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Geography Awareness Week

November 16-22	GIS Day November 19
USGS Geography Outreach Events	GIS Day in Washington, D.C.

Habitats: Home Sweet Home

Picture of an egret wading in water. Source: USGS.

Picture of an adult male desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) near Palm Springs, California. Although ancestors of the desert tortoise outlived the dinosaurs and survived the Ice Age, the tortoise is having difficulty surviving in the modern desert landscape. Habitat destruction and fragmentation, fire, overgrazing, widespread use of off-highway vehicles, and other human activities have altered large areas of the Mojave Desert, often to the detriment of the tortoise. The desert tortoise is federally protected in the Mojave Desert as a threatened species. USGS scientists are conducting research on many aspects of tortoise ecology to provide reliable information to those who manage this species. Photographer: Kathie Meyer, USGS.

Picture of a Bobcat (Lynx rufus), Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Marin County, California. Photographer: Marcia Semenoff-Irving, USGS.

Picture of three polar bears on the Beaufort Sea. Photographer: Steve Amstrup, USGS.

Place matters at USGS. From our development of The National Map to mapping the potential for wildfire to place-based factors in human health, the "where" factor integrates USGS studies in many fields. Geographers and other scientists at USGS describe and interpret America's landscape by mapping the terrain, monitoring changes over time, and analyzing how and why these changes have occurred.

This page will help you quickly find connections between USGS science activities and the theme for Geography Awareness Week 2003, "Habitats: Home Sweet Home."

Focus on Habitats

Prairies
USGS Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center

Cities and suburbs
Mapping tomorrow's cities and suburbs, The National Map

Deserts and tundra
USGS Southwest Biological Research Center
Climate change at Glacier National Park

Forests
USGS Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Center

Freshwater
Rivers and Streams in Your Backyard

Oceans and Coasts
Geology of the Coasts and Marine Environments

Forces of Habitat

Invasive Species

Finding Habitats

The National Map: Topographic Maps for the 21st Century

TerraServer: USGS aerial imagry and topographic maps

Browse the National Atlas and design your own map

Further Fun

Earth as Art: See way cool images of our earth taken from more than 400 miles high by the Landsat 7 satellite.

Earth as Art screensaver: changing portraits of Earth for your computer

USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS): Surf 2 million U.S. geographic names

USGS and the Lewis and Clark Expedition: Continuing a Legacy of Science

Historical maps and posters from USGS

For educational purposes

The Learning Web

USGS and Lewis and Clark: educational resources

Helping Your Child Learn Geography (Links to U.S. Department of Education.)

Finding Your Way with Map and Compass

Elevations and Distances

Aerial Photos and Satellite Images

For more information, contact: Jon Campbell