The USGS presence and efforts in Alaska, while significant, are clearly not adequate to meet the growing needs of a frontier area that will see major growth as our need for resources increases and tourism continues to surge. There are many competing priorities in the lower 48 states.

While the USGS presence and efforts in Alaska are significant, they are clearly not adequate to meet the growing needs of an area that will see major growth in tourism and resource development.

Alaska is a land of great opportunity for scientific research.

Re-evaluation doesn't guarantee program growth. But because of this history of cooperation between USGS and partner scientific organizations, Alaska presents an ideal situation for further development of an integrated science approach to understanding complex resources and environmental systems. These factors, combined with the critical need for scientific information to support far-reaching resources and environmental policy decisions in Alaska, clearly merits a new look at our efforts there and an assessment of the willingness of those who control the purse strings to support more work.

We're still a strong presence in the community and a great source for not only do-it-yourself needs but your home services professionals as well. When you have more competition, it really inspires you to put your best foot forward.

Clearly, across the industry minutes of use are not growing as much as they did ... this is causing ARPU to start to slip.