Alaska National Wetland Inventory Gaps

Project ID: F23AC01707

Federal Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Partner Institution: Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

Fiscal Year: 2023

Initial Funding: $53,039

Total Funding: $405,039

Principal Investigator: Robertson, Andrew

Agreement Technical Representative: Murray, Benjamin

Abstract: THIS PROJECT WILL ASSIST USFWS IN MEETING THEIR REQUIREMENT TO PRODUCE NATIONALLY STANDARD COMPLIANT NWI DATA FOR ALASKA. STANDARDS THAT GSS FOLLOWS INCLUDE THOSE DESCRIBED IN CLASSIFICATION OF WETLANDS AND DEEPWATER HABITATS OF THE U.S. (COWARDIN ET AL., 1979, REVISED 2013) AND FEDERAL WETLANDS MAPPING STANDARD (2009). FOR THE FIRST PHASE, GSS WILL IDENTIFY AND MAP WETLANDS USING THE MOST CURRENT DIGITAL IMAGERY AND ANCILLARY DATASETS PROVIDED OR IDENTIFIED BY THE USFWS (E.G., MAXAR MOSAIC, NOAA LAND COVER, IFSAR OR LIDAR). THE MAPPING WILL BE COMPLETED AT A RESOLUTION OF A ONE-ACRE TARGET MAP UNIT IN THE COASTAL AREA OF THE TOGIAK PENINSULA AND THE PRIBILOFF ISLANDS (FIGURE 1). ALL MAPPING WILL UNDERGO 100% INTERNAL QUALITY CONTROL AND WILL BE VALIDATED USING CUSTOMIZED NWI VERIFICATION TOOLS DEVELOPED BY USFWS. FOUR DATA ITERATIONS OF USFWS QUALITY CONTROL WILL BE COMPLETED FOR EACH MAPPING AREA. QC ITERATION SUBMISSIONS WILL OCCUR NO LESS THAN EIGHT WEEKS APART.DATA DEVELOPMENT WILL BE CONDUCTED OVER A 2- TO 5-YEAR TIMEFRAME. THIS FUNDING OPPORTUNITY WILL SUPPORT ACTIVITIES REQUIRED TO PRODUCE CUSTOMIZED, SPATIALLY-EXPLICIT DATASETS THAT IDENTIFY WETLAND FEATURES AND ESTABLISH THEIR CONNECTIVITY WITHIN A WATERSHED CONTEXT. GEOSPATIAL DATASETS WILL BE DEVELOPED AND ASSEMBLED ACCORDING TO NATIONAL WETLAND MAP