NRCS, MDC, and others are working together to revise Missouri's 14-digit hydrologic unit coverage, and data from several other MoRAP projects (Aquatic Gap, NHD) are used as input.
The Missouri Aquatic Gap Project developed methods to identify species, habitats, and ecosystems not adequately represented within existing conservation lands.
The intent of this project is to characterize the watershed of every stream segment in the Buffalo River Watershed, Arkansas.
The Central Hardwoods region, including the Ozark Highlands, may be a source for populations of forest birds, and also contains important habitat for species that live in non-forested habitat. MoRAP is working with the American Bird Conservancy and others to help identify the most significant areas for bird conservation in the region.
Ecological focus areas will be identified by assessing terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems separately. Each 30m pixel will have a value for significance, threat, and overall risk.
This is a proof of concept pilot project to determine if hyperspectral imagery can enhance Missouri’s and other state’s ability to conduct large scale characterization of contaminants of concern.
MoRAP identified high conservation value (HCV) and high restoration value forests in the Cumberland Plateau based on methods developed for the Opportunity Area Inventory and Landform Modeling projects.
MoRAP will analyze data layers in order to suggest landscape priorities and spatially explicit target conservation opportunity areas and provide a geographic information system (GIS) for evaluating conservation alternatives.
MoRAP used land cover, roads, public land ownership, and other data layers to identify areas in the Missouri Ozarks where the re-introduction of elk might be possible. For more information on this project email Diane True at Diane_True@usgs.gov.
Forest change may be the direct result of human activity (e.g. clearing for urban development or harvesting for timber) or may result from natural causes (e.g. insects, fugus). MoRAP is working with partners to develop methods to detect and track moderate changes in forest land cover.
Forest productivity is impacted both by abiotic variables and by the characteristics of the forest stand on a given site; productivity may be reduced when forest stand type is not matched with the site potential (e.g. deciduous stands on sites where evergreens grow best).
The Forestry Infomart was initiated in 2000 as a part of the NASA/Raytheon Synergy project. We develop and delivery information to inform decision support systems and impact natural resource management policy. Primary federal partners include the USFS, EPA, USGS, NRCS, and USFWS.
This project is the digital capture of Missouri's Archaeology surveys and sites using GIS technologies
The Geographic Resources Center at the University of Missouri is using historic land survey data to model historic vegetation in Missouri. For more information email Jim Harlan at harlanj@missouri.edu.
The sensitivity atlas provides easily accessible digital and hard copy atlases for EPA Region 7, specifically the Missouri river, that pinpoint natural species, environmental hazards, and political boundaries both in the river and on the floodplain; this format allows planners an accurate inventory of the significant areas of the corridor so that risks can be avoided or recognized and mitigated.
MoRAP is working with staff from EPA, the James River Basin Partnership (JRBP), and NRCS to address the need to protect and improve overall environmental and water quality in the face of a rapidly expanding human population in the watershed. MoRAP will provide information for the JRBP to use in developing watershed plans, regional water quality recommendations, and educational programs.
Lead mining in Missouri has resulted in local environmental degradation; MoRAP is working with partners to map the location, extent, and impacts of past mining activities in Jasper County.
MoRAP modeled landforms of Kansas based on 30-meter digital elevation models, and used existing ecoregion delineations to draft a land type association (LTA) data layer for Kansas. For more information email Melissa Bates at Melissa_Bates@usgs.gov.
Timely, regular up-dates of ETM+-based land cover data are desired by partner agencies in an effort to aid accurate decision-making, therefore leading to effective natural resource management. A flexible methodology was developed that allowed for customization of the landcover product based on partner inputs (value added landcover mapping).
Landform variation (plains versus hills versus rough breaks) controls patterns of land use and vegetation. MoRAP is using Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) to characterize landforms.
The Missouri 1:24,000 NHD (National Hydrography Dataset) will significantly enhance the efficiency and accuracy of stream inventory and assessment efforts within Missouri, as well as information transfer within and among resource agencies.
The goal of this project was to develop statewide predicted distribution models and maps for all 100 fish species in Nebraska.
MoRAP uses land cover and roads data layers to create distance grids for roads and natural land cover types, and then identifies conservation opportunity areas based on these flexible data layers. When these polygons are ranked using different conservation targets (landform representation, total vertebrate diversity, target bird diversity, rare species, target land cover class), the apparent high priority areas do not overlap as much as expected.
Use GIS to identify potential site replicates for assessing the effects of PL-566 structures on the ecological integrity of Missouri’s streams.
The location of public lands, and the juxtaposition of various public land ownerships in relation to each other and in relation to significant natural features is of conservation and managment concern. We are currently up-dating the existing circa 1996 coverage.
This project will develop methods and provide results to identify and quantify extant wetlands, recent wetland trends, and potential wetland restoration sites along a reach of the Missouri River from approximately Atchison to Kansas City.
This project is a collaborative effort between MoRAP and MoDOT to take existing SEMA buy-out lands data and put it into a geodatabase in order for it to better serve MoDOT's needs.
MoRAP has created a soil survey data layer for selected Forest Service lands in order to facilitate development of the revised Forest Plan.
MoRAP is working to modify and improve the results of a synoptic hydrologic unit ranking model based on wetland values that was developed by the EPA for Region 7. Results will be made relevant and delivered on a state-by-state basis.
Rapid urban growth or 'sprawl' has impacted relatively large areas within EPA Region 7. MoRAP has used Landsat imagery dating back to 1972 and through 2000 to quantify the amount of urban change that has occured in several metropolitan areas.
The overall objective of this project was to use the GIS-based methods developed by Sowa et al. (2005) to classify and map levels 4 through 7 of the MoRAP riverine classification hierarchy for Iowa, Kansas, and Nebraska—which completes the classification of these ecological units for EPA Region 7.
The Geographic Resources Center at the University of Missouri completed Missouri's Gap Analysis project. As part of the project, models that predict the probability of occurrence of vertebrates across the state were completed. Email Tim Haithcoat at haithcoatt@missouri.edu or contact the National Gap Analysis home page (http://gap.uidaho.edu) for more information.
MoRAP is attaching landscape metrics generated from land cover to watershed and ecoregion polygons to test the validity of each as a conservation assessment tool.
The Wetland Image Analysis Project serves as a 'buyer's guide' for those interested in idenfication of wetlands via remote sensing platforms. Six differnet remote sensing platorms were tested in terms of their utility to extract information on different wetland types.
The ranking of wildlife conservation opportunity areas represents the interaction between what is most critically needed and what is most practically doable; we will develop base information on biological significance so others can add more detailed information on both need and practical opportunities to rank overall conservation opportunity.