The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), a nonregulatory Federal science agency with national scope and responsibilities, is uniquely positioned to serve the Nation's needs in understanding and responding to global change, which includes changes in climate; sea level; land use and land cover; ecosystems; and the global water, carbon, and nitrogen cycles. Global change is among the most challenging and formidable issues confronting our Nation and society. Scientists agree that global environmental changes during this century will have far-reaching societal implications Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2007; USGCRP, 2009]. In the face of these complex challenges, the Nation can benefit greatly by using natural science information in decisionmaking.

In 2002, a fine-grained sediment (sand, silt, and clay) monitoring effort was initiated in the Colorado River ecosystem, the river corridor downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, to directly survey channel topography at scales previously unobtainable in this canyon setting. This report presents an overview of the equipment and the methods used to collect and process the high-resolution bathymetric data required for this monitoring effort.

The purpose of this report is to inform the MOU agencies, stakeholders, and the public about the current status and trends of wet nitrogen deposition at RMNP. The MOU agencies will use the information provided in this annual report to make a determination of whether the interim milestones have been achieved in 2013, 2018, 2023, and 2028.

The National Park Service's Arctic Network (ARCN) seeks to understand the natural resources and to detect changes and trends in those resources in five NPS units, including Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, Kobuk Valley National Park, Noatak National Preserve, Cape Krusenstern National Monument, and Bering Land Bridge National Preserve (Figure 1).

This document describes the concept, organization, and application of a hierarchical ecosystem classification that integrates saline and tidal freshwater reaches of estuaries in order to characterize the ecosystems of large flood plain rivers that are strongly influenced by riverine and estuarine hydrology. We illustrate the classification by applying it to the Columbia River estuary (Oregon-Washington, USA), a system that extends about 233 river kilometers (rkm) inland from the Pacific Ocean. More than three-quarters of this length is tidal freshwater.

This report summarizes the results of the 2002-2003 inventory of birds, mammals, and herpetofauna, summarizes historic information, and contains brief accounts of each species present or expected to occur in the Whitman Mission National Historic Site (WHMI). Information on species that are possible but unlikely to occur in the mission is also included.

The purpose of this study was to collect baseline water quality information on the Sound and the freshwater brooks flowing into the Sound. A depauperate water quality data base and concern over the potential for increased residential development throughout the Somes Sound watershed were incentives for initiating this study.

This annual report details the status of key indicators of water quality obtained from monitoring that occurred in Whitman Mission National Historic Site (WHMI) in 2009, 2010, and 2011. WHMI natural resource staff monitored Mill Creek in 2009, Doan Creek in 2010, and Mill Creek again in 2011.

During surveys in 2009, we documented seven invasive exotic plant taxa in the Big Spring Pines Natural Area, Chubb Hollow, Long Bay Field and Long Bay at Ozark National Scenic Riverways. All species were known to occur on the park. The most widespread and abundant of the exotic plant species observed included Johnsongrass, ground ivy and Nepalase browntop. Each of these species covered seven or more acres in the park. In general, several invasive exotic plants are a major problem in the study area at Ozark National Scenic Riverways, but successful control is possible for a large group of species. The acreage estimates presented in the report may be used to plan management activities leading to control of exotic plants and the accomplishment of GPRA goal IA1b.

Aquatic invertebrates are an important biomonitoring tool for understanding and detecting changes in ecosystem integrity over time. Therefore, the monitoring objectives of this protocol as described by DeBacker et al. (2005) are: 1) Determine the status and trends of invertebrate species diversity, abundance, and community metrics. 2) Relate invertebrate community to overall water quality through quantification of metrics related to species richness, abundance, diversity, and region-specific multi-metric indices as indicators of water quality and habitat condition.

The Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (APIS) vegetation mapping project is an initiative of the National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Inventory Program (VIP), with cooperative support from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Vegetation Characterization Program (VCP), to classify and map plant communities of APIS. The goals of the project are to adequately describe and map plant communities of APIS and immediate surroundings and provide the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program, resource managers, and biological researchers with useful baseline vegetation information.

The National Park Service initiated a restoration project at Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site to restore the historic turning basin and wetland area adjacent to the Saugus River in 2007. To fulfill regulatory requirements and enhance understanding of freshwater wetland restoration practices, an intensive, pre- and post-restoration monitoring program was implemented. This report summarizes monitoring data collected prior to the restoration and the first year (2008) after restoration. Data summaries included in this report describe the status of biotic (e.g., vegetation, nekton, avian, benthic invertebrate, and vegetation communities) and abiotic parameters (e.g., tidal hydrology, river geomorphology, sediment, and water quality). This is first of several monitoring reports associated with the restoration of the turning basin and wetlands at Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site.

This report to the Congress details the status and trends of our Nation's wetlands. It covers the period from 1986 to 1997, and provides the most recent and comprehensive estimates of the current status of wetland area throughout the conterminous United States and the losses or gains to various wetland types that have occurred during this time.

This report summarizes results of the Sonoran Desert Network's first season of terrestrial vegetation and soils monitoring in upland areas of Fort Bowie National Historic Site (NHS), in southeastern Arizona. Ten permanent field-monitoring sites were established and sampled in 2008. Our objectives were to determine the status of and detect trends, over five-year intervals, in vegetation cover, frequency, soil cover, and surface soil stability.

The Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore (PIRO) vegetation mapping project is an initiative of the National Park Service (NPS) Vegetation Inventory Program (VIP), with cooperative support from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Vegetation Characterization Program (VCP) to classify and map plant communities of PIRO. The goals of the project are to adequately describe and map plant communities of PIRO and immediate surroundings and to provide the NPS Natural Resource Inventory and Monitoring (I&M) Program, resource managers, and biological researchers with useful baseline vegetation information.