MegaTransect

MegaTransect was the name for a project conducted in Africa in 1999 by J. Michael Fay to spend 455 days on the expedition hike of 2000 miles across the Congo Basin of Africa to survey the ecological and environmental status of the region.

A transect is a term in ecology that denotes a survey of the natural vegetation through a particular area. The concept of a megatransect was conceived as a vegetation transect on a large scale that could be used to take an ecological census of the natural vegetation and ecosystems.

Shortly after the hike, Fay successfully lobbied alongside the President of Gabon to create 13 new national parks. 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.

One of the first megatransects in the United States, was conducted by Dr. Robert R. Humphrey when he rephotographed 535 miles of the natural vegetation along the United States and Mexico border at the 1890s permanent border monument locations, spaced about five miles apart, and published the work in "90 Years and 535 miles: Vegetation Changes along the Mexican Border" (1987, pub. Univ. of NM Press, 448 pages).

Craig C. Dremann, in 1997, conducted a megatransect surveying over 3,000 miles and at each mile-marker, noting the roadside vegetation, the perennial native grass, and exotic grass status, 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 returning westward to Bishop, California, and then north to Reno.

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