Status and Trends of Wetlands in the Palmer/Wasilla Area, Alaska (1978 to 1996)

摘要

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's National Wetlands Inventory (NWI) project has produced large scale wetlands maps for approximately 90 percent of the conterminous United States and 35 percent of Alaska. The Clean Water Act of 1977 and the Emergency Wetlands Resources Act of 1986 mandate this mapping by the NWI program. In addition to developing hard-copy and digital wetland map products, the NWI produces local, regional, and national data on the status and trends of wetlands. The information on losses and gains of wetlands is important for reviewing the effectiveness of government programs and policies designed to protect wetlands. In 1994, the NWI published data on the current status of wetlands in Alaska (Hall-1994). This report showed that 43.3 percent, or 174.7 million acres, of Alaska's surface area is classified as wetland. In comparison, wetlands only occupy 5.5 percent of the land surface of the lower 48 states (Dahl 2000). Alaska contains 63 percent of the nation's wetlands.