Wetland Classification and Mapping of the Kenai Lowland, Alaska

 

 

Map Unit Descriptions

 

Geomorphic Component: Discharge Slope

 

Hydrologic Component: SC; SCd

 

Extent: 31 wetland polygons; 192.2 ha; 0.14% of wetland area; 0.19% of wetland polygons.

The range of wetlands mapped as SC on the Kenai Lowlands, Alaska
A photo of a wetland mapped as SC near the village of Nikolaevsk, Alaska. A uniform stand is visible, with a mixed spruce-birch forest in the distance.

A wetland mapped as SC near the Village of Nikolaevsk (polygon 7214).

Wetland Indicators

Type: Mineral or Peat

Average depth to water table: 54.8 cm; n=5

Organic layer thickness: 39.1 cm; n=7

Average depth to redoximorphic features: 17.2 cm; n=6

Common Soils: BELUGA, NIKOLAI, KALIFONSKY

Common Plant communities:

Bluejoint - Field horsetail

Bluejoint streamside

Barclay willow / Rich

 

NWI: PEM1Bn,g

HGM: Terrene Slope groundwater-dominated Throughflow

Accuracy assessment: 3 polygons interpreted as SC on aerial photographs were field checked.  They all remained SC.

 

Wetlands are mapped as SC when bluejoint reedgrass (Calamagrostis canadensis) covers an area where groundwater discharges at a toe- or footslope. Wetlands mapped as SC are relatively uncommon, although many of the fields covered with bluejoint reedgrass on the foot- and toeslopes of the Homer Bench are mapped as SC.  Bluejoint reedgrass may or may not indicate disturbance, and usually indicates that the mineral substrate is less than a meter beneath any layer of organic material.

A slope covered with bluejoint reedgrass can be either very wet, or an upland.  The presence of field horsetail (Equisetum arvense), or marsh horsetail (E. palustre) mixed in with the tall bluejoint, is a good indicator that the site may meet the criteria for a wetland that are defined in the 1987 Army Corps of Engineers Wetland Delineation Manual.

In Homer, the name SCd refers to a wetland that was SC but is now disturbed.

 


Do I Need a Permit?

Link To US Army Corps of Engineers FAQ website explaining the need for and process of obtaining a permit to deposit fill in a wetland

FAQ

Mapping Information

(metadata)

Shapefile

Other Downloads

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SITE MAP

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Contact: Mike Gracz
Kenai Watershed Forum 
Box 15301
Fritz Creek, AK  99603
907-235-2218

20 February 2012