Natchez Trail Completes Vegetation Map

Wonnie Short has worked in the finance industry for more than 40 years, focusing on financial and retirement planning; he is a graduate of the University of Tennessee with a bachelor of arts in finance and marketing. In his leisure time, Wonnie Short enjoys riding his Harley Davidson motorcycle on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

In a partnership with the National Park Service Natural Resource Stewardship and Science office, the Natchez Trace Parkway has completed a decade-long effort to compile a comprehensive vegetation map of the park. To help gather the information, the Gulf Coast Inventory and Monitoring Network, NatureServe, and the United States Geological Survey were brought in as contractors. Through the combined efforts of these organizations, a map detailing the vegetation and ground cover throughout all the Natchez Trace Parkway is now complete.

The reason why vegetation maps are important is because they provide classification and descriptions for 270 parks throughout America, which is vital for both information and conservation purposes. Park Superintendent Mary Risser commented on the map’s completion, saying it would be “a great tool for resource management planning.”