Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) - 2020 LCU Mapping Reed Canarygrass Remap - Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) Pools 02-13

Reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) is one of the most common invaders of floodplains in North America. In the Upper Mississippi River floodplain, invasion by reed canarygrass is of primary concern, because reed canarygrass can drive forest loss and inhibit forest regeneration. Knowledge of where reed canarygrass occurs in wet meadow (Wm) and wet meadow shrub (Wms) areas could help inform management of this invasive species.

Reed canarygrass dominance (>80% cover) in the Wm and Wms map classes has been conducted for the 2010 landcover from Navigation Pools 2-13. Analysis of that dataset revealed spatial variation in reed canarygrass dominance across the study area. Additionally, recent analyses using the 2010 reed canarygrass classifications have indicated that proximity to reed canarygrass-dominated wet meadows may influence the probability of occurrence of reed canarygrass in floodplain forest understories.

This updated reed canarygrass-dominated wet meadow dataset will align with, and integrate into, newer landcover products and modeling frameworks. . Notably, high inundation during the few years preceding 2020 has substantially influenced the landcover in the floodplain which may have drastically altered the distribution of reed canarygrass.