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#           U.S. Geological Survey landscape science strategy 2020–2030      

      June 16, 2021    

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Across our Nation, multiple Federal, State, Tribal, and local governments are working with stakeholders and landowners to restore, conserve, and manage lands and resources to benefit fish, wildlife, and people. One of the largest Federal efforts is led by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), with multiple DOI agencies working to conserve and manage public lands, resources, and cultural heritage for the benefit and enjoyment of current and future generations. As a science provider within the DOI, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has an important role in developing actionable science products that can inform decision making on public lands and across all of our Nation’s landscapes.

Our landscapes and resources are undergoing continual change from a complex and interacting suite of stressors that include traditional and nontraditional land uses, a changing climate, a dynamic economy, and a culturally diverse and ever-changing society. Landscape science seeks to understand how the physical, biological, and social components of ecosystems and landscapes interact with each other and are affected by these stressors across local to global scales.

The USGS has developed this landscape science strategy to focus and strengthen the agency’s efforts to inform critical conservation, restoration, and management decisions for American landscapes. The strategy directly supports the overarching 21st-century science strategy of the USGS and expands our perspective and focus on partnerships, including with internal, external, traditional, and nontraditional partners.

The vision for USGS landscape science is to integrate multiple disciplines and approaches to create and deliver relevant, timely, and scientifically sound products that enable our partners to make informed decisions about how to manage complex interacting natural and human systems across changing American landscapes. This strategy seeks to leverage the expertise, data, analytical capacity, and tools of the agency and to strengthen integration of science efforts across programs and scales. A cornerstone of the strategy is working closely with landowners and resource managers to identify the science that is needed to inform management actions, and then working collaboratively with those same partners to coproduce science and data products that are timely, practical, and useful for their decision making.

Many individual efforts within the USGS already embrace landscape science ideas and practices. With the development of this strategy, we are seeking to build on these efforts and to focus agency attention and expertise on expanding, connecting, and institutionalizing core practices and approaches for landscape science that produces actionable science products and tools that decision makers can use to help conserve and manage American landscapes.

## Citation Information

## Related Content

                  -              Connect           

#### Karen E. Jenni, Ph.D.

##### Senior Science Advisor

Energy and Minerals Mission Area

kjenni@usgs.gov

303-236-5766

#### Sarah Carter, PhD

##### Ecologist

Fort Collins Science Center

skcarter@usgs.gov

970-226-9355

#### Zachary H Bowen, Ph.D.

##### Landscape Program Coordinator

Ecosystems Mission Area

bowenz@usgs.gov

970-226-9218

#### John B Bradford, Ph.D.

##### Research Ecologist, Northwest CASC

Climate Adaptation Science Centers

jbradford@usgs.gov

928-380-4671

#### Leslie Hsu

##### Community Coordinator - Physical Scientist

Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program

lhsu@usgs.gov

#### Kevin L. Pope, PhD

##### Deputy Chief

Cooperative Research Units

kpope@usgs.gov

571-548-2420

#### Rudy Schuster, PhD

##### Branch Chief / Supervisory Social Scientist

Fort Collins Science Center

schusterr@usgs.gov

970-226-9165

#### Jake F. Weltzin

##### Senior Science Advisor

Ecosystems Mission Area

jweltzin@usgs.gov

970-226-9239

#### George Xian

##### Research Physical Scientist

Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

xian@usgs.gov

605-594-2599

## Related Content

#### Karen E. Jenni, Ph.D.

##### Senior Science Advisor

Energy and Minerals Mission Area

kjenni@usgs.gov

303-236-5766

#### Sarah Carter, PhD

##### Ecologist

Fort Collins Science Center

skcarter@usgs.gov

970-226-9355

#### Zachary H Bowen, Ph.D.

##### Landscape Program Coordinator

Ecosystems Mission Area

bowenz@usgs.gov

970-226-9218

#### John B Bradford, Ph.D.

##### Research Ecologist, Northwest CASC

Climate Adaptation Science Centers

jbradford@usgs.gov

928-380-4671

#### Leslie Hsu

##### Community Coordinator - Physical Scientist

Science Analytics and Synthesis (SAS) Program

lhsu@usgs.gov

#### Kevin L. Pope, PhD

##### Deputy Chief

Cooperative Research Units

kpope@usgs.gov

571-548-2420

#### Rudy Schuster, PhD

##### Branch Chief / Supervisory Social Scientist

Fort Collins Science Center

schusterr@usgs.gov

970-226-9165

#### Jake F. Weltzin

##### Senior Science Advisor

Ecosystems Mission Area

jweltzin@usgs.gov

970-226-9239

#### George Xian

##### Research Physical Scientist

Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection

xian@usgs.gov

605-594-2599

### Contact

####               Cooperative Research Units Program          

12201 Sunrise Valley DrReston, VA20192United States

(703) 648 - 4260

(703) 648 - 4269

####               Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center          

47914 252nd StreetSioux Falls, SD57198United States

custserv@usgs.gov

800-252-4547

####               Fort Collins Science Center          

2150 Centre AvenueBldg CFort Collins, CO80526United States

970-226-9100

970-226-9230

####               Ecosystems Mission Area Headquarters          

12201 Sunrise Valley DrReston, VA20192United States

####               Science and Decisions Center          

12201 Sunrise Valley DriveMail Stop 913Reston, VA20192United States

####               Southwest Biological Science Center - Flagstaff, AZ, Headquarters          

2255 N. Gemini DriveFlagstaff, AZ86001United States

928-556-7094

928-556-7092