Wetland Classification and Mapping of Seward, Alaska An extension of wetland classification and mapping of the Kenai Lowland   Map Unit Descriptions   Ecosystem: Relict Glacial Drainageway   Map Component: DW5A   Seward Area Extent: 1 wetland polygon; 147.5 acres.

 

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Wetland Indicators Type: Mineral soil with some pockets of peat Depth to water table: 33 cm on 30 July 2006 Organic layer thickness: 8 cm Depth to redoximorphic features: 10 cm Soil: Typic Cryaquent Plant community: Sitka spruce / Sitka alder (Picea sitchensis / Alnus viridis ssp. sinuata)   NWI: PFO4 HGM: Terrene Slope/Flat groundwater-dominated throughflow wetland.

 

A single large, spring fen complex was mapped as DW5A, the foested Relict Glacial Drainageway ecosystem wetland component.  It lies at the foot of the mountains east of Seward, between Glacier Creek and Sawmill Creek.  Most of the spring fen is forested, but a small opening (DW3) is occupied by willows, alders, bluejoint reedgrass and sedges.  The southern margin of the fen is open and dominated by willows and Sitka and Lyngbye's sedge. 

The water table is near the surface and groundwater is probably enriched by good contact with the mineral substratum.  A stream draining an unnamed glacier south of the Bear Lake Glacier seems to feed the large complex through the alluvium at the mouth of its mountain valley.  The southern end of the complex re-forms into a stream that flows into Sawmill Creek.  Groundwater, from the mountains and from a large rock drumlin on its western edge, also contributes to the fen.