Wetland Classification and Mapping of the Kenai Lowland, Alaska
Map Unit Descriptions
Ecosystem: Tidal
Map Unit: T73; T37
Extent:
T73: 2 wetland polygons; 0.5 ha; 0.00% of wetland area; 0.01% of wetland polygons.
T37: 2 wetland polygons; 1.4 ha; 0.00% of wetland area; 0.01% of wetland polygons.
 A T37 wetland in Beluga Slough, in the City of Homer (polygon 50582).
A T73 wetland near the mouth of the Kasilof River (polygon 33586). |
Wetland Indicators Type: Tidal Average depth to water table: T3: at least 150 cm; n=1 T7: n/a Organic layer thickness: T3: 23.5; n=2 T7: 2 cm; n=1 Average depth to redoximorphic features: T3: 0.0 cm; n=2 T7: 2 cm; n=1 Common Soils: CLUNIE Common Plant communities: T3 Component: Marsh arrowgrass – Seaside arrowgrass T7 Component: |
T37 complexes are tidal wetlands with both a beachrye and a goosetongue or arrowgrass component. The more abundant component is named first. These are small sandy islands topped by beachrye and fringed by either or both goosetongue and arrowgrass.
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. Vince and Snow (1984) describe 'Riverbank Levees' dominated by other grasses, and that "Still higher levees featured [Beachrye] and large forbs..." Their lower elevation riverbank levees flood an average of 1 time per summer; probably higher T7 beachrye berms or levees flood only when large storm events correspond with the highest spring tides.
T7 does not always qualify as a wetland under the delineation protocols described in the 1987 Army Corps of Engineers wetland delineation manual.
Three of the four wetlands mapped, one T73 and both T37 complexes are found in Beluga Slough in the City of Homer. The slough was modified in 1939 when the causeway across Palmer Creek created Beluga Lake. A weir at the causeway controls the flow out of the lake.
