State Reports - Mississippi Mississippi GAP (MS-GAP) is now in full gear. Although funding was initiated in June, assembling of employees had already started in January. The first meeting of cooperators took place in April and had 30 organizations represented. Currently, MS-GAP has verbal cooperation in the form of data, manpower, or money from over 75 organizations, including private timber corporations. Vegetation mapping has been progressing fairly smoothly. We currently have 2-3 TM scene dates for the entire state (circa 1992). We plan to work on these data to completion and utilize the new 1997-1998 TM data for development of a second land cover map. It has been determined that the best procedure for vegetation mapping in Mississippi will be partitioning the state into major physiographic regions, using a combination of manual and automatic classification for each region. We are using visual identification to mask harvest/regeneration areas prior to running clustering algorithms to circumvent what appears to be the largest source of classification error: confusion of harvest/regeneration and unimproved pasture. We have elected to purchase color infrared stereo aerial photography for 5% of the state. This imagery, along with field-collected vegetation samples, will be used to refine the clustering algorithms in order to get as close as possible to the alliance level. Vertebrate range maps have been developed for 388 avian, 84 reptilian, and 62 amphibian species. Bird range maps include summer and winter ranges. Museum records from around the country, as well as local expertise, have been used in the development of range maps. Habitat matrices and models for these species are currently being assembled. Mammal range maps will be developed in fall 1997. The Mississippi Ornithological Atlas has been placed under the MS-GAP umbrella and is starting its first field season in summer 1997. The atlas will examine the distribution of both breeding and wintering birds in the state. Approximately 30 volunteers have been assembled to test procedures and protocols in summer 1997 and winter 1997/98. |