The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released draft management plans on August 17 for the revised Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments that aim to provide more flexibility for the use and management of these public lands. Developed following President Donald Trump's removal of more than 2 million acres from the two Utah monuments in December 2017, the draft plans generally focus on maximizing resource development, recreation, and other uses, while still providing for resource protection. BLM is accepting public comments on the Bears Ears plans through November 15 and the Grand Staircase-Escalante plans through November 30.
The U.S. Geological Survey hosts the National Geologic Map Database (NGMDB). This interactive tool serves as a national archive for high-quality, standardized geologic maps created by the U.S. Geological Survey and state geological surveys.
The MapView section of the NGMDB displays geologic maps from across the country dating back to 1879. The database is searchable by address, and results can be narrowed further using scale and date filters.
The U.S. Geological Survey hosts topoView, an interactive database of the survey’s topographic maps.
The map is searchable by address, and clicking on any point on the map brings up topographic maps of the area dating back to 1879. Map results can be narrowed further using scale and date filters.
Clicking the “show” option will overlay the selected map onto the coordinates of topoView’s base map. Adjusting the map overlay transparency allows comparison of historical and present-day topography.
All maps in topoView are downloadable in multiple formats.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s National Water Information System (NWIS) created an interactive tool that maps water resources data at over 1.5 million sites across the country. The search tool allows the user to find sites by street address, location name, site number, state/territory, and watershed region. The sites are sorted into five main categories:
The National Ground-Water Monitoring Network compiles information from over 7,000 groundwater monitoring wells across the country, including Federal, State, and local groundwater monitoring networks. Although the image above only shows the contiguous United States, the interactive map also includes wells from Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The U.S. Geological Survey conducts post-fire debris-flow hazard assessments for many major fires across the Western United States. The information from these assessments is provided in an interactive map, allowing users to view fires by location or name and access detailed maps of debris-flow probability in the area affected by each fire. Users can select fires by year back to 2013.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides an interactive map of hazardous waste cleanups across the United States. The "Cleanups in My Community" map provides a huge amount of information on thousands of cleanups of many kinds. For every cleanup, users can access and download reports, assessments, compliance actions, and the EPA's assessment of the potential for any contaminated land to be used for renewable energy development.
As a geoscientist, I am frequently asked about why I chose my profession. My answer is deeply rooted in a sense of exploration and adventure – the excitement of getting into the field, whether by foot or boat – to interpret natural Earth systems.
The National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) Public Viewer from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration allows users to view pipelines and related information by individual county for the entire United States. The map includes: