Wetland Classification and Mapping of the Kenai Lowland, Alaska
Map Unit Descriptions
Ecosystem: Tidal
Map Unit: T36
Extent: 1 wetland polygon; 0.2 ha; 0.00% of wetland area; 0.01% of wetland polygons.
 The single T36 wetland at the base of the Homer Spit, in Mariner Lagoon (polygon 50609). |
Wetland Indicators Type: Tidal Average depth to water table: T3: at least 150 cm; n=1 T6: 11.5 cm; n=2 Organic layer thickness: T3: 23.5; n=2 T6: 19 cm; n=1 Average depth to redoximorphic features: T3: 0.0cm; n=2 T6: 0.0 cm n=1 Common Soils: CLUNIE Common Plant communities: T3 Component: Marsh arrowgrass – Seaside arrowgrass T6 Component: |
The single T36 wetland lies in a lagoon on the west side of the base of Homer spit. There thick arrowgrass lies at the edge of a Lyngbye's sedge patch at the corner of the spit road and "Lighthouse Village". Mariner lagoon has been disturbed, and this community may be transitional.
T3 corresponds with Vince and Snow's (1984) 'Inner Mudflats Zone 5', estimated to be inundated on the higher spring tides, or an average of 8 times per summer on the Susitna Flats (with a range of 6-13 times per summer), in upper Cook Inlet, Alaska. Vince and Snow found that water was retained for only 2-3 hours per inundation.
When the Homer Spit road was re-located to its current position, in 1944, its connection to Mud Bay, on the east side of the spit was severed. Its outlet was closed off following the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, and was re-opened in 1994. It closed naturally in 1994 following a storm, and was re-opened the next year (Erickson, et.al, 2000). "Lighthouse Village" sits on fill placed over the lagoon.
