The Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP), a component of the Environmental Management Program for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS), is administered by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) in La Crosse, Wisconsin. The LTRMP supports six field stations operated by state agencies in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin (Figure 1) to collect most of the monitoring data. Information on important ecosystem components, including water quality, fish, vegetation, and macroinvertebrates are obtained annually using standardized procedures. Other data such as land cover/land use and bathymetry are gathered and analyzed periodically. Monitoring activities focus primarily on six study areas: Navigation Pools 4, 8, 13, and 26 and the Open River Reach on the Mississippi River and La Grange Pool on the Illinois River. Information from monitoring activities and a variety of other sources are available at the Center’s Data Library Web site http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/data_library.html.
This report summarizes monitoring activities of the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program in 2004. Selected, notable findings pertaining to annual results for hydrology, land cover/land use, water quality, fish, vegetation, and macroinvertebrates are summarized and interpreted. This report satisfies, for 2004, Goal 2, Monitor Resource Change, Objective 2.3, Synthesize and Evaluate Monitoring Data, as specified in the Operating Plan for the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1993). Preparation of this report was funded by the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program.
This report is a result of the efforts of the staff and partners of the LTRMP. Special thanks to the LTRMP field station staff.
