Overview

The San Francisco Bay and Delta Ecosystem Program is one of several study areas within the USGS Ecosystem Program. The USGS Ecosystem Program was established to enable the USGS to enhance its scientific assistance to resource managers who require an improved scientific information base to resolve or prevent complex resource conflicts or environmental problems in specific ecosystem sites. Through multiyear efforts in each study area, USGS intensifies its provision of scientific information tailored to the specific management. The information is designed to have a direct, significant, and immediate impact on management and policy decisions. It addresses regional or subregional issues that involve environmental resources such as water, minerals, and land. The sites may have as their focus such issues as water quality or water supply, environmental effects of mineral or energy use or extraction, or effects of alterations in land use or land cover. The diversity of issues, and the inherent complexity of environmental problems, lead to the formation of multidisciplinary teams of scientists from appropriate disciplines. Disciplines in the present suite of ecosystems include land characterization, surface modeling, geospatial database management, ground- and surface-water hydrology, geophysics, ecology, geochemistry, paleontology, cartography, hydrologic modeling, and contaminant, sediment, and nutrient dynamics.

The activities of the Ecosystem Program are focused in sites and on issues that are of high priority to the Department of the Interior and to the Nation. In 1995, the Ecosystem Program began with two ecosystems: San Francisco Bay and Delta and south Florida. Chesapeake Bay was added in 1996. In 1997, Ecosystem Program activities started in the Greater Yellowstone, the Platte River, and the Mojave Desert, bringing the total number to six.

USGS Provides Long-Term Perspective for Integrated Science

The unique value USGS brings to study of an ecosystem like San Francisco Bay comes in its long-term perspective and integrated science. This spectacular image shows the region in 50 year time slices starting just after the Gold Rush. Each map shows urban extent, tidal wetlands, and major earthquakes.

San Francisco Urban Growth

Since the Gold Rush more than 8 million people have moved in on San Francisco Bay. USGS scientists have put together an Urban Dynamics database and animations that shows the pace and extent of urbanization over 140 years.

USGS Publications on San Francisco Bay

Here you'll find a list of all publications done by USGS Scientists on the topic of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, as of March 1998.

URL: http://sfbay.wr.usgs.gov/access/overview.html

Page maintainer: Laura Zink Torresan; Last modified: 17 April 2002
For more information, please contact the Access USGS --San Francisco Bay and Delta Web Team

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