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Wetland Classification and Mapping of the Kenai Lowland, Alaska
Map Unit Descriptions Ecosystem: Riparian Map Unit: RA
Extent: 145 wetland polygons; 836.1 ha; 0.59% of wetland area; 0.87% of wetland polygons. |
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 An RA stream flowing into the Fox River near the head of Kachemak Bay (polygon 32145). |
Wetland Indicators No data for RA streams Type: Stream Average depth to water table: n/a. Organic layer thickness: n/a Average depth to redoximorphic features: n/a Common Soils: Common Plant communities: NWI: R3US1 HGM: High Gradient Natural Stream-single thread. |
| Accuracy assessment: 12 polygons interpreted as RA on aerial photographs were field checked. 6 remained RA; 4 were revised to RB; 1 each was revised to SA and upland. | |
RA units are Rosgen's (1996) 'A' streams: entrenched, steep gradient (4-10%), cascading, step / pool streams, with cataracts and waterfalls. Only a few RA streams occur in the Kenai Lowlands Project area, such as McNeil and Falls Creek, which drain south across a steep, high bluff into Kachemak Bay. These streams are probably only wetlands along the watercourse and a very narrow strip alongside it. Occasionally RA streams enter a wide, relatively flat valley bottom where stream-proximal discharge slope wetlands are extensive, such as where Jones Road crosses Eastland Creek in Kachemak Bay State Park.
