Montana Geoenvironmental Explorer:
Communicating Science to Decision Makers

Federal land managers faced with increasingly complex decisions on management of land use, resource development, environmental problems, and ecosystem health are requesting more scientific information and analyses from the USGS as a basis for their decisions. The USGS is faced with an equally complex task of collecting, analyzing, synthesizing, and disseminating a wealth of data to answer specific questions posed by land managers and to provide analytical capabilities in support of decision making. The Montana Geoenvironmental Explorer offers a powerful data management tool for both CD-ROM and Internet application as a first step toward an integrated decision-support system that answers the needs of both Federal land managers and USGS scientists.

Developed jointly by the Mineral Resources Program (MRP) and the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI), the Explorer is a prototype for data management and display that provides platforms for analytical applications and modules that will allow users to download both data and science applications from either a CD-ROM or the Internet.

ESRI designed the Explorer to incorporate data from the Montana geoenvironmental map, which depicts the potential for acid generation within watersheds, and the Boulder Basin study, one of two pilot projects in the USGS Abandoned Mine Lands Initiative. The Explorer incorporates these data layers, models of the data, statistics, photographs, and other information in an easily accessible format on a CD-ROM or the Internet to allow Federal land managers and other MRP partners to display, download, and query data and analyses necessary for resolving environmental questions on abandoned mine lands and watershed health.

The scientific data and geochemical, geophysical, and geologic models embedded in the Explorer can be used to resolve environmental questions related to the habitats of indicator fish species that are sensitive to the presence of metal loadings in streams, the identification and cleanup of metal loadings, and the location of geologically suitable deposit sites for mine tailings.

Although designed to provide information on geoenvironmental questions, the Montana Geoenvironmental Explorer can be used in other applications and analyses such as resource assessments, mine permitting, and road construction. Intranet access to the Boulder Basin data will provide a real-time working environment for Project team members from many agencies to work together sharing data, analyses, and ideas, and partnering to develop decision-support systems tailored to meet the needs of the Federal land managers.

The Montana geoenvironmental map, which depicts the potential for acid generation within watersheds, is one layer of information on the Montana Geoenvironmental Explorer. The Explorer incorporates several layers of data for CD-ROM and Internet applications that allow natural resource managers to resolve environmental questions on abandoned mine lands and watershed health.

The Montana geoenvironmental map, which depicts the potential for acid generation within watersheds, is one layer of information on the Montana Geoenvironmental Explorer. The Explorer incorporates several layers of data for CD-ROM and Internet applications that allow natural resource managers to resolve environmental questions on abandoned mine lands and watershed health.