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USGS2012

The National Land Cover Database

The National Land Cover Database (NLCD) serves as the definitive Landsat-based, 30-meter resolution, land cover database for the Nation. NLCD provides spatial reference and descriptive data for characteristics of the land surface such as thematic class (for example, urban, agriculture, and forest), percent impervious surface, and percent tree canopy cover. NLCD supports a wide variety of Federal, State, local, and nongovernmental applications that seek to assess ecosystem status and health, understand the spatial patterns of biodiversity, predict effects of climate change, and develop land management policy. NLCD products are created by the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics (MRLC) Consortium, a partnership of Federal agencies led by the U.S. Geological Survey. All NLCD data products are available for download at no charge to the public from the MRLC Web site: http://www.mrlc.gov.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2012

Land-use and land-cover scenarios and spatial modeling at the regional scale

Land-use and land-cover (LULC) change has altered a large part of the earth's surface. Scenarios of potential future LULC change are required in order to better manage potential impacts on biodiversity, carbon fluxes, climate change, hydrology, and many other ecological processes. The U.S. Geological Survey is analyzing potential future LULC change in the United States, using an approach based on scenario construction and spatially explicit modeling. Similar modeling techniques are being used to produce historical LULC maps from 1940 to present. With the combination of backcast and forecast LULC data, the USGS is providing consistent LULC data for historical, current, and future time frames to support a variety of research applications.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2012

The state of amphibians in the United States

More than 25 years ago, scientists began to identify unexplained declines in amphibian populations around the world. Much has been learned since then, but amphibian declines have not abated and the interactions among the various threats to amphibians are not clear. Amphibian decline is a problem of local, national, and international scope that can affect ecosystem function, biodiversity, and commerce. This fact sheet provides a snapshot of the state of the amphibians and introduces examples to illustrate the range of issues in the United States.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2013

Fort Collins Science Center Ecosystem Dynamics branch--interdisciplinary research for addressing complex natural resource issues across landscapes and time

The Ecosystem Dynamics Branch of the Fort Collins Science Center offers an interdisciplinary team of talented and creative scientists with expertise in biology, botany, ecology, geology, biogeochemistry, physical sciences, geographic information systems, and remote-sensing, for tackling complex questions about natural resources. As demand for natural resources increases, the issues facing natural resource managers, planners, policy makers, industry, and private landowners are increasing in spatial and temporal scope, often involving entire regions, multiple jurisdictions, and long timeframes. Needs for addressing these issues include (1) a better understanding of biotic and abiotic ecosystem components and their complex interactions; (2) the ability to easily monitor, assess, and visualize the spatially complex movements of animals, plants, water, and elements across highly variable landscapes; and (3) the techniques for accurately predicting both immediate and long-term responses of system components to natural and human-caused change. The overall objectives of our research are to provide the knowledge, tools, and techniques needed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, state agencies, and other stakeholders in their endeavors to meet the demand for natural resources while conserving biodiversity and ecosystem services. Ecosystem Dynamics scientists use field and laboratory research, data assimilation, and ecological modeling to understand ecosystem patterns, trends, and mechanistic processes. This information is used to predict the outcomes of changes imposed on species, habitats, landscapes, and climate across spatiotemporal scales. The products we develop include conceptual models to illustrate system structure and processes; regional baseline and integrated assessments; predictive spatial and mathematical models; literature syntheses; and frameworks or protocols for improved ecosystem monitoring, adaptive management, and program evaluation. The descriptions in this fact sheet provide snapshots of our three research emphases, followed by descriptions of select current projects.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2013

Consequences of land use and land cover change

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Climate and Land Use Change Mission Area is one of seven USGS mission areas that focuses on making substantial scientific "...contributions to understanding how Earth systems interact, respond to, and cause global change". Using satellite and other remotely sensed data, USGS scientists monitor patterns of land cover change over space and time at regional, national, and global scales. These data are analyzed to understand the causes and consequences of changing land cover, such as economic impacts, effects on water quality and availability, the spread of invasive species, habitats and biodiversity, carbon fluctuations, and climate variability. USGS scientists are among the leaders in the study of land cover, which is a term that generally refers to the vegetation and artificial structures that cover the land surface. Examples of land cover include forests, grasslands, wetlands, water, crops, and buildings. Land use involves human activities that take place on the land. For example, "grass" is a land cover, whereas pasture and recreational parks are land uses that produce a cover of grass.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2013

PAD-US—National inventory of protected areas

The Gap Analysis Project produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity conservation, renewable energy development, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment. The Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US) is the official inventory of public parks and other protected open space. Consisting of more than 7 billion acres in 436,000 land and marine units, the spatial data in PAD–US include areas managed by greater than 30,000 agencies and nonprofit organizations.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2013

Species data: National inventory of range maps and distribution models

The Gap Analysis Project (GAP) produces data and tools that help meet critical national challenges such as biodiversity conservation, renewable energy development, climate change adaptation, and infrastructure investment. The GAP species data includes vertebrate range maps and distribution models for the continental United States, as well as Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands. The vertebrate species include amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles. Furthermore, data used to create the distribution models (for example, percent canopy cover, elevation, and so forth) also are available.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2015

Species occurrence data for the nation

USGS Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON) is a unique, web-based Federal mapping resource for species occurrence data in the United States and its Territories. BISON’s size is unprecedented, including records for most living species found in the United States and encompassing the efforts of more than a million professional and citizen scientists. Most of BISON’s species occurrence records are specific locations, not just county or State records.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2017

Early action to address an emerging wildlife disease

A deadly fungal pathogen, Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans ( Bsal ) that affects amphibian skin was discovered during a die-off of European fire salamanders ( Salamandra salamandra ) in 2014. This pathogen has the potential to worsen already severe worldwide amphibian declines. Bsal is a close relative to another fungal disease known as Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ( Bd ). Many scientists consider Bd to be the greatest threat to amphibian biodiversity of any disease because it affects a large number of species and has the unusual ability to drive species and populations to extinction. Although not yet detected in the United States, the emergence of Bsal could threaten the salamander population, which is the most diverse in the world. The spread of Bsal likely will lead to more State and federally listed threatened or endangered amphibian species, and associated economic effects. Because of the concern expressed by resource management agencies, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has made Bsal and similar pathogens a priority for research.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2021

Visualizing proximity of non-native species to protected areas of the United States—A proximity visualization tool for BISON

The Proximity Visualization Tool is a simple lightweight tool that can be placed on web pages that allows users to identify non-native species near Department of Interior lands. The tool works by accessing the more than 400 million species occurrence records in the Biodiversity Information Serving Our Nation (BISON) database using the BISON Application Programming Interface (API).

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2023

Help build the Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US)

Introduction PAD-US provides a comprehensive geospatial database of protected and managed areas in the United States. We assemble known protected areas whose primary purpose is biodiversity conservation, as well as lands and waters that provide public access to nature. As a National Geospatial Data Asset (https://ngda-portfolio-community-geoplatform. hub.arcgis.com/), the PAD-US database (https://www.usgs.gov/programs/gap-analysis-project/science/protected-areas) is an aggregation of land and water management boundaries provided by authoritative sources and standardized into a common format

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2025

Foundational science in flight—USGS bird programs support conservation, culture, and a thriving U.S. economy

Birds are vital to our economy, ecosystems, and cultural heritage. Investing in bird conservation benefits communities, businesses, and working lands while reinforcing our nation’s legacy of stewardship and biodiversity. By valuing birds, we ensure a richer, healthier, and more vibrant future for all Americans. The USGS leads two national bird monitoring programs Thriving bird populations contribute over $ 100 billion in related purchases to the U.S. economy annually, helping to support 1.4 million jobs and $ 90 billion in labor-related income. Across our nation, Federal and State wildlife agencies, Flyway Councils, non-governmental organizations, and more consider data from the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Bird Banding Laboratory (BBL) and Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) to be critical to meeting their mandates to set healthy harvest levels and in identifying species of conservation need. However, without stable and sufficient resources for the BBL and BBS, the capacity to monitor and address the rapidly evolving needs of migratory bird populations is at risk, jeopardizing the foundation of collaborative conservation efforts across North America.

Fact Sheet↗
USGS2023

Species management research program [postcard]

Executive Summary Our nation’s fish and wildlife species face increasingly complex threats and challenges. Ensuring a healthy future for these species benefits all Americans, contributing to the abundance of our food supply, the well-being of diverse cultures and communities, and the future of biodiverse ecosystems. The U.S. Geological Survey Species Management Research Program (SMRP) plays a critical role in achieving that future by delivering targeted research and foundational scientific services needed to conserve fish and wildlife in a changing world.

General Information Product↗
USGS2000

Elk-effects vegetation monitoring program for Tomales Point Elk Range, Point Reyes National Seashore, California

The monitoring program for elk effects on Tomales Point vegetation is designed to provide information on how tule elk grazing affects plant communities and rare species. The basic objective of the program is to show whether the elk are driving the vegetation into an unacceptable state by their grazing. The expectation is that as elk numbers increase, grazing pressure will increase too, resulting in unacceptable levels of any or all of the following: low vegetation ground cover, poor nutritional quality for the elk, undesirable increases in weedy species, unacceptable loss of native plant biodiversity, population declines in rare plants, population declines in plants used for food and nectar by the endangered silverspot butterfly, and increased erosion. The monitoring program has 3 basic components designed to provide complementary information on different aspects of the elk-vegetation system. Long-term plant community monitoring along permanent transects will show how plant species composition and cover are changing since cattle removal in 1979, and it will show whether any of he undesirable traits listed above are developing in the vegetation. However, monitoring these transects alone will not tell us what the effects of continued grazing by elk are apart from changes the vegetation would be undergoing anyway. In order to tease apart the elk effects from change that is happening because of cattle removal, elk exclosures are needed. By sampling inside and outside exclosures, we will be able to see how elk are modifying the rates and directions of change in the vegetation that would be happening in their absence. In a sense, the exclosures serve as a “check” on elk effects. They will allow us to interpret how much of the change is due to elk and how much can be attributed to other processes such as natural succession or weather patterns. This information will allow us to analyze whether changing elk management will have a desirable effect on the vegetation. Finally, periodic mapping and counting of plants in rare plant populations will show whether plant population ranges are expanding and populations are stable or growing. If not, then management actions can be taken to improve habitat conditions for the plants. A general summary of the rationale and sample design for each of the 3 components of the elk-effects monitoring program follows. Field sampling for the entire program should require about 15 weeks for a 2 to 3- person team, and data processing, analysis, and report writing should require about 9 weeks. Time and labor estimates for this program are given in Table A-1. In addition to elk-effects monitoring, Point Reyes staff periodically monitor fire transects and residual dry matter plots on Tomales Point. They are not included as part of the elk-effects monitoring program and they are described elsewhere. Protocols for fire and residual dry matter sampling are not included in the time estimate for the elk- effects monitoring program.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2000

2nd interface between ecology and land development in California

The 2nd Interface Between Ecology and Land Development Conference was held in association with Earth Day 1997, five years after the first Interface Conference. Rapid population growth in California has intensified the inevitable conflict between land development and preservation of natural ecosystems. Sustainable development requires wise use of diminishing natural resources and, where possible, restoration of damaged landscapes. These Earth Week Celebrations brought together resource managers, scientists, politicians, environmental consultants, and concerned citizens in an effort to improve the communication necessary to maintain our natural biodiversity, ecosystem processes and general quality of life. As discussed by our keynote speaker, Michael Soule, the best predictor of habitat loss is population growth and nowhere is this better illustrated than in California. As urban perimeters expand, the interface between wildlands and urban areas increases. Few problems are more vexing than how to manage the fire prone ecosystems indigenous to California at this urban interface. Today resource managers face increasing challenges of dealing with this problem and the lead-off section of the proceedings considers both the theoretical basis for making decisions related to prescribed burning and the practical application. Habitat fragmentation is an inevitable consequence of development patterns with significant impacts on animal and plant populations. Managers must be increasingly resourceful in dealing with problems of fragmentation and the often inevitable consequences, including susceptibility to invasive oganisms. One approach to dealing with fragmentation problems is through careful landplanning. California is the national leader in the integration of conservation and economics. On Earth Day 1991, Governor Pete Wilson presented an environmental agenda that promised to create between land owners and environmentalists, agreements that would guarantee the protection of -endangered species and out of this grew the pioneering initiative, known as the Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) program. California's vast expanse of seemingly endless resources has traditionally been viewed as justification for abusive land use practices. The modem day recognition that resources are finite has led to greater concern, not only for conserving what is left, but for restoring abused landscapes. Ecological restoration is a new science devoted to returning disturbed environments to a semblance of their 'pristine' state. Based on principles of 'revegetation,' restoration goes far beyond simple replanting, rather the ambition of ecological restoration is to return landscapes to functioning ecosystems and is the focus of the last section.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2001

GRA prospectus: optimizing design and management of protected areas

Protected areas comprise one major type of global conservation effort that has been in the form of parks, easements, or conservation concessions. Though protected areas are increasing in number and size throughout tropical ecosystems, there is no systematic method for optimally targeting specific local areas for protection, designing the protected area, and monitoring it, or for guiding follow-up actions to manage it or its surroundings over the long run. Without such a system, conservation projects often cost more than necessary and/or risk protecting ecosystems and biodiversity less efficiently than desired. Correcting these failures requires tools and strategies for improving the placement, design, and long-term management of protected areas. The objective of this project is to develop a set of spatially based analytical tools to improve the selection, design, and management of protected areas. In this project, several conservation concessions will be compared using an economic optimization technique. The forest land use portfolio model is an integrated assessment that measures investment in different land uses in a forest. The case studies of individual tropical ecosystems are developed as forest (land) use and preservation portfolios in a geographic information system (GIS). Conservation concessions involve a private organization purchasing development and resource access rights in a certain area and retiring them. Forests are put into conservation, and those people who would otherwise have benefited from extracting resources or selling the right to do so are compensated. Concessions are legal agreements wherein the exact amount and nature of the compensation result from a negotiated agreement between an agent of the conservation community and the local community. Funds are placed in a trust fund, and annual payments are made to local communities and regional/national governments. The payments are made pending third-party verification that the forest expanse and quality have been maintained.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2004

Surficial Geologic Map of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Region, Tennessee and North Carolina

The Surficial Geology of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Region, Tennessee and North Carolina was mapped from 1993 to 2003 under a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Park Service (NPS). This 1:100,000-scale digital geologic map was compiled from 2002 to 2003 from unpublished field investigations maps at 1:24,000-scale. The preliminary surficial geologic data and map support cooperative investigations with NPS, the U.S. Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (http://www.dlia.org/) (Southworth, 2001). Although the focus of our work was within the Park, the geology of the surrounding area is provided for regional context. Surficial deposits document the most recent part of the geologic history of this part of the western Blue Ridge and eastern Tennessee Valley of the Valley and Ridge of the Southern Appalachians. Additionally, there is great variety of surficial materials, which directly affect the different types of soil and associated flora and fauna. The surficial deposits accumulated over tens of millions of years under varied climatic conditions during the Cenozoic era and resulted from a composite of geologic processes.

North Carolina, Tennessee↗
USGS2005

Generalized geologic map of bedrock lithologies and surficial deposits in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park region, Tennessee and North Carolina

The geology of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP) region of Tennessee and North Carolina was studied from 1993 to 2003 as part of a cooperative investigation with the National Park Service (NPS). This work has been compiled as a 1:100,000-scale map derived from mapping done at 1:24,000 and 1:62,500 scale. The geologic data are intended to support cooperative investigations with NPS, the development of a new soil map by the Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory ( http://www.discoverlifeinamerica.org/ ). At the request of NPS, we mapped areas previously not visited, revised the geology where stratigraphic and structural problems existed, and developed a map database for use in interdisciplinary research, land management, and interpretive programs for park visitors.

North Carolina, Tennessee↗