful use of nutrient sensors and has made it possible for the field of continuous nutrient monitoring to rapidly move forward. We highlight several near-term opportunities for Federal agencies, as well as the broader scientific and management community, that will help accelerate sensor development, build and leverage sites within a national network, and develop open data standards and data management protocols that are key to realizing the benefits of a large-scale, integrated monitoring network. Investing in these opportunities will provide new information to guide management and policies designed to protect and restore our nation’s water resources.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2017

A hydrologic drying bias in water-resource impact analyses of anthropogenic climate change

For water-resource planning, sensitivity of freshwater availability to anthropogenic climate change (ACC) often is analyzed with “offline” hydrologic models that use precipitation and potential evapotranspiration ( E p ) as inputs. Because E p is not a climate-model output, an intermediary model of E p must be introduced to connect the climate model to the hydrologic model. Several E p methods are used. The suitability of each can be assessed by noting a credible E p method for offline analyses should be able to reproduce climate models’ ACC-driven changes in actual evapotranspiration in regions and seasons of negligible water stress ( E w ). We quantified this ability for seven commonly used E p methods and for a simple proportionality with available energy (“energy-only” method). With the exception of the energy-only method, all methods tend to overestimate substantially the increase in E p associated with ACC. In an offline hydrologic model, the E p -change biases produce excessive increases in actual evapotranspiration ( E ), whether the system experiences water stress or not, and thence strong negative biases in runoff change, as compared to hydrologic fluxes in the driving climate models. The runoff biases are comparable in magnitude to the ACC-induced runoff changes themselves. These results suggest future hydrologic drying (wetting) trends likely are being systematically and substantially overestimated (underestimated) in many water-resource impact analyses.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2023

The usability gap in water resources open data and actionable science initiatives

The open data movement represents a major advancement for informed water management. Data that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable—or FAIR —are now prerequisite to responsible data stewardship. In contrast to FAIR, accessibility and usability case studies and guidelines designed around human access and understanding are lacking in the literature, especially for water resources. Such decision support guidelines are critical because (i) inherent visual design trade-offs are not best made using intuition or feedback (perceived preference), and (ii) choosing designs requires a nuanced understanding of why and how the design works (revealed effectiveness). Thus, the goal of this commentary is to highlight knowledge gaps and discuss a general usability testing method which can be applied to any water resources decision support product. The user-testing approach includes (i) interviews about visualization goals, audiences, and the uses and decisions made with the data products, (ii) diagnosis of usability challenges, and (iii) redesign of decision support products given best practices and control versus treatment with intended end-user audiences. We illustrate the method using high-profile U.S. Geological Survey water science products. In sum, optimizing and testing for usability and understandability are as central to stakeholder use as FAIR standards are, and warrant being part of the development of data products and geovisualizations.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2023

A new genomic resource to enable standardized surveys of SNPs across the native range of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)

Understanding how genetic diversity is distributed across spatiotemporal scales in species of conservation or management concern is critical for identifying large-scale mechanisms affecting local conservation status and implementing large-scale biodiversity monitoring programmes. However, cross-scale surveys of genetic diversity are often impractical within single studies, and combining datasets to increase spatiotemporal coverage is frequently impeded by using different sets of molecular markers. Recently developed molecular tools make surveys based on standardized single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panels more feasible than ever, but require existing genomic information. Here, we conduct the first survey of genome-wide SNPs across the native range of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), a cold-adapted species that has been the focus of considerable conservation and management effort across eastern North America. Our dataset can be leveraged to easily design SNP panels that allow datasets to be combined for large-scale analyses. We performed restriction site-associated DNA sequencing for wild brook trout from 82 locations spanning much of the native range and domestic brook trout from 24 hatchery strains used in stocking efforts. We identified over 24,000 SNPs distributed throughout the brook trout genome. We explored the ability of these SNPs to resolve relationships across spatial scales, including population structure and hatchery admixture. Our dataset captures a wide spectrum of genetic diversity in native brook trout, offering a valuable resource for developing SNP panels. We highlight potential applications of this resource with the goal of increasing the integration of genomic information into decision-making for brook trout and other species of conservation or management concern.

Molecular Ecology Resources↗
USGS2007

Regional impact of water resource investments in an developing area

Regional development and industrialization patterns are investigated and related via regression analysis to water resource investments for the island of Puerto Rico. Although results of this study indicate such investments have little immediate or short‐term impact, significant relationships and variations in regional responses appear over longer time periods. This is shown by applying a variation of Zellner's method of performing seemingly unrelated regressions jointly. By this method, subsets of parameter coefficients of specific economic variables were restricted across regional equations while unrestricted coefficients were interpreted as explaining systematic regional variations in response to public investment. Regional differences, obtained by using this method, are frequently neglected when simply examining the overall development process. Among the more interesting results in terms of policy implications is the apparent significant relationship, over the period considered, between changes in the distribution of income and the pattern of water resource development.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS1983

Maps showing selected geology and phosphate resources of the Upper Valley quadrangle, Caribou County, Idaho

This report summarizes information on the thickness, grade, lateral continuity, phosphate resources, and ownership of phosphate-bearing units in the Meade Peak Phosphatic Shale Member of the Phosphoria Formation in the Upper Valley quadrangle. This report is one of a series of quadrangle reports prepared by the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology under U.S. Geological Survey cost-sharing contract #14-08-0001-17925 to calculate phosphate resources in southeastern Idaho (fig. 1).

Idaho↗
USGS1984

Maps showing selected geology and phosphate resources of the Stewart Flat quadrangle, Caribou County, Idaho

This report summarizes information on the thickness, grade, lateral continuity, phosphate resources, and ownership of phosplate-bearing units in the Meade Peak Phosphatic Shale Member of the Phosphoria Formation in the Stewart Flat quadrangle. This report is one of a series of quadrangle reports prepared by the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology under U.S. Geological Survey cost sharing contract # 14-08-0001-17925 to calculate phosphate resources in southeastern Idaho (fig. 1).

Idaho↗
USGS1984

Maps showing selected geology and phosphate resources of the Sage Valley quadrangle, Caribou County, Idaho

This report summarizes information on the thickness, grade, lateral continuity, phosphate resources, and ownership of phosphate-bearing units in the Meade Peak Phosphatic Shale Member of the Phosphoria Formation in the Sage Valley quadrangle. This report is one of a series of quadrangle reports prepared by the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology under U.S. Geological Survey costsharing contract #1408-0001-17925 to calculate phosphate resources in southeastern Idaho (fig. 1).

Idaho↗
USGS1985

Maps showing selected geology and phosphate resources of the Snowdrift Mountain quadrangle, Bear Lake and Caribou Counties, Idaho

This report summarizes information on the thickness grade, lateral continuity, phosphate resources, and ownership of phosphate bearing units in the Meade Park Phosphatic Shale Member of the Phosphoria Formation in the Snowdrift Mountain quadrangle. This report is one of a series of quadrangle reports prepared by the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology under U.S. Geological Survey cost-sharing contract #14-08-0001-17925 to calculate phosphate resources in southeastern Idaho (fig.1).

Idaho↗
USGS1985

Maps showing selected geology and phosphate resources of the Meade Peak quadrangle, Bear Lake and Caribou Counties, Idaho

This report summarizes information on the thickness, grade, lateral continuity, phosphate resources, and ownership of phosphate-bearing units in the Meade Peak Phosphatic Shale Member of the Phosphoria Formation in the Meade Peak quadrangle. This report is one of a series of quadrangle reports prepared by the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology under U.S. Geological Survey cost-sharing contract #14-08-0001-17925 to calculate phosphate resources in southeastern Idaho (fig. 1).

Idaho↗
USGS1984

Maps showing selected geology and phosphate resources of the Diamond Flat quadrangle, Caribou County, Idaho

This report summarizes information on the thickness, grade, lateral continuity, phosphate resources, and ownership of phosphate-bearing units in the Meade Peak Phosphatic Shale Member of the Phosphoria Formation in the Diamond Flat quadrangle. This report is one of a series of quadrangle reports prepared by the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology under U.S. Geological Survey cost-sharing contract #14-08-0001-17925 to calculate phosphate resources in southeastern Idaho (fig. 1).

Idaho↗
USGS1985

Maps showing selected geology and phosphate resources of the Johnson Creek quadrangle, Caribou County, Idaho

This report summarizes information on the thickness, grade, lateral continuity, phosphate resources, and ownership of phosphate-bearing units in the Meade Peak Phosphatic Shale Member of the Phosphoria Formation in the Johnson Creek quadrangle. This report is one of a series of quadrangle reports prepared by the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology under U.S. Geological Survey cost-sharing contract #14-08-0001-17925 to calculate phosphate resources in southeastern Idaho (fig. 1).

Idaho↗
USGS1984

Maps showing selected geology and phosphate resources of the Fossil Canyon quadrangle, Bear Lake and Caribou Counties, Idaho

This report summarizes information on the thickness, grade, lateral continuity, phosphate resources, and ownership of phosphate-bearing units in the Meade Peak Phosphatic Shale Member of the Phosphoria Formation in the Fossil Canyon quadrangle. This report is one of a series of quadrangle reports prepared by the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology under U.S. Geological Survey cost-sharing contract #14-08-0001-17925 to calculate phosphate resources in southeastern Idaho (fig. 1).

Idaho↗
USGS1999

1999 Resource assessment of selected Tertiary coal beds and zones in the northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains region

The USGS has assessed resources of selected coal of the Fort Union Formation and equivalent units in the Northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains region. The assessment focused on coal in the Powder River, Williston, Hanna-Carbon, and Greater Green River basins most likely to be utilized in the next few decades. In other basins in the region Tertiary coal resources are summarized but not assessed. Disc 1, in PDF files, includes results of the assessment and chapters on coal geology, quantity and quality, and land use and ownership. Disc 2 provides GIS files for land use and ownership maps and geologic maps, and basic GIS data for the assessed basins. ArcView shapefiles, PDF files for cross sections and TIFF files are included along with ArcView Datapublisher software for Windows-based computer systems.

Colorado, Montana, Wyoming↗
USGS1977

Water resources data for California, water year 1976; Volume 1: Colorado River basin, southern Great Basin from Mexican border to Mono Lake basin, and Pacific Slope basins from Tijuana River to Santa Maria River

Water-resources data for the 1976 water year for California consist of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes and reservoirs; records of water levels in selected observation wells; and selected chemical analyses of ground water. Records for a few pertinent streamflow and water-quality stations in bordering States are also included. The records were collected and computed by the Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey under the direction of Lee R. Peterson, district chief; Winchell Smith, assistant district chief for hydrologic data; and Leonard N. Jorgensen, chief of the basic-data section. These data, a contribution to the National Water Data System, were collected by the Geological Survey and cooperating local, State, and Federal agencies in California.

California↗