This document is also available in pdf format:*fs-013-99.pdf*Idaho
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been assessing, mapping, and reportingon Idaho's earth resources for more than 100 years. Ongoing USGS programs inIdaho include geochemical and biological investigations, topographic andgeologic mapping, surface- and ground-water data collection, and mineralexploration (fig. 1). The USGS contributes to the health, safety, and economicwell-being of Idaho's citizens through each of these programs and throughcooperative efforts with local, State, and other Federal agencies, as well asuniversities and other public organizations.

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**Figure 1.** USGS activities extend throughout Idaho and cover a broad range of topics.

The USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center is headquartered inOregon but has field stations in several Western States, including the USGSSnake River Field Station in Boise. The station's research staff maintainsstrong cooperative ties with Boise State University, which serves as the fieldstation's host institution. Other important partners include the Bureau ofLand Management (BLM), the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Idaho StateUniversity, the University of Idaho, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service-BoiseOffice, and The Peregrine Fund, Inc.

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**Figure 2.**  A golden eagle returns to its      nest on the edge of a cliff in the Snake River Birds of Prey National       Conservation Area, Idaho.The USGS has played a major role during the last 10 years in assessing theeffects of military training, wildfires, and livestock grazing on a NationalConservation Area for birds of prey. Birds of prey, also known as raptors,include hawks, eagles, and falcons (fig. 2). The Snake River Birds of PreyNational Conservation Area in southwestern Idaho consists of 481,855 acres (753square miles) of public lands managed by the BLM. This Conservation Area, whichincludes an 80-mile stretch of the Snake River Canyon and the surroundingshrub-steppe rangeland, supports one of the highest densities of nesting raptorsin the world. Parts of it continue to be used for National Guard training andlivestock grazing. These activities, combined with invasions of nonnative plantssuch as cheatgrass, have altered the pattern of wildfires in the ConservationArea. USGS researchers have found that areas that had burned since 1980 wereassociated with increased dominance by exotic annual vegetation, which is highlysusceptible to fire and drought. Loss of shrublands and larger fluctuations inhabitat conditions can seriously influence prey and raptor populations.
The USGS Snake River Field Station has an extensive collection of literatureon birds of prey, which is housed at the station's Richard R. OlendorffMemorial Library. The Raptor Information System, a database describing thelibrary's collection, is accessible on the World Wide Web at http://www.ris.idbsu.edu. Because of extensive capability with raptor research, USGS staff commonlyresponds to national requests for information and other forms of assistance. Thecoordination of a national survey of bald eagles exemplifies this type ofassistance. Nationwide counts of bald eagles were coordinated by the NationalWildlife Federation from 1979 until 1992, when the Snake River Field Stationassumed responsibility for overseeing this activity. The objective of the surveyis to determine long-term trends in wintering populations of bald eagles. Inaddition to coordinating ongoing surveys, the USGS is analyzing national trenddata collected since 1986 to assess their usefulness for monitoring regional andnational population trends.
Mapping Partnerships
The National Aerial Photography Program (NAPP) began in 1987. NAPPphotographs taken at an altitude of 20,000 feet above the land surface arecaptured on 9- by 9-inch film, and have a base scale of 1:40,000 (1 inch on thephotograph equals about 0.6 mile on the Earth's surface). Federal agencies andState Governments contribute to the NAPP program. Most of Idaho had new NAPPimagery taken during the summer of 1998.

The USGS is working with several Federal and State agencies to produceDigital Orthophoto Quadrangles (DOQ's) of Idaho. DOQ's are scanned aerialphotographs from which distortion and displacements caused by the cameraorientation and terrain have been removed. A DOQ may be loaded into a geographicinformation system and used with other data for analysis and geographicapplications. The Natural Resources Conservation Service uses DOQ's formapping soils, delineating agricultural field boundaries, collecting andupdating land-use and land-cover data, and other natural-resource mapping.

The USGS works with several State and Federal agencies in Idaho to upgradeall Level 1 Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data in the State to improved level 2DEM's. DEM's are sampled arrays of regularly spaced elevations used fordepicting topographic relief of the landscape (fig. 3). USGS DEM's support awide variety of natural-resource management and environmental-monitoringprojects in Idaho, including ground- and surface-water quality assessment andmanagement, and Federal water rights processing. The completion of the upgradeis scheduled for September 1999.

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**Figure 3.**  New Level 2 DEM's (left) result      in superior image quality compared with Level 1 DEM's (right).
The USGS completed coverage of digital raster graphics (DRG) data for Idahofrom the 1:24,000-scale topographic maps. These data contain the same mapfeatures depicted on 1:24,000-scale topographic maps. The DRG's are useful forcivil engineering, land-use planning, natural-resource monitoring, and othertechnical and scientific applications. The DRG data are available on-line fromthe Idaho Geospatial Data Center (IGDC) site at  http://geolibrary.uidaho.edu. The IGDC is a digital library for public domain geographic data of Idaho that isaccessible free-of-charge to any group or person in or outside of the State.
Multipurpose Geologic Mapping
The Northwest Forest Lands Project (NWFLP) is a partnership among the USGS,the Idaho Geological Survey, and other State and Federal entities to compiledigital geologic maps of the Sandpoint 1:250,000 and Bonners Ferry 1:100,000quadrangles, and to produce new digital geologic maps of the Wallace, ThompsonFalls, and St. Maries 1:100,000 quadrangles. The maps and related productsdepict lithologic, geochemical, nutrient, and physical attributes of the land,and are intended to be used as tools for mineral-resource analysis, geochemicaland forest-health studies, stream-condition and fish-habitat assessment, hazardsmapping, and other applications. The new Headwaters Project expands on the workof the NWFLP to provide additional digital geologic maps at 1:100,000 and1:250,000 scale, including new mapping in the Coeur d'Alene 1:100,000 scalequadrangle and in the Beaverhead National Forest. The project also will provideup-to-date inventories and status of significant mineral deposits, documentongoing and recent historical exploration, update and classify mineral-depositrecords, and develop mining-claim histories based on the Public Land SurveySystem. These interim products may be used with the new digital geologic mapsand with existing geophysical, geochemical, and other data to provide a 10- to20-year forecast of mineral exploration and development on Federal lands. TheU.S. Forest Service may use this information to help guide their Revised ForestPlans, which are due by 2001.
Minerals and the Environment
***Western U.S. Phosphate Project in Idaho***

The Western U.S. Phosphate project will characterize the extent of phosphatemineralization within the Western U.S. Phosphate Field and the impact of itspresence and development on the environment, with emphasis in southeast Idaho.The USGS is working with the BLM, the U.S. Forest Service, the Idaho Departmentof Environmental Quality, the Idaho Department of Lands, and the mining industryto enhance the ability to evaluate additional phosphate mineralization and toanticipate environmental hazards, such as selenium toxicity, that are associatedwith the existence and societal use of the phosphate. This project is expectedto provide:
- New information about the distribution, migration pathways, and  bioavailability of selenium, heavy metals, and other potentially toxic  elements associated with the phosphate mineralization; Improved assessment methods, models, and tools for evaluating this type  of phosphate deposit;
Knowledge of the role of weathering in phosphate ore formation and  trace-element distribution;
 New information about the effects of mining and ground disturbance and  of potentially toxic elements on plants and animals; and
Improved mining, waste-handling, and reclamation strategies.

**Coeur d'Alene River Valley**

In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began a RemedialInvestigation/Feasibility Study of the entire Coeur d'Alene-Spokane Riverdrainage to assess the potential risks to human health and the environment posedby mining-related metal enrichments. The USGS is working with the EPA todetermine the nature and extent of mine waste materials in the basin and thegeochemical, hydrologic, and sedimentary processes that cause them to spreadthroughout the environment. These studies are intended to guide futurealleviation of adverse environmental effects of past mining and ore processing.Two important components of the study are:
- An intensive streamflow and water-quality monitoring program launched  in October 1998. The USGS is measuring streamflow and metal (cadmium, lead,  and zinc) and nutrient (phosphorus and nitrogen) concentrations at 24 sites in  the Spokane River Basin. This information will be used to calculate the total  annual amount of metals and nutrients being carried into and out of Coeur d'Alene  Lake. Geologic maps showing the distribution and types of metal-enriched  flood-plain sediments in the valley of the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River.  Most of these sediments were deposited before 1930, and residential and  commercial development and large interstate highway embankments have been  steadily encroaching upon the contaminated flood-plain areas. Because the  flood-plain sediments are believed to contribute much of the dissolved-metal  load to surface water in the South Fork, precise mapping of these deposits is  important. Additional studies include development of descriptive models for  lead-zinc-silver veins of the Coeur d'Alene mining district.
Statewide Hydrologic and Water-Quality Data

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**Figure 4.**  A USGS hydrologist collecting       flood-flow data on the Snake River in eastern Idaho.  (Photograph by Randy      Hayes, Idaho Falls Post Register.)When Idaho experienced widespread and severe flooding during the winter andspring of 1997, the USGS assisted agencies directly involved in flood emergencyresponse and mitigation (fig. 4). The realtime streamgaging network, accessiblethrough the World Wide Web at http://idaho.usgs.gov/usgs/water.html,providedearly warnings to the National Weather Service, the Idaho Bureau of DisasterServices, County Emergency Coordinators, and the public, and helped reduce theloss of lives and property as rivers crested throughout the State. Followupflood-mitigation efforts by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S.Army Corps of Engineers, and the Idaho Bureau of Disaster Services also weresupported by the USGS.
The USGS is working with the Idaho Department of Water Resources (IDWR) on astatewide ground-water quality monitoring program, one of the most comprehensivein the Nation. Every year, water samples are collected from 400 randomlyselected wells across the State. The samples are analyzed for water-qualityconstituents, including bacteria, major ions, nutrients, radionuclides, andpesticides. These water-quality data are maintained by the IDWR in theEnvironmental Data Management System and by the USGS in its water-qualitydatabase. USGS scientists used these data to develop a map that shows areas inthe eastern Snake River Plain aquifer where ground water is most susceptible tocontamination by nitrates. This map was constructed by identifying thecorrelations between nitrate in ground water and factors such as soils, landuse, depth to the water table, and geology. The same method is being used todevelop contamination susceptibility maps for pesticides. These maps areintended to help resource-protection agencies focus on areas of greatestpotential for contamination.
The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory
The Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), operatedby the U.S. Department of Energy, is located on the eastern Snake River Plain insoutheastern Idaho. Facilities at the INEEL were used for developing peacetimeatomic energy applications, nuclear safety research, defense programs, andadvanced energy concepts. Wastewater containing radiochemical and chemicalwastes generated at these facilities was discharged to infiltration ponds anddisposal wells beginning in 1952. Wastewater disposal has resulted in detectableconcentrations of waste constituents in water from the Snake River Plain aquifersystem that underlies the INEEL. Water from the aquifer system near the INEEL isused extensively for drinking, irrigation, and aquaculture. The USGS hasmonitored hydrologic conditions in the Snake River Plain aquifer at the INEELsince the early 1950's. A large-scale, multiphase project began in 1987 todetermine and describe the fate and transport of radioactive and chemicalconstituents in the aquifer. In addition, the USGS began a floodplain study in1994 to delineate the possible extent, volume, and velocity of floods along theBig Lost River near INEEL processing and storage facilities.

**The office locations **

**USGS State Representative**      230 Collins Rd.      Boise, ID 83702-4520      (208) 387-1300      FAX (208) 387-1372**USGS Home Page**http://www.usgs.gov**Reports and products**1-888-ASK-USGS