Lower Mississippi Valley Ecological Inventory: User's Guide and Information Base,

This study provides an inventory of important ecological resources along the lower Mississippi River, an area of some 126,200 square kilometers 48,700 square miles. This inventory is intended to provide government and industry decisionmakers with valuable ecological information which will assist in the regional siting of oil and gas processing and manufacturing facilities and their respective transportation systems. The preparation of this ecological inventory involved four major tasks the collection, review, and analysis of available data on fish and wildlife species and their habitats and special land use areas the synthesis and compilation of these data into a format which is compatible with the requirements of 1250,000- scale mapping the preparation of a series of six resource inventory graphics for the Lower Mississippi Valley and the preparation of a report narrative keyed to the inventory graphics. Ecological resources are summarized by their appropriate 1250,000-scale USGS quadrangle, and descriptions and locations of species with special status and aquatic and terrestrial species of high commercial, recreational, and aesthetic value are included. The designation of more than 82 special land use areas along the lower Mississippi River also is provided.