By hweiss-racine@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 17, 2025.

Gas pistoning continued in the north vent and intermittently in the south vent. Small north vent overflows occurred at 8:38 AM and 8:59 AM HST during gas pistoning cycles. The new window for the start of episode 33 is Sept 17-20.

By jlball@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 17, 2025.

How do volcanic fields get their start? By looking at crystals in the oldest lavas in a field, geoscientists can tell a story about the rocks’ pathway from the mantle to the surface. 

By slevisay@contractor.usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 17, 2025.

Chances are, most people reading this story are using a device powered by a lithium-ion battery. Lithium is best known for powering batteries in phones, laptops, and electric vehicles, but it’s also used in lightweight metals, ceramics, lubricants, and even some medications.

By dchilds@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 17, 2025.

This story was first published by The Wildlife Management Institute Outdoors News Bulletin (ONB) on September 17, 2025. USGS researchers at the Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (Idaho CRU) and graduate students at the University of Idaho are working with Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) on projects focused on better understanding the dynamics of steelhead fisheries in Idaho.

By edietrich@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 17, 2025.

Sagebrush ecosystems represent one of the most imperiled biomes in North America. To guide strategic conservation efforts and help land managers balance land use priorities, FORT scientists and collaborators developed the Prioritizing Restoration of Sagebrush Ecosystems Tool (PReSET). 

By edietrich@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 16, 2025.

Wildfires in the United States are increasing in size and severity, impacting lives, property, public health, ecosystems, and ecosystems services. Recovery from a single fire can cost \$100s of millions to over \$40 billion, not including the costs of fire suppression. FORT fire history research provides essential information to support wildfire managers across the country.

By samgott@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 15, 2025.

RESTON, Va. — An ongoing geologic survey of the Connecticut River Valley is expected to shed light on pyrrhotite, the mineral implicated in weakening building foundations in southern New England.  

By ppearsall@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 15, 2025.

For decades, chemicals from industry and development have lingered in the sediments of Puget Sound, threatening marine life and human health. Despite more than 30 years of remediation and monitoring, some contaminants remain stubbornly persistent in the Sound’s marine inhabitants and nearshore environment, raising questions about how best to restore this critical ecosystem.

By jlawson@contractor.usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 15, 2025.

For farmers, uncertainty is a constant. Much is beyond their control, and the weather is just one example. What looks like a bumper crop of soybeans one day could be shredded by hail or flooded by a deluge the next.

By edietrich@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 15, 2025.

The value people get from public lands goes beyond the billions of dollars spent each year on travel, entrance fees, licenses, and equipment for outdoor recreation. FORT economists help resource managers estimate the overall economic benefits generated by outdoor recreation activities, such as trips to National Park Service sites.

By mpoland@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 15, 2025.

If only we could stick a thermometer into a magma chamber…  That’s not really possible, but fortunately each mineral in a volcanic deposit is like a microscopic thermometer that records magma chamber temperature over time!

By mhartwell@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 12, 2025.

Join us on Monday, September 22 for “The Art of Inquiry,” a special Flagstaff Festival of Science exhibition showcasing a six-week collaboration between Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy students and USGS scientists.

By twojtowicz@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 12, 2025.

Kathi Irvine was recently selected to receive the American Statistical Association's Section on Statistics and the Environment 2025 Distinguished Achievement Award, which recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to the development of methods, issues, concepts, applications, and initiatives in environmental statistics.

By ppearsall@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 12, 2025.

Off the coast of southern California, oil naturally seeps from the seafloor, bubbling up to the surface and washing ashore as sticky tarballs. For decades, these natural seeps have complicated the work of regulators and resource managers, who must determine whether tar on beaches originates from human-caused spills or natural processes.

By edietrich@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 12, 2025.

As the science backbone of the Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative (WLCI), USGS has developed 200+ science products for WLCI partners over the last 18 years. From wildlife migration to water quality, invasive species to mineral mapping, this science helps partners within WLCI adapt and plan for the future.

By kmulliken@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 11, 2025.

Born and raised in Hilo, I grew up hiking in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park, fishing in Ka'ū, and stargazing on Mauna Kea. I knew then that the Big Island is one of the most beautiful places on Earth but had never considered earth science to be a pathway, or that I would find myself back here at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo (UHH) teaching it. 

By edietrich@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 11, 2025.

The Department of Interior (DOI) manages 480 million acres of public lands that attract over 565 million visitors every year, generating $1.2 trillion in economic output. Social scientists at the USGS Fort Collins Science Center work on a variety of projects that help inform outdoor recreation management on DOI lands.

By lhsu@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 10, 2025.

Additional opportunities for science analysis and synthesis.

By sernst@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 10, 2025.

Whether you get updates about natural disasters from the news, a website, or an app, the accuracy of that information depends on the quality of the science behind it. The USGS provides the trusted scientific foundation that decision makers and communities rely on to prepare for coastal hazards.  

By edietrich@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 10, 2025.

The USGS leads federal research efforts to address the growing threat of invasive reptiles in the Greater Everglades Ecosystem. 

By jlball@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 09, 2025.

How do CalVO scientists create a timeline of eruptions from radioactive elements stored in tiny crystals? The Coso volcanic field is one place where a special technique is hard at work.

By edietrich@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 09, 2025.

In collaboration with universities, federal land management agencies, state wildlife organizations, and tribal biologists, FORT scientists are refining methods to accurately count wild horses and burros, investigating how these equines interact with native ecosystems, and testing what organizations can do to effectively manage wild equine populations. 

By meganevans@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 08, 2025.

This report was developed to evaluate the performance of a set of proposed alternatives for Cervus elaphus canadensis (elk) and Bison bison (bison) management at the National Elk Refuge (NER) in Wyoming, U.S.A., and to inform a National Environmental Policy Act Environmental Impact Statement focused on developing the next “Bison and Elk Management Plan” (BEMP).

By jmalpass@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 08, 2025.

The Disease Decision Analysis and Research (DDAR) group is a multi-disciplinary team based out of the Eastern Ecological Science Center whose strengths are in ecology, decision sciences, quantitative modeling, social sciences, and natural resource management. Learn more about the recent activities of this team below.

By mpoland@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 08, 2025.

Ever wonder who collects hats blown into Yellowstone hot springs, repairs damage to bacterial mats or thermal ground, and monitors the health of Yellowstone’s thermal features?  Meet the Yellowstone Geology Program!

By edietrich@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 08, 2025.

A critical component of invasive species management efforts is access to reliable, high-resolution geographic data on where invasive species currently exist and where they are likely to spread. To address this need, FORT developed the Invasive Species Habitat Tool (INHABIT), which provides wall-to-wall, fine-scale maps of invasive plant distributions and colonization risk across the United States.

By samgott@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 05, 2025.

RESTON, Va. — Low-level helicopter flights begin as soon as early September over the greater “Silver Valley” mineral district in Northeastern Idaho and Northwestern Montana to image geology using airborne geophysical technology. Surveying is expected to extend into late autumn of 2025; depending on weather, it may continue in the spring and summer of 2026.

By ppearsall@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 05, 2025.

Salt marshes, critical buffers against coastal erosion, rely on a net gain of sediment to maintain their elevation and resilience as sea levels rise. A new study examines how two different sediment delivery routes—wave-battered marsh edges and meandering tidal creeks—combine to shape the future of these vital ecosystems.

By meganevans@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 05, 2025.

By WILDHOPE.TV

September 5, 2025

WILD HOPE

As a deadly fungal disease sweeps across North America, wiping out millions of bats, scientists are pioneering a bold new strategy to protect these special creatures.

By kkovacs@usgs.gov from All News. Published on Sep 05, 2025.

A USGS-led expedition in the Aleutian Arc off Alaska will provide critical information on energy resources, underwater earthquakes and other hazards, seafloor habitats, and biological resources, including key fisheries, as well as potential seabed minerals.