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: DW3   Seward Area Extent: 2 wetland polygons; 18.8 acres.

 

Wetland Indicators Type: Peat Average depth to water table: 9 cm Organic layer thickness: 112 cm Average depth to redoximorphic features: n/a Common Soils: Fluvaquentic Cryofibrists Common Plant communities: Barclay willow / Sitka sedge (Salix barclayi / Carex sitchensis) Sitka alder / bluejoint reedgrass (Alnus viridis ssp. sinuata / Calamagrostis canadensis) NWI: PSS1Bg HGM: Terrene Slope/Flat groundwater-dominated throughflow wetland.

 

Only two wetlands were mapped as DW3 in the Seward area.  Both are openings in the spring fen peatland complex between a large rock drumlin and the mountains, between Glacier Creek and Sawmill Creek.  Most of the spring fen is forested (DW5A), but a small opening (DW3) is occupied by willows, alders, bluejoint reedgrass and sedges.  The southern margin of the fen is also 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.  The southern end of the complex re-forms into a stream that flows into Sawmill Creek.  That is probably a continuation of a stream draining an unnamed glacier south of the Bear Lake Glacier, which seems to feed the large complex from above, through the alluvium at the mouth of its mountain valley.  Groundwater from the mountain slope and large rock drumlin also contributes to the fen.