MISSISSIPPI’S RESOURCES

MISSISSIPPI’S RESOURCES CHAPTER 2

Natural Resources • Natural Resources are products that come directly from the Earth • Two Types • Renewable • Nonrenewable

MISSISSIPPI’S RESOURCES • Mississippi has 3 main resources • Soil • Forest • Water • Soil • Most abundant resource • Vital to agriculture economy • Delta – some of most fertile soil in world • Must have soil to grow anything else - trees

MISSISSIPPI’S RESOURCES • Forest • The Piney Woods experienced an economic boom for fifty years due to its forests • Economic Boom • Economy • Trees were cleared for lumber, houses, farms, etc… • Problems with cutting down the trees • Wildlife disappeared when habitat gone • Caused increase of erosion • No trees to hold the soil

Mississippi’s Resources • Forest Continued • 56% of MS’s land is covered in forest • Main uses for forest: lumber, paper, and Masonite boards • 2 heavily forested areas in MS • Piney Woods • Northeast Highlands • 2 commercial types of trees • Hardwoods – oak and hickory • Softwoods – Pine (most of our wood products are made out of pine)

MISSISSIPPI’S RESOURCES • Water • One of MS most important and most abundant resources • Two types of water • Ground water • Surface water • Early transportation routes • Rivers & Stream • The First Mississippians made their homes on the banks of rivers and streams • Reasons: food, water, transportation, and trade • Fears about water • Industrial Pollution threat • Sewage runoff • Chemicals used in farming

MISSISSIPPI’S RESOURCES • Water (continued) • Aquifer – underground reservoir of trapped water • In layers of sand and gravel • Good water usually found 25-30 feet deep • Cistern – large underground tank made out of brick or stone that rainwater could drain into • Tightly covered – good, clean water • Disease • Cholera – quickly spreading & deadly disease spread by human waste getting into water supplies

MISSISSIPPI RIVERS • The MS River has influenced the state in the following ways • Indians used it for travel and trade • It was used as a landmark by explorers • Gaining control of it was part of the North’s strategy for winning the Civil War • Natchez and Vicksburg were two of MS’s early towns built on the MS River

RIVERS • MS has 3 water boundaries • MS River • Pearl River • MS Sound • Gulf Coast between land and 4 barrier islands • East to West: Cat, Ship, Horn, & Petit Bois • 80 miles long & 15 miles wide • Shallow in most places • MS River drains 2/3 of USA – Rockies to Appalachians • Early transportation depended on rivers • Roads & highways only effective in last 100 years • Canoes, flatboats, & steamboats were used

MISSISSIPPI RIVERS • Rivers in MS are divided • Rivers in the west all flow to the MS River • Rivers in the east all flow to the MS Sound or Mobile Bay • 2 Major Tributaries in the West • Yazoo River – formed at Greenwood by Tallahatchie & Yalobusha Rivers • Big Black River – formed in east central MS near Maben • 2 Major Tributaries in the East • Tombigbee River – Northeast MS to Mobile Bay • Pascagoula River – ‘Singing River’ – flows to MS Sound

MISSISSIPPI RIVERS • Central MS – Jackson • Capital sits on banks of Pearl River • Flows through middle of state to MS Sound • Mississippi River constantly changing course • State line vs river bed • Oxbow lakes

OXBOW LAKES

MISSISSIPPI RIVERS

MISSISSIPPI RESERVOIRS • Reservoirs – man made lakes used in MS to help control flooding in the Delta and provide recreation • 5 Reservoirs (from North to South) • Arkabutla on Coldwater River • Sardis on Tallahatchie River • Enid on Yocona River • Grenada on Yalobusha River • Ross Barnett on the Pearl

PROTECTING OUR RESOURCES • The state is prone to flooding because of its location on the MS River • When the river overflows the extra water is trapped in wetlands • Wetlands – flood plain • The wetlands are MS most productive habitats • There have been two floods in MS • 1927 was the worst in MS’s history • 2011

PROTECETING OUR RESOURCES • There are four ways to prevent flooding • 1. levee – wall made mainly of dirt to hold back the water • Primary way of controlling flooding • 2. channelization is when the river is widened and straightened • 3. cutoff is when a channel is created through the neck of the river bend • 4. diversion is when the river is diverted into another body of water

PROTECTING OUR RESOURCES • Rebuilding the forest • Reforestation is the replanting of the forests • Mississippi Forestry Commission was established to protect and replant the forest • Reasons for reforestation • Oxygen • Building materials • Habitats

Minerals • MS does not have great mineral deposits • Some coal, iron & aluminum ore deposits • Not big enough to be developed commercially • Most important minerals: • Petroleum, natural gas, gravel, and sand • Not a lot of oil on national scale but some • Oil first found in Tinsley, MS in Yazoo County

Mississippi Product Capitals • Vardaman • Sweet Potato Capital of the World • Greenwood • Cotton Capital of the World • Biloxi • Oyster & Shrimp Capital of the World • Mize • Watermelon Capital of the World • Belzoni • Farm-Raised Catfish Capital of the World

RECLAIMING RESOURCES • Soil Erosion • Early farmers were not educated in care and use of land • Land was abundant and cheap • Topsoil washed into rivers and streams • Ways to restore the soil’s fruitfulness • Fertilizers • Rotating crops • Over hunting and over fishing have caused a reduction in certain animals • As a result we have hunting laws

MISSISSIPPI’S RESOURCES