Category Archives: US Geological Survey

New Tech: Survey Drones

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USGS scientist and sUAS pilot Leanne Hanson holding the Raven A. USGS photo.

Call it a remote-controlled helicopter and it sounds like a toy. Call it a drone, and you know it is battle tested.

A drone helicopter, much like the ones used by the military, is being employed by Phil Groves, a wildlife biologist with the Idaho Power Company to survey for salmon redds, says an article in the Idaho Statesman. The US Geological Survey also uses them in Idaho to survey pygmy rabbits, it says.

The use of drones had been strictly limited by the FAA, the article says, but Congress recently introduced a law that will allow commercial uses by September 30, 2015.

In the article Groves says that the drones are much safer than conducting the surveys by helicopter. He was inspired to use the drone by the death of two fisheries colleagues in the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Read the entire article in the Idaho Statesman, here.

Of course, this isn’t the first time drones have been used to survey wildlife.
Read about the US Geological Survey’s work with drones and sandhill crane monitoring, here. (Includes links to more info.)
Read about drones in the tropics in Yale Environment 360, here.
Read about a seabird survey on the Rocky Mountain Tracking, Inc. blog, here.

Photo courtesy US Geological Survey

More Info on Solar Power Impacts Needed

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If you have felt lost while trying to evaluate the impact of a solar power project on wildlife, you are not alone. A literature review published in the December issue of BioScience says there is just not enough information out there.

The article focuses on the desert Southwest, but has broader implications. It goes through potential impacts by category, including habitat fragmentation, dust and noise.

You can find the entire article here.

You can read the editor’s note that summarizes the paper and findings here.

And, since the authors are U.S. Geological Survey scientists, you can read the USGS press release, which also summarizes the findings, here.

Photo: A desert tortoise. Photo by: Jeffrey E. Lovich, courtesy USGS

More Info on Solar Power Impacts Needed

Posted on by
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If you have felt lost while trying to evaluate the impact of a solar power project on wildlife, you are not alone. A literature review published in the December issue of BioScience says there is just not enough information out there.

The article focuses on the desert Southwest, but has broader implications. It goes through potential impacts by category, including habitat fragmentation, dust and noise.

You can find the entire article here.

You can read the editor’s note that summarizes the paper and findings here.

And, since the authors are U.S. Geological Survey scientists, you can read the USGS press release, which also summarizes the findings, here.

Photo: A desert tortoise. Photo by: Jeffrey E. Lovich, courtesy USGS

Where Trout Is In Doubt

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Girl, dad and rainbow trout

A paper published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week says that climate change is bad news for all the trout species in the northern Rocky Mountains, with an average 47 percent decline in total suitable habitat in 70 years. That, the paper says, is because it’s not just the temperature that is changing. How much water flows in rivers and when is changing, as will greater problems from invasive species, such as those that are already keeping native cut-throat trout out of its native range.

The paper’s lead author is with Trout Unlimited, with other authors hailing from the U.S. Forest Service, Colorado State University,  U.S. Geological Survey Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, and the University of Washington, Seattle.

Read the synopsis of the paper on Science Now, here.

Read a newspaper article from the Idaho Statesman, here. And this blog entry on the Idaho Statesman Web site.

And finally, read the paper itself (open access) from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, here.

Photo: Rainbow trout are expected to suffer the least from reductions in suitable habitat due to climate change. Photo by Carl Zitzman, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

Wildlife Pathology Solves the Case

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Shotgun blast or virus? Who done it? Or what done it? You may have turned to the U.S. Geological Service’s National Wildlife Health Laboratory in Madison, Wisc. to answer some of your most pressing wildlife mysteries. Here’s a view behind the scenes at the lab, with a focus on veterinary pathologist Carol Meteyer, in the current issue of Miller-McCune Magazine.

Read the story here.