2010/11 Land Cover/Use Data for the Upper Mississippi River System

Aerial photographs for Pools 1-13 Upper Mississippi River System and Pools, Alton-Marseilles, Illinois River were collected in color infrared (CIR) in August of 2010 at 8?/pixel and 16?/pixel respectively using a mapping-grade Applanix DSS 439 digital aerial camera. In August 2011, CIR aerial photographs for Pools 14-Open River South, Upper Mississippi River and Pools Dresden-Lockport, Illinois River were collected at 16?/pixel with the same camera. All CIR aerial photos were orthorectified, mosaicked, compressed, and served via the UMESC Internet site. The CIR aerial photos were interpreted and automated using a 31-class Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) vegetation classification. The 2010/11 LCU databases were prepared by or under the supervision of competent and trained professional staff using documented standard operated procedures and are subject to rigorous quality control (QC) assurances (NBS, 1995). Development of the 2010/11 Land Cover/Land Use (LCU) Geographic Information System (GIS) database will provide a third systemic dataset to compare the 1989 and the 2000 systemic coverages. Though a crosswalk was needed to compare 1989 and 2000 since different vegetation classification systems were used, the 2000 and 2010/11 LCU datasets will use the same classification and classifiers, making them directly comparable. Once completed, the 2010/11 dataset will be invaluable in assessing and evaluating long-term vegetation trends and habitat changes over the past 20 years, and in assessing the current state of floodplain vegetation.