Megatransect

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 environmental, 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 back westward to Bishop, California, and then north to Reno.

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

Shortly after the hike, Fay lobbied along side 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.

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.

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.

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

Establishing standard megatransects on each continent, and periodic remeasurement of the ecological conditions along those route, every five to ten years, would provide very valuable measured data on environmental trends.