In 2005 the Matanuska-Susitna Basin Salmon Habitat Partnership formed to address increasing impacts on salmon from human use and development in the Mat-Su Basin with a collaborative, cooperative, and non-regulatory approach that would bring together diverse stakeholders.  Last year the Partnership completed a Strategic Action Plan that outlines goals and actions for conserving salmon habitat in the Mat-Su Basin. Those objectives are directed toward streams, lakes, and wetlands that provide important habitat for all life stages and species of salmon. 

This map atlas and accompanying dataset is a first step to determining priority locations for restoration and protection of salmon habitat.  Those organizations working on salmon habitat restoration and protection can use this information to select watersheds where they might want to work.  Finer scale information can then be used for watershed planning or to locate restoration or protection project sites.

The 22 maps that comprise this map atlas represent information that shows watersheds based on their biological value to salmon and their vulnerability to human activities.  As shown in the aggregate maps (Maps 10, 11, 20, and 21), the factors within these two categories can be added together to find watersheds with the highest concentration of particular biological value or vulnerability.  The intersection of biological value and vulnerability can also be mapped (Map 22).  Intersection maps can highlight watersheds where high biological values for salmon occur with high vulnerability to different types of human activities.  The accompanying dataset with these factors allows the user to apply varying weighting factors to factors to answer their own questions about where to protect or restore salmon habitat.

Note that maps on this website have been reduced in size for ease in downloading.  A CD containing the atlas in higher resolution is available from The Nature Conservancy, Corinne Smith (corinne_smith@tnc.org). 

 What's Available:

• Salmon Watersheds in the Mat-Su Basin Cover Report

• Salmon Watersheds Map Atlas: MAPS in PDF format

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