The Missouri Aquatic Gap Project developed methods to identify species, habitats, and ecosystems not adequately represented within existing conservation lands.

This project was completed in September 2005. A PDF of the final report and a peer-reviewed publication are available under "Project Files" on the project web page.

The intent of this project is to characterize the watershed of every stream segment in the Buffalo River Watershed, Arkansas.

Project completed September 2006.

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.

We provided GIS data for regional meetings of The Central Hardwoods Bird Conservation Region planning group. Bird conservation planning is an iterative process, and is being coordinated by the American Bird Conservancy for this area, which included the Ozark Highlands and Interior Low Plateaus to the east.

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.

The final report (see link below) details the outcome of this project. Spatially specific terrestrial and aquatic natural resource focus areas were identified and are in use by EPA by a variety of reactive and pro-active conservation initiatitves.

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.

We provided data for a regional meeting of forest planners coordinated by the World Wildlife Fund. The results provided a general set of guidelines for standardized data gathering, analyses, and delivery for managers and decision-makers of modest technological sophistication.

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.

We created a turn-key GIS for the US FWS. This included the development of data that can be analyzed in a flexible way to identify priority landscapes and creation of an abiotic site type data layer and associated base data using digital elevation models. Data were provided via CD and we briefed US FWS staff on their utility.

The conservation of Missouri's rich array of native plant and animal species will require the maintenance and enhancement of the native ecosystems they depend on. Regional and landscape ecosystems for Missouri have been derived using the United States Forest Service approach to ecological classification.

We provided data and GIS assistance to the Missouri Department of Conservation as they developed a heirarchial classification of ecoregions for Missouri. The Atlas of Missouri Ecoregions (Nigh and Schroeder 2002, published by the Missouri Department of Conservation) was the resulting publication.

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.

We used data provided by the Missouri Department of Conservation on vegetation and landscape characteristics to identify sites most appropriate for elk reintroduction in Missouri. MDC should be contacted for more information.

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).

This project is the digital capture of Missouri's Archaeology surveys and sites using GIS technologies

In September 2007, MoRAP finished the digitization and attribution of the designated survey and site records stored at SHPO. MoRAP and partner organizations captured over 21,800 survey polygons representing 9,400+ survey records and over 23,000 site polygons including 20,500+ fully attributed sites.

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.

We created a turn-key GIS designed for us by EPA First-Responders for two counties along the Missouri River. Methods we developed we employed by EPA Region 7 staff to move forward with the development of a Sensitivity Atlas for the entire Missouri River Corridor within EPA Region 7.

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.

We used land cover, modeled landforms, and landscape context to identify conservation opportunity areas (OAs) within the James River Basin for the James River Basin Partnership. The central and eastern parts of the Upper James River and Finley Creek watershes contain more OAs versus the western third and the southern part of the Lower James River watershed contains more OAs than the rest.

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.

We defined historic conditions of the Jasper and Newton County mining area, assessed current conditions using GIS, and used GIS to identify what current conditions may have been without the impacts from mining. Newton County historically had much less prairie, and much more forested land concentrated in the southwest portion of the county versus Jasper County. Potential current state analysis indicates that most likely the mined area would have been in agriculture production if it had not been mined.

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.

We used landform models, geology, soils, and previous work on ecoregions to model the landtype associations for Kansas. These data were delivered for use by workers in Kansas, and were used in several other related analyses, including the conservation focus area project for EPA Region 7.

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).

The Missouri landcover project was finished in December 2005 and delivered to MSDIS for dissemination.

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.

Project completed July 2006.

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.

We identified and ranked conservation opportunity areas (OAs) across EPA Region 7. OAs are large patches of vegetation that represent the landscape of each ecological section. They are away from roads and away from land cover patch edges.

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.

MoRAP originally mapped public lands within Missouri for the USGS Gap Analysis program. Since then, funding for up-dates and maintenance of this data layer has been sporatic. The most recent up-date involved the addition of public lands within larger metropolitan areas using funding provided by the Missouri Department of Transportation.

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.

The State Emergency Management Agency has purchased lands but these properties are not available as a digital data layer. The Missouri Department of Transportation provided funding to start the process of digitizing these lands.

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.

We modified methods developed by the EPA Region 7 to rank watersheds based on their importance for wetland conservation on a state by state basis within EPA Region 7.

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.

Project completed September 2006

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.

We showed that the same model for priority setting applied to different scales and types of polygons (large and small ecoregion and watershed polygons) result in different priority areas, and that land type association (ecoregion) polygons circumscribe more uniform landscapes in terms of land cover than 10-digit hydrologic unit (watershed) polygons. Smaller subdivisions of a landscape are more uniform than larger ones, so all else being equal, assessments using the smallest available uniform polygon coverage should result in the most spatially specific set of conservation priorities.

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.

We provided data on terrestrial and aquatic natural resources in aid of the development of Missouri Department of Conservation’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Plan. This process identified conservation opportunity areas for the state of Missouri. Copies if the this report are available at http://www.mdc.mo.gov/nathis/cws/coa/.