- Success Stories
- Environmental Resource Assessment & Management
Developing a Database for Ecosystem Service Models
CSS scientists have been major developers and contributors to the online U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s EcoService Models Library (ESML) database since its inception in 2012. The ESML database contains detailed but concise descriptions of ecosystem service models to facilitate the selection of models by ecosystem scientists for a variety of management and research applications. The database contains over 290 ecosystem service models, with additional entries for specific model runs. CSS employee owners helped design the database and the framework for summarizing models. In addition, CSS has selected models from the database for generating scenarios of remediation options for specific Superfund sites to identify the ecosystem services they could provide. Models that have been applied include pollinator (e.g., bumblebee), carbon sequestration, and bird ecosystem services. The database can be accessed at www.epa.gov/eco-research/ecoservice-models-library/.
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Employee Owners Nominated for NOAA Gold Medal Award
Congratulations to CSS employee owners supporting NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science for their nomination for the NOAA Gold Medal Award! CSS employee owners have been critical members of the team charged with the rapid development of spatial models that aid in offshore wind planning in the Gulf of Mexico. The team has collected…
Assessing Contamination in Abandoned Mines
CSS supports the Environmental Protection Agency with assessing contamination within abandoned mines. There are thousands of abandoned mines throughout the western United States. Many of these mines are leaching heavy metals into nearby streams or have contaminated soils causing vegetation die off. CSS employee owners conduct field work to assess the extent of this contamination.…
Rapid Reporting of a Close Call Incident
CSS Safety Protocols During a routine collection of waste, a container of white powder disintegrated without warning, causing the powder to spill and be expelled into the air. Thanks to CSS’s safety protocols and quick response, our Center for Disease Control waste disposal staff was able to assess the situation and respond to the chemical…