Evaluation of a wetland classification system devised for management in a region with a high cover of peatlands: an example from the Cook Inlet Basin, Alaska.

ABSTRACT: Several wetland classification schemes are now commonly used to describe wetlands in the contiguous United States to meet local, regional, and national regulatory requirements. However, these established systems have proven to be insufficient to meet the needs of land managers in Alaska. The wetlands of this northern region are predominantly peatlands, which are not adequately treated by the nationally-used systems, which have few, if any, peatland classes. A new system was therefore devised to classify wetlands in the rapidly urbanizing Cook Inlet Basin of southcentral Alaska, USA. The Cook Inlet Classification (CIC) is based on seven geomorphic and six hydrologic components that incorporate the environmental gradients responsible for the primary sources of variation in peatland ecosystem

SUBMITTER: Gracz M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7115032 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature