Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Topics covered in the December activity report.
Nathan De Jager and Molly Van Appledorn (UMESC) participated in the Upper Mississippi River Regional Forestry Meeting, December 6-8, 2016, in Bettendorf, IA. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers facilitated the annual meeting to coordinate forestry activities and research projects on federal lands along the Upper Mississippi River (UMR). The meetings are designed to promote consistent protocols and/or processes regarding the inventory, monitoring, and stand prescription writing, in furtherance of the UMR Systemic Forest Stewardship Plan. Participants include; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USGS, National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, and National Audubon Society (Molly Van Appledorn, mvanappledorn@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).
Larry Robinson (UMESC) assisted in a multi-agency workshop on focused counting waterfowl using thermal infrared and visible aerial imagery using various image analysis software programs including MATLAB, eCognition, and Feature Analyst. This workshop was hosted by the Missouri Department of Conservation office in Columbia, MO. At the conclusion of the workshop, Robinson (UMESC) and Brian Lubinski (USFWS) traveled south to collect thermal infrared aerial imagery of feral hogs and waterfowl on the Mingo National Wildlife Refuge near Poplar Bluff in southeast Missouri. This imagery will be mosaicked into a GIS-ready thermal aerial image and used to count and map feral hog locations. December 12-16, 2016 (Larry Robinson, lrobinson@usgs.gov, Ecosystems).
Andrea Fritts (UMESC) has received graduate faculty membership status with University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Fritts will serve on graduate committees that are investigating ecological processes in the Upper Mississippi River (Andrea Fritts, afritts@usgs.gov, Ecology).
UMESC – Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
UMR – Upper Mississippi River
USFWS – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
USGS – U.S. Geological Survey
