26July1996 Benchmark Notes To: "USGS Employees" From: " benchmark, Reston, VA " (Benchmark) Subject: 26July1996 Benchmark Notes X-Mailer: If you wish to send e-mail to me or my immediate staff, please use one of the following addresses: SMTP: BENCHMRK@USGS.GOV Groupwise: INTERNET:BENCHMRK@USGS.GOV Banyan Vines: BENCHMRK CCMail: SMTP_MAIL BENCHMRK@USGS.GOV Supervisors, please share this message with employees without access to e-mail. =============================================== In this issue of Benchmark Notes, I highlight some examples of how recent work by USGS people is tangibly benefitting the public. In the pressure of our day-to-day work, it is easy to lose sight of the real purpose of what we do as Federal employees working for the American public. Slogans such as "earth science in the public service" or "touching the daily lives of every American" are NOT just public relations hype. They reflect the ultimate goal of all of our activities in the USGS, whether we are conducting basic research on the fundamental processes that shape or alter the Earth, routinely collecting data on the quality and quantity of our Nation's resources, developing new products to meet the needs of the public for geospatial data--or supporting these activities as managers, administrators, secretaries, editors, and the many other vital support functions performed by many of you throughout the USGS. The examples profiled here, from Tennessee and California, are just two of the literally countless ways that our work protects people and the environment, helps our society better understand the world we live in, and saves money. Traditionally, we have generally done an outstanding job of communicating our results to fellow scientists. However, as last year's threat of abolishment proved, two other audiences are equally crucial to our survival and health as a science organization, and we are striving to increase our interactions with both of them, as well. These two are the general public and a group that we have taken to calling "non-core professionals"; that is, people who need information from us to do their jobs but who are not, themselves, scientists and often need to have our results translated into a form they can use and understand. The two examples profiled here reach out to those two important, but heretofore underestimated, audiences. One reflects a form of public outreach, achieved through partnering; the other is a recent contribution that built on the solid foundation of some 20 years of comprehensive scientific inquiry in the area. Olympic Outreach Attendees at the 1996 Olympic Slalom Canoe/Kayak Competition will be able to learn about the geologic history of the area, thanks to the enthusiastic efforts of a USGS team of 35 people from Geologic, Water Resources, and National Mapping Divisions, Office of Program Support, and the Director's Office, and spearheaded by Jane Hammarstrom and Sandy Clark of Geologic Division, as well as colleagues at the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The efforts resulted in a new, full-color, general-interest publication, "The Geologic Story of the Ocoee River," which explains the geologic history of the Ocoee River Gorge, site of the slalom canoe/kayak competition in the 1996 Olympics. The Gorge is in the Cherokee National Forest in southeastern Tennessee and is managed by TVA and the USFS. The area is interesting from both a geologic and hydrologic perspective. Ducktown, Tennessee, some 20 miles upstream from the competition site, was one of the largest metal mining districts in the southeastern United States and has had serious environmental problems from both historic mining activities and the natural acid drainage from outcrops of sulfide-rich rocks. The Ocoee (Parksville) Dam No. 1, Tennessee, marks the end of the Gorge where the now-inactive Great Smoky fault in the Appalachian Mountains separates rocks of the Valley and Ridge province on the west from those of the Blue Ridge province on the east. A 1,500-ft stretch of the river where the competition is to be held has been modified to create the Ocoee Whitewater Center. Because of TVA dams along the Ocoee, most of the flow in this segment of the river can literally be turned on and off; for the Olympic competition, TVA will release water at a rate of about 1,400 cubic feet per second. What is remarkable about this outreach effort is how quickly it was produced. The entire process took about six weeks from conception of the idea to publication of this multi-agency brochure. The brochure was printed in time for the July 19 opening of the Olympics and is also available on the World Wide Web at . After the Olympics, copies will be available at National Forest Visitor Centers in Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina, the Ducktown Basin Museum, and the Georgia and Tennessee WRD District Offices. According to Jane Hammarstrom, working on this project benefited its creators, as well as the public. "We all made valuable contacts across the entire USGS and with other agencies, learned a lot about the great human resources available here, and look forward to working together in the future -- hopefully, with more time available to develop projects!" It was, thus, an effort that was valuable both as outreach AND inreach. A Singular Contribution from Our Continuing Ecosystem Studies in San Francisco Bay The Ecosystem Program provides relevant, high-quality, impartial scientific information in a timely manner to enable resource-management agencies to make informed planning decisions and help resolve and mitigate resource-management problems. In San Francisco Bay, scientists from all three divisions of the "old" USGS have been working together to study freshwater flows, water quality and wetlands restoration and to make the information produced by the USGS readily available to the general public and the resource management community. One example of the way that the Ecosystem Program has helped prevent resource management problems is through the work of Jon Burau, of the WRD California District. Jon's work identified an underwater high in the floor of Suisun Bay, a northern arm of San Francisco Bay, that restricts the intrusion of salt water into the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta where water is withdrawn for irrigation and drinking-water purposes. This shallow controlling area was slated for dredging by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as part of a ship channel project. Burau's finding have suggested that the proposed dredging could increase the salinity of the Suisun Bay and delta region, threatening both sensitive fish habitat and water supplies. A 1994 agreement between the Federal Government, the State of California, and other water users set a standard for the salinity of Suisun Bay, in order to protect ecologically sensitive regions. If the salinity rises above acceptable levels, increased releases of freshwater from upstream are needed, and those releases are made at the expense of agricultural and urban users of the water. Saltwater intrusion caused by dredging would, in effect, require a greater release of limited supplies of freshwater to maintain this salinity standard. Burau demonstrated that the primary mechanism for controlling salinity in Suisun Bay is not gravitational circulation, as had been thought, but shallow water/channel exchange, in which saltwater is stored and mixed with freshwater in the shallows and then released to the channel. The new information USGS provided on the circulation pattern of freshwater and saltwater within the Suisun Bay has helped biologist from State agencies understand how the movement of important biological organisms are affected by freshwater inflows to the Bay. USGS scientists are working with Corps of Engineers researchers at the Waterways Experiment Station at Vicksburg, Miss., who are using computer models to investigate the potential impacts of the ship deepening channel project on saltwater intrusion. Burau's recent work rests on knowledge, training, and expertise in estuarine hydrodynamics that has been developed through a sustained effort of many USGS scientists working in San Francisco Bay for more than 20 years. The fundamental understanding, measurement techniques, and modeling methods that have been developed through the life of this larger effort were crucial to the success of this specific applied effort. Happily, Burau had science to apply. Take a moment every now and then to celebrate our achievements no matter how brief or comprehensive, both the two mentioned here and the many, many more that could just as easily have been summarized here in this brief Note. The long, respected history of the USGS is full of such accomplishments both large and small -- and so, too, is our bright future! Let me close on a personal note. With the expert guidance and cordial companionship of Ken Lindskov, USGS State Representative for South Dakota, and Tim Hayes, geologist with the South Dakota WRD District Office, I spent two highly rewarding field days last week on the Great Plains, visiting and seining with National Biological Service (soon to Biological Resources Division) researchers on the Cheyenne River, observing the work of National Park Service vertebrate paleontologists and wildlife researchers in Badlands National Park, off-road micro-ecosystem touring with USFS managers of the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, talking with key resource managers of parts of the Rosebud (Oglala Sioux) Indian Reservation and, finally, visiting the refuge management staff of the Lake Andes National Wildlife Refuge complex. Woven through all these visits was the obvious, and often determining, role played by both the local geology and hydrology, coupled with the vital importance of our cartographic and geospatial work. This field trip was preceded by a day and a half at our EROS Data Center in eastern South Dakota, where, with the extremely able support and assistance of Sue Jenson and Kris Verdin, plus a handful of their equally capable colleagues, I was able to explore in great detail the digital elevation model for North America, examining contrasts in elevation, topographic grain, geology, and hydrography of the Great Plains before I took to the field. Another fascinating and rewarding day was spent in the South Dakota WRD District Office, where I had occasion to meet staff and was briefed on many of the issues and projects that this able and dedicated group is addressing. My South Dakota trip showed me once again that our Federal partners in field science and technology clearly recognize and value the very significant contributions made by you in the conduct of their research and management efforts. They are, I am happy to report, just as hardworking, conscientious and professionally dedicated as all of you -- great partners for us to have! Gordie