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US-Mexico Border Strategy: Ensuring Consistent and Relevant Information

The USGS Border Strategy Team is focused on providing consistent, relevant, and comparable information in the US-Mexico border region. This effort involves collaboration among various bureaus to address border issues and promote sustainable development while protecting human health and the environment.

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US-Mexico Border Strategy: Ensuring Consistent and Relevant Information

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  1. U.S. Geological Survey U.S.-Mexico border regionA focused effort to ensure consistent, relevant and comparable information.USGS Border Strategy Team

  2. The DOI Field Coordinating Committee was established to encourage appropriate and joint involvement among various bureaus to address border issues. United States / Mexico Transboundary

  3. United States / Mexico Transboundary DOI Charter Bureaus and Agencies Geological Survey NMD, WRD, GD, BRD National Park Service Bureau of Reclamation Bureau of Indian Affairs Fish and Wildlife Service Bureau of Land Management Minerals Management Service

  4. Information Products Fact Sheets Bibliography Web Pages http://www.doi.gov/fcc http://www.ecrc.cr.usgs.gov/lrgrei

  5. DOI Fact Sheet 1

  6. Federal lands within US/Mex border area

  7. United States / Mexico Transboundary BORDER XXI A binational program that attempts to bring together the diverse US and Mexican federal entities responsible for the shared border environment to work cooperatively toward sustainable development while protecting human health and the environment. Integral to this program (now) is the proper management of natural resources in both countries.

  8. United States / Mexico Transboundary USGS STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE US/MEXICO BORDER REGION

  9. United States / Mexico Transboundary • USGS CORE COMPETENCIES • Impartiality, credibility, and scientific excellence • Relationships and partnerships • Multidisciplinary workforce and national presence • Long-term national data bases • Long-term, regional, multidisciplinary interpretative studies

  10. United States / Mexico Transboundary GOALS • Provide national and international leadership for the development of long-term geospatial and natural-resource data bases for the border region • Assess and report the condition of the landscape of the border region and its natural resources • Characterize natural processes and identify factors that influence natural resources within the border region

  11. United States / Mexico Transboundary GOALS • Develop capability to predict potential effects of human activities and natural processes on the resources of the border region • Facilitate sound management of the natural resources of the border region by collaborating with partners

  12. United States / Mexico Transboundary • GAO REVIEW OF ENVIRONMENTAL INFRASTRUCTURE NEEDS ALONG THE US/MEXICO BORDER • Requested by border congressional delegation • USGS border strategy team formulated bureau response including a copy of the strategic plan

  13. United States / Mexico Transboundary ISSUES – Despite numerous bilateral agreements and efforts, unsustainable practices in the border region have resulted in degradation of environmental conditions – Industrialization has brought important economic benefits to the border region, but often resulted in accelerated population growth and consumption which surpassed the capacity of the natural resources

  14. United States / Mexico Transboundary ISSUES – Basic infrastructure, particularly with regard to water resources are also jeopardized – These conditions present a threat to biodiversity, air and water quality, and certainly pose health risks to border residents

  15. United States / Mexico Transboundary ISSUES – The lack of a unified, binational, hydrologic database for the border region is one of the biggest impediments to addressing environmental, natural resource, and human health issues – The lack of basic inventory and monitoring information pertaining to the border water resources and water-dependent environments prevents a comprehensive understanding of watershed and regional issues

  16. United States / Mexico Transboundary United States / Mexico

  17. United States / Mexico Transboundary Mapping and GIS Initiative Other Participating Organizations • Dept of Agriculture - FS, NRCS, FSA • EPA - Border XXI • DOI Secretary Office • State agencies in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California • Transboundary Resource Information Program • International Boundary and Water Commission • Mexican Agencies - INEGI, SEMARNAP, CILA

  18. United States / Mexico Transboundary Mapping and GIS Initiative Aerial Photography Initiative • The bi-national initiative to acquire aerial photography will be used as the foundation for subsequent bi-national digital mapping efforts. • The two types of photography will include: • 1:40,000-scale color infrared • 1:75,000-scale black and white.

  19. USGS Digital Products Digital Orthophoto Quadrangle Digital Elevation Model Digital Raster Graphic Digital Line Graph

  20. COLORADO RIVER—NEW RIVER BINATIONAL TOXICS STUDY 1995

  21. PARTICIPATING AGENCIES: Comision National del Agua U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Arizona Department of Environmental Quality Arizona Department of Game and Fish California Department of Fish and Game California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Colorado River Basin California State Water Resources Control Board International Boundary and Water Commission, United States and Mexico

  22. Hydro-Stratigraphy Ground water modeling improved using depth dependent data.

  23. Two complete barrels allow non-stop production. Core barrel with spring retract. Initial measurement of core recovery. Black painted liner for thermoluminesence dating.

  24. From macro to micro data, research drilling can provide it all. Hydro-Stratigraphy on a kilometer scale down to bioactivity on a millimeter scale.

  25. Research Activities in the Rio Grande Basin

  26. Peregrine Falcon Reproduction in Big Bend National Park

  27. Assessing Risks of Environmental Contaminants to Wildlife in Agricultural Ecosystems U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey

  28. Vegetation and Land Use in the LRGV

  29. Egg and fish sampling sites Falcon Reservoir

  30. Mean chlorinated pesticide values in avian eggs A A B B B B C

  31. Assessing exposure and effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals on fish and wildlife of the Rio Grande

  32. Modeling

  33. Environmental Health in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region Work Plan for FY 2003 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey

  34. OBJECTIVE Produce a web-based GIS containing natural resource data that provides information on linkages between the condition of the physical environment and environmental/human health

  35. PRIMARY TASKS • Task 1 - Identify, prioritize, and assemble pertinent existing data into ARC-IMS • Task 2 - Produce geologic maps of rock types that are likely sources of toxic metals • Task 3 - Prepare health-focused summaries of toxic • substances and the processes controlling • their availability

  36. GEOGRAPHIC SETTING Ultimately Border-Wide Initially Brownsville-Matamoros Area Specifically, Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Basin Below Falcon Reservoir

  37. TYPES OF DATABASES TO BE INCLUDED • Biologic themes: contaminants in biota, identification of species • and habitats at risk, and identification of environmental stressors. • Geologic themes: geomagnetic data, environmental geology, regional • scale geology, energy/coal assessment data, and soil geochemistry. • Hydrologic themes: stream flow, ground-water data, sediment quality • data, and water-borne pathogen data. • Base mapping themes: satellite and airborne imagery, elevation data, • transportation and planimetric data, land-use and land cover, and • hydrologic networks with watershed boundaries.

  38. INTERACTION WITH MEXICO Intended to be Binational in Scope and Interest Establish Working Group to Identify Collaborators Identify Sources of Pertinent Data

  39. TIMELINE Establish Working Group for Interaction with Mexico – now Identify U.S. and Mexican Databases – 30 days Prioritize Databases for Inclusion in Project – 3 months Develop Demonstration Products (GIS and Fact Sheet) – 3 months Develop Full GIS, Geologic Maps, Toxics Summaries – end of FY

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