Images

Lake Abert, Oregon is one of the 20 terminal lakes identified by USGS partners as priority ecosystems for study by the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA.

USGS Director, David Applegate visits Great Salt Lake with Rocky Mt Region Director, Peter Griffiths, UT WSC Director, David O'Leary, UT WSC scientists, and many cooperators.

Goose Lake, on the Oregon-California border, is one of the 20 terminal lakes identified by USGS partners as priority ecosystems for study by the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA. 

Summer Lake, Oregon is one of the 20 terminal lakes identified by USGS partners as priority ecosystems for study by the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA.

Salt deposits outside Moab, UT. USGS scientists are studying how salinity in the Upper Colorado Basin has changed over time and how factors like irrigation and climate influence salinity.

The Dolores River, CO, a tributary of the Colorado River. USGS scientists are studying salinity in the Upper Colorado Basin.

The Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA Waterbird Movement Project began tagging American Avocets in March 2023 to track their movements across the landscape. Tracking data from these birds will help scientists better understand why these birds choose to use the terminal lake and wetland habitats they do in the Great Basin.

Lake Abert, Oregon is one of the 20 terminal lakes identified by USGS partners as priority ecosystems for study by the Saline Lakes Ecosystems IWAA.

USGS boat approaches water-quality platform. Technicians prepare to pull anchor and remove for lake for winter.

USGS prepares to connect with water-quality platform to service instrumentation and prepare to remove from lake for winter.

Scientists prepare to remove water-quality platform from the lake for the winter. 

Photographer, Jake Seawolf, captured an aerial view of Bear Lake, USGS boat, and employees on a water-quality platform on a cold and blustery November day using a drone. Jake volunteered his time and talents with the USGS. He is a full-time professional photographer for the US Army.

Title page from the Federal Standards and Procedures for the National Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD), Techniques and Methods 11-A3, Fifth Edition, 2022.This document establishes Federal standards and procedures for creating the WBD as seamless and hierarchical hydrologic unit data, based on topographic and hydrologic features at a 1:24,000 scale (Alaska at 1:

Looking east on Bullgate Pond at sunrise with lone tule white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons elgasi) in upper right, Summer Lake Wildlife Area, near Summer Lake, Oregon.

Natural Color Landsat 8 image of the Great Salt Lake, acquired on July 3, 2022. On July 3, the level of Great Salt Lake dropped below the October 2021 historic low elevation.

Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge lies at the southern end of Ruby Valley in northeast Nevada. For more information visit the Ruby Lake NWR website.

Rachel Atkins retrieving and packaging samples from each facility, which must be stored on ice during shipment to the Leetown, WV lab

Rachel Atkins  (UT WSC) distributing sampling kits to the participating wastewater facilities for sample collection in Utah.

A pyramid of sample boxes sent to the Utah Water Science Center, as an example of just how many boxes were needed for sampling for this project.

Rachel Atkins brings collected samples to specific FedEx facilites to ship the precious cargo to West Virginia for processing.

Rachel Atkins organizes boxes and PPE in preparation for sampling at several facilities in Utah using an oversized cargo van.