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U.S. Geological Survey
Columbia Environmental Research Center
4200 New Haven Road,
Columbia, Missouri 65201 USA
573.875.5399 573.876.1896 (FAX)
http://www.cerc.usgs.gov/
Michael J. Mac, Center Director
mmac@usgs.gov
(current weather conditions)
About the USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center
Over its thirty eight-year history, the Columbia Environmental Research
Center (CERC) addressed contaminant research in support of sound natural resource management of the nation's aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.
As the Center
grows and matures, the scope of its research programs broadened to an integrated approach for even more complex resource problems.
These complexities encompass several factors associated with the biological significance of degraded water quality that often includes physical landscape
alterations, invasive species, and ecosystem restoration activities. Today CERC conducts research in support of
the
Department of the Interior agencies, but also works with other federal
governmental agencies, state, tribal, private, and non-governmental organizations,
both national and international, to meet common needs and goals.
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 1-888-ASK-USGS
(275-8747)
"Science for a Changing World"
The scientific nature of the USGS, its national perspective, and
its non-regulatory role enable the USGS to provide information and understanding
that are policy relevant and policy neutral.
Created by an act of Congress in 1879, the USGS has
evolved over the ensuing 120 years, matching its talent and knowledge to the
progress of science and technology. Today, the USGS stands as the sole science
agency for the Department of the Interior. It is sought out by thousands of
partners and customers for its natural science expertise and its vast earth and
biological data holdings. The USGS is the science provider of choice in
accessing the information and understanding to help resolve complex natural
resource problems across the Nation and around the world.
The USGS serves the Nation as an independent
fact-finding agency that collects, monitors, analyzes, and provides scientific
understanding about natural resource conditions, issues, and problems. The value
of the USGS to the Nation rests on its ability to carry out studies on a
national scale and to sustain long-term monitoring and assessment of natural
resources. Because it has no regulatory or management mandate, the USGS provides
impartial science that serves the needs of our changing world. The diversity of
scientific expertise enables the USGS to carry out large-scale,
multi-disciplinary investigations that build the base of knowledge about the
Earth. In turn, decision makers at all levels of government--and citizens in all
walks of life--have the information tools they need to address pressing societal
issues.
USGS Science Focus
The diversity of scientific issues that demand attention has prompted the
USGS to focus its efforts into four major areas: natural hazards, resources, the
environment, and information and data management.
Natural hazards are an ever-present national concern, and the USGS is
committed to providing the science needed to reduce the loss of life and
property they can cause. Natural hazards take many forms, from earthquakes to
volcanic eruptions, from landslides and other forms of ground failure to
geomagnetic storms, from floods, droughts, and coastal storms to wildfires, from
fish and wildlife diseases to invasive species. USGS science assesses where
natural hazards may occur and what the risks are to the people who live there.
Long-term monitoring of natural hazards enables scientists to detect and report
on hazards in real time. The USGS works cooperatively with Federal, State, and
local agencies to assist in emergency response efforts when catastrophes strike.
USGS science provides information needed by the public to understand the hazards
that may exist in their community and to help mitigate losses and damages when
they occur.
Natural resources supply our Nation, whether it is water drawn from a tap or
an irrigation spigot, or the mineral and energy resources that heat homes and
fuel the economy. Fish, waterfowl, and other biological resources provide a
diversity of life and ensure a healthy environment. The USGS provides the
scientific expertise to assess the quantity, quality, and availability of
natural resources. From its earliest days, the USGS was a prime mover in aiding
the economic development of the Nation - a role that remains a core
responsibility in bringing understanding of the processes that form and affect
our resource base.
The complex environment in which we live and work demands an understanding of
many interrelated natural systems. USGS environmental science is focused on
understanding the physical, chemical, and biological processes at work in those
natural systems and how those processes are affected by human activities on the
landscape. The USGS seeks to provide the understanding and scientific
information needed to recognize and mitigate adverse impacts and to sustain the
health of the Nation's environment. USGS scientific efforts include long-term
data collection, monitoring, analysis, and predictive modeling. USGS
environmental science has been crucial to issues such as unlocking the research
keys to toxic substances and water-borne pathogens in the quest for safe
drinking water supplies; understanding the physical processes that govern
contaminants in the environment and determining the impacts of these
contaminants on living resources; assessing the status and trends in water
quality to develop sound environmental policies; integrating science to
understand critical ecosystems such as the Everglades, Chesapeake Bay, and San
Francisco Bay; and providing geographic data that can be used to ensure
biological diversity across the landscape.
Information--about natural hazards, resources, and the environment--is the
key to understanding the Earth. USGS science provides comprehensive,
high-quality, and timely scientific information to decision makers and the
public. The information holdings of the USGS offer an amazing gateway to rich
data bases, manipulatable maps, newly acquired satellite images, real-time
information, and a wealth of reports spanning more than a century of science.
The growing global population lives in an information age that is becoming
incredibly complex. Scientific information is increasingly essential to an
ever-widening--and demanding--customer base. More and more, USGS information is
available over the internet and on CD-ROM, delivering information directly to
customers.
In Service to the Nation
The USGS is proud of its outstanding history of public service and scientific
advances. The USGS has been at the forefront of advances in understanding the
Earth, its processes, and its resources. USGS scientists pioneered hydrologic
techniques for gaging the discharge in rivers and streams and modeling the flow
of complex ground-water systems. The astronauts who landed on the Moon in 1969
were trained in geology by the USGS. Innovative ventures with the private sector
have given the world access to digital images of neighborhoods and communities
in one of the largest data sets ever made available online. Modern-day
understanding of the formation and location of energy and mineral resource
deposits is rooted in fundamental scientific breakthroughs by USGS scientists.
USGS biologists revolutionized thinking about managing wildlife resources, which
has provided a sound scientific basis that lets waterfowl conservation and
recreational hunting work in tandem as adaptive management, not as conflicting
interests. Advances in seismology are making early warnings of earthquakes a
reality that will give the needed alert time to save lives. The future of the
global community presents unprecedented opportunities for the science of the
USGS to continue to make substantive and life-enhancing contributions to the
betterment of the Nation and the world.
Learn more about USGS at http://www.usgs.gov/ or call 1-888-ASK-USGS.
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