December 2018 National Wetlands Inventory Mississippi Barrier Islands habitat classification: (Cat Island, Ship Island, Petit Bois Island and Horn Island)

The Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program (MsCIP) has developed a Comprehensive Barrier Island Restoration Plan containing options to ensure the integrity of the Mississippi barrier islands through restoration efforts. Any restoration activities implemented must have minimal adverse impacts to critical habitat for various marine, terrestrial and avian resources. Documenting the success of restoration activities in meeting this requirement requires habitat monitoring. In recent communications with MsCIP personnel, the MsCIP lacks a remotely sensed component to its habitat monitoring plan. Additionally, MsCIP personnel have expressed a need for data pertaining to critical habitat utilized by species of interest including piping plovers, red knots, and sea turtles. Remotely sensed habitat analyses provide a cost-effective and accurate means of inventorying current conditions and monitoring change, especially for large areas in which field investigations would prove logistically or fiscally restrictive. Upland range dune and upland barren dune were delineated as areas at or above 1.524 meters (5 feet) as determined in the Lidar datra utilized for this dataset. Neighboring habitats bordering these areas are included in the National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) classification system as irregularly flooded (E2EM1P and E2USP).