FORT > Science Programs > Aquatic & Tech Apps

Aquatic Systems and Technology Applications

Aquatic & Tech Apps: Staff Research Products

Program Director: Dave Hamilton

Photograph of a river flowing through a canyon. Land management agencies are responsible for restoring and conserving our nation's natural resources. However, they face increasing, often competing demands for those resources, which can result in alteration or loss of critical riverine, riparian, wetland, and terrestrial habitats. Land and resource managers may be in Federal, State, or local government, but all have the same need for quantitative, objective, science-based information that helps them plan, manage and conserve the natural resources within their purview.

The USGS Fort Collins Science Center (FORT), Aquatic Systems and Technology Applications Program (ASTA) encompasses a wide variety of studies, investigations, and activities that are related to providing tools and capabilities for natural resource managers. Our mission is to provide managers with credible science-based information on the interrelationships among the physical, chemical, aquatic, and biological components of natural systems, especially river basins, for resource management decisionmaking.

Our goals are to:

develop and apply specific models and analysis tools for resource management issues,

identify habitat and biological linkages in river corridor environments,

design and evaluate specific water quality improvement features,

define economic measures for natural resource benefits,

investigate altered flow regime effects on native fish populations,

characterize sediment transport effects in river corridor environments, and

utilize advanced technology to evaluate landscape-scale changes in river basins.

Field Stations:

Denver Field Station