Kenai Peninsula Watershed Atlas
The Kenai Peninsula Watershed Atlas is an interactive online viewer that summarizes information by watershed on different land uses, natural and manmade disturbances, and physical characteristics occurring across the landscape on the Kenai Peninsula. There are a total of 13 maps that include: Wetlands, Land Use, Land Cover, Spruce Bark Beetle Infestation, Wildfires, Logging, Land Ownership, Soil Drainage, Stream Crossings, Invasives, Hydrology, Footprints, and Imperviousness. It is viewable with either Internet Explorer 8, or Firefox 3.6 browsers by clicking on the link below.
What is it?
The atlas was built to assist local planners, permit writers, decision makers, and landowners to better understand what’s happening in individual watersheds across the peninsula. For example, did you know that over 40% of the forests in Deep Creek watershed have been killed by the Spruce Bark Beetle or that most of that damage occurred in 1993? Or that there are over 667 acres of gravel pits in Anchor River watershed, mostly near the lower river? Do you know where you live in relation to anadromous streams and wetlands or what kind of land uses are occurring in your neighborhood that may be affecting these waters?
Metrics were calculated in a GIS to describe these land uses, disturbances, and physical characteristics by watershed. This information is tied to maps depicting the distribution of these features. Both the maps and metrics are viewable in the online viewer accessed from the link above. Detailed explanation of the metrics is viewable in the Interpreting the Metrics.
The Kenai Peninsula Watershed Atlas was funded through an EPA grant. The KWF provided the GIS and design components and Resource Data Inc (RDI) built the viewer. The GIS software used by KWF was generously donated through ESRI’s Conservation GIS grant program. Staff from the Gilman River Center and the USFWS formed the Technical Advisory Committee providing KWF input and direction. The Kenai Peninsula Borough GIS department provided the ArcGIS Server support, storage space, and functionality. For more information, comments, or questions contact Stephanie Kobylarz at stephanie@kenaiwatershed.org or 907-260-5433.
Using the Atlas
The metrics for each theme are tied into the Watershed and Region layers in the viewer. For a full explanation on what the metrics are see the "Interpreting the Metrics" link in the column on the left. The Watershed layer includes 188 watersheds which are grouped into 16 larger watersheds in the Region layer. To retrieve information on a specific drainage, select the thematic map of interest from the pull down menu, select the identify tool, and select the drainage of interest.
Each map has specific metrics that will appear in headers under the Identify tab in the window on the left. The layers that will display on every map are Region, Watershed, Parcels, and All streams. There is a header for each of these layers with attribute information visible when expanded. For most maps one or more thematic layer(s) will also be displayed. For example, for the Land use map there is a Land use header with sub-headers containing specific attribute information on each land use polygon that was selected. Each sub-header contains a show/hide option that will highlight the specific features on the map that the attributes correspond to. The metrics for the Region and Watershed layers are also printable if the print option is selected at the top of each sub-header.
There are two other tabs in the window on the left. The Locator tab allows the user to zoom directly to a drainage selected from the list and the Legend tab displays the legend specific to each map.
Launch the Atlas | Interpreting the Metrics | Maps and Metadata | Methods
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