Includes studies on confined animal feeding operations, fertilizers and pesticides, and provide data on the impacts of agricultural practices on native plants, wildlife, water, and soil chemistry.

The Minerals Team has a project "Geochemical Landscapes" where they are conducting geochemical studies on soil throughout the country to determine baselines and backgrounds. A transect through or near a feeding operation may show anomalous geochemical results.

The National Land Cover Data (NLCD) Project is documenting land cover change across the nation. The project has completed land cover for 1992 and 2001 in the conterminous United States and is analyzing the change in major land cover types, including agriculture. The NLCD is also planning to complete 2006 land cover. These data will be valuable to track the changes in agricultural land area in response to economic and social drivers.

The USGS Iowa Water Science Center (WSC) has an on-going project in cooperation with the US Dept Agriculture to collect and analyze water chemistry of field runoff from Ag fields. The Minnesota WSC has an on-going project to look at water chemistry of infiltration beneath natural grasslands versus cropped lands to get a handle of chemical loading of recharge water to shallow aquifers. Minnesota WSC is completing a project that looks at chemical runoff of Ag fields that used best management practices vs. fields that did not.

The Fort Science Center (FORT) and the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center (NPWRC) are working to assess the benefits of the Farm Bill Conservation Programs to fish and wildlife. FORT is developing a white paper on predicting Threatened and Endangered Species on Ag Lands using the Invasive Species models. The National Wetlands Research Center (NWRC) and NPWRC are working on valuating Ecosystem Services and Carbon Sequestration potentials.

The Central Region Geographic Information Office (GIO) is providing a myUSGS community to the Environmental Effects of Agricultural Practices (EEAP) coordination effort led by the North Central Area Regional Executive. The EEAP community builds on a previous effort with the Ag Practices Central region Integrated Science Program in Oklahoma and a data context for the Digital Atlas of the Fort Cobb Watershed within the Comprehensive Science Catalog (CSC).

Data collection and research address the challenge associated with growing energy activities in the West and the potential conflicts that result at the wildlife habitat interface.

The WLCI and possibly other areas such as western Colorado would fit under this opportunity. There may be another possible link to the Energy Program's "Environmental impact of energy production and usage on the environment and human health" project which studies the environmental impacts of energy resource exploration, development, and production (produced waters).

The Geography Discipline is participating the HLI by creating conceptual models to characterize the major ecological and human drivers on the landscape, and developing innovative remote sensing techniques to accurately map sagebrush and human disturbance.

FORT and Forest and Rangeland Ecological Science Center are strongly involved in the Healthy Lands Initiative. NWRC works in the Lower Mississippi Valley Integrated Landscape Monitoring (ILM) thrust. NPWRC works in the Prairie Pothole - ILM and Platte River Priority Ecosystem Science (PES) project. Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center works in the Greater Yellowstone PES.

The CR-GIO is providing support for the WLCI portion of the Healthy Lands Initiative (HLI) in three key areas:

• Organization - The CR-GIO provides leadership for the WLCI Data and Information Management Team made up of WLCI partner agencies and the University of Wyoming's Wyoming Geospatial Information Science Center (WyGISC)
• Data Clearinghouse - The WLCI Data Clearinghouse will be the authoritative data foundation for science and management activities of the WLCI. It is being constructed as a data context of the aforementioned CSC platform.
• WLCI Web Site - The CR-GIO provides Web site architecture and content management services for the WLCI Web site (www.wlci.gov). This includes collaboration and support with the WLCI Coordination Team and WLCI Communications Team.

The CR-GIO is working with counterparts in BLM to write a whitepaper on data standards, data sharing, and technology transfer between the USGS and BLM. The paper addresses on the HLI and WLCI in particular as focus areas for developing tools and methods. The whitepaper effort is being directed by Associate Directors in USGS and BLM and championed by the USGS Deputy Director and the Central region Regional Director.

River corridors are affected by agricultural practices; land-use change and urbanization; natural hazards, such as floods and droughts; water use and water quality; riverine and wetland habitats; industrial contaminants; and channel enhancement. Scientific studies provide managers with rehabilitation options, and information for decision making.

This opportunity has a link to the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping and Coastal and Marine Program's "Coastal, wetland, riverine, and associated watersheds'" project--- specifically the "Missouri River Basin/Missouri River geologic framework" project.

Many CR WSCs involved in projects dealing with large rivers - - notable SD WSC, NE WSC, MO WSC.

CERC works in the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. NWRC works in the Mississippi River. NPWRC works in the Platte River.

The CR-GIO worked with the Platte River PES group to produce an online data resource in the CSC and associated myUSGS collaborative community in the summer of 2007. In addition to identifying and assembling base data records, this effort brought together catalog records for many at-risk data resources from USGS Science Centers and individuals who had left the project. The Platte River PES data context will be revisited in 2008 with viewer enhancements and additional data exploration.

Interagency research and monitoring studies to document coastal erosion and wetland loss, geologic and hydrologic variables, with a focus on restoring and preserving Louisiana's valuable coastal resources.

The Coastal and Marine Program has a project "Northern Gulf of Mexico Integrated Science Study" designed to provide landscape-scale research and information products supporting restoration and adaptive management addressing chronic ecosystem decline and land-loss in the Gulf Coast Region, and assessment of the vulnerability of human and natural systems to severe coastal storms. This project funds the University of New Orleans to address regional subsidence and storm processes relating to land loss.

Louisiana WSC has a couple projects to evaluate coastal wetlands

The NWRC has multiple projects on restoration of the LA wetlands and delta and other deltas around the world.

The GIO engaged in an effort to bring together and present information on Regional and National projects in the entire ocean science realm, including Comprehensive National Coastal Program and other projects related to coastal issues. This work resulted in a new data model for bringing together project information from BASIS+ and other sources to "tell the story" of science in thematic areas. The data model and information collected in the Ocean Science exercise is being shared with the National Park Service and can be used as a basis for sharing ongoing Central Region work in coastal issues.

Studies on land use and population trends; drought and climate changes; and the causes and consequences of changes in water quality and use. Areas of assessment include surface-water, ground-water, water use and ecosystems in the High Plains Aquifer and Edwards - Trinity.

The National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program has a project "Alluvial Basin and Basement Aquifers" designed to conduct geologic mapping and develop hydrogeologic maps and three-dimensional GIS frameworks for alluvial basins and aquifers. One of the tasks is "Framework geology of mid-continent carbonate aquifers", which I believe includes the High-Plaines and Simpson-Arbuckle.

The Geography Discipline has produced population models that demonstrate the changes in human density in the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer and its impacts on water quality and water usage.

Columbia Environmental Research Center ERC and Wetlands intend to work with Texas WSC on the water needs of Threatened and Endangered Species in the Edwards-Trinity Aquifer.

As part of its support to the Water Availability Science Thrust, the GIO established a data context for water availability in the Comprehensive Science Catalog mentioned above under Agricultural Practices.

The GIO collaborated with the Alabama WSC in a proposal to create an online modeling environment called Modeling Access on Remote Servers (MARS) to facilitate water models such as Top Model for the Water Availability Science Thrust. This proposal is due to be funded in FY2008 by the ER-GIO, but work has not yet begun.

Research on diverse natural resource topics involving migratory wildlife, marine mammals, threatened and endangered species, wildlife disease, terrestrial plants, and amphibians. Complementary development of new information and tools for the management of wildlife and plant species on Federally managed lands.

The Earth Surface Dynamics Program has a project "Monitoring, modeling and forecasting of ecosystem and climate change" that is designed to monitor trends in landscape processes and provide indications of climate variability and impacts.

All BRD Centers are working on Threatened and Endangered Species. Some of the work is on Pallid Sturgeon, Wolf, Grizzly Bear, Least Tern, Piping Plover, Whooping Crane, and Swift Fox.

The CR-GIO collaborated with the FORT on enhancing and gaining access to FWS data layers on endangered species and critical habitat coming from the Ecological Conservation Online System (ECOS). ECOS is the primary system used by FWS for managing data associated with the Endangered Species Program. These data have been cataloged within the CSC system mentioned previously and are being made available via project data contexts like the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI).

Regional and local studies on non-indigenous invasive plants, animals and disease organisms that cause increasing harm to native species and significant economic losses by reducing productivity and foreclosing opportunities for beneficial uses of forests, croplands, rangelands, and aquatic resources.

The Earth Surface Dynamics Program has a project "Monitoring, modeling and forecasting of ecosystem and climate change" that is designed to monitor trends in landscape processes and provide indications of climate variability and impacts. Two tasks, "Climate, land use, and environmental sensitivity" and "Exploring future flora environments and climates through simulations" may relate to this CR science opportunity.

The Geography Discipline has developed innovative remote sensing classification methods to improve the detection and mapping of invasives such as tamarisk and leafy spurge to help land managers map and monitor the spread of these invasives.

Colorado WSC involved with pine beetle consequences in Grand Co., CO.

FORT is working on a large Invasive Species set of models to predict early occurrences such that a rapid control effort can be initiated. CERC is working on Aquatic Invasive species. NPWRC is working on control of plant invasives.

The GIO has contributed the underlying architecture of the myUSGS platform for authentication and access control services and other infrastructure elements to the FORT's Invasive Species Modeling and Analysis System (ISMAS). The myUSGS system will continue to serve the collaboration needs of the ISMAS development effort.

Fire Science - assessment of post-fire impacts, technical assistance to implement mitigation measures; fire ecology research on landscape restoration; development of fire-fuel mapping capabilities using remote sensing technology and real-time integrated fire incidence information. New Madrid - A wide range of activities, from trenching across faults, to incorporating new data into earthquake hazard maps, to determining how earthquake shaking can affect man-made structures.

This links directly to the "Earthquake Hazard Assessment and loss reduction in urban regions" project-specifically the "Earthquake loss reduction in the Central and Eastern U.S." task designed to conduct relevant research, seismic and geodetic monitoring, field studies, geologic mapping, and other analyses needed to provide seismic hazard assessments of major urban areas such as the New Madrid area.

This opportunity also links to the "Research on earthquake effects" project that is designed to accurately characterize, forecast, and predict earthquake effects by extending the understanding of the science and processes that govern earthquake physics, ground shaking, and ground failure.

The Geography Discipline is involved in fire science by developing spatial databases and visualization methods to allow land managers and the public to understand the risks and processes involved in fire hazard in Grand County Colorado.

The Geography Discipline is organizing a workshop in August 2008 that will bring emergency responders, managers and scientists together to discuss the issues related to the New Madrid fault and the possibility of a major earthquake in the region.

FORT and NRMSC work on Fire Studies related to ecosystem changes and fire modeling.