MegaTransect

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this article if you can. (February 2007)

MegaTransect was the name for a project conducted in Africa in 1999 by J. Michael Fay to spend 455 days on the expedition hike of 2000 km across the Congo Basin of Africa to survey the ecological and environmental status of the region. 'MegaTransect' is named for the transect methodology.

Shortly after the hike, Fay lobbied alongside the President of Gabon to create 13 new national parks, a project that was successful.

In 2002, US Secretary of State Colin Powell and other Bush Administration members gave 53 million dollars to help preserve the Congo Basin.

Mike Fay later went on to carry out the MegaFlyover in 2004.

1 Madagascar megatransect
2 History of USA megatransects
3 MegaTransect future
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Madagascar megatransect

Also in 2004, an international team conducted a "Megatransect" of the island of Madagascar. Dubbed "Hike Madagascar", the journey covered the entire island. Members met with rural farmers to help them improve their agricultural techniques and discuss their impact on the environment.

[edit] History of USA megatransects

One of the first "Megatransects" in the United States, was conducted in 1997 by Craig C. Dremann, surveying over 3,000 miles and noting the environment, perennial native grass, and exotic grass status at each mile along the route, through the Great Basin ecosystem. The route was from Reno, Nevada eastward to Hot Springs, South Dakota, and from South Dakota, through Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada and returning westward to Bishop, California, and then north to Reno.

In 2005, Craig C. Dremann conducted a megatransect of the California portion of the Mojave desert, mapping over 1,000 miles on a mile-by-mile basis, for a fast-spreading exotic mustard species, Brassica tournefortii, noting the locations and density of the Mojave desert Mustard infestation in California.

[edit] MegaTransect future

For a rapidly-changing planet, megatransects establish baseline data from which to draw future trends, and they can focus attention on particular ecosystems which are disappearing faster than others.

Establishing standard megatransects on specific regions of each continent, and periodic re–measurement of the ecological conditions along routes, every five to ten years, would provide very valuable measured data on environmental trends.