(Continued from front page.)

and the world’s leading natural science
and information agency. Its workforce
of nearly 9,000 scientists and support
staff, distributed in about 400 locations,
collects and interprets data from tens
of thousands of biologic, geologic, and
hydrologic sampling sites throughout
the Nation. These efforts, combined with
extensive remote-sensing capabilities,
allow the USGS to map and understand
Earth processes and changes.

The USGS maintains a broad scope
of research activities and long-term data
sets, such as:

information relating to natural hazards,
including earthquakes, tsunamis,
volcanoes, landslides, and coastal
erosion; energy and mineral resources;
and geologic processes that affect the
Nation’s land and coasts;

Teal-time flood data and information
on the quality and quantity of surface-
and ground-water resources;

.

information critical to animal health,
identifying and dealing with invasive
species, biologic species management,
and ecosystems; and

geospatial data, topographic maps, and
satellite images critical to emergency
response, homeland security, land-use
planning, and resource management.

The six science directions that
compose the new USGS science strat-
egy were chosen to address the societal
issues that represent major challenges for
the Nation's future. These science direc-
tions are critically important,
will require

the best of the organization to fulfill, and
will provide the information needed to
solve the challenges facing the Nation

in the coming decade. Throughout its
history, the USGS, with its reputation for
providing objective, scientifically rigor
ous information with a nonregulatory
perspective, has contributed substantially
to the national well-being in all these
areas. The implementation of this sci-
ence strategy over the next decade will
strengthen and enhance this tradition of
science in service to the Nation.

USGS Science Can Meet the
Challenge

The impact of humans on the
planet has expanded to the extent that
we live today in what some have called
the “Anthropocene”— a new geologic
epoch in which humankind has emerged
as a globally important force capable
of reshaping the face of the planet. The
ability of humanity to use an under
standing of human-induced changes on
Earth’s environment to help guide the
use of the Earth toward positive out-
comes is embodied in the term “sustain-
ability.” This concept of sustainability
symbolizes a desire not only to docu-
ment the human use of the Earth but also
to determine what it ought to be.

As the only integrated natural
resources research bureau in the Fed-
eral Government, the USGS can play a
substantial role in helping the economy
remain strong, the environment remain
healthy, and the quality of life in the
United States remain high now and into
the future. This role is larger than the

traditional one of providing
expertise in mapping,
geology, water, and

biology. Major national issues of costly
natural disasters, air and water qual-

ity, energy and materials needs, newly
emerging diseases, invasive species, cli-
mate change, and even immigration form
a web of linked dependencies among
environment, societies, and economies.
The USGS must transform its approaches
to problem solving not only to address
the issues of today but also to prepare
for those of tomorrow. The questions are
broad, the stakes are high, and the poten-
tial is there. No other organization in

the Nation has the breadth of multidisci-
plinary scientific expertise, the extensive
national on-the-ground presence, and the
wealth of biologic, geographic, geologic,
and hydrologic monitoring capabili-

ties and existing data at all scales, from
microscopic to global.

The management of the Nation’s
land, water, and ecosystem resources
typically requires weighing tradeoffs
among multiple criteria conceming
multiple resources. The importance of
identifying and understanding critical
interdependencies is especially acute in
decisions that require anticipating the
interactive effects of changes in climate
and changes in human resource man-
agement. In the not-too-distant future,

a scientist will access a comprehensive
array of biologic, geographic, geologic,
and hydrologic data from past measure-
ments and those being made in real time,
use the data for models that describe the
present state of the Nation, use high-
resolution projections of future climatic
states to understand how the situation
will change, and provide this information
to decisionmakers and the broader public
in the forms most suited to their needs.
The future holds unprecedented opportu-
nities for USGS science to improve the
economic and environmental health and
prosperity of people and communities
across the Nation and around the world.
The USGS looks forward to meeting the
challenges of the 21st century.

For Additional Information

U.S. Geological Survey, 2007, Facing
tomorrow’s challenges-U.S. Geo-
logical Survey science in the decade
2007-2017: U.S. Geological Survey
Circular 1309, 69 p., available at
http: //pubs.usgs.gov/circ/2007/1309/



USGS

science for a changing world

* Ecosystems * Climate * Energyand Minerals * NaturalHazards *

Environment and Human Health

* Water *

USGS SCIENCE IN THE DECADE 2007-2017
Facing Tomorrow's Challenges—An Overview

In 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed a science strategy
outlining the major natural-science issues facing the Nation in the next decade. The
science strategy consists of six science directions of critical importance, focusing on
areas where natural science can make a substantial contribution to the well-being of
the Nation and the world. This fact sheet is an overview of the science strategy and
describes how USGS research can strengthen the Nation with information needed to

meet the challenges of the 21st century.

A Science Strategy for the Future

To be responsive to evolving
national and global priorities, the U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS) must peri-
odically review its science goals and
optimize its strategic directions. This fact
sheet is an overview of a new, compre-
hensive science strategy outlining the
goals and priorities of the USGS for the
next decade.

The development of anew USGS
science strategy for 2007-2017 comes
at a time of global trends and rapidly
evolving societal needs that pose criti-
cal natural-science challenges. First, the
emergence of a global economy affects
the demand for all resources. The world’s
natural resources, and the materials
produced from those resources, are being
used on a scale that is modifying the ter-
restrial, marine, and atmospheric environ-
ments upon which human civilization
depends. The use of, competition for,
and natural threats to resources on the
global scale will affect the Nation’s abil-
ity to sustain its economy, safeguard its
national security, maintain its quality of
life, and protect its natural environment.

Second, the last decade has wit-
nessed the emergence of a new model
for managing Federal lands— ecosystem-
based management. By understanding the
status of the Nation’s natural resources,
their interrelations and changes with
time, and their resilience to future natural
and human-caused threats, decisionmak-
ers will be able to ensure the security of
the Nation, promote the vitality of its
economy, protect the health of its envi-

ronment, and maintain the well-being of
its citizens.

Third, the U.S. Climate Change
Science Program predicts that the next
few decades will bring rapid changes
in the Nation’s and the Earth’s environ-
ment. Land and resource managers will
need to understand the local and regional
implications of climate change as well as
anticipate and prepare for its impacts to
reduce the potential for disaster.

Finally, the natural environment
continues to pose risks to society in the
form of volcanoes, earthquakes, wild-
fires, floods, droughts, invasive species,
natural and anthropogenic toxins, and

animal-borne diseases that affect humans.

Some of these hazards may be magnified

by changing climate and will be increased

by the movement of the Nation’s popula-
tion to coastal, earthquake-prone, and
wildfire-prone areas. Understanding these
tisks, better defining their probabilities,
and forecasting their effect on the status
and future of society are essential for a
resilient and prosperous United States.

The USGS response to these
national priorities and global trends
requires a science strategy that builds on
existing strengths and partnerships. It
also demands the innovation made pos-
sible by integrating the full breadth and
depth of USGS capabilities to undertake
comprehensive and integrated studies that
examine the Earth as a system in which
biosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere, and
atmosphere are interrelated.

The new USGS science strategy
consists of six science directions, which
are summarized on the inside pages. This
strategy will be implemented at a time
when the Nation can benefit greatly by
using natural-science information in its
decisionmaking. The USGS is well posi-
tioned to address the challenge of provid-
ing this information. It is the Nation’s

(Continued on back page.)

USGS scientists use an airboat to measure the cross section of the Toutle River in
Washington State. Accurate, up-to-date measurements are needed to calculate streamflow,
develop computer models of surface-water flow, and predict the potential for flooding.
Photograph by Pat Pringle, U.S. Geological Survey.

U.S. Department of the Interior
US. Geological Survey

® Prinied on recycied paper

Fact Sheet 2008-3008
January 2008


Understanding Ecosystems and
Predicting Ecosystem Change:
Ensuring the Nation's Econom
and Environmental Future

pare

freshwater, and coastal/
marine ecosystems and
studies the causes and consequences of
ecological change, monitors and provides
methods for protecting and managing

the biological and physical components
and processes of ecosystems, and inter
prets for policymakers how current and
future rates of change will affect natural
resources and society. The USGS works
in collaboration with others to understand
the distribution, interactions, condition,
and conservation requirements of organ-
isms in an ecosystem context and predicts
changes to biodiversity resulting from
land-cover change, climate change, and
other impacts to ecosystems. Through
research, the USGS and its partners will
advance understanding of ecosystem
structure, function, pattems and processes
and will develop new products, including
standardized national maps of U.S. eco-
systems. These and other products will
help communities and managers make
intormed decisions that take into account
ecosystem health and sustainability.

(See U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet
2007-3107, available at http://pubs.usgs.
gov/ts/2007/3107/)

Climate Variability and Change:
Clarifying the Record and
Assessing Consequences

among y climate, cath surface | Pree
and ecosystems across space and time.
To answer questions about how the world
is changing, the USGS will expand its
already strong research and monitoring
initiatives in the science of carbon, nitro-
gen, and water cycles, hydroclimatic and
ecosystem effects of climate change, and
Jand-cover and land-use change and will
apply the knowledge gained to under-
standing potential future states and pro-
cesses, Expanded and modernized USGS
observation networks of land, water, and
biological resources will be crucial to
rigorous analyses of future responses to
climate change. The USGS will provide
robust predictive and empirical tools

for managers to test adaptive strategies,
reduce risk, and increase the potential for
hydrologic and ecologic systems to be
self-sustaining, resilient, and adaptable to
climate change and related disturbances.
(See U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet
2007-3108, available at http://pubs.usgs.
gov/ts/2007/3108/)

Energy and Minerals for America’s
Future: Providing a Scientific
Foundation for Resource Security,
Environmental Health, Econom
Vitality, and Land Management

ute more comprehen-
sively to discourse
and decisions about future natural
resource security, environmental effects
of resource use, the economic vital-

ity of the Nation, and management of
natural resources on U.S. Department of
the Interior, Federal, and other lands. A
wide-ranging, multidisciplinary approach
is used to understand and evaluate how
the complex life cycle of occurrence,
formation processes, extraction methods,
use, and waste products of energy and
mineral resources influence, or are influ-
enced by, landscape, hydrology, climate,
ecosystems, and human health. Cumula-
tive knowledge, long-term data, and new
understanding of resource origin and
assessment methodologies will improve
the reliability and accuracy of national
and global assessments and information
products, especially as the energy mix
evolves and new requirements for rare
and scarce materials used by the Nation
emerge. (See U.S. Geological Survey
Fact Sheet 2007-3109, available at http://
pubs.usgs.gov/ts/2007/3109/)

Seney National.Wildlife Refuge, Michigan. Photograph obtained from U.S. Fish
‘and Wildlife Digital tibrarysystem by John and Karen Hollingsworth.



A National Hazards, Risk, and
Resilience Assessment Program:
Ensuring the Long-Term Health and
Wealth of the Nation

from natural hazards, and conducts
focused research to improve hazard
predictions. In addition, the USGS works
actively with the Nation’s communities
to assess the vulnerability of cities and
ecosystems and to ensure that science

is effectively applied to reduce losses.
The USGS will develop a national risk-
monitoring program, built on a robust
underpinning of hazard assessment and
research, to visualize and provide per
spectives at multiple scales of vulnerabil-
ity and resilience to adverse land change
and hazards. Accurate observations,
focused research, and timely communica-
tions will safeguard people and property
and keep natural hazards from becoming
natural disasters. (See U.S. Geological
Survey Fact Sheet 2007-3110, available
at http: //pubs.usgs.gov/ts/2007/3110/)

The Role of Environment and
Wildlife in Human Health:

A System that Identifies

The USGS can
contribute substan-
tially to public health
decisionmaking. The
USGS monitors wild-
life, is at the forefront
of identifying wild-animal disease reser-
voirs, and maintains critical knowledge
about wild-animal disease transmission
to humans, drinking-water contaminants,
air-dust-soil-sediment-rock contaminants,
pathogens in recreational water, and
the use of wild animals as sentinels of
human health. To employ this expertise
in support of the Nation’s health needs,
the USGS will fully integrate its massive
data holdings and environmental science
expertise to produce a national database
and atlas of geology- and ecology-
derived diseases and toxicants. Once this
atlas is in place, the USGS will partner
with allied health science agencies to
support spatially related health research.
(See U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet
2007-3111, available at http://pubs.usgs.
gov/ts/2007/3111/)

A Water Census of the United
States: Quantifying, Forecasting,
and Securing Freshwater for

The USGS will
develop a Water Cen-
sus of the United States
to inform the public
and decisionmakers
about (1) the status of
its freshwater resources and how they
are changing; (2) a more precise deter-
mination of water use for meeting future
human, environmental, and wildlife
needs; (3) how freshwater availability

is related to natural storage and move-
ment of water, as well as engineered
systems, water use, and related transfers;
(4) how to identify water sources, not
commonly thought to be a resource, that
might provide freshwater for human and
environmental needs; and (5) forecasts
of likely outcomes for water availability,
water quality, and aquatic-ecosystem
health caused by changes in land use
and land cover, natural and engineered
infrastructure, water use, and climate.
(See U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet
2007-3112, available at http://pubs.usgs.
gov/ts/2007/3112/)