Map Unit Descriptions

 

Ecosystem: Tidal

 

Map Unit: TL

Extent: 1 wetland polygon;  ha; 0.0% of wetland area; 0.0% of wetland polygons.

The single TL, a lagoon in Mariner Park, on the west side of the base of the Homer Spit (polygon 50632).

Wetland Indicators Type: Average depth to water table: Organic layer thickness: Average depth to redoximorphic features: Common Soils:  CLUNIE Common Plant communities: Bare ground / open water   NWI: E2US2 HGM: See Tidal Ecosystem Description

 

A single wetland was mapped as TL, a lagoon on the west side of the base of the Homer Spit (Mariner Park).  It the bare sand and silt portion of a lagoon that floods only briefly, during spring tides; although some standing water is often present.  The lagoon mouth shifts year-to-year and the flooding regime probably also varies year-to-year. 

 

Mariner Park lagoon has been disturbed.  When the Homer Spit road was re-located to its current position in 1944, Mariner Park lagoon's connection to Mud Bay, on the east side of the spit was severed.  Its inlet/outlet was bulldozed shut following the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, and was re-opened in 1994.  The inlet/outlet then closed naturally in 1994 following a storm, and was re-opened the next year (Erickson, et.al, 2000).