Each year, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) releases a Cropland Data Layer (CDL) that serves as a nationwide classification system and statistical service for the United States agriculture industry. The CDL is compiled using Landsat 8 Optical Land Imager (OLI) and Sentinel-2 Multispectral...

Southeastern Arizona is home to unique mountain ranges known as the Sky Islands. Sky islands are biodiversity hotspots and host various ecosystems, ranging from arid deserts to temperate forests. These mountain ecosystems rely on slow-melting snowpack to sustain themselves during dry periods. However, the...

The Santa Monica Mountains stretch along the west coast of California between the coastal city of Oxnard and the populous urban hub of Los Angeles. Despite the close urban proximity, the Santa Monica Mountains still retain 80% native vegetation cover, including precious expanses of...

Weeks Bay is an estuarine system located along the southeastern shore of Mobile Bay in Baldwin County, Alabama. Its watershed encompasses approximately 149,000 acres of mixed-use land around the Fish and Magnolia Rivers. Weeks Bay and the surrounding coastal lands...

The Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound are the main coastal estuaries along the Alabama and Mississippi Gulf Coast. They serve as the primary drainage outlets for the Mobile Bay and Pascagoula River watersheds and provide a gradient of coastal water salinity conditions needed for a...

Observations of the threatened western yellow-billed cuckoo (YBC) are rare in Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. This species can act as an indicator for the overall health of an ecosystem, therefore understanding their habitat is critical to planning and improving land management and ecosystem conservation...

Beginning in 2019, harmful algal events in Austin, Texas, caused canine deaths in the Lady Bird Lake and Lake Travis reservoirs. These reservoirs are part of the larger Highland Lakes chain, managed by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) and...

As climate change increases the severity and frequency of extreme weather events in the tropics, it is vital for the safety of local communities and the health of ecosystems to monitor seasonal inundation. Forested inundation affects the ability of forested...

Winter cover crops are an essential component of adaptive management practices to reduce soil erosion, nutrient loss, and nutrient leaching leading to water quality degradation. The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) and Chesapeake Bay partners (US Geological Survey and USDA Agricultural Research Service) oversee...

The barrier islands of Louisiana’s Breton National Wildlife Refuge (BNWR) are disappearing due to sea level rise, extreme hurricanes, sediment starvation, and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This decline in land area has damaged important bird habitat and reduced the...