Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Metropolitan Council, conducted a study to characterize regional low flows during 1932?2007 in the Mississippi River upstream from the Twin Cities metropolitan area in Minnesota and to describe the low-flow profile of the Mississippi River between the confluence of the Crow River and St. Anthony Falls. Probabilities of extremely low flow were est

We investigated the relations among 83 hydrologic condition metrics (HCMs) and changes in algal, invertebrate, and fish communities in five metropolitan areas across the continental United States. We used a statistical approach that employed Spearman correlation and regression tree analysis to identify five HCMs that are strongly associated with observed biological variation along a gradient of ur

Knowledge of the daily, monthly, and yearly distribution of contaminant loadings and streamflow can be critical for the successful implementation and evaluation of water-quality management practices. Loading data for solids (suspended sediment and total suspended solids) and total phosphorus and streamflow data for 23 watersheds were summarized for four ecoregions of Wisconsin: the Driftless Area

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with St. Cloud State University, Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Metropolitan Council Environmental Services, and the University of Minnesota, has conducted field monitoring studies and laboratory research to determine the presence of endocrine active chemicals and the incidenc

The Silver River Watershed comprises about 69 square miles and drains part of northeastern Baraga County, Michigan. For generations, tribal members of the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community have hunted and fished in the watershed. Tribal government and members of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community are concerned about the effect of any development within the watershed, which is rural, isolated, and lightly p

Summer air and stream water temperatures are expected to rise in the state of Wisconsin, U.S.A., over the next 50 years. To assess potential climate warming effects on stream fishes, predictive models were developed for 50 common fish species using classification-tree analysis of 69 environmental variables in a geographic information system. Model accuracy was 56·0–93·5% in validation tests. Model

The relation of urbanization to stream habitat and geomorphic characteristics was examined collectively and individually for nine metropolitan areas of the United States?Portland, Oregon; Salt Lake City, Utah; Denver, Colorado; Dallas?Forth Worth, Texas; Milwaukee?Green Bay, Wisconsin; Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; Raleigh, North Carolina; and Boston, Massachusetts. The study was part of

The importance of monitoring networks for resource-management decisions is becoming more recognized, in both theory and application. Quantitative computer models provide a science-based framework to evaluate the efficacy and efficiency of existing and possible future monitoring networks. In the study described herein, two suites of tools were used to evaluate the worth of new data for specific pre

In 2008, the State of Michigan enacted legislation requiring that new or increased high-capacity withdrawals (greater than 100,000 gallons per day) from either surface water or groundwater be reviewed to prevent Adverse Resource Impacts (ARI). Science- based guidance was sought in defining how groundwater or surface-water withdrawals affect streamflow and in quantifying the relation between reduce

A Soil-Water-Balance (SWB) computer code has been developed to calculate spatial and temporal variations in groundwater recharge. The SWB model calculates recharge by use of commonly available geographic information system (GIS) data layers in combination with tabular climatological data. The code is based on a modified Thornthwaite-Mather soil-water-balance approach, with components of the soil-w

In 2003 and 2004, 30 streams near Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, were part of a national study by the U.S. Geological Survey to assess urbanization effects on physical, chemical, and biological characteristics along an agriculture-to-urban land-use gradient. A geographic information system was used to characterize natural landscape features that define the environmental setting and the degree

The Lake Michigan Mass Balance Project (LMMBP) measured and modeled the concentrations of environmentally persistent contaminants in air, river and lake water, sediment, and fish and bird tissues in and around Lake Michigan for an 18-month period spanning 1994-95. Tributary loads were calculated as part of the LMMBP. The work described in this report was designed to provide updated concentration d