Fairbanks Status and Trends Assessment:
The Greater Fairbanks area is seeing considerable growth, particularly in areas that are predominantly wetland. In order to educate local decision-makers to the value of conserving remaining wetlands, wetland losses must first be quantified and the ecological implications of these losses described. To accomplish these conservation planning objectives, a two phase project was deployed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The first phase of this Regional Status and Trend project, completed in 2010, produced a geospatial database that delineated current wetland status while the second phase will produce a wetland trend analysis. Expected completion of the trend analysis is July 2011. The spatial database produced serves as baseline data for this trend analysis, examining extent of wetland changes resulting from both human disturbance and permafrost degradation.
The wetland status database will be employed to collaborate with the U.S.Army Corp of Engineers, responsible for Wetland Regulation, and North Star Borough with other planning agencies to identify key wetlands in need of conservation. As a major planning tool, the GIS database will become the baseline for assessing the acreage, locations and types of wetlands lost in the Fairbanks area since 1949. In addition to quantifying wetlands changes, an assessment of the function and fish and wildlife value of specifically impacted wetlands will accompany the final report.
This project was a collaborative effort between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, National Wetlands Inventory, and R7 Fairbanks Field Office(FFO), Conservation Planning staff.
Presented here for download is the Wetland Status geo-database product and associated products. The contents contain the following:
Last updated: May 17, 2011
