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Wetland Classification and Mapping
of Seward, Alaska An extension of wetland classification and mapping of the Kenai Lowland
Map Unit Descriptions Ecosystem: Depression Map Units: D21, D12
Seward Area Extent: D12: 2 wetland polygons; 4.3 acres. D21: 4 wetland polygons; 3.0 acres. |
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 A D12 depression with an open central pool, floating aquatic plants, emergent sedges, and a sedge-dominated shoreline fringe between Glacier Creek and Bear Lake. |
Wetland Indicators Type: Peat Average depth to water table: 20 cm Organic layer thickness: 150+ cm Average depth to redoximorphic features: n/a Common Soils: Typic Cryohemists Common Plant communities: D1 component: Open water, with the obligate pond lily (Nuphar lutea) and other obligate emergents, such as pondweed (Potomageton spp.) or Carex saxatilis L. D2 component: Sitka sedge (Carex sitchensis) Sphagnum - tall cottongrass (Sphagnum spp. - Eriophorum angustifolium) NWI: L2OW,AB4,3 HGM: Lentic Fringe Isolated |
These are uncommon small ponds with a peatland fringe in bedrock depressions not hydrologically connected at or very near the surface with other wetlands. The fringe is typically dominated by sedges, and has a water table at or near the surface for most of the growing season. The few wetlands mapped as either D12 (open water dominant) or D21 (sedge-fringe dominant) occur near Bear Lake. One occupies a narrow zone between a bedrock knob and the mountain slopes south of the lake, the others occur in small bedrock depressions on the bedrock knob north of Bear Lake.
