MENLO PARK, Calif. — Holiday shoppers can pick up free gift wrap now from the U.S. Geological Survey and California Geological Survey’s Maps and Publications Sales Office at our new location on the Menlo Park campus.

To promote the reuse of the colorful but space-consuming outdated topographic maps, the USGS-CGS maps office is giving them away for use as gift wrap. With their shades of green for forests, cities etched in red, and blue waterways, many of the maps are arrayed in holiday colors, and their large size, 24" by 30" offers a generous wrap for most holiday packages. The free maps will be available for pickup in person only, in limited quantities, through December 24th.

The CGS over-the-counter retail map sales office, and staff who operate it, have moved from the first to the second floor of Building 3 with a significantly reduced inventory of sales items. The new retail store inventory will continue to include all of CGS's products, USGS top sellers, and some maps published by other federal agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. The most popular USGS thematic maps and publications and all of the topographic maps for California will remain in stock. The full services of science information, expert advice, and educational services will remain unchanged.

The map sales office is open Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at the USGS Menlo Park Campus, 345 Middlefield Road.

For information about the CGS maps office and the products it offers, call 650-688-6327. For more information about the California Geological Survey, visit www.consrv.ca.gov/cgs.  

To ask a question or send a message to USGS call 1-888-ASK-USGS (1-888-275-8747) or Email/Live Chat http://www.usgs.gov/ask/