Welcome to Homer Soil and Water Conservation District’s
project to assess the functions and values of Kenai Peninsula wetlands

Homer Soil and Water is leading a collaborative project to identify and assess wetland functions (things that wetlands do, like storing storm runoff or releasing groundwater into streams) and wetland values (things that society cares about, like healthy fish populations and open space). The links below will give you lots of background, and we’ll keep adding information as we collect it.

Links:

Peninsula Wetlands Illustrated with Photos (pdf)

Kenai Peninsula Wetland Who’s Who
(a linked directory of agencies and organizations involved with wetlands on the Kenai Peninsula, this table links you to a wealth of information about wetlands)

Factsheets about the collaborative 2‐year project:

• Factsheet 1—Introducing a project to assess functions and values of Kenai Peninsula wetlands
  (introduces the project and explains how it got started)
• Factsheet 2— How to look at wetland maps online, and what we’re adding to those maps
  (the map above is an example—different colors indicate different kinds of wetlands)
• Factsheet 3— What do we mean by wetland functions and values?
  (tells you what we mean by words like “functions” and “values” and provides a bit of background)

Presentation to Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly on September 20, 2011:
(The two pdfs below cover, in a couple of pages, lots of things it's useful to know about peninsula wetlands including: 
What's the formal definition of a wetland?  How do you find out how "suitable" your wetland is for various land uses?  What might go wrong if you put a "poorly suited" land use on your wetland?  How does this project tie into the Western Kenai Peninsula Soil Survey and existing wetlands maps?  You'll also find a colorful diagram illustrating some wetland functions and values.  The first page of the first pdf also explains what a soil and water conservation district is.)

• HSWCD wetlands information for KPB Assembly
• HSWCD wetlands handouts for KPB Assembly

Notes from meetings:
(Notes from Wetland Working Group meetings provide good overviews)
•   October 27, 2010: Wetland Working Group
•   December 9, 2010: Project Steering Committee
•   January 27, 2011: Project Steering Committee
•   March 17, 2011: Hydrology (and LiDAR) group
•   March 24, 2011, Wetland Working Group
•   April 19, 2011: Biology group (discussion of Species Occurrence functions)

Descriptions of the method we’re using to assess wetland functions and values

• Anchorage Wetland Assessment Method (AWAM), Explanation and Justification—with functions
  highlighted
  (we’re building on the method used in Anchorage, and also in Homer with some modifications)
• Anchorage Wetland Assessment Method (AWAM) blank copy
  (this is a copy of the Anchorage assessment form that gets filled in when assessing a wetland)
• Anchorage Wetland Assessment Method (AWAM) appendix
  (this appendix contains tables and figures referenced when filling out the AWAM “blank copy”)
• Homer Wetland Assessment Method [to be added]
• “Crosswalk table” comparing Anchorage and Homer wetland assessment methods
  (this also includes most of the tables and figures referenced when filling out the assessment form)

Copyright, 2006-2011 Homer Soil and Water Conservation District