About the LTRMP

The Long Term Resource Monitoring Program (LTRMP) is being implemented by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC), in La Crosse, Wisconsin, under provisions contained in the Water Resources Development Act of 1986.  In that Act, Congress recognized the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) as both a nationally significant ecosystem and a nationally significant commercial navigation system.  Accordingly, the mission of the LTRMP is to provide decision makers with the information needed to maintain the Upper Mississippi River System as a viable multiple-use large river ecosystem.

About the LTRMP Fish Component

Since its inception in 1989, the Fish Component of the LTRMP has recorded greater than 3 million individual observations of fish resources from five select reaches of the Upper Mississippi River (Pools 4, 8, 13, 26, and the Open River Reach) and one reach of the  Illinois River (La Grange Pool).  Data are collected under standardized sampling protocols, implemented across a statistical sampling design that provides unbiased population estimates (/documents/reports/1995/95p00201.pdf).  

Reason for the Graphical Fish Database Browser

One of the key goals of the LTRMP is to provide timely and useful information to natural resource decision makers in the UMRS Basin.  This information is available through standardized annual reports and Web access to Program data.  However, data served in this manner require substantial post-processing by users as well as an intricate knowledge of the statistical sampling design.  The goal of the Graphical Fish Database Browser is to present LTRMP fish data in an intuitive, universally accessible manner that enhances the usefulness of the data to resource decision makers and the general public.