The U.S. Geological Survey's Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) is in the process of creating high-resolution land cover/use data sets for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) from 1:24,000-scale color infrared aerial photos collected in 2000. The photos are being interpreted using a 1-hectare 10% minimum vegetation cover to delineate land cover/land use, percent vegetation cover, tree height, and hydrology regime. The geographic extent of the UMRS is the Mississippi River from Cairo, IL to Minneapolis, MN and the Illinois River from its confluence with the Mississippi near Grafton, IL to Lake Michigan.
Summary
The U.S. Geological Survey's Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) is in the process of creating high-resolution land cover/use data sets for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) from 1:24,000-scale color infrared aerial photos collected in 2000. The photos are being interpreted using a 1-hectare 10% minimum vegetation cover to delineate land cover/land use, percent vegetation cover, tree height, and hydrology regime. The geographic extent of the UMRS is the Mississippi River from Cairo, IL to Minneapolis, MN and the Illinois River from its confluence with the Mississippi near Grafton, IL to Lake Michigan.
The Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center administers the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP), authorized under the Water Resources Development Act of 1986 (Public Law 99-662). The mission of the LTRMP is to provide decision makers with information to maintain the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) as a viable large river ecosystem given its multiple-use character. The long-term goals of the Program are to understand the system, determine resource trends and impacts, develop management alternatives, manage information, and develop useful products. The creation and distribution of high-resolution land cover/use data for the UMRS aids the Center in meeting these goals.
