During 2006 through 2009 the National Park Service Great Lakes Inventory and Monitoring Network and its partners assessed levels of targeted environmental contaminants in bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nestlings at sites in and adjacent to the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, and St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.

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.

The U.S. Geological Survey and the USDA Forest Service partnered to co-host a symposium on "Planning for Biodiversity: Bringing Research and Management Together," held February 29-March 2, 2000 at the Kellogg West Conference Center, California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, California. The goal of the 3-day conference was to identify the current status of our knowledge and gaps in our understanding of regional biodiversity and ecosystem processes, present and future threats to species and habitats, and effective monitoring strategies for southwestern and central coastal California resources. Through a program of 52 invited presentations, 18 contributed posters, and 10 focused discussion groups, the conference created an environment for formal and informal communication among the 300 attendees about the results of scientific studies and their application to resource conservation and management, as well as the information needs of managers responsible for determining and implementing management on the ground. Of the 45 technical papers presented at the conference, 14 are included in this volume. Authors were asked to synthesize the current state of knowledge regarding their topic and identify areas needing future research. Each paper was assigned to an editor for review and received one to three additional peer reviews. Expanded abstracts of nine posters also were reviewed by the editors and included. The topics addressed in the papers and poster abstracts reflect the breadth of the conference presentations and the issues facing the science and management communities, ranging from the threats of fire, air pollution, grazing, exotic species invasion, and habitat loss on native habitats and sensitive species of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, to the role of mycorrhizal fungi as indicators of biological change.

This annual report details the status of key stream channel characteristics and riparian attributes obtained from the first season of monitoring in Jim Ford Creek within the Weippe Prairie unit and Lapwai Creek within the Spalding unit of Nez Perce National Historical Park (NEPE). This report is intended as a release of basic data sets and data summaries. Care has been taken to assure accuracy of raw data values, but thorough analysis and interpretation of the data has not been completed. More extensive analysis and discussion of stream channel characteristics and riparian will occur as part of the trend analysis, which will be available after 3 years of monitoring data become available.

This report summarizes current National Wetlands Inventory (NW)I data for each state from Maine through Virginia and the District of Columbia.

This report summarizes the results of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's findings, with emphasis on the wetlands associated with the islands in the designated Boston Harbor Islands NRA. Generalized wetland maps are included in this publication. More detailed map information can be obtained from the NWI website (http: //wetlands.fws.gov) where NWI digital map data can be downloaded for GIS applications or data can be directly viewed through the "interactive mapper tool."

This report is one in a series of community profiles whose objective is to synthesize extant literature for specific wetland habitats into definitive, yet handy ecological references. This report details not only the biology of floodplains but also the geomorphological and hydrological components and processes that are operating on various scales.

In 2012, the FAA and USDA continued to make great progress with its multifaceted approach for mitigating wildlife strikes. The FAA ensured that 100 percent of Part 139 airports have completed a Wildlife Hazard Assessment (WHA), are in the process of conducting a WHA, or have taken a Federal grant to conduct a WHA. Strike reporting continued to increase, especially with General Aviation (GA) aircraft, which increased strike reporting by 11 percent between 2011 and 2012. The FAA implemented three performance metrics to monitor strike reporting trends and GA wildlife mitigation. The performance metrics include percentage of damaging strikes, strike reporting rates, and tracking of General Aviation (GA) airports that conduct WHAs and site visits. We also issued a final Advisory Circular (AC) on strike reporting and draft ACs on WHA methodology and requirements for federally obligated public airports to conduct WHAs.

This report summarizes results of the Sonoran Desert Network's first season of terrestrial vegetation and soils monitoring in upland areas of Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument (NM), in southwestern New Mexico. Ten permanent field-monitoring sites were established and sampled in 2009. Our objectives were to determine the status of and detect trends, over five-year intervals, in vegetation cover, vegetation frequency, soil cover, and surface soil stability.

Few of us will ever get to Antarctica. The bitter cold and three months a year without sunlight makes the sixth continent virtually uninhabitable for humans. Yet marine biologist James B. McClintock has spent three decades studying the frozen land in order to understand better the world that lies beneath it. In this luminous and closely observed account, one of the world's leading experts on Antarctica introduces the reader to this fascinating world - the extraordinary wildlife that persists despite the harsh conditions and the way each of the pieces fit into the puzzle of the intricate environment: from single-celled organisms to baleen whales, with leopard seals, penguins, 50-foot algae, sea spiders, coral, and multicolored sea stars, in between. Now, as temperatures rise, the fragile ecosystem is under attack. Adelie penguins that have successfully nested on Antarctic islands for several hundred years have been nearly wiped out. King crabs that used to populate the deep seafloor are moving into shallower waters, disturbing the set order of life there. Lost Antarctica is an appeal to understand and appreciate the wondrous place at the bottom of the world that we are on the brink of losing.

This book details The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especial;y as Waterfowl Habitat - also known as the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

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.

Tennessee's geologic history has evolved in myriad ways since its initial formation more than a billion years ago, settling into its current place on the North American supercontinent between 300 and 250 million years ago. Throughout that long span of "deep time," Tennessee's landscape morphed into its present form.
"The Last Billion Years: A Geologic History of Tennessee" is the first general overview in more than thirty years to interpret the state's geological record. With minimal jargon, numerous illustrations and photographs, and a glossary of scientific terms, this volume provides the tools necessary for readers with little or no background in the subject to learn about the geologic formation of Tennessee, making it an excellent resource for high school students, college students, and interested general readers. Yet, because of the depth of its scholarship, the book is also an invaluable reference for professional geologists.
Recognizing that every reader is familiar with the roles of wind, water, gravity, and organisms in their everyday environment, author Don Byerly employs the Earth Systems Science approach, showing how the five interacting parts of the Earth--the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, and cryosphere--have worked together for eons to generate the rock compositions that make up Tennessee's geologic past.
All regions of the state are covered. Featuring a unique time chart that illustrates the state's geologic history from east to west, "The Last Billion Years" shows that while the geologic aspects of the state's three grand divisions are related in many ways, each division has a distinctly different background. The organization of the book further enhances its usability, allowing the reader to see and compare what was happening contemporaneously across the state during the key sequences of its geologic history. Written in a clear and engaging style, "The Last Billion Years" will have broad appeal to students, lay readers, and professionals.

THE ENTHRALLING INSIDE STORY OF THE THAI CAVE RESCUE FROM THE MAN AT THE HEART OF THE MISSION, AS SEEN IN THE SUNDAY TIMES 'The British divers are all heroes' Clive Cussler 'A case study in courage' Ron Howard, Oscar-winning director of Apollo 13 ________ Thailand, July 2018. Twelve boys and their football coach vanish into Tham Luang caves just as the monsoon rains hit. A mile from the surface they are trapped by rising flood waters. All attempts to reach them fail. As hope for their survival fades a retired British firefighter tinkering with homemade cave-diving kit gets a call. Rick Stanton and his dive partner race to the other side of the world. The boys have been missing for days. Each hour, their chance of escape shrinks. Rick must swim, crawl and squeeze through treacherously tight submerged tunnels hunting for them. But that is not the impossible part. Because if by some miracle they're alive then somehow he must bring the boys back out again . . . He doesn't know it yet but all his life he's been training for this very moment . . . ________ 'The riveting, behind-the-scenes story. Captivating' SUNDAY POST 'A definitive view of the rescue. You probably won't read a better-written book about diving this year. I just had to get to the end' DIVER MAGAZINE 'Diver Rick Stanton relives the rescue of the century' SUNDAY TIMES 'Remarkable . . . the chronicle of a man from a humble background who worked devilishly hard . . . and was willing to go anywhere to help people in the most dire cave disasters' WALL STREET JOURNAL THE RESCUE WATCHED BY THE WORLD 'The Thai cave rescue was phenomenally dangerous, and the work of true heroes' iNews '[The rescue] was fantastic, it really was . . .' HRH Prince William 'If it was me stuck anywhere, the one person I would want to come and rescue me is Rick Stanton' Alex Daw, Watch Commander, West Midlands Fire Service 'One of the great stories of our time' Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Oscar-winning co-director of Free Solo 'Rick Stanton is not the most domesticated of men' Sunday Telegraph

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.

To better understand the native, non-native and restored plant community dynamics at WHMI the NPS Vegetation Inventory Program (NVIP) funded a vegetation inventory and mapping project in 2006 as part of the larger Upper Columbia Basin Inventory and Monitoring Network (UCBN) network-wide inventory program. The authors' detail the findings of the Vegetation Inventory Project at Whitman Mission National Historic Site

The report is organized into the following sections: Study Area, Methods, General Scope and Limitations of the Study, Appropriate Use of this Report, Rationale for Preliminary Functional Assessments, Results, Conclusions, Acknowledgments, and References. Two appendices provide keys to hydrogeomorphic wetland classification and the functional assessment findings for subbasins. Thematic maps are contained in a separate folder on the CD version of this report.

A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 SHORTLISTED FOR THE ESTWA AWARD FOR ILLUSTRATED TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR 2022 One of the least-known places on the planet, the only continent on earth with no indigenous population, Antarctica is a world apart. From a leading cartographer with the British Antarctic Survey, this new collection of maps and data reveals Antarctica as we have never seen it before. This is not just a book of traditional maps. It measures everything from the thickness of ice beneath our feet to the direction of ice flows. It maps volcanic lakes, mountain ranges the size of the Alps and gorges longer than the Grand Canyon, all hidden beneath the ice. It shows us how air bubbles trapped in ice tell us what the earth's atmosphere was like 750,000 years ago, proving the effects of greenhouse gases. Colonies of emperor penguins abound around the coastline, and the journeys of individual seals around the continent and down to the sea bed in search of food have been intricately tracked and mapped. Twenty-nine nations have research stations in Antarctica and their unique architecture is laid out here, along with the challenges of surviving in Antarctica'sunforgiving environment. Antarctica is also the frontier of our fight against climate change. If its ice melts, it will swamp almost every coastal city in the world. Antarctic Atlas illustrates the harsh beauty and magic of this mysterious continent, and shows how, far from being abstract, it has direct relevance to us all.

In this report the authors assess and evaluate openland habitats at the Lakeshore and field scales and, in doing so, build upon the prior research of Scharf (1997) and the multi-scale assessment work of Corace (2007). The authors focus their efforts on understanding the ecological contributions provided by these habitats for openland bird species of conservation concern. A top-down analysis provides the authors with a framework to assess the conservation status of individual ecosystems at the Lakeshore and prioritize efforts within the context of contemporary environmental issues, such as the decline in populations of openland bird species across the Upper Midwest (i.e., Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin).

This document presents the programmatic environmental assessment (PEA) of the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary Final Plan Management. It is a useful tool to understand the environmental consequences of th broad range of activities in the management plan and provides the general analyses that informed the decision of approving the plan. It also establishes that as individual actions become ripe for decision, alternatives will be evaluated under the NEPA to meet the broader goals outlined in this final management plan.

Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is located in central New Mexico near the town of Mountainair. Gran Quivira was established as a National Monument in 1909, with Abo and Quarai park units established in 1980 (NPS 1984). The three units were redesignated as Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument in 1987. The Monument was established to "set apart and preserve for the benefit and enjoyment of the American People the ruins of prehistoric Indian pueblos and associated seventeenth century Franciscan Spanish mission ruins" (NPS 2006). The specific objectives of this project were to complete an exotic plant inventory, collect voucher specimens for new exotic species in the park, and write a report on exotic plant species occurring in Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. This information may then be incorporated into future weed management projects to restore and preserve the vegetation and cultural landscape.

This document describes the rationale and methods used by the National Park Service (NPS) Northeast Temperate Network (NETN) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuges (MCI) for long-term monitoring of rocky intertidal habitats. The monitoring effort will collect data for key metrics representing the ecological health of the intertidal zone, and over time it will provide an indication of the trend of these metrics.

This document details the vegetation classification and mapping which was completed for Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site, It includes a current digital geospatial vegetation database for the park. Six vegetation associations occurred within the park, and these were identified and described in detail. The associations were Northeastern Modified Successional Forest, Reed Canarygrass Eastern Marsh, Reed-grass Tidal Marsh, Cattail Brackish Tidal Marsh, Skunk-cabbage - Orange Jewelweed Seep, and Central Atlantic Freshwater Subtidal River Bed.