Appendix 3: Example Solication Letter Requesting Stakeholders to Participate in National Cost-Benefit Assessment

Hello. I am XXXX, Director of the XXXXXXX Geological Survey, inviting you, as primarily representing the economic development community, to participate in a national assessment of the economic benefits of geological mapping.

This assessment is the largest and most comprehensive study of its kind ever conducted for the discipline of geology. It comes at a time when (1) significant improvements to infrastructure have long been touted at the Federal, State, and local levels, and now more than ever are required for optimum economic recovery, (2) the uncertainty of climate change looms large on the horizon with a real threat to that infrastructure, water supplies, and human livelihood, (3) understanding geologic hazards (flooding, sinkholes, etc.) are increasingly important due to population growth and existing/expanding infrastructure, and (4) mineral (especially critical minerals) and energy resource assessments are crucial for technological advancements and economic diversification/recovery.

Our State’s geology is the “host” of considerable infrastructure development, as well as insight into natural resource and geologic hazard evaluations. However, the ease, efficiency, and costs at which these issues can be addressed, and longer-termed resource sustainability, are directly linked to their natural setting, and our activities as a geological survey are primarily focused on providing unbiased information that directly supports economic development. This applies to (1) water and mineral resource development, including discovery and sustainability of new water resources, (2) construction or improvement of new highways, bridges, sidewalks, and foundations, including all excavation projects, (3) environmental protection, (4) distribution systems for water and sewer, (5) oil and gas pipelines, (6) energy development, and (7) improvements to recreational areas. In all cases, an understanding of the interaction of human activity with both the land surface and the subsurface is essential to minimize potential impacts of natural hazards and maximize resource potential, environmental protection, and associated economic benefits, all of which directly affect our State and its counties, cities, and towns.

I urge you to please fill out the online questionnaire to the best of your ability. Please click or copy and paste this link into your browser – https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5772757/e216571551c0. It directs you to the questionnaire that focuses on your use/potential use of geological maps and associated reports, and the value of that use.

The larger the response rate, the more significant are the results, and its eventual outcome for helping to justify this most basic of geologic endeavors. This is also an opportunity for you to tell us of your needs and where you think we should focus activities to best serve you. Please answer as many questions as possible on the survey. If you should receive more than one request to fill out this survey, you only need to do so once. If you cannot fill out the questionnaire in one sitting, a button in the upper right, titled “Save and continue later”, asks for your email address, and will send you a message with a link directing you to where you left off.

Please complete the online survey by November 2, 2020, but the sooner the better as we will be receiving thousands from all across the U.S.

FYI, if you’d like to see two statewide examples of cost and benefit studies of geological mapping, see the links below. However, this national survey will be more comprehensive than these previous reports.

Nevada - https://data.nbmg.unr.edu/public/freedownloads/sp/sp038.zip

Kentucky - https://library.isgs.illinois.edu/Pubs/pdfs/specialreports/sp-03.pdf