Upper Mississippi River Pool 8 Large Wood Sampling Areas for 2023 High-Flow Event

Large wood is an important part of ecosystem functions in rivers around the world, including serving as fish habitat, providing nutrient sources, and contributing to geomorphic processes. This dataset was produced to support the study of large wood dynamics in Pool 8 of the Upper Mississippi River System. The dataset contains 60 polygons located along shoreline of the main channel, side channels, backwaters, and impounded areas. It was developed based on the stratified random sampling design of the Upper Mississippi River Restoration program’s Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element fish component. The polygons result from buffering 500-meter long shoreline transects near daytime electrofishing locations, sampled by LTRM staff in 2020, by 8-meters to account for variation in shoreline location due to fluctuating water levels. The dataset is intended for use as study areas for inventorying large wood pieces.