We hope you will enjoy learning about the variety of ecosystems and species we are studying throughout the United States. We are part of the Northwest Region of the USGS and our scientists work on diverse issues such as wildlife health, invasive species, climate, endangered species and much more. Click on Science to begin exploring the places we go and the species and landscapes we study.
University of Montana Western's Spruce Schoenemann presents: A full Holocene record of water isotopes from syngenetic pore ice in central Yukon Territory
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LiDAR Tree VolesCheck out our most up-to-date data, events and science.
Flattop Mountain Snowpack Data for Water Year 2017
Glacier Repeat Photography Project
NOROCK ScienceThe U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Land Management today released a collaborative report with new information and tools to support effective management of millions of acres of BLM public lands. The report underscores the value of a landscape approach to management, and shows that the BLM manages some of the largest areas of intact public lands in the west.
"It’s a grand slam for all involved,” said Dawn Childs, USGS Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units. “Recent high school graduates with special needs get real-world experience while helping USGS scientists on projects ranging from grizzly bears and energy to historic documents and bird migration. And a school system gets to successfully train students to enter the workforce."
USGS has many partnerships, both foreign and domestic, that enhance our science capabilities, provide needed support to others, and expand our ability to serve the global community. One little-known partnership that serves both foreign and domestic needs is the USGS science support to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) - U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM).
Glacier mass balance measurements help to provide an understanding of the behavior of glaciers and their response to local and regional climate. In 2005 the United States Geological Survey established a surface mass balance monitoring program on Sperry Glacier, Montana, USA. This project is the first quantitative study of mass changes of a glacier in the US northern Rocky Mountains and continues...
Reliable detection of nonnative alleles is crucial for the conservation of sensitive native fish populations at risk of introgression. Typically, nonnative alleles in a population are detected through the analysis of genetic markers in a sample of individuals. Here we show that common assumptions associated with such analyses yield substantial overestimates of the likelihood of detecting...
Conservation biologists recognize that a system of isolated protected areas will be necessary but insufficient to meet biodiversity objectives. Current approaches to connecting core conservation areas through corridors consider optimal corridor placement based on a single optimization goal: commonly, maximizing the movement for a target species across a network of protected areas. We show that...