Monitoring Coastal Salt Marshes in the Lake Clark and Katmai National Parklands of the Southwest Alaska Network in Bloomington, MN

Monitoring of salt marshes in Lake Clark (LACL) and Katmai (KATM) National Parks and Preserves focuses on the major habitat characteristics that support nearshore and terrestrial indicators (e.g., brown bears, seabirds, intertidal marine invertebrates, and algae) in the Southwest Alaska Network (SWAN), and on the major drivers of change in these habitats. Drivers include tectonic uplift, erosional and depositional geomorphic processes, changing topography and surface hydrology, tidal fluctuations and storm surges, sedimentation rates, salinity, and vegetation succession.