DECLARE YOUR INDEPENDENCE - from boring press releases and stale stories. USGS Science Picks are here! Ready at a moment's notice, here are some terrific sciency story ideas to last the whole month long. Where available, photos and web links are provided to enhance your story. And beginning next month, you'll have a new editor for Science Picks - Tania Larson. Look for her Science Picks from now on. If you are not receiving this and would like to, would like to change the recipient, or no longer want to receive it, please email bkinerney@usgs.gov.

Included this month:

• Independence Found In Many Places
• Freshwater Shrimp Found At Record Elevation (And Not Steamed by the Pound)
• What Puts the "BANG" in Your Fourth of July?
• Walk a Mile, or Two, in Their Moccasins
• California Otters Can't Jump, But They're On the Rebound

LEADS:

Independence Found in Many Places -- There's always a story in geographic names. Just pick a holiday, a topic, or an historical figure to learn how a placename is scattered across the landscape. For example, there are 528 features named "Independence" on USGS topographic maps - the source for the Geographic Names Information System. Missouri has the most occurrences of the name "Independence" (53), Illinois (43), California (37), Ohio (30) and Colorado (27). To get this information you can query a search engine at http://geography.usgs.gov. Click on Geographic Names under "Products," look under "Query the GNIS Online Data Bases" for United States and Territories. Include "variant names" to get historical features. You can even find out which watershed the feature is in. And, of course, the database shows the latitude and longitude on the USGS topo map - after all we do maps and geography at USGS as well as the earth and natural sciences. There are also 51 instances where Independence is the name of a mine - looks like a lot of folks hoped that sinking that mine would bring them their own independence. For more, contact Gail Wendt at gwendt@usgs.gov or 703-648-5604.

Freshwater Shrimp Found At Record Elevation (And Not Steamed by the Pound): USGS scientist Peggy Moore recently discovered a fairy shrimp at 8,600 feet at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite National Park. This finding documents an elevation record for the species, and is the first known record of this species in Tuolumne Meadows. Most of the biodiversity in national parks is represented by invertebrates (critters, literally, without a spine), and little is known about the how many exist and in what environments in the high elevation habitats of many parks. Invertebrates tend to be sensitive to disturbance, especially in fragmented habitats created by roads, trails and other development. This species may be a good indicator of change in native ecosystems. Since fairy shrimp rely on shallow ponds in wetlands, they may be sensitive to the warming and drying conditions that are one of the predicted climate change scenarios for the Sierra Nevada. For more, contact Peggy Moore at 209-379-1309 or by email at peggy_moore@usgs.gov.

Glacial Pace of Melting Quickens -- You'd expect frigid Antarctica and hugely misnamed Greenland to be covered with ice, but many glaciers also exist in Earth's more temperate regions at high altitudes. Some are disappearing. To get a global view of the issue that is both impartial and cost-effective, GLIMS (Global Land Ice Measurements from Space), a USGS-led consortium of 82 science institutions from 26 nations, uses remote sensing data to track the status of the world's glaciers as a physical signature of climate change. Recent surveys have been based primarily on data from the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and reflection Radiometer) instrument aboard the EOS Terra spacecraft. When correlated with historical records, observations from ASTER and other remote sensing sources show that the vast majority of mid-latitude glaciers are retreating at a brisk speed for glaciers, a rate that appears to have accelerated markedly worldwide in the last few decades. For more information, visit http://www.glims.org/, or call Jon Campbell, 703-648-4180.

FEEDS:

What Puts the "BANG" in Your Fourth of July? To celebrate Independence Day, Americans are drawn to spectacular fireworks displays. But what makes the colors, lights, and sounds so vivid? Each color in a fireworks display is produced by a specific mineral compound. Bright greens are from barium; blues come from copper; and yellow requires sodium. More colors result by mixing compounds. The role of minerals in fireworks is just one example of our society's growing reliance on minerals for making things from automobiles to toothpaste. Wanna know more? Visit http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals to learn about the USGS statistics on production, trade, and resources for about 90 mineral commodities from around the world. For fun facts see: http://minerals.usgs.gov/west/factfaq.shtml and http://minerals.usgs.gov/west/morefun.shtml. For more, contact Diane Noserale at dnoseral@usgs.gov or 703-648-4333.

When It Absolutely, Positively Has to Be There - Right Now! Since 2000, USGS has dramatically increased its ability to collect and distribute information about our Earth to users in near real-time. The USGS Advanced National Seismic System's (ANSS) ShakeMap enables emergency responders to see areas worst shaken by an earthquake within minutes of the earthquake - giving them vital information for early resource deployment to areas most in need. More than 6,000 USGS streamgages now provide up-to-the-minute information on rivers including flood information, drought data and facts needed by water managers to make the best-informed decisions. And the advanced use of space-based Interferometric Synthetic Aperature Radar (INSAR for short) enables USGS scientists to view tiny land surface changes - as little as 4 inches change - around volcanoes. Those changes can give immediate early warning of volcanic activity, months before an eruption. For more, call Butch Kinerney at 703-648-4732 or email at bkinerney@usgs.gov.

Walk a Mile, or Two, in Their Moccasins-Along the Historic Trails of Leadville, Colorado: Until the late 1850s when ore deposits were discovered near Leadville, travel was limited to Indian trails that were accessible only by horseback or on foot because of the narrow valleys. The Ute Indians and parties from the Great Plains tribes occasionally traveled into the mountains for hunting and fur trappers traversed the trails for beaver. The earliest recorded use of the Indian trails in this area was in about 1844 by John C. Fremont's second expedition. Over the years, the trails became roads that were used by Conestoga wagons and stagecoaches, and even hand carts such as those used by the Mormons during their immigration to Utah. The U.S. Geological Survey has prepared a "Historic Trail Map of the Leadville Quadrangle, Central Colorado - Scientific Investigations Map 2820," available by calling 1-888-ASK-USGS (1-888-275-8747). For more, contact Carolyn Bell at cbell@usgs.gov or 703-648-4463.

STORY SEEDS:

California Otters Can't Jump, But They're On the Rebound: The spring 2004 California sea otter survey, led by USGS scientists, tallied a record-high total of 2,825. This marked the 2nd consecutive year the threatened population has shown an appreciable increase in numbers, approaching 13 percent over the 2003 total of 2,505 otters. The average of the 3 most recent spring counts is up almost 10 percent, to 2,490 sea otters. However, the increase in sea otters has not occurred across all segments of the population evenly; increases have occurred in males but not in reproductive females. The spring survey is a cooperative effort of the USGS, the California Department of Fish and Game Marine Wildlife Care and Research Center, and Monterey Bay Aquarium. Information gathered from spring surveys is used by Federal and State wildlife agencies in making decisions about the management of this small sea mammal. For more, contact Brian Hatfield at 805-927-3893.

Looking Under the Lid - New Tools For Assessing Water Quality: From toilet bowls to abandoned mines, USGS water quality specialists comb the Nation's varied landscapes measuring the quality of our waters. Among key highlights during the first part of the 21st Century were the discovery of household chemicals, pharmaceuticals and hormones in our streams and rivers; the recognition of mercury, arsenic and the gas-additive MTBE as major contributors to our Nation's water quality problems; the completion of the second-phase of the assessment of our Nation's water quality and our new ability to track stream water quality in real-time. For the future, we're working with our public-sector and private-sector partners to make necessary water-quality information more available to decision makers. For more, contact Butch Kinerney at bkinerney@usgs.gov or 703-648-4732.

May The "Forces" Be With You: USGS seismologist Ross Stein and volcanologist Marie Edmonds star in the new IMAX disaster flick "Forces of Nature" which is opening on IMAX screens around the world. The ground moves, mountains explode, the sky turns black and violent - paradoxically, natural forces that helped create life on our green planet can also imperil it. National Geographic, in partnership with Graphic Films, shows the awesome spectacle of earthquakes, volcanoes and tornadoes brought to the giant screen. Billions of years after Earth's genesis, this planet retains a volatile atmosphere. While we are at the mercy of these primal powers, hope lies with researchers (including the two aforementioned stars) willing to risk their own lives on groundbreaking quests to understand the origins and behavior of natural disasters. From an active Caribbean volcano to the earthquake-tested antiquities of Istanbul, and finally on to America's notorious "Tornado Alley," "Forces of Nature" showcases three scientists aiming to improve our odds of surviving these terrifying events. ("Forces" is narrated by Kevin Bacon, so now our scientists won't quit playing that "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" game.) For more, visit http://www.destinationcinema.com/our_films/fon/fon.asp or call Butch Kinerney at 703-648-4732.