Reports

Keys to Field Sparrow (Spizella pusilla) management include providing shrub-dominated edge habitat adjacent to grasslands or grasslands with a shrub component (both of which must include dense grass and moderately high litter cover) and avoiding disturbances that eliminate woody vegetation. Field Sparrows have been reported to use habitats with 16–134 centimeters (cm) vegetation height...

Over the past few decades, Ictalurus furcatus (Valenciennes in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1840; blue catfish) have become a formidable invasive species in tidal tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Delaware. Knowledge of their reproductive behaviors can support managers in the determination of ideal timing and implementation of mitigation strategies. In 2020–22, the U.S...

In 2022, the Alaska Volcano Observatory responded to eruptions, volcanic unrest or suspected unrest, increased seismicity, and other significant activity at 11 volcanic centers in Alaska and in the Northern Mariana Islands. Eruptive activity in Alaska consisted of repeated small, ash-producing, phreatomagmatic explosions from Mount Young on Semisopochnoi Island; the eruption of a thick...

Executive SummaryThe purpose of this report is to provide the Marine Corps with an annual summary of the distribution, abundance, and breeding activity of the endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatcher (Empidonax traillii extimus; flycatcher) at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton (MCBCP or “Base”). Surveys for the flycatcher were completed on Base between May 8 and July 26, 2023. All of...

Introduction Each mineral commodity chapter of the 2025 edition of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Mineral Commodity Summaries (MCS) includes information on events, trends, and issues for each mineral commodity as well as discussions and tabular presentations on domestic industry structure, Government programs, tariffs, 5-year salient statistics, and world production, reserves, and...

A thorough understanding of fluvial sediment transport is essential for addressing key environmental issues such as aquatic habitat degradation, flooding, excess nutrients, and challenges with river restoration. Fluvial sediment samples are valuable for addressing these concerns, but their collection is often impractical across all rivers and timeframes of interest. In addition...

Emerging diseases of wildlife origin are increasingly transboundary (they spread rapidly across geographic regions and across continents). In recent years, examples include the rapid spread of African swine fever across Europe and Asia with negative effects on food security, and the near global spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza which has devastated wildlife populations, caused...

In 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District, began a study to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Wet Mountain Valley alluvial aquifer, Custer and Fremont Counties, Colorado. The study included collection of data pertaining to groundwater hydrology, groundwater and surface-water interactions, and water quality in the alluvial...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Wyoming Water Development Office, developed streamflow statistics for streamgages in and near Wyoming. Statistics were computed for active (through September 30, 2021) and discontinued USGS streamgages with 10 or more years of daily mean streamflow record. Streamflow at each streamgage was assessed for degree of human alteration...

Bathymetric data were collected at 13 water-supply lakes around the periphery of Missouri by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and various local agencies, as part of a multiyear effort to establish or update the surface area and capacity tables for the surveyed lakes. Surveys were carried out during the months of April and May in...

Reintroductions are used worldwide to increase the viability of species and restore native ecological communities. The success of reintroductions is usually judged by the establishment of self-sustaining populations, restoration of naturally occurring ecological communities, and the species resuming its ecological function. Recovery for the endangered San Francisco gartersnake (SFGS...

Introduction The widely used National Land Cover Database (NLCD) has long been the foundational land cover source for scientists, resource managers, and decision makers across the United States.In 2024, a reinvention as Annual NLCD added the key improvement of annual time steps to show decades of change at a higher frequency than the intervals of 2–3 years used in the legacy NLCD. Annual...