Research Guides: Environmental Resources: Federal Government Resources

Relevant Federal Government Agencies

The U.S. government collects and produces large amounts of information related to natural and cultural resources, agriculture, oceans, wildlife, ecology, climate, and energy.

Major federal agencies:

Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Responsible for developing and enforcing laws related to agriculture, food production, forestry, and rural economic development. Collects data and conducts research on a wide range of subjects, including pesticide use, nutrition, crop health and food safety.
Department of Energy (DOE)
Manages the Nation's nuclear infrastructure and supports energy research and development. Houses a network of National Laboratories that conduct cutting-edge scientific research into diverse energy-related topics, including renewables, energy efficiency and storage.
Department of the Interior (DOI)
Responsible for managing the Nation's public lands, natural resources, and cultural heritage. Contains many of the agencies listed here and others, including the National Parks Service, US Geological Survey, Fish and Wildlife, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
Responsible for developing and enforcing federal regulations concerning air, soil, and water quality, chemical safety and pollution prevention. Conducts research on a variety of environmental issues.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Scientific agency whose wide-ranging responsibilities include climate monitoring, weather forecasting, fisheries management, coastal restoration and supporting marine commerce.
National Parks Service (NPS)
Bureau responsible for managing and preserving the natural, historic and cultural resources held by the NPS for outdoor recreation, education, and conservation.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
Agency within Dept. of Interior dedicated to the conservation, protection, and enhancement of fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats. Responsibilities include protecting threatened and endangered species, monitoring migratory birds, protecting fisheries and conserving wildlife habitat such as wetlands.
U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
Agency within the Dept. of Agriculture tasked with sustaining the health, diversity and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands. Hosts the Treesearch database which provides access to USFS publications.
U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS)
USGS is the Nation's largest science and civilian mapping agency and conducts research in a wide range of earth science disciplines, including geology, hydrology, and disaster risk management. Primary source for GIS data and information about water supplies, reservoirs, groundwater and lake and stream data.

U.S. Government Research Databases

Green Infrastructure Effectiveness Database
Searchable database of select literature sources that report on the effectiveness of green infrastructure to reduce the impacts of coastal hazards, such as inundation and erosion from tropical storms and cyclones, more frequent extreme precipitation events, and sea level rise. Compiled and curated by NOAA.
Health and Environmental Research Online (HERO)
A database of more than 3 million peer-reviewed scientific studies and other references used to develop the Environmental Protection Agency's risk assessments, aimed at understanding the health and environmental effects of pollutants and chemicals. Developed and managed in EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD).
National Service Center for Environmental Publications
Database of digitized Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports and publications.
OSTI.gov
Maintained by the Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI). Primary search tool for DOE science, technology, and engineering research and development results. Contains over 3 million records, including citations to 1.5 million journal articles and provides access to technical reports, research datasets, conference materials and more.
PubAg
Database maintained by the Dept. of Agriculture. Provides access to over 300,000 full text journal articles in the agricultural sciences in addition to over 3 million citations.

PubMed
PubMed comprises more than 30 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books. State employees and TESU staff and students, click the icon “Find Full Text from New Jersey State Library” to access licensed content.

Note there is also a free version of PubMed available if you do not have a State Library card.
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Regulations.gov
Provides public access to regulatory materials produced by federal government agencies, e.g., trending regulations, public comments, supporting documents or analyses, Federal Register notices, and rules.
Science.gov
Offers free access to research and development results and scientific and technical information from scientific organizations across 13 federal agencies. Provides one-stop searching of over 60 scientific databases and an index of over 2,200 websites across the federal government.
Tethys
Online portal dedicated to research and data on the environmental effects of wind and marine renewable energy that includes a growing publications database. Provides access to reports, journal articles, conference papers and more. Includes a Map Viewer that allows users to search publications by geographic location.
Treesearch
Free online database developed and maintained by the U.S. Forest Service covering biological, physical, and social science research related to the study and management of forests, wetlands, and rangelands. Includes full text publications by USFS scientists and citations to scholarly literature appearing in journals, conference proceedings and books.

TRID
Find citations for transportation research. Combines records of Transportation Research Information Services (TRIS) database and the International Transport Research Documentation (ITRD) database. TRID provides access to over 900,000 records of transportation research worldwide. Published by the Transportation Research Board of the US National Academies with funding from state and federal government entities.
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Libraries and Information Portals

EPA National Library Network
Environmental Protection Agency's national network of libraries and repositories provides information resources and services to EPA staff and the public.
National Agricultural Library (NAL)
Houses one of the world's largest collections devoted to agricultural and related sciences.
National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
One of the largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical and oceanic research in the world. Responsible for preserving the Nation's climate and historical weather data.
National Water Information System
Provides access to water resources data collected at approximately 1.9 million sites in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and other U.S. Territories.
National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI)
A searchable database of environmental methods, protocols, statistical and analytical methods, and procedures that allows scientists and managers find and compare methods for all stages of the environmental monitoring process.
National Technical Reports Library (NTRL)
Provides access to a large collection of historical and current government technical reports. Contains records for over 3 million titles and full texts of over 800,000 reports covering a large range of subjects, including agriculture, science and technology, environment, energy, natural resources, transportation and toxicology.
NOAA Central Library
Library of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Official repository of all NOAA publications.
US Army Corps of Engineers Library
Library of the USACE, which manages one of the largest federal environmental missions, including restoring degraded ecosystems, constructing sustainable facilities, regulating waterways and managing natural resources.
US Fish and Wildlife National Digital Library
Digital library of U.S. Fish and Wildlife publications. Includes searchable collections of images, videos, documents, audio, and maps.
US Geological Survey Library
Authorized by Congress in 1879, the USGS Library is one of the world's largest Earth and natural science libraries. Maintains extensive historical map collections, unique special collections, and a massive archive of more than 500,000 still photographs of a variety of subjects, including earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and historical mining operations.
USGS Publications Warehouse
Provides online access and records for over 160,000 publications written by scientists of the U.S. Geological Survey.

Environmental Resources

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