This weekend is the 2012 USGS Open House in Menlo Park, California -- a great family-friendly event that takes place every three years and gives USGS a chance to showcase its amazing science and scientists to the public.

Games, exhibits, lectures and films span the gamut of USGS science, including volcanoes, earthquakes, minerals, deserts and more.

The USGS Western Ecological Research Center will host several events at the 2012 Open House:


Sea Otter Research
Saturday/Sunday | Building 15 Outdoor Exhibits

Biologists from the WERC Santa Cruz Field Station will host an educational exhibit on sea otter biology. Touch a real sea otter pelt, learn about California's kelp forest ecosystem, and what USGS scientists are doing to study the California sea otter's troubled population recovery.


South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project
Saturday/Sunday | Building 15 Outdoor Exhibits

USGS is providing scientific guidance to the South Bay Salt Ponds Restoration Project, which is managing some 15,000 acres of wetland restoration along the Silicon Valley shoreline. Talk to project officials from the State of California, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and USGS, and learn how restored wetlands can help provide valuable flood control, wildlife habitat, and outdoor recreation for the Bay.


USGS Documentary: Wetland Revival
Saturday/Sunday | 2:00 p.m. PDT | Building 3 Lecture Hall

Learn more about the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project from this USGS film, which explains how biologists, hydrologists, chemists and other experts are working together to help the restoration managers design this major public project. The film will be followed by a Q&A session with project lead scientist Laura Valoppi (USGS WERC) on Saturday, and with project executive director John Bourgeois (California State Coastal Conservancy) on Sunday.


USGS Documentary: The Heat is On: Desert Tortoise and Survival
Sunday | 3:00 p.m. PDT | Building 3 Lecture Hall

As America explore the frontiers of renewable energy in the deserts of California, scientists are also studying this arid landscape to understand how native wildlife are responding to natural and man-made impacts. Learn about the iconic reptile and "natural engineer" of California's Mojave Desert -- the desert tortoise -- and the USGS research that's exploring the future of this treatened species.


For more information about the 2012 Open House, visit http://openhouse.wr.usgs.gov. Use #USGSOpenHouse on your favorite social media platform, and reply to our Event Page on Facebook!

-- Ben Young Landis