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Reference.org
United States Geological Survey
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<p>The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an <a href="/facts/Government_agency/JtIrud40">agency</a> of the <a href="/facts/United_States_Department_of_the_Interior/uWllgxWx">U.S. Department of the Interior</a> whose work spans the disciplines of <a href="/facts/Biology/1M1ee3pB">biology</a>, <a href="/facts/Geography/TRd1Toyo">geography</a>, <a href="/facts/Geology/WGvVRIYF">geology</a>, and <a href="/facts/Hydrology/Xh727cnE">hydrology</a>. The agency was founded on March 3, 1879, to study the <a href="/facts/Landscape/pU9HneR0">landscape</a> of the United States, its <a href="/facts/Natural_resource/w9WXxMx3">natural resources</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Natural_hazard/hxEjceDk">natural hazards</a> that threaten it. The agency also makes maps of planets and moons, based on data from <a href="/facts/List_of_NASA_missions/kFnXfjDU">U.S. space probes</a>. </p><p>The sole scientific agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, USGS is a fact-finding research organization with no regulatory responsibility. It is headquartered in <a href="/facts/Reston%2c_Virginia/K85IARzS">Reston, Virginia</a>, with major offices near <a href="/facts/Lakewood%2c_Colorado/n5GhcgVF">Lakewood, Colorado</a>; at the <a href="/facts/Denver_Federal_Center/qkdQknID">Denver Federal Center</a>; and in <a href="/facts/NASA_Research_Park/zkU838Bf">NASA Research Park</a> in California. In 2009, it employed about 8,670 people. </p><p>The current motto of the USGS, in use since August 1997, is "science for a changing world". The agency's previous slogan, adopted on its hundredth anniversary, was "Earth Science in the Public Service". </p>