Wetland Mapping and Classification
Wetlands are regulated under section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Wetlands are also more difficult and costly to build on than dry ground, and provide valuable habitat, water quality and flood control functions. Kenai wetlands are mostly in good shape, providing good habitat, water quality and flood control. Maintenance is cheaper and easier than repair. "If it ain't broke don't fix it." Kenai wetlands ain't broke, and we'd like to keep them that way. In order to do that, a project was begun to help understand where wetlands are, then to guide the development of best management practices in order to maintain valuable wetland functions.
The first part of the project was to classify and map the wetlands on the western Kenai Lowlands. The second part is to make the map easy to access to all. Those parts have been accomplished and a new "wetland management tool" in the form of a map is now available on the Kenai Borough's Interactive Parcel Viewer website. There, users with a web browser and internet connection can zoom to maps of parcels, satellite images, aerial photographs, and wetlands. Parcels are linked to data such as ownership, owner's names and addresses and assessed value. Wetlands are linked to photographs and detailed descriptions. This website is used extensively by prospective landowners and the realtor community.
Nearly 10,000 privately owned vacant parcels less than 5 acres are situated at least in part on mapped wetlands. Wetlands are not always obvious. Many building projects are delayed, and corners are cut when the builders are surprised to discover wet ground upon initial excavation. These surprises can lead to cutting corners as expenses exceed budgets, and cut corners lead to future problems. Surprises and problems can be avoided from the start if builders know where wetlands are.
The next step is to evaluate and document wetland functions. We are completing a project using Alaska Department of Fish and Game's Anadromous Waters Catalog and the detailed wetland map to describe known silver salmon habitat, likely habitat and possible habitat. A second project documenting and evaluating wetland habitat functions is using a GIS analysis and expert interviews to assign caribou calving and sandhill crane nesting habitat functions to wetlands. Hydrological and other functions are in our plans for the future."
Feel free to contact Mike Gracz with questions or for more information about this project.