About This File: 

This file was created by scanning the printed publication. Misscans identified

by the software have been corrected; however, some mistakes may remain.
JOHN F. THlLENlUS was a research wildlife biologist (now retired), Pacific Northwest

Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, P.O. Box 20909, Juneau, Alaska

99802-0909.

This document is also Ecosystem Publication 3, Copper River Delta Institute, 

P.O. Box 1460, Cordova, AK 99574.

Author
Thilenius, John F. 1995. Phytosociology and succession on earthquake-uplifted 

coastal wetlands, Copper River Delta, Alaska. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-346.

Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest

Research Station. 58 p.

The delta formed by the Copper River stretches more than 75 kilometers along the

south-central coastline of Alaska. It is the terminus of the outwash deposits from a 

large part of the most heavily glaciated region of North American, and all major rivers

that flow into the delta carry extremely high levels of suspended sediments. Coastal

wetlands extend inland for as much as 20 kilometers. In 1964, an earthquake of 

Richter Scale 8.4 to 8.6 raised the entire delta from 1.8 to 3.4 meters above the previous mean sea level. Subtidal areas became intertidal, and intertidal areas supertidal.

Marshland advanced seaward as much as 1.5 kilometers in the intertidal zone. Vegetation on many, but not all, newly supertidal levees began to change from herb to 

shrub. A change in frequency and duration of tidal inundation and water salinity has

been thought to be the most obvious cause of this succession, but explanation is 

lacking. Fresh water dominates the estuarine circulation as a result of a bar-built 

estuary and the extremely high input of fresh water from glacier runoff and precipitation. Tides merely raise fresh water onto the wetlands. Halophytes are rare even at

the seaward edge of vegetation. The characteristic species of the present intertidal

marshes, Carex lyngbyei, also is characteristic of inland freshwater marshes. lnitial

postearthquake invasion of woody plants was confined to natural levees. More 

recently, shrubs have begun to move seaward into new intertidal marshland and into

supertidal interlevee basins. Current plant communities on new marshland (tidal) are

Carex C-T (low marsh); Carex C-T (high marsh); Carex/Potentilla C-T (low levee); 

and Myrica/Carex-PotentiIla C-T (high levee). On old marshland (nontidal) the current

plant communities are Alnus/Myrica-Salix/Carex C-T (foreshore levee); Myrica/CarexCalamagrostis (foreshore levee); Carex/Equisetum-Lathyrus C-T (interior levee);

Carex/Lathyrus C-T (moderately hydric interlevee basin); and Carex-Cicuta/C-T

(hydric interlevee basin). Vegetation analogous to that developing on supertidal levees

and basins is present on older wetland habitats further inland. Likely, the same plant

successions would have occurred without an uplift. The uplift appears to have altered

locations and rates, but not the nature, of wetland plant succession on the Copper 

River Delta.

Keywords: Copper River Delta, plant ecology, plant succession, tidal marshlands, 

tectonic uplift, Alaska.

Abstract
This page is intentionally left blank.
The Copper River Delta is a vast (about 28 300 hectares), remote, and generally

inaccessible area along the south-central coast of Alaska between 60° and 60°30’ N.

latitude and 144° to 146°30’ W. longitude. It contains the largest contiguous area of

coastal wetland on the Pacific Coast of North America (fig. 1).

In 1964, an earthquake registering 8.4 to 8.6 on the Richter scale occurred in the 

gulf coast region of south-central Alaska (Hansen and Eckel 1971). The epicenter 

was about 130 kilometers northwest of the mouth of the Copper River, but the entire

river delta, including the estuary, was uplifted enough (1.0-4.0 meters) to completely

change the tidal regime of the wetlands. Subtidal areas became intertidal, and 

intertidal areas became supratidal.

One result of the uplift was a seaward extension of tidally influenced, sedgedominated marshland. In places, new marsh now occupies tidal flats as much as 

1.5 kilometers seaward of the foreshore levee that defined the outer edge of the

preearthquake marshland. The wetlands inland from the foreshore levee (hereafter

called old marsh) were no longer occasionally inundated by tidal water, although 

portions of them still may be flooded by silt-laden glacial runoff water and by water

from rainfall or snowmelt.

On the old marshlands, an alteration of the physiognomy of the vegetation from 

herbland to shrubland was noted soon after the earthquake (Crow 1971, Olson 1964,

Shepard 1964). Most of this successional development seemed to have occurred on

the slightly higher elevation natural levees, which parallel major river courses and 

distributary stream channels throughout the old marshland and on the foreshore levee

mentioned above. Willows (Salix spp.) apparently were the most easily seen shrub,

because the term “willow invasion” was used to describe the structural change in the

vegetation.

Resource managers concerned with the wildlife populations of the Copper River Delta

were pessimistic that this successional change would deteriorate the value of the wetlands as wildlife habitat. Unfortunately, little qualitative and no quantitative information

was available on the nature of the preearthquake vegetation, and as the entire region

had been uplifted, a quantitative reference base or untreated control was unavailable.

Quantitative information on the wildlife populations also was unavailable.

The purposes of this study were:

1. To quantitatively determine the phytosociological units of marshland vegetation that

have developed in the Copper River Delta since the 1964 uplift.

2. To relate the current phytosociological units of vegetation to habitat and 

environment.

3. To describe the nature of the preearthquake marshland vegetation and clarify some

possible misconceptions commonly held about this vegetation, its successional

development, and its relation to the current vegetation.

lntroduction

1
The Copper River

Delta

Tectonics and

Stratigraphy

Physiography and

Substrate

2

Figure 1—The wetlands of the Copper River Delta.

The 1964 earthquake was the most recent of at least five similar coseismic uplifts of 

2 to 3 meters each that have occurred in the last 3000+ years (Pflaker 1990). The

mean intervals between previous uplifts were about 790, 670, 950, and 600 years.

There is no record of coseismic subsidence, but the stratigraphy indicates that in the

intervals between uplifts, interseismic submergence (tectonic subsidence plus rise in

eustatic sea level) exceeds coseismic uplift. However, the extremely high rate of deposition of glacial sediments from the Copper River and several smaller rivers flowing

from local glaciers causes an accumulation of sediments on the delta that is about

equal to the rate of submergence (Reimitz 1966).

This repetition of uplift, subsidence, and sedimentation is reflected in the stratigraphy;

there are several layers of peat derived from intertidal and freshwater marshes, shrub

swamp, and at least two buried coniferous forests of Picea sitchensis. The relics of

past vegetation are interbedded with fine sediments from tidal deposits and coarse

sediments from glacial meltwater floods.

The large-scale physiographic zones of the western Copper River Delta are offshore

sandy barrier islands, estuarine tidal flats, marshlands, glacial outwash plains and

piedmonts, and coastal mountains. The outwash plains and marshland are crossed 

by the braided channels of rivers flowing directly from local glaciers and by several

major distributary channels of the Copper River. These watercourses usually have 

sufficient flow to cut more or less permanent channels across the estuarine tidal flats,

but the actual geographic location changes over time as a result of erosion and deposition. Channels, small rivers, and drainage creeks usually merge gradually into the

tidal flats.

Sand dunes to 90 meters in elevation are present along the Copper River as islands 

in its 20-kilometer-wide braided channel. Both active and stable (vegetated) dunes are

present. The sand dunes and the sandy barrier islands represent completely different

ecosystems from the wetlands and as such are worthy of separate study. No scientific 

information is presently available for these ecosystems.
The vegetated portion of the tidal flat zone has four distinct small-scale topographical

features: levees paralleling the channels of rivers and streams, scattered small islands

of organic material, sandy low mounds and ridges, and pans.

Levees are the result of differential deposition of suspended inorganic sediments, organic detritus, and living organisms from tides and runoff water overflowing the banks 

of the channels. Deposition is due to a change from laminar flow to turbulent flow and 

is greatest next to the channel. The levee consequently accretes at a greater rate 

than areas further from the channels. Because of this, the levee is where the initial 

colonization by vascular plants takes place. Colonization by vascular plants further

increases the rate of sediment deposition and surface accretion (Ranwell 1972).

The organic islands are pieces of water-transported riverbank. Large blocks of riverbank often break off after being undercut by water. These blocks are high in organic

material and consequently of low density and readily transported by water. Such 

blocks, with their vegetation intact, ground on the tidal flats. If not too far into the 

subtidal zone, the blocks may gradually become part of the tidal flat surface. The vegetation on the block persists, and small islands of old marsh vegetation may occur 

several hundred meters out on the tidal flats.

Sand mounds and ridges are the result of the grounding of an ice floe that has accumulated sand on its lower side. The sand comes from the bottom of the channels of 

the major rivers. Ice floes move downstream, ground temporarily in the channels at 

low tide where sand freezes to the underside, are refloated by high tides, and eventually ground on the tidal flats where they melt. Mounds and ridges up to 0.3 meter 

deep and several meters in diameter or length are not uncommon. The well-drained

sand mounds are rapidly occupied by plants growing on the immediately adjacent

marshland.

Pans, more or less circular and shallow concave surface depressions, are a distinct 

terrain feature of the tidal flats near the outer edge of the vegetated zone. Pans often

are found at the heads of small drainage channels that are extending inland through

headcutting erosion. The substrate of a pan is very tightly packed glacial silt, and 

water does not seem to readily infiltrate. The most seaward pans are almost bare of

vegetation but more inland pans may have a sparse to moderately dense vegetation

cover. Pans also may be an initial stage in the development of wetland ponds.

The boundary between the new marshland and old marshland zones is defined by a 

1- to 2-meter-high foreshore levee, located at about the mean higher, high tide level.

The steep outer edge of this foreshore levee is a wave-cut terrace. The foreshore 

levee is almost continuous along the entire boundary except where cut by rivers and

distributary creeks. It is from only a few meters to over 20 meters wide.

The old marshland inland of the foreshore levee also has distinct, small-scale physiographic zonation. From the channel of a watercourse, the terrain zones are water

channel, steeply sloping lower channel bank, berm, less steep upper channel bank,

levee, and interlevee basin.

3
The steep Iower channel bank is mostly unvegetated mud. Where it is within reach of

tidally uplifted water, a can be partially inundated twice a day. The berm is a watercut

terrace formed by current action and is located at about mean higher high water. The

channel bank above the berm usually is well vegetated. It can be flooded only by the

highest spring tides but may receive continuous lateral drainage water from the interior of the marsh and surface runoff water from the levee. Seeps are common along 

the upper channel bank, and lateral erosion rills are abundant along the channel edge

of the levee. The channel levee is of depositional origin and has an almost level surface and the highest elevation of all the physiographic features of the old marsh. Before the uplift in 1964, more seaward channel levees were occasionally flooded by

extremely high spring tides, especially when these were accompanied by storm surge.

This flooding has not occurred since the uplift, but channel levees still may be flooded

for short periods during heavy precipitation events.

Channel levees and foreshore levees are much alike. Both are of depositional origin,

are well vegetated, have a species-rich vegetation, and have reasonably well-drained

surface soils with distinct horizons and ped structure.

Channel levees are almost flat; the foreshore levee has a more undulating surface

topography and soiIs that tend to be sandier. The greater sand content may be 

caused by frequent floodings and increased wave action during formation and by 

the melting of grounded ice floes (previously described). Foreshore levees also have

more driftwood and other transported material incorporated into the surface than do

channel levees. Along the landward edge, both types of levee slope very gradually 

into the interlevee basin zone.

The interlevee basin has the largest area of any of the old marsh physiographic features. Because of the dense vegetation and general lack of decomposition, the surface substrate of the basin is organic. Glacial silts and other inorganic substrates are

found only at depths of 1 meter or more. The water table is at or above the surface

throughout the growing season. The interlevee basins were occasionally flooded by 

tidal water before the uplift, but this no longer occurs. Direct flooding after intense precipitation and from river overflow still occurs. Interlevee basins have almost flat topography, but the local surface may be undulating due to tussocks and accumulation of

organic material.

Scattered throughout the interlevee basin are numerous eutrophic freshwater ponds.

The ponds rarely exceed 0.7 meter in depth and range from a few centares to several

hectares in area. The ponds have been formed by various geological and biological

processes. In the more seaward interlevee basins, many of the ponds have vegetation only around the banks. Further inland, floating and emergent plants are more 

common. Many of the most inland ponds are in floating mat or anchored mat stages 

of advanced hydrosere succession.

The extreme range of the tide is from -0.9 to 4.3 meters; the mean is 1.7 meters. During the May-October period, the tidal water flooding the new marsh is almost fresh or

very low in salinity. There are several reasons for this. First, the Copper River system

has about one-sixth of the flow of the Missouri-Mississippi River system. This enormous freshwater plume floats on the surface of the ocean offshore from the Copper

River Delta because fresh water is less dense than salt water. Prevailing currents

Tidal Regime

4
Climate

5

along the shore, wind direction, and Coriolis force turn the plumes westward, and the

surface water several kilometers seaward of the barrier island thus has relatively low

salinity. In addition, a large input of fresh water directly into the estuary from three 

local glaciers further dilutes the salinity of the estuarine water. Second, 60 percent of 

the total annual precipitation falls as rain during the May-October period. Cloudy 

weather predominates during summer so that, although the daylight period is long,

direct insolation is low, relative humidity is high, and evaporation is minimal. Third,

because the uplift raised the entire area, the low-salinity water of the tidal wedge now

reaches the surface 2 to 2.5 kilometers seaward of the foreshore levee. Most of the 

vegetated portion of the tidal flats is within 1500 meters of the foreshore levee.

No climatic data are available for the Copper River marshlands. The closest and 

most appropriate weather station is at the Cordova airport, 9 kilometers inland 

(60°30’ N. 145°30’ W., elevation 12.2 meters). Mean yearly climatic attributes for the

Cordova airport are temperature, 3.7 °C; precipitation, 251 centimeters; snowfall, 

322 centimeters; wind speed,7.8 kilometers/hour; prevailing wind direction, east; 

and number of cloudy days per year, 262 (U.S. Department of Commerce 1979a,

1979b). The wettest months are September (39.3 centimeters) and October 

(39.5 centimeters). December is the coldest month (-3.9 °C) and has the most 

snowfall (74.9 centimeters). Sky condition and precipitation for the May-toSeptember growing period are given in table 1.

Table 1—Mid-month day length, sky conditions, and precipitation for the 

coastal area off Cordova, Alaska, May to September
The most abundant and widely distributed plant in the marsh is Carex lyngbyaei.1 It

grows as individual shoots, in tussocks and ring-shaped formations (clones), and in

dense meadows. The most luxturiant stands are on the levees bordering tidal creeks

where culms of C. lyngbyaei may exceed 1 meter in height. There appear to be two

growth forms (ecophenes) of C. lyngbyaei similar to those described by Jefferson

(1975). Associated with C. lyngbyaei at the outer edge of the low marsh is a very 

sparse cover of Puccinellia phyrganodes and Potentilla egedii.

Compositional complexity increases landward. Carex lyngbyaei is still very common, 

but many other grasses, graminoids, and forbs are present. Some shrubs (mostly

Myrica gale) also are present and seem to increase in density and distribution with 

distance inland.

The interlevee basins in the old marsh are presently dominated by herbaceous taxa; 

C. lyngbyaei, Festuca rubra, Lathyrus palustris, and Cicuta douglasii are the most 

common. Common taxa in shallow ponds are Hipperus spp., Myriophyllum spicatum,

Sparganium angustifolium, and Potamogeton spp., but much of the pond is open 

water.

The vegetation of the foreshore levee is more complex. Shrubs (Salix spp., Alnus

crispa, Myrica gale) are common. A few Picea sitchensis and Populus balsamifera

trees are present. Carex lyngbyaei is still the most abundant herbaceous taxa, but 

several grasses (Calamagrostis canadensis, Deschampsia beringensis, Poa eminens,

Festuca rubra) are locally abundant. Epilobium spp., Equisetum spp., and Potentilla

egedii are the more common forbs.

lnland levees are dominated by herbaceous taxa, although M. gale forms small, 

dense stands in some areas. Vernal aspection is very prominent on the interior 

levees, and colorful wildflower displays are present in early summer. lris setosa,

Lathyrus palustris, and Epilobium spp. are common. The same graminoids as seen 

on the foreshore levee are present, and the fall aspect is a grassland.

Birds are the principal vertebrate animals using the Eyak River marsh. Species range 

in size from the trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator)2 to the rufous hummingbird

(Selasphorus rufus). Canada geese (Branta canadensis) nest in the old marsh and 

feed on the foliage and root systems of Carex lyngbyaei in the new marsh. Large 

areas of the sedge at the seaward edge of the new marsh often have an evenly 

mowed appearance from grazing by geese. Much of the grazing seems to have

occurred at the time the sedge shoots were emerging from the substrate, because 

the outer portion of the leaves are all grazed to the same height. Geese tracks and

droppings are common in the almost barren pans interspersed through the sedge

stands. The geese may be feeding on Puccinellia phyragnodes or on algae. A great 

variety of other birds either migrate through the Copper River Delta or breed there. 

Mew and glaucous-wing gulls (Larus canus and L. glaucescens, respectively), Arctic

1 A complete list of plant taxa and scientific authority is given 

in appendix 1. Only the genus and species names are used 

in the text. 

2 Common and scientific names with authority for animals 

mentioned are given in appendix 2.

Vegetation

6

Animals
and Aleutian terns (Sterna paradisaea and S. aleutica), common snipe (Gallinago

gallinago), and northern phalarope (Lobipes lobatus) all breed in the marshes. Bald

eagles (Halieetus leucacephalus), marsh hawks (Circus syaneus), and short-eared

owls (Asio flammeus) are the common avian predators.

Moose (Alces alces) were introduced to the Copper River Delta in the late 1950s and

are the most important mammal. Beaver (Castor canadensis) are endemic and abundant. They have dammed many channels in the old marshes and created numerous

impoundments. Brown bear (Ursus arctos), wolf (Canis lupis), coyote (C. latrans), and

red fox (Vulpes vulpes) are the mammalian predators.

The narrow, steep-sided channels of the old marsh are used as rearing habitat by 

silver salmon fry (Oncorhynchus kisutch), which have spawned in the gravel beds 

of clearwater streams along the base of the surrounding mountains. The three spine

stickleback (Gasterosteus aculetus) is common in the ponds of the old marsh and 

also may be found in flooded pans and small depressions in the new marsh.The 

boreal toad (Bufo borealis) is the only amphibian present. It can be quite abundant 

in the interlevee basin.

No live invertebrate consumers (crabs, burrowing worms, etc.) have been seen; however, empty shells of a small clam are common both on the substrate surface and

buried in the mud. Mosquitos, gnats, biting flies, and other flying invertebrates are extremely abundant. lnformation on terrestrial, subterranean, and aquatic invertebrates

is not available.

Trainer (1959) provides the earliest qualitative description of the preearthquake vegetation along the seaward edge of the wetlands. He recognized three vegetation types:

sedge, mixed forb-low shrub, and alder-willow. In the sedge vegetation type, Carex

lyngbyaei, Ranunculus sp., and Triglochin sp. were characteristic taxa. This vegetation was found “...adjacent to ponds and certain low sections of shoreline along the

sloughs and gutters [sic] which are subject to frequent tidal inundation.” The mixed

forb-low shrub vegetation type was restricted to the “higher terrain which discontinuously parallels the watercourses.” This higher terrain is the levee. Considerable driftwood was scattered throughout the mixed forb-low shrub vegetation type. The more

important plants were the shrub Myrica gale, prostrate willow Salix arctica, and lris

setosa. Photographs accompanying the report show a vegetation dominated by

graminoids with what appears to be the forb Lomatogonium rotatum prominent in one

picture. The alder-willow vegetation type began about 5 kilometers inland and formed

an ecotone with the spruce-hemlock forest of the lower mountain slopes. The understory of this shrub-dominated vegetation had “many of the plants typical of the two

herbaceous [sedge and mixed forb-low shrub] habitats.

Even though these descriptions lack detail, they give a general impression of the 

vegetation present before the earthquake. They are the only descriptions available for

the preearthquake marsh vegetation and, as such, are important because all the other

information available is postearthquake.

Previous Work

7
The most important of the published postearthquake studies of the vegetation of the

Copper River wetlands were made by Crow (1968, 1971, 1976). Three distinct physical habitats were recognized: channel banks, levees and other better drained uplands,

and interlevee ponded basins. Within these, 13 wetland community types were described. Data on canopy coverage (Daubenmire 1959) and frequency data of taxa

were collected to describe the subjectively determined community types of levee 

habitats, but similar data were not presented for the community types in channel 

and ponded basin habitats. Reactions (pH) by substrate textures and estimates of 

the preearthquake and current water regime and drainage conditions were used to

reinforce the vegetation descriptions.

The major site features and dominant taxa of the 16 community types (C-T) 

according to Crow were:

Channel habitats:

Herbaceous vegetation—

Carex lyngbyaei C-T (no samples): steep lower, poorly drained channel banks; 

still subject to frequent tidal inundations; sparse, open stand.

Carex lyngbyaei-Eleocharis kamtschatica C-T (no samples): upper, less steep,

slightly better drained channel banks; still flooded by tidal waters but less often;

relatively dense stands of vegetation.

Levee habitats:

Herbaceous vegetation—

Hedysarum alpinum spp. Americanum-Deschammpsia beringensis C-T (10 

samples): levees immediately adjacent to channels; silty, moderately well

drained substrate; inundated by the highest tides before 1964.

Hedysarum alpinum spp. americanum-Equisetum variegatum C-T (1 sample):

levees with sandy, better drained substrates; otherwise as above.

Low shrub vegetation—

Myrica gale var. tomentosa-Poa eminens C-T (5 samples): levees inland from

channels with silty substrates; infrequently inundated by tidal water before 1964.

Mryica gale var. tomentosa-Hordeum brachyantherum C-T (1 stand): levees (as

above) with sandy, better drained substrates.

Salix spp.-Festuca rubra C-T (5 samples): inland levees with silty, moderately

well-drained substrates; no tidal flooding before 1964, but subject to river 

overflow.

Salix spp.-Equisetum pratense C-T (1 sample): levees with sandy, better 

drained substrates.

Salix spp.-Calamagrostis canadensis ssp. canadensis. C-T (1 sample): levee

with poorly drained, somewhat acidic substrates.

Tall shrub vegetation—

Alnus sinuata-Arctagrostis arundinacea C-T (2 samples): most inland levees

with sandy, well-drained, neutral-pH substrates, often on streambanks; 

inundated by river floodwater.

8
Alnus sinuata-Calamagrostis canadensis spp. canadensis. C-T (2 samples): 

levees with acidic, poorly drained substrates.

Coniferous woodland vegetation—

Picea sitchensis-Hylocomium splendens C-T (3 samples): well-drained, inland 

levees developed from gravelly glaciofluvial deposits.

Picea sitchensis-Strepttopus amplexicaulis; C-T (2 samples): silty, poorly 

drained, acidic substrates.

Ponded basin habitats:

Herbaceous vegetation—

Carex lyngbygei-Triglochin maritimun C-T (no samples): basin sites where the 

permanent water table was at or near the surface; occasionally flooded by tidal

water in preearthquake conditions, still flooded by fresh water from runoff or 

precipitation.

Carex lyngbyaei-Latbyrus palustris ssp. pilosus C-T (no samples): slight rises in

the basin habitat where the water table was relatively deep beneath the surface.

Carex lyngbyaei, Cicuta mackenzieana C-T (no samples): basin sites with a 

more or less permanent surface water table.

Crow’s (1968, 1971, 1976) community types are valuable because they are almost

the only available information on the immediate postearthquake vegetation of the 

western Copper River Delta wetlands. The classification of the levee habitats seems

detailed and stresses environmental differences as controlling influences; however, it

has some limitations. It is based on the Daubenmire (1959) method in which stands 

of vegetation that appear to the observer to be similar in structure and composition 

and are spatially repeated are subjectively selected and mentally abstracted into 

classification units. Stand attributes are sampled only to provide descriptive criterias 

and not to develop the classification units. Vegetation (and site) attributes from 

included stands are not generalized to provide the descriptive attributes of the 

classification units.

Between 1975 and 1977, the College of Forestry, University of Minnesota, produced 

a rectified, 1:15840-scale cover-type map of much of the wetland area of the western

Copper River Delta (Potyondy and others 1975; Scheierl and Meyer 1976, 1977). 

The work basically was direct photogrammetric interpretation in the early stages, but

ground-truth data were collected subsequently. The photographs were true-color

Ektachrome taken between 1974 and 1977.3

The vegetation-site mapping unit symbols were: 

S: sedge (interlevee basins) 

Si: invading sedge (earthquake-uplifted tidal flats, river sandbars, and beaches) 

G: grass-forb (levees) 

E: dunegrass (stabilized sand dunes on offshore barrier islands)

3 The use of trade or firm names in this publication is for 

reader information and does not imply endorsement by the 

U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service.

9
Ei

: invading dunegrass (active dunes, early stage of sand dune succession) 

Sb: sedge-bog transition (the floating mat stage of pond succession) 

Mt: muskeg meadow (the anchored mat stage of pond succession) 

M: muskeg (upland sphagnum bog)

Woody cover types

W: willow-sweetgale (levees: willow could not be distinguished from sweetgale in 

the photographs) 

A: alder (levees, outwash plains, streambanks, river terraces) 

P: cottonwood (stabilized sand dunes, outwash plains, river terraces) 

Sp Spruce (gravelly outwash plains, rocky uplands, rock islands in marshes)

Substrate cover types 

Bs: bare silt surfaces

Bg: bare gravel surfaces 

D: drifting sand dunes, ocean beaches 

T: undifferentiated tide flats

Aquatic cover types

No symbols; ponds were dark colored on maps, flowing water uncolored.

Additional subscripts and superscripts were used to indicate shrub and tree crown 

coverage in three percentage classes (10-40, 41-709,and 71-100) and shrub height in

two classes (> 1.5 meters, < 1.5 meters). Tree heights were not estimated. Symbols

were combined, where needed, to identify mapping units.

The cover-type maps included much more of the Copper River Delta than the areas

examined by Trainer and Crow, and several additional types of vegetation are listed.

These represent either the early stages of postearthquake succession, which were 

visible on the photographs, advanced stages of wetland succession taking place on 

the most inland of the tidal marshes, or vegetation on habitats not present in the 

outer marshes.

When mapping units are progressively developed as mapping proceeds, new units 

may be the result of true differences or additions due to geographic locations, to intergradation from site continua, or from plant succession (time continua). New mapping

units also may be caused by better photogrammetric interpretation. As the interpreter’s experience increases, a better understanding of what is visible in the photographs

occurs. This leads to a tendency to continually subdivide already established mapping

units and a consequent proliferation of mapping units. Unless very careful account is

kept, a cover type likely will be given a different symbol or title in a new location. All

these problems are present on the cover-type maps prepared for the Copper River

Delta; nevertheless, the maps give a useful account of the wetland vegetation. The

sedge, grass-forb, willow-sweetgale, and alder cover types are comparable to the 

vegetation units of Trainer and Crow. Because they are two-dimensionally portrayed, 

the maps provide an estimate of the relative proportion of the vegetation types and of

their areal extent and juxtaposition on the landscape 10 years after the 1964 uplift.

10
Batten and others (1978) provide the most recent evaluation of tidal marsh vegetation

on the Copper River Delta and elsewhere along the south-central gulf coast of Alaska.

For the Copper River Delta, samples were limited to the immediate boundary between

the preearthquake marsh and the new marsh. Taxon crown coverage was estimated

with a 10-percent interval scale. Batten and his coauthors have an excellent background in taxonomy, but because sample plots were arranged along a transect line

located at right angles to the foreshore levee and may cross distinct environmental 

gradients (elevation changes, substrate and drainage differences, salinity gradients, 

and so forth), it is difficult to develop vegetation types from the data. Trends in 

abundance-dominance of taxa over a short distance were illustrated, however.

This study was carried out on the marshes to the west of the mouth of the Eyak River

(fig. 2). All the terrain features previously described for the western Copper River 

Delta wetlands were present there. In addition, the area had the greatest seaward

extension of all the postearthquake tidal marshes. For efficiency in travel and in field

sampling, the actual area studied was limited to the marshland between the Eyak 

River and Center Slough, the first major distributory channel to the west: an area of

about 165 hectares.

Marsh elevation—Existing 1:63,360-scale topographic maps were based on

preearthquake aerial photographs, but the mapping scale was too coarse to allow 

elevations of the study site to be determined. To determine those elevations, a level 

line was surveyed from a State Highway Department benchmark 9.7 kilometers north 

of the mouth of the Eyak River beside the Copper River highway. A surveying compass and a rod precise to 0.03 meter were used. The line was surveyed twice, over 

different routes, but was not closed. Distance was not measured. A semipermanent

benchmark was established on the foreshore levee at the mouth of the Eyak River.

Study Area

Methods

Field Methods

11

Figure 2—The Eyak Marsh study area in 1974.
Six additional level lines were surveyed on the major terrain and habitats within the

study area itself. In the old marsh, these were foreshore levee, interior channel levee,

and marsh basin. In the new marsh, lines were surveyed on the river levee, the 

marsh basin, and the channel levee of Center Slough. Elevation was determined at

30-meter intervals along transects paralleling the long axis of all levees and on a 

single seaward-oriented transect in the new marsh basin. The transect in the old

marsh basin was subdivided into three segments but was considered as a single transect for subsequent sampling.

Tidal regime-Because the tide at the Eyak River Marsh is not gauged and the 

closest established tide gauge is at Cordova on Prince William Sound, about 22 

kilometers to the northwest, Stock’s (1980) tide model was used to determine the

height and duration of the tide. Tide height to the nearest 0.1 meter and time of high

and low tides were obtained from the published tide tables for Cordova Station (U.S.

Department of Commerce 1979a). Height and time were corrected for the Eyak River

entrance. Time was converted to a decimal fraction (nearest 0.001 hour) of the total

hours in a year. Elevations were those obtained from the leveling survey. The 

program was modified to include an estimate of photoperiod, calculated as the daily

sunrise to sunset interval minus 30 minutes at sunrise and plus 30 minutes at sunset.

The local mean sunrise-sunset data for 60° N. latitude (U.S. Department of 

Commerce 1979b) was extrapolated to 60° 48’ N., the latitude of the Eyak River

entrance. Because the random variables of atmospheric pressure, direction and force

of the wind, precipitation, and river runoff levels were not included, the inundation 

period determined from the model is only an index for relative comparison.

Physical habitat—The extent and relative proportion of the various physical habitats

on the Eyak River Study site were determined with a dot-grid overlay (64 dots/in2) on

the 1974, 1:15840-scale aerial photograph.

Vegetation sampling—Data on taxa composition, canopy coverage, and distribution

were collected for (1) describing the Eyak River marsh, (2) classifying phytosociologically, and (3) comparing succession in the new and old marshes. The sampling

sites for data collection were located by restricted random selection of 25 percent of

the survey stations on the transects where elevation had been determined.

There were two restrictions on the randomizing of sample locations. First, because

there was much greater complexity in taxa composition in the first 300 meters of new

marsh seaward of the foreshore levee, at least 40 percent of the selected samples in

each leveling transect were from this area. Second, in the old marsh, selected sample

sites were separated by at least 60 meters (two elevation stations). This allowed the

total elevational gradient from foreshore levee to seaward edge of the vegetation in

the new marsh to be sampled, and it distributed the sample sites throughout the total

length of the old marsh transects.

Each selected station located the start of a 20-meter-long vegetation sampling transect. Sampling transects were run at 90° to the level transect (that is, along the contour rather than across it). Each transect had 20 0.1-centare quadrats located systematically at 1.0-meter intervals.

Number and area of quadrats was determined from preliminary tests in the 

floristically more complex old marsh and may have oversampled the floristically 

simple new marsh.

12
Canopy coverage (Daubemire 1959) was used to sample the vegetation. Canopy 

coverage of each plant taxon, of bare substrate, and of standing water was estimated

with eight classes in place of the original six classes.

Class Range Midpoint Description

- - - Percent - - -

1 0 0.1 Present

2 1 .5 Trace

3 1-5 3.0 Rare

4 6-25 15.0 Minor 

5 26-50 38.0 Common

6 51-75 63.0 Abundant

7 76-95 85.0 Major

8 95-100 98.0 Complete

Class 1 has no coverage range and was used for taxa not present on any quadrat, 

but that were present within 2 meters of either side of the transect line. This convention allowed all taxa in the immediate location to be recorded and evaluated.

The 20 individual class estimates of canopy coverage were converted to the midpoint

values and averaged to provide a single measure of the canopy coverage of an individual taxon at each sample site. To minimize ties, average estimates were rounded 

to the nearest 0.1 percent. Because the estimates were made in classes, no statistical

measure of variation, except the range in classes, was available for within-site samples. Statistical variance can be calculated when taxon values from a number of 

stands are averaged. Although canopy coverage was estimated and is presented 

as a percentage, the values also represent an average proportion of a 1000-squarecentimeter2 quadrat covered by a given taxon and could be expressed in square 

centimeters. The canopy coverage method provides an automatic estimate of taxa 

frequency or the number of quadrats on which a taxon is recorded as a percentage 

of the total number of quadrats used. Class 1 taxa have coverage values but no 

frequency values. A 4- by 20-meter area bisected by the transect was considered an

unmarked stand macroplot and allowed the computation of constancy values for each

taxon. Constancy is the percentage of stands of a specific area on which a taxon

occurs. Class 1 taxa have constancy values.

Substrata description—A coring tool (Brown and Thilenius 1977) was used to extract two 6.5- by 30-centimeter cylindrical cores from each site. Cores were examined 

in the field for thickness and nature of the organic layer and texture and structure of 

the inorganic material. Depth of the water table below the uppermost surface of the 

substrate was measured to the nearest centimeter about 1 hour after the core was

extracted.

Temperature-corrected salinity and conductivity of the soil water were measured in 

the field with a Y.S.I. Model 33 salinity meter. Soil water reaction was determined in 

the laboratory from 200-milliliter samples collected in the field. A VWR Model 55 

Mini-pH meter was used. Temperature range was 19 to 20 °C.

13
Numerical classification-Agglomerative, polythetic, numerical cluster analysis was

used to classify the stands into vegetation types. Programs SlMlD and CLUST

(Volland and Connally 1978) were used to develop the classification. SlMlD uses the

Sorensen coefficient to calculate the initial matrix of similarity. CLUST performs a hierarchical cluster analysis of the similarity matrix produced by SIMID. The average 

linking sorting strategy was selected. Percentage of canopy coverage was the 

numerical value.

Before numerical analysis was done, the vascular plant taxa by stand data matrix 

collected in 1983 was modified as follows:

1. Vascular plant taxa were grouped into three physiognomic categories: woody taxa

(shrubs and trees), graminoids (sedges and grasses), and forbs (all other vascular

plants), and the total canopy coverage provided by each category was calculated.

2. Vascular plant taxa in each physiognomic category with an average within-stand

canopy coverage of less than 1 percent were combined into the category “other.”

Four additional attributes that could be evaluated by the canopy coverage method

also were included in the data matrix: attached dead and litter, total cryptogam 

(mosses, lichens, algae) coverage, bare substrate, and standing surface water. The

final data matrix used for classification was 63 stands by 27 attributes.

The results of SIMID-CLUST analysis commonly are presented in a two-dimensional

dendrogram. One axis of the dendrogram separates the stands and has no scale. The

other axis is scaled in units of similarity. Sample stands are arranged linearly along

the stand axes by their overall similarity. Clusters of stands related to other clusters 

of stands only at low levels of similarity were selected initially by visual inspection of

the dendrogram. These clusters formed the preliminary array of classification units.

Discriminant analysis (SPSS program DISCRIMINANT; Klecka 1975) was used to test

the proportion of stands misclassified by numerical cluster analysis. Analyses were

made from the full model (number of discriminant functions = number of groups - 1;

maximum significant F to enter attribute = 0.05) and on various reduced models 

(lesser number of discriminant functions and of attributes). The influence of moving

misclassified stands to the highest probability group on the subsequent classification

also was investigated.

Classification units were described by calculating the mean and standard error of

each included attribute. To aid comparisons, plant attributes were stratified by physiognomic group and ranked in descending order of the mean attribute value within a

stratum. The plant taxon with the greatest canopy coverage in each strata was used

to name the classification unit. For clarity, other characteristic taxa occasionally were

included in the name, and the predominant habitat where the included stands were

located also was used.

After the final number of classification units had been determined and the proper 

order of included stands established, another numerical cluster analysis was carried

out. For this, the similarity matrix was based on the mean values of the attributes of

the stands included within each classification unit. This second classification allowed

the overall similarities of the vegetation types to be established.

Analytical Methods

14
Successional changes in the vegetation of the Eyak River wetlands were examined in

two ways: by group and by individual taxon. In the first, data on composition and canopy coverage collected in 1979 from the 63 stands were arranged in the order of 

stands within groups as determined by the 1983 cluster analysis. The model attributes

of the nine groups in 1979 were determined and a cluster analysis was performed to

obtain the similarities of the nine 1983 groups as they were in 1979. In the second, 

the statistical significance of the 1983-79 differences in canopy coverage of the model

attributes of the 10 characteristic taxa and of logical summations of taxa was determined. Because of unequal variances. and sample size, the nonparametric MannWhitney-U test was used in place of the t-test (Siegel 1956) to determine the statistical significance of differences in attribute values.

The areal extent and relative proportion of the wetland habitats on the Eyak River 

Marsh are given in table 2. The aerial photograph from which the estimates were 

made (fig. 2) was taken in 1974, and the habitats and areas are those present 

10 years after the uplift. No detectable changes in type or area of the habitats 

appeared to have occurred by the 1979-83 period. Unfortunately, more recent 

aerial photographs of similar scale, color, and quality to those of 1974 are not 

available to make a more quantitative comparison.

Results Wetland

Habitats

15

Table 2—Areal extent of wetland habitats on the Eyak River

Marsh, 1974
Floristics—One hundred and eight vascular plant taxa were present on the 63 sample stands. Graminoids were much more common than forbs or shrubs. The most

ubiquitous and abundant plant was the sedge Carex lyngbyaei. It occurred in all

stands on both new and old marsh and usually had the greatest canopy coverage 

of any taxon in the stand. It was very abundant on new marsh, especially in seaward

locations where it occurred as a virtual monoculture.

The species richness on the new marsh increased landward; that is, as the potential

frequency of tidal inundation decreased. The more landward portion of the new marsh

is a transition zone between the two major habitats. Because of this, many taxa were

present in both major habitats, but except for C. lyngbyaei and the prostrate forb,

Potentilla egedii, the canopy coverage of individual herbaceous taxa was greater in

the old marsh.

The shrub Myrica gale was the second characteristic taxon of the marshes. It was

most abundant in the old marsh where it was confined almost entirely to levee and

channel bank habitats. In the new marsh, it was more prevalent in the least tidal 

locations, but it could persist on organic mounds in locations where tidal inundation

was frequent and of relatively long duration. Myrica gale fixes atmospheric nitrogen

through a possibly symbiotic relation with the actinomycete Frankia sp., and the roots

are heavily modulated even in tidal habitats. It is better able to grow on substrates

with more or less permanent high water tables, and consequent poor aeration, than

the other major shrub taxa, Alnus crispa and Salix spp., also present in the Eyak

Marsh. Of the remaining taxa, the grasses Calamagrostis canadensis, Festuca rubra,

and Deschampsia beringensis and the forbs Cicuta douglasii, Equisetum arvense, 

and Potentilla palustris were the most abundant and widely distributed, especially in

old marsh habitats.

Numerical classification—Classification was based on a 63-stand by 27-attribute

matrix. The most recent data (1983) were used. Nine groups of stands were initially

defined (fig. 3). Discriminate analyses indicated 59 of 63 of the stands (94 percent)

were correctly classified by numerical analysis. The data sets for the four misclassified stands were shifted to the indicated correct group and the discriminate analysis

rerun. Correct classification increased to 97 percent (61 of 63 stands). One further

iteration gave 100-percent-correct classification but reduced one group to a single

stand. In addition to the development of nine groups, numerical classification arranged

the groups into two sections corresponding to the new and old marsh habitats.

The abbreviation C-T (for community type) is used for the groups of stands defined by

the classification procedures. A community type is an abstract phytosociological classification unit—a conceptual entity with modal attributes derived from the real attributes

of the stands it was developed from. Because it is defined by unweighted, shared,

multiple attributes, it is polythetic in nature (Sokal and Sneath 1963). Consequently a

stand that “belongs” to a given community type need not have all the attributes used

to describe the classification unit, and no single attribute is either essential or 

sufficient for inclusion. The term is an abstraction.

Wetland Vegetation

Phytosociological Units

16
Although a community type is polythetically defined (Clifford and Stephenson 1979), it

has been named for the plant taxa in each stratum with the greatest average attribute

values calculated from the values of the included stands. Here, these are called characteristic taxa. “Characteristic” is used in preference to “dominant” because the former

does not imply the presence of any form of control. For brevity, only the genus is 

used to designate community types. An additional designator based on the habitat

where the stands representative of the community type occurred also is used. Where

distinct vegetation strata are present, the genus names are separated by a virgule (/). 

The nine community types present in 1983 were: 

New marsh (tidal habitats): 

Carex C-T (low marsh) 

Carex C-T (high marsh) 

Carex/Potentilla C-T (low levee) 

Myrica/Carex-PotentiIla C-T (high levee) 

Old marsh (nontidal habitats):

Alnus/Myrica-Salix/Carex C-T (foreshore levee)

Myrica/Carex-Calamagrostis (foreshore levee) 

Carex/Equisetum-Lathyrus C-T (interior levee) 

Carex/Lathyrus C-T (moderately hydric interlevee basin) 

Carex-Cicuta/C-T (hydric interlevee basin)

17

Figure 3—Dendrogram of the initial 63stands by 27-attribute cluster analysis of the 1983 data.
Narrative descriptions of the important modal vegetation features of the community

types are given below. Detailed information on taxa composition and canopy coverage 

is in the appendix (tables 5 through 15), and the appearance of the vegetation of 

selected examples of each community type is illustrated in figures 4 (1983) and 

5 (1979).

C-TI Carex C-T on low new marsh habitats (13 stands)—

Structure—This is a moderately dense, single stratum, graminoid meadow composed

almost entirely of one species of sedge from 30 to 60 centimeters in height. Total

canopy coverage of vascular vegetation is 69.9 percent. No shrubs are present, and 

a low herb stratum also is absent. Uprooted and transported seaweed and algae 

cover one-fourth of the ground surface. Total live vegetation cover is 74.7 percent.

Composition—Canopy coverage of Carex lyngbyaei is 63.3 ± 9.5 percent. Potentilla

egedii, a prostrate stoloniferous forb, is the only other species to exceed 1 percent

canopy coverage. A few other herbaceous taxa (Deschampsia beringensi, Puccinellia

phrygnodes, Triglochin palustre, Juncus arcticus, and Cicuta douglasii) are sporadically distributed in the ground stratum at very low levels of canopy coverage. Canopy

coverage of attached dead plant material is 24.9 percent.

Habitat—Stands representative of the community type are found in the most seaward

portion of the new marsh. Mean elevation is 2.4 ± 0.68 meters above mean sea 

level. The comparative tidal exposure index for the growing season at this elevation 

is 78.6 percent (2358.4 hectares) with 162 floodings per year. True litter (unattached

dead plant material) is removed by tidal action. Unvegetated silt and fine sand cover

72.1 ± 9.8 percent of the ground surface beneath the vegetation. This will vary 

greatly over short periods because the current ground surface cover is dependent on the duration of the tide and the suspended sediment load of the immediately preceding flooding tide. The substrate is interbedded layers of inorganic sediments and the dead, but still attached, leaves and seedheads of sedge buried by the

tide-deposited sediments. A standing water table is at or near the surface. Sapropel

made up of anaerobic organic debris is present at depths of 30 centimeters or more.

C-T2: Carex C-T on high new marsh habitats (8 stands)—

Structure—This is a densely vegetated graminoid meadow with the tallest stratum

almost entirely of one species of sedge 30 to 50 centimeters tall. A few scattered 

individual shrubs are present. A poorly developed low herb stratum is present as is a

dense ground stratum of attached dead sedge leaves with some litter and 

cryptogams (mosses, liverworts).

Composition—Carex lyngbyaei has a canopy coverage of 80.9 ± 5.0 percent. 

Myrica gale has less than 1 percent canopy coverage. The grasses Calamagrostis

canadensis and Festuca rubra occur but neither exceeds 1 percent canopy coverage.

Potentilla egedii is the most common forb and the only herb other than Carex

lyngbyaei to exceed 1 percent canopy coverage. Salix barclayi and Salix commutata

and the prostrate willow Salix arctica are the other shrubs, but they are uncommon 

and widely distributed.

New Marsh Community

Types on Tidal Habitats

18
19

Figure 4—Eyak marshland community types in 1983. C-TI, Carex low marsh; C-T2, Carex high

marsh; C-T3, Carex-Potentilla low levee; C-T4, Myrica-Carex high levee; C-T5, Alnus/Myrica-Salix

high levee; C-T6, Myrica/Carex-Calamagrostis foreshore levee; C-T7, Carex-Lathyrus mesic basin; 

C-T8, Carex-Equisetum-Lathyrus interior levee; C-T9, Cicuta/Carex-Festuca hydric basin.
20

Figure 5—Eyak marshland community types in 1979. C-TI, Carex low marsh; C-T2, Carex high 

marsh; C-T3, Carex-Potentilla low levee; C-T4, Myrica-Carex high levee; C-T5, Alnus/Myrica-Salix

high levee; C-T6, Myrica/Carex-Calamagrostis foreshore levee; C-T7, Carex-Lathyrus mesic basin; 

C-T8, Carex-Equisetum-Lathyrus interior levee; C-T9, Cicuta/Carex-Festuca hydric basin.
Habitat—This community type is found in the new marsh at more inland, higher 

elevation (3.4 ± 0.3 meters) nonlevee sites. Tidal exposure index is 97.1 (2913

hectares) with 46 floodings. Bare silt covered only a relatively small portion of the

ground surface under the vegetation. The surface substrate has a well-defined 

organic layer up to 10 centimeters thick overlying densely packed glacial silt. A

standing water table is present at a depth of -5 centimeters or less. Sapropel is 

absent.

C-T3: Carex/Potentilla C-T on low new marsh levee habitats (7 stands)—

Structure—This two-strata graminoid meadow has a moderately dense stratum of

sedge and grasses above a herb stratum dominated by a single species of a 

prostrate-to-partly-erect stoloniferous forb. The graminoid stratum is 20 to 40 centimeters in height; the forb stratum rarely exceeds 10 centimeters in height. Small shrubs 

are present at low constancy in the upper stratum, and a prostrate shrub occurs in the

herb strata. Total canopy coverage of live vascular plants is 91.5 percent. Attached 

dead matter and litter covers 60.5 to 8.3 percent of the surface.

Composition—The sedge Carex lyngbyaei is the most important graminoid in the 

upper stratum, but the grasses Festuca rubra and Deschampsia beringensis are also

abundant locally. The visual aspect of this community type changes from sedge dominance in spring to grass dominance in fall. Grasses become more visible in the later

part of the growing season owing to the development of flowering culms. Nevertheless, Carex lyngbyaei is by far the most abundant taxon at all times of the year 

(54.6 ± 10.6 percent canopy coverage). Compared to the other two new marshland

sedge community types, total forb canopy coverage is much greater in this new 

marshland community type mostly because of the canopy coverage by Potentilla 

egedii (22.1 ± 3.7 percent). The bright yellow flowers of Potentilla egedii bloom 

throughout the growing season and are quite conspicuous. Eguisetum arvense and

Juncus arcticus are the more important of the less abundant forbs. The latter may 

grow in distinct, monospecific stands at the least tidal locations. The cryptogamic 

stratum is not well developed.

Habitat—New marshland levees subject to relatively frequent tidal flooding support 

this community type. These levees occur next to the seaward portion of the water 

courses of glacial rivers, the major distributary channels, and the larger drainage 

channels originating in the interlevee basin habitat of the old marsh. The community

type is not yet present on the levees of minor tidal channels that drain the new marsh.

Mean elevation above sea level is 3.27 ± 0.36 meters. The comparative flooding 

index for the community type is 96.0 percent (2879.0 hectares) with 56 floodings.

A layer of recently deposited sediments covers over one-quarter of the ground 

surface. Sands are more common than silts, both on the surface and in the 

substrate. The coarse sediments promote drainage in the upper 5 to 10 centimeters 

of the substrate, and most of the fine roots of all the plants are present here. The 

surface of the levee is slightly elevated relative to the surface of the immediately 

adjacent interlevee basin on one side and most of the time is several meters above 

the level of water in the channel on the other side. The presence of the coarse 

sediments improves the possibility of lateral drainage of subsurface water, and the 

surface substrate is relatively well drained by tidal wetland standards. The standing

water table is usually at depths of -20 centimeters or more except immediately after 

tidal flooding or intense rainfall.

21
C-T4: Myrica/Carex C-T on high new marsh levee habitats (1 stand)—

Structure—This community type is a multistrata shrubland characterized by very 

dense stands of Myrica gale in the shrub stratum and by a mixture of sedge, 

grasses, and forbs in the herbaceous strata. A thick, complete ground cover of 

attached dead plant material and litter is present. Total canopy coverage of vascular

vegetation is 137.5 percent.

Composition—Myrica gale forms an almost complete (87.2 percent) shrub cover 60 

to 90 centimeters tall. lndividual Salix barclayi and S. commutata up to 1.5 meters tall

are scattered through the dense stand of M. gale. Some S. arctica are present in the

herb layer, and the total shrub cover approaches 100 percent. The understory stratum 

is relatively open and not particularly species rich. Carex lyngbyaei is still the most 

common graminoid; but Festuca rubra, Calamagrostis candensis, Agrostis exerata,

and Deschampsia beringensis are relatively abundant. Potentilla egedii is the most

abundant forb. It grew taller and had larger leaves in this community type than elsewhere. Juncus arcticus, Galium trifidum, Cicuta douglasii, and lris setosa are present 

but not abundant. Cryptogams are relatively uncommon in the ground stratum.

Habitat—The community type occurs only on the high-elevation portion of levees in 

the new marshland (4.0 meters above mean sea level) and is found immediately 

below the foreshore levee. At this elevation, the comparative exposure index is 

99.9 percent (2996.3 hectares) with only four inundations during the May-September

growing season. Flooding water is not even minimally brackish. Because of the geographic location, laterally draining fresh water from the old marsh naturally irrigates 

the site, and the water table is usually within 10 to 15 centimeters of the substrate 

surface. A layer of partially decomposed organic material is present under the litter 

layer. The leaves of Myrica gale are especially evident in this layer. Beneath is a 2- 

to 5-centimeter-thick layer of light-colored, crumb-structure inorganic material, below

which is tightly compacted glacial silt. In situ soil water reaction is very acidic; pH 4.5

values and below were common.

C-T5: Alnus/Myrica-Salix/Equisetum C-T on old marsh foreshore levee 

(4- stands)—

Structure—This community type is a shrubland with both a tall-shrub and low-shrub

stratum. The tall-shrub stratum is 3.0 to 4.5 meters tall and moderately dense. The

shrubs in the low-shrub stratum rarely exceed 1.0 meter.

A moderately species-rich herbaceous stratum is present. Forbs are the predominant

taxa, but several graminoid taxa also are present in moderate abundance. The ground

surface has an almost complete cover of litter and attached dead plant parts 10 to 15

centimeters thick and a moderate cover of cryptogamic taxa. Total coverage of the 

vegetation 172.5 percent. The shrub strata produces 92.6 percent of this coverage.

Composition—Alnus crispa var. sinuta is the major shrub in the tall-shrub stratum. A

few Salix commutata and S. sitchensis also are present. These two shrubs are 

sympatric in many other locations in the Copper River Delta wetlands. The low-shrub

strata is an intermixed stand of Myrica gale and S. barclayi in approximately a 2-to-1

ratio, based on canopy coverage. Small A. crispa are present, but uncommon, in the 

low shrub stratum. A few Picea stichensis and Populus trichocarpa occur. Equisetum

arvense is the most abundant single taxon in the herbaceous stratum, but Carex

lyngbyaei and Calamagrostis canadensis also are important herbaceous taxa. The 

cryptogamic stratum is composed of mosses, liverworts, and Sphagnum spp.

Old Marsh Community

Types On Nontidal

Habitats

22
Habitat—This community type occurs on the foreshore levee at the seaward edge of

the old marshland. The average elevation is 4.5 ± 0.4 meters. Because the extreme

high spring tide level is 4.2 meters, the foreshore levee is rarely inundated. The combination of extreme spring tides, elevated sea levels due to low atmospheric pressure

(storm surge), strong onshore winds, and high river runoff might still flood the foreshore levee. No evidence of recent tidal inundation is present (particularly garbage,

net floats, and other flotsam from inshore fishery operations). The presence of large

driftwood logs (30 to 50 centimeters in diameter, 5 to 10 meters long) now incorporated into the crytogamic stratum are evidence of preearthquake tide levels well 

above the surface of the foreshore levee. The upper 20 to 30 centimeters of the 

inorganic substrate is relatively well drained and tends to have loamy to sandy texture

and subangular blocky structure. Standing water may occur below 30 centimeters. In

locations not directly occupied by living vegetation, there is a relatively thick litter 

layer (5 to 10 centimeters) composed mainly of shed shrub leaves in all stages of

decomposition.

C-T6: Myrica/Carex/Calamagrostis C-T on foreshore levee habitats (3 stands)—

Structure—The vegetation of this community type is a multistrata shrubland with the

shrub stratum less than 1 meter tall. Graminoids are the predominant taxa in the

herbaceous layer. Forb taxa are numerous but did not contribute greatly to the total

canopy coverage of live vegetation of 144.1 percent. The ground stratum has a complete cover of litter, attached dead plant material, and crytogamic taxa.

Composition—Myrica gale and Salix barclayi are the major contributors in the shrub

stratum. Myrica Gale is by far the most abundant shrub. Alnus crispa is present but

uncommon. Carex lyngbyaei and Calamagarostis canadensis contribute almost 

equally to the herb stratum; Festuca rubra is the third most important graminoid. The

more important forbs are Equisetum arvense, Epilobium hornemannii, Lathyrus

palustris, and Galium trifidum.

Habitat—This community type occurs on the foreshore levee in the same general

habitat as the Alnus/Myrica-Salix/Equisetum C-T, and the description of the habitat 

of the latter applies here. The major difference in the vegetation is the absence of the

tall-shrub stratum of A. crispa, which occurs but is not common in this community

type. In the Copper River Delta wetlands, A. crispa is most abundant on coarsetextured (gravel and sand), well-aerated substrates in locations that have fluctuating

near-surface water tables in the growing season. Myrica gale grows best on 

more-or-less permanently flooded sites with glacial silt substrates that are poorly 

aerated. Thus, a difference in substrata texture or drainage characteristics might be

the cause of the absence of A. crispa. No such differences are readily apparent, 

however, at the locations where this community type occurs and the

Myrica/Carex/Calamagrostis C-T may represent an early seral stage of the

Alnus/Myrica-Salix/Equisetum C-T. The two community types currently are 

phytosociologically distinct.

23
C-T7: Carex/Equisetum-Lathyrus C-T on interior levee habitats (12 stands)—

Structure—his community type is a species-rich, mixed herbaceous meadow. Total 

live vegetation coverage is 162.4 percent. Forbs are the predominant plants, especially during the first half of the growing season when there is an exceptional display 

of showy wildflowers. The fall aspect is a grassland. Several shrub taxa are present 

at low density. Most grow along the break in slope between the channel bank and the

levee surface. Sedge is more prevalent on the inner side of the levee where it gradually intergrades into the interlevee basin habitat. The cryptogamic and litter strata 

completely cover the ground surface in a layer more than 20 centimeters deep.

Composition—The most abundant species is Carex lyngbyaei Major grasses are

Festuca rubra, Deschampsia beringensis, and Calamagrostis canadensis. Agrostis

exerata and Poa eminens and several Carex spp. are minor graminoid components.

Equisetum arvense is the most abundant forb, and Lathyrus palustris also is 

abundant. Other important forbs are Potentilla egedii, lris setosa, Galium trifidum,

Epilobium hornemannii, and E. angustifoluim. The fern Athyrium filix-femina attains 

its greatest coverage in this community type and could be considered a characteristic

taxa here. Myrica gale is the most common shrub but is not abundant. It and Alnus

crispa occur only in narrow, linear stands along the uppermost channel bank. Salix

commutata is more abundant than S. barclayi, and a few S. stichensis are sympatric

with A. crispa. The prostrate S. arctica is common in the ground layer.

Habitat—This community type is present on the highest elevation (5.4 ± 0.2 meters)

and most inland habitat of the Eyak River Marsh. Although the levee was formed by

water-deposited sediments, this process no longer occurs at the levee’s present elevation above sea level. Tidally raised, heavily sedimented fresh water enters the 

channel immediately adjacent to the levee. It is easily identified because it is grey 

and opaque in contrast to fresh water draining the marshes, which is clear although 

discolored by transported and dissolved organic materials. Even with possible higher

surface water levels due to channel constriction, the levees currently are not 

inundated by even the highest spring tides.

The levees occasionally may be flooded during periods of intense rainfall if the water

level in the adjacent ponded basin rises sufficiently. Rainfall also may be so intense 

that the substrate of the levee cannot absorb all the water and floods temporarily.

Lateral surface drainage into the channel occurs in this situation. This process may 

be more common than is readily evident. Low-altitude, oblique-angle aerial photographs taken before plant growth starts in the spring show a continuous series of 

small lateral erosion rills oriented at right angles to the levee axis draining into the 

channel. These are well vegetated, and direct erosion of the substrate is not common.

This is fortunate because the substrate is highly erodible. Waterfalls in artificial channels that cut through similar levees in other areas of the Copper River wetlands for 

pond drainage soon develop deep (2 to 3 meters) plunge pools and show severe 

headcutting erosion. This occurs even though the substrate has a great volume of 

roots incorporated into it.

The surface of the levee appears to be raised above that of the adjacent interlevee

basin. Exact differences in elevation are difficult to determine because of the thick 

cover of litter and cryptogamic vegetation.

24
A standing water table always existed in the substrate; the height of it depended on

the level of the water in the adjacent ponded basin. Water seems to move slowly and

laterally in the organic layer and upper portion of the inorganic substrate, which has 

a platy (or varve) structure. As on the seaward bank of the foreshore levee, small

springs and seeps are common on the channel bank of the interior levee. Because 

of the year-long high water table, the interior levee is a true wetland; however, the

slightly higher surface elevation and the fluctuating water table allow the surface portion of the levee substrate to be better aerated than that of the ponded basin. This

may partially account for the abundance and species richness of the vegetation.

C-T8: Carex/Lathyrus C-T on moderately hydric interlevee basin habitats 

(7 stands)—

Structure—A multistrata, graminoid-dominated meadow characterizes this community

type. The taller herbaceous stratum is 40 to 60 centimeters tall and predominantly

sedge. Grasses are relatively common, well distributed, and equal in height to the

sedge. Clambering forbs are common in the lower herbaceous stratum and can be 

so abundant as to impede walking. The ground stratum is covered with a dense 

cover of litter and cryptogamic taxa. Total coverage by vascular plants is 135.6 

percent; graminoid coverage, 92.7 percent.

Composition—Carex lyngbyaei is the most abundant taxon and Calamagrostis

canadensis is the most common grass, but Festuca rubra and Deschempsia

beringensis are widely distributed. The clambering forbs are Lathyrus palustris and

Galium trifidum. Equisetum arvenses and Athyrium filix-femina are locally abundant.

Epilobium hornemannii is widely distributed but grows mainly in the lowest stratum.

Cicuta douglasii is common but depauperate.

Habitat—Stands representative of this community type are present throughout the

poorly drained interlevee basins. The dense herbaceous vegetation made it impossible to accurately determine the degree, shape, and direction of the surface configuration, but in general it is flat to very slightly upward sloping toward the adjacent

foreshore, interior levee habitats, and stands of the Carex/Lathyrus C-T located on 

the outer periphery of the interlevee basin.

Except after periods of very intensive rainfall or recent snowmelt, a supersurface

water table usually is not present. The subsurface water table usually is close to the

upper surface of the litter-cryptogam stratum, and this remains saturated throughout

most of the growing season.

The high water table and the dense, relatively tall plant cover keep the relative humidity of the lower plant strata very high, even after several days without precipitation.

The actual water level fluctuates with the pattern of precipitation and may be as much

as 10 to 15 centimeters under the surface. The litter-cryptogam stratum grades imperceptibly into saturated organic muck, which in turn grades into an organic-inorganic

substrate at depths of 0.5 meter or more. The inorganic material is water-deposited

glacial silt. Core samples from the deeper layers of the substrate have a distinct odor

of hydrogen sulfide; anaerobic conditions with chemical reduction processes are

assumed to be present. The near-surface layers are assumed to be aerobic owing to

the fluctuating water table.

25
C-T9: Cicuta/Carex-Lathyrus C-T on hydric interlevee basins (8 stands)—

Structure—The vegetation structure of this community type, is quite similar to that of

the Carex/Lathyrus C-T except that a well-developed tall herb stratum of waterhemlock (Cicuta douglasii) is present late in the growing season. This stratum can

exceed 2 meters in height but usually is about 1 meter tall. Differences in height seem

to be related to environmental differences in the growing seasons, but the environmental variables controlling growth are not known. As height increases so does canopy coverage, which can more then double in good growth years. In the fall, waterhemlock is inconspicuous. No shrubs are present. The herbaceous and litter-crytogam

strata are much the same as those of the Carex-Lathyrus C-T. Total canopy coverage

of live vascular vegetation was 120.5 percent.

Composition—Cicuta douglasii is the sole member of the tall herbaceous stratum.

Carex lyngbyaei, Festuca rubra, and Deschampsia beringensis are the most important

graminoids, and Lathyrus palustris, Eguisetum arvense, and Epilobium hornemannii

are the more abundant forbs in the lower herb strata. In general, although fewer of 

the major forb taxa are present in the lower herbaceous strata, the overall composition is quite similar to the Carex-Lathyrus C-T.

Habitat—Stands representative of the Cicuta/Carex-lathyrus C-T occupy the wettest

habitats in the old marsh. They occur on concave microtopography in swales and 

vegetated watercourses along the periphery of shallow wetland ponds. Water forms

ponds on the surface in these locations for long periods after snowmelt or intense 

precipitation. A permanent supersurface water table may be present but is hard to

detect because of the dense, thick litter and cryptogamaic strata. The vegetation on

these sites, particularly the sedge, tends to become green somewhat earlier in the

growing season then at other locations in the interlevee basin. The substrate is quite

similar to that found under the Carex-Lathyrus C-T. The major difference was the

presence of the large, chambered roots of Cicuta douglasii.

A large degree of floristic similarity exists among the nine community types. Most 

characteristic taxa are present in most community types. Differences are due to shifts

in canopy coverage and constancy rather than distinct changes in taxa composition,

and all the community types might be considered as variants of a sedge-dominated

vegetation type. Although taxa composition is comparable, similarity coefficients 

based on the modal values of the attributes indicated, however, that the community

types are relatively dissimilar (fig. 6). The maximum reciprocal similarity coefficient

between two community types is 64.4 percent, and only 6 of 36 similarity coefficients

exceed 50 percent.

Cluster analysis sorted the nine community types into two major sections corresponding to the floristically simple, sedge-dominated tidal marshes and the more

species rich nontidal marshes. The sections joined at a similarity of only 32.6 percent.

The tidal habitat section contains only three of the four community types developed 

in the cluster analyses based on the similarities of individual stands. The Myrica/ 

Carex C-T of the highest levee habitats was placed in the nontidal habitat section. 

This section had two subsections: one for the community types of the interlevee 

basin and interior levee and the other for the shrubby foreshore levee community

types. The Myrica/Carex C-T was clustered in this last subsection.

Discussion

Phytosociology

26
27

Figure 6—Dendrogram of the similarities of the nine community types 

of 1983 based on the modal values of the attributes in 1979.

In the tidal habitat section, the Carex C-T of both high and low new marshes were 

64.4 percent similar, the highest level recorded. The Carex/Potentilla C-T of low 

levees joined these at a similarity of 52.5 percent.

Community types are not static entities; they represent points or stages in a timerelated continuum as well as on a habitat-influenced continuum. The similarities and

relations in 1979 of the community types defined in 1983 are shown in figure. 7. The

dendrograms for the two periods are much alike. The major differences are the location of the Carex/Myrica C-T in the tidal habitat section; the changes in the reciprocal

similarities of the sedge-dominated community types in this section, and a slightly 

higher level overall of similarity between all community types in 1979.

The shift of the Myrica/Carex C-T between 1979 and 1983 is due to a large increase 

in the canopy coverage of Myrica gale. During the 4-year interval, M. gale expanded 

its distribution seaward and increased in canopy coverage in place. Mean canopy 

coverage of M. gale increased from 3.6 to 87.2 percent in the Myrica/Carex C-T

and from 0.8 to 5.8 percent in the Myrica/Potentills C-T between 1979 and 1983.
28

Figure 7—Dendrogram of the similarities of the nine community 

types of 1983 based on the modal values of the attributes in 1979.

Stands of the Carex/Potentilla C-T may evolve into the Myrica/Carex C-T in the 

near future. Similarly, the Myrica/Carex C-T may evolve into the related Myrica/CarexCalamagrostis C-T of the adjacent foreshore levee habitat.

With the exception of the move of the Myrica/Carex C-T, no analogous changes in 

community type interrelations occurred in the nontidal habitat section. The shrubdominated foreshore levee community types retained the same interrelation to one

another, as did the herbaceous community types of the interior levee and basin. In 

1979 and 1983 the Carex-Lathyrus C-T of the interior levee were more similar to each

other than to the Cicuta/Carex-Festuca C-T of the hydric interlevee basin habitat.

Unfortunately no quantitative information on the development of the Eyak River Marsh 

is available before 1979. The best available information on the pre-1979 vegetation is

the 1:15840-scale Ektachrome aerial photography of June 22, 1974 (fig. 2), which 

show a relatively complete cover of graminoid vegetation, presumably Carex lyngbyaei, extending 300 meters seaward of the foreshore levee and lines of similar
vegetation growing closely parallel to tidal creeks and drainage channels to a distance

of over 1200 meters from the foreshore levee. A few scattered clumps of vegetation 

are visible beyond 1200 meters, but the full seaward extent of their distribution cannot 

be determined because of the level of the tidal water when the photograph was taken.

The shadow line on the mountain slope to the west indicates the photograph was 

taken in midafternoon. The 1964 tide table indicates an ebbing tide from a 3.1-meter

lower-high water level, and on the basis of the elevation survey made in this study, 

the tide line would have been near 1.0 meter above mean sea level.

Low-elevation (ca 150-meter) oblique photographs taken in 1981 (fig. 8) illustrate the

developmental patterns of tidally influenced sedge meadows. The sequence is single

plants, tussocks, patches, individual rings, coalescing rings, and linear clumps 

located predominately on the inside curves of the levees paralleling the channels. 

These combine into linear bands and then spread along both sides of the channel 

and outward into the slightly lower elevation interlevee basins.

Ring formation seems to be a constant and common feature of the invasion pattern. 

The rings persist after the full tidal meadow develops. They are easily seem from an 

aircraft at low elevation, especially when the sun is at low angle, but usually cannot 

be seen by an observer on the ground.

The pattern of invasion of the earthquake-uplifted tidal flats by the sedge Carex

lyngbyaei is remarkably the same as that described for the grass Spartina townsendii

on the tidal flats in England (Hubbard 1965, Oliver 1925). The root systems of 

S. townsendii and C. lyngbyaei also are quite similar. Both have deep anchor roots

extending far into the substrate and a mat of stolons and finer roots within the upper 

few centimeters of the substrate. 

As in S. townsendii, the center of the C. lyngbyaei ring is not barren; rather, it has 

less dense and shorter culms. Peripheral culms are not only tailer than the central 

culms but also appear more vigorous with their darker green color.

There is greater accumulation of sand in the peripheral ring than in the center. Surface accretion consequently proceeds faster there. An informal study of accretion rate 

in one ring of C. lyngbyaei showed a mean total accretion of sediments in the ring

periphery of 11.2 ± 0.8 millimeters and 5.8 ± 0.7 millimeters of sediments in the 

center of the ring. On bare substrate immediately outside the ring, 1.0 ± 0.2 millimeter 

of sediment accreted. This study ran over five mixed diurnal tidal cycles with tide 

levelsfrom-0.6 to 3.6 meters. The site was 1.1 meters above sea level.4

Successful establishment of C. lyngbyaei at the outermost limits of vegetation is unknown. Flowers and seed are produced each growing season, but the vitality of the

seed and the requirements for seed germination and seedling establishment are not

known. Single culms of C. lyngbyaei are present on levees 1.8 kilometers out into the

tidal zone. These seem to have developed from seeds, but only aerial shoots from

stolon were examined, and they were connected to other shoots or well-developed

plants.

4 Unpublished data: On file with: John F. Thilenius, 

Juneau, AK.

Primary Succession

29
30

Figure 8—Developmental patterns on tidally influenced sedge meadow: 1—barren tidal flats;

2—initial colonization; 3—sedge rings on tidal creek levee; 4—increasing density of sedge

meadow; 5—coalescing rings; 6—initial meadow; 7—tidal sedge meadow; 8—tidal sedge

meadow to left, formerly tidal marshland to right; and 9—ground level view of sedge marsh.
The sediment of the outer tidal flats tends to crack into roughly five-sided polygons

when the surface dries. These cracks seem to be more-or-less permanent features.

They close when wetted by tidal water or precipitation and reopen when again dried.

The stolons of C. lyngbyaei, and also those of the grass Puccinellea phryganodes,

spread horizontally along these zones of sediment weakness. Aeration is better in 

the cracks, as is available water. A lack of available water seems an anomaly in a 

frequently flooded tidal flat, but because the fine silt and glacially derived sediments

(claylike but but not true clays) pack so tightly there is little available water or water

movement in the sediments. Without tidal flooding or rainfall, holes left after the extraction of substrate sample cores do not fill from ground water after 24 hours or 

more, even when cores have been extracted from a location with standing surface

water. A raised edge 1 to 2 centimeters high is left around the surface periphery of 

the corehole in the process, and this prevents free surface water from flowing into 

the hole. The substrate at depth in the cores becomes only damp, and free water 

does not appear when the extracted cores are allowed to stand for several hours.

The surface of the tidal flat is a gellike suspension of sediments that is very smooth 

and slippery when wet. Sediment adheres to but does not accumulate on boots (or 

the feet of geese, brown bear, and moose). Walking across the tideflats leaves a series of shallow, dry tracks, and the impressions may remain visible for several weeks.

The surface may have a relatively low coefficient of friction, and turbulence at the 

tidal water-substrate interface may be very low. The minimal accumulation of sediments on the tideflat adjacent to the sedge ring (mentioned above) indicates this. 

Even though the surface is slippery, the densely packed subsurface sediments provide firm footing except in small drainage channels and along the banks (but not on 

the levees) of major channels. Where the sediment becomes quicksandlike, it is 

possible to become bogged down.

The other method by which plants may establish on the outer flats is fragmentation. 

The presence of sod islands with a complement of upland taxa on the tideflats was 

discussed above. Fragmentation also can be brought about by wave action, and 

C. lyngbyaei plants may be broken loose and transported by waves during both the 

dormant and growing seasons.

The winter storms of the Gulf of Alaska are well know for their strength. Storms during the growing season are not usually as intense, but severe storms with winds to 

164 kilometers per hour and intensive rainfall (ca 400 millimeters in 24 hours) occurred during summer while this study was in progress. Under such conditions, strong

wave action is present even inside the barrier islands. The barrier islands now are 

about 9.6 kilometers offshore of the foreshore levee, and a long wind fetch is present. 

In addition to uprooting and transporting plants, waves can move many natural and

manufactured objects. Because any object on the surface of the tideflat will alter laminar flow to turbulent flow and create a consequent zone of deposition in its lee, 

storms may be both destructive and constructive in their impact on the habitat and on

the plants that may establish and grow there. As in most tidal marshes, the vegetation 

at the seaward edge is subjected to continuous disturbance of its habitat and itself. 

The floristically simple Carex C-T must be regarded as being in a continuously disturbed stage of development. At the Eyak River Marsh, the greatest range in tide 

levels occurs from November through January, when the marsh surface is frozen and

covered with ice or snow, although high-velocity winds often remove the snow cover

31
and wintertime thaws do occur. River runoff from the Copper River and other local

rivers is at its lowest because the glacier melt rates are low and precipitation comes

mainly as snow.

Considerable fresh water also is held as lake and river ice. Because of the reduction

of freshwater input and the presence of high tides, strong onshore winds, and low

atmospheric pressure from the frequent storms of the Gulf of Alaska, saline water

penetrates farther inland in winter when it covers frozen surfaces and dormant 

vegetation.

Just as the amount of fresh water is reduced, so is the amount of sediment transported in this water. Sediment input is directly related to the rate of melting of the 

glaciers. In winter this is low and the water from the glaciers is relatively, but not 

completely, clear. Secchi transparencies are 1 to 2 meters.

The onset of significant glacial melting differs from year to year but usually begins 

in early to mid June. The onset is rapid and the sediment load increases at a high

rate. Secchi transparencies can decrease to below 1 decimeter in less than 24 hours.

Once meltwater runoff starts, the rivers remain highly turbid until late fall. The greatest

rate of river runoff occurs from late July to early August, when the ocean surface several kilometers seaward of the barrier islands is covered with turbid fresh water. Although the water is extremely high in transported sediments, it is very low in dissolved

ions. Conductivity is usually less than 50 millimohs per square centimeter in rivers

originating in glaciers. In water originating in the upland marshes, it is in the range of

600-700 millimohs per square centimeter. Water temperature in rivers rarely exceeds

6 °C, but the water flowing from marshes may be 20 °C or more on sunny days. In 

contrast to the opaque gray glacial water, water from the marshes is relatively clear

(Secchi transparency > 1meter), but is stained an olive brown color, presumably by

organic matter. No information is available on specific inorganic and organic matter

content for either type of water.

A well-defined saltwater wedge is present in the Eyak River in summer.5 At the slack

of a higher high water of 4.0 meters, salinity was 2 ‰ at a depth of 6.0 meters in the

main channel of the Eyak River about 30 meters seaward of the foreshore levee. During summer, the water flooding the marsh at the base of the foreshore levee to a

depth of 20 centimeters was fresh. About 20 minutes later, a bottom salinity of 4 ‰

was obtained about 1200 meters from shore (over a stand of the Carex C-T at 

1.1. meters elevation). The surface water was still fresh. Spring tides of 4.0 meters

occur four to five times from May to September. At the lower low water (-0.5 meters)

of the same spring tide cycle, only fresh water was present in the main river channel 

2 kilometers seaward of the foreshore levee. At higher high water, the salinity was 

23 ‰.

Abundant summer rainfall and low evaporation due to a high incidence of cloudiness

with consequent low direct insolation keep salinity of the substrate water in the low

new marsh at meso-mixo haline to fresh levels. Substrate salinity ranges greatly, however, over horizontal distances of a few meters and is partly dependent on the particle

5 Hazardous weather and sea conditions prevent winter 

measurements.

32
size of the sediments. Coarse sediments allow greater penetration of the flooding 

water, but also drain rapidly and are flushed by rainwater. Tightly packed silts, which

comprise most of the substrate away from the levees, resist the penetration of tidal

water.

Direct evaporation of substrate surface moisture takes place during periods of sunshine when the wind blows offshore. On the barren tidal flats and pans at the outer 

edge of the marsh, dense clouds of water vapor 1 to 3 meters high form over 

unvegetated areas in this type of weather but not over immediately vegetated sites.

Substrate and substrate water salinity of these barren locations are not significantly 

different from those of the adjacent vegetated areas.

In general, even the most seaward parts of the marsh must be considered as only 

moderately brackish habitat. Crow (1968), Jefferson (1975), and Moody (1978) all 

indicate one dominant plant of this part of the marsh, C. lyngbyaei, is not well adapted

to saline environments. Its distribution across the Eyak River Marsh also indicates 

this. It is abundant in tidal habitats but also grows well in the nontidal, old marsh habitats. Ranwell (1972) indicated that long-term inundation by tidal water was not, by 

itself, limiting to the survival, growth, and distribution of tidal marsh plants, but constant and extreme water turbidity could be by limiting the light available for photosythesis. lnformation on the attenuation of the photosynthetically active wave lengths 

of light by clear water is readily available (Williams 1962); published information on 

light reduction in turbid waters is less available.

In rivers classed as very turbid (Westlake 1966), the percentage of light available 

at a depth of 1 meter ranges from 0.6 percent to negligible of that at the surface. 

“Very turbid” was not defined. The data were obtained by direct measurement with

selemium photocells, but Westlake reports on the work of others who used Secchi 

disc measurements to estimate the percentage of light at depth in turbid water. 

Reid (1961) indicates the Secchi disk will disappear in the region where light transmission (all wave lengths) is reduced to 5 percent of that impinging on the surface. 

At the Eyak River Marsh the average depth of 20 Secchi disc disappearances was 

1.04 + 0.11 decimeters.6 These data were taken at lower high water in the river and 

on adjacent flooded marsh. Little light is available for photosynthesis if the plant is 

flooded to a depth of 1 decimeter above its total height. Most C. lyngbyaei do not exceed 4 decimeters in total leaf height. Taller plants are present along the levees and

well into the outer marsh zone; however, these are often lodged by the strong winds 

or tidal currents. The leaves of C. lyngbyaei growing on frequently inundated locations

often are so completely coated with adhered silt that the green color is almost obscured. This coating may further limit the ability of the plants to photosynthesize. The 

silt adheres tightly to the leaves and is not easily removed by precipitation. Lodged 

live culms may be completely buried by sediment deposition further reducing 

photosynthetic surface.

6 Unpublished data. On file with: John F. Thilenius, 

Juneau, AK.

33
Table 3—Calculated exposure period for the May 15 to September 

15 growing season expressed as a percentage of total hours not 

flooded at 0.5-meter-elevation increments between -1.5 and 4.0 

meters

a Always flooded below -1.5 meters. 

b Less than 0.1 percent.

c Exposed flooded at > 2.5 meters and higher. d No flooding at elevations > 4.2 meters.

In addition to water turbidity, exposure of the plant during daylight hours is critical. 

From May to September, lower tide levels at the Eyak River Marsh coincide with 

daylight hours (see table 1) and the photoperiod from May through July is quite long

(table 3). This is also the period of greatest cloud cover with a high incidence of rainfall and fog. Stratus and nimbostratus clouds often accompanied by heavy rains are 

the most common cloud types present. These clouds transmit, respectively, 25 and 

19 percent of clear sky radiation; only 17 percent of solar radiation is transmitted

through fog (List 1966). 

The absence of plant species adapted to saline water (for example, Salicornia

europea, Suedea depressa) and the low abundance of other halophytic taxa 

(Puccinellia spp., Triglochin spp.) are indicative of low salinity. The seaward expansion of C. lyngbyaei may be controlled by a combination of daylight period and water

turbidity other than salinity. Moody (1978) found C. lyngbyaei on the Fraser River 

tidal marshes in British Columbia to be most abundant at an elevation exposed 53 

percent of the time in daylight hours during an April to September growing season. 

The outer limit of C. lyngbyaei distribution was an elevation exposed 46 percent of the

time in this period. She did not measure onsite water turbidity but did state that Fraser

River water was “murky brown,” indicating some degree of turbidity was present.

At the Eyak River Marsh, comparable exposure (during a growing season 1 month

shorter) occurs at elevations of 1.9 meters (53.7 percent daylight exposure) and 

1.5 meters (45.7 percent daylight exposure). Most of the closed canopy sedge mea34
dow is above 1.7 meters elevation (49.4 percent daylight exposure), detached clumps

and rings occur at lower elevations, and scattered tussocks and individual plants are

found up to 0.5 meter elevation (23.3 percent daylight exposure).

The preceding discussion dealt with primary succession and phytosociological development on the new marsh habitats unoccupied by vascular vegetation before the 

1964 uplift. A well-developed vegetation was present on old marsh habitats before the

earthquake, and uplift vegetation changes there are properly secondary succession.

None of the available information on the preearthquake (Trainer 1959) and immediate

postearthquake wetland vegetation (Crow 1968, 1971, 1976) of the Copper River 

Delta was collected in the old marsh habitat at the mouth of the Eyak River, and only

photographic evidence is available for the years before 1979. Fortunately, the scale 

and quality of the 1974 aerial photographs are excellent, and much can be interpreted

about the old marsh vegetation as it was 16 years after the uplift.

It is evident from the photographs that most of the foreshore levee now occupied by

stands representative of the Alnus/Myrica-Salix/Carex C-T and Myrica/CarexCalamagrostis C-T were almost without shrubs in 1974. Only the immediate western

bank of the Eyak River inland (north) from its preearthquake mouth had a continuous

stand of shrub vegetation at that time. These shrubs can be identified from color and

crown shape as Alnus crispa. From the length of the shadow they cast, the tallest 

individuals were about 3 meters high and the stand of shrubs was less than 4 meters

wide. Vegetation on this site is the Alnus/Myrica/Salix/Carex C-T.

Scattered A. crispa and a few Salix spp. also were present along the foreshore levee 

to the west of the mouth of the river. By 1983, this area was occupied by stands of 

both shrub community types along almost its entire length and width. In 1974 no 

shrubs were present on the tidally influenced high levee immediately below the foreshore levee. In 1983 the Myrica/Carex C-T occurred here, and the canopy coverage 

of Myrice gale exceeded 87 percent.

In 1974, only a few scattered shrubs of A. crispa and Salix spp. were present on the

interior levee where it merged into the foreshore levee at the mouth of Center Slough,

but both channel banks were free of shrubs. By 1979, narrow, linear groves of A. 

crispa, M. gale and a few Salix spp. were present at and below the abrupt change in 

the surface topography where the levee slopes into the channel. Only a few M. gale

were present on the upper surface of the levee. The shrub component of the interior

levee vegetation was much the same in 1983, when a nonsignificant decrease in canopy coverage by all shrub taxa was recorded.

The light texture in the photograph indicates grasses as the predominant vegetation 

for the upper surface of both the foreshore and interior levees in 1979. Stands of 

dried grass stalks, and especially grassleaf litter, have this distinctive look in the early

part of the growing season when the aerial parts of the current years growth of herbaceous plants are just emerging through the litter layer. Under magnification, the lateral

erosion rills on the grass-covered channel banks are visible in the photographs.

The interior levee vegetation still had a dry grass meadow aspect in the early 

growing seasons of 1979 and 1983, but by late July to early August (when sampling

occurred), forbs and Carex lyngbyaei had developed sufficiently to alter the appearance to a mixed forb-sedge meadow.

Secondary Succession

35
The 1974 aerial photographs indicate that the interlevee basin was a sedge meadow.

In 1979 and 1983, stands of the Cicuta/Carex-Festuca C-T may have been present 

but cannot be detected on the photographs because the flowering stems of Cicuta

douglassii do not develop fully until August. These stems may exceed 2 meters in

height when alive, but when dried, they are fragile and easily broken and removed by

wind. As with many herbs, large differences occur in the growth of C.douglassii from

year to year.

Most stands of the Cicuta/Carex-Festuca C-T occur next to the edges of the shallow

ponds clearly visible on the photographs. Stands of the Carex-Lathyrus C-T now 

occupy most of the interlevee basin. This community type is more closely related to

the Carex-Equisetum-Lathyrus C-T of the interior levee habitat than it is to the

Cicuta/Carex-Festuca C-T. Overall, the community types of the interlevee basin seem

to have changed the least after the uplift.

Wetland meadow vegetation types similar to those of the interlevee basin habitat at

the Eyak River Marsh apparently were present in interlevee basin habitats elsewhere

on the Copper River Delta in 1966 (Crow 1968) however, the descriptions of the wetland meadow vegetation types were not based on quantitative data, so direct comparisons cannot be made. Crow’s community types are the only available information

on the immediate postearthquake vegetation on the levee habitats of the western

Copper River Delta wetlands. The classification is detailed and stresses environmental differences as controlling influences, but it has some limitations. It is based on

the classification method of Daubenmire (1959) in which stands of vegetation that

appear to an observer to be compositionally similar and spatially repeated are subjectively selected and mentally abstracted into phytosociological classification units. Taxa

composition and canopy coverage are sampled only to provide descriptive criteria, not

to develop classification units. Further vegetation (and site) attributes from sampled

stands are not combined into generalized descriptions of the classification units.

Disregarding the subjective development of the classification units, but applying the

criteria of major underlying environmental differences and the necessity to have multiple samples to provide adequate descriptive criteria for classification units, it appears

that only four major wetland vegetation types were described for the levee habitat 

in 1966:

1. A forb-grass vegetation on the most seaward levees that were occasionally 

inundated by tidal water under preearthquake conditions.

2. A low shrub-grass vegetation on levees slightly more inland, and much less likely 

to be flooded by tidal water, than the levees in number 1, above.

3. A mid-shrub/grass-forb vegetation on still more inland levees that received only 

river floodwater inundation even before the earthquake.

4. A tall shrub-grass vegetation on the most inland levees flooded only occasionally 

by river overflow.

None of the other wetland community types described in 1966 (for example, sedgedominated tidal marsh communities and interlevee basin sedge marshes) is supported

by data.

36
Crow (1968) did not calculate modal attribute values to describe the community types

of levee habitats present in 1966, but the published data allow this to be done. The

modal values and constancy for taxa with an average canopy coverage of 10 percent

or more are given in table 4. To facilitate comparison with the 1983 community types,

the names of the 1966 community types have been revised to agree with the system

used in this study.

The community types of 1966 were structurally similar to those now present. There

was a species-rich levee community type where herbaceous taxa predominated and

three community types where shrubs formed well-defined strata above herbaceous

vegetation. The same three shrub taxa were important in both 1966 and 1983. The

most important compositional differences were the complete absence of Hedysarum

alpinum from the Eyak River Marsh and the much reduced canopy coverage of Carex

lyngbyaei Hedysarum alpinum currently is present and relatively abundant in levee

habitats east of the Eyak River, and although the exact locations of the stands Crow

sampled in 1966 are unknown, it is thought most were east of this area.

Even the most seaward of the levees to the east have a more inland location than

those of the Eyak River Marsh because of the location of the offshore barrier islands

and the orientation of the distributary channels of the Copper River and local glacial

streams. These levees also may be at a higher elevation. During lower low water 

periods of spring tides, the tidal flats between the outermost levee and the offshore

barrier island can be completely exposed. This does not occur at the Eyak River

Marsh.

The more inland position and higher elevation could mean a reduced frequency of 

tidal flooding of the eastern marshes in the preearthquake period compared to the

Eyak River Marsh. A long-time (ca 70 years) resident of a fishing village (now a recreational cabin site) from the east bank levee of the Eyak River immediately opposite

the Eyak River Marsh indicated flooding of the levees there was a common occurrence before the earthquake.7 It is possible that what is now the old marsh portion of

the Eyak River Marsh received much more frequent and longer duration inundation

before the uplift. This could account for the current abundance of C. lyngbyaei and

lower coverage of true grasses throughout the present vegetation and might also

account for the absence of H. alpinum.

The more protected eastern levees of the Copper River Delta also may be of greater

geological age, and the vegetation there is in a more advanced stage of succession

than on the newer western levees. Reimetz (1966) found buried stumps and wood 

of Picea sitchensis at two levels beneath the present marsh surface. The upper of 

the two layers was carbon dated at 700 years BP, the lower at 1750 years BP. Inplace tree stumps are present in the upper reaches of the channel of Center Slough

4.3 meters below the marsh surface, and similar stumps are exposed at low tide 

at the base of the bank along the Eyak River. The presence and abundance of 

H. alpinum on fine-textured substrates in marshlands near sea level is in itself of 

interest. According to Hultén (1968) and Welch (1974), it is a plant of “rocky slopes,

spruce forest and gravel bars” in the boreal forest, taiga, and arctic and alpine tundra

throughout Alaska and Canada.

7 Personal communication. James “Ed” King. ca 1980.

37
38

Table 4—Stand taxa composition and percentage of coverage and frequency 

for the most abundant taxa of the community types of levee habitats in 1966
The understory taxa of the three 1966 community types having well-developed shrub

strata were present in the understory of shrub community types in 1974 and 1983. 

The relative abundance of individual taxa was not the same. Carex lyngbyaei was 

the characteristic taxa in the two 1974 and 1983 shrub community types on the old 

marsh, but both Calamagrostis canadensis and Equisetum spp. also were abundant.

Arcatagrostis arundinacea was not recorded.

A direct analog of the Salix/Equisetum C-T of 1966 was not present in the Eyak River

Marsh in 1983. A zone of shrub vegetation with Salix barclayi predominant in the 

upper shrub stratum presently covers thousand of hectares on coarse-textured glacial

outwash plains 6 to 8 kilometers inland from the foreshore levee. Shrubland dominated by Alnus crispa is present but confined to the immediate banks of water 

courses. A few widely scattered A. crispa also are present in Salix/Myrica shrubland.

Both Trainer (1959) and Crow (1968) emphasize the presence of distinct bands or 

vegetation.zones of shrubland dominated by either Salix spp. or A. crispa, or both, in

the more inland zones and either low shrub (Myrica gale) or herbaceous vegetation 

on the seaward levee. Since the 1964 uplift, this well-defined zonation has become

much less distinct, although it still can be identified. The same three major species of

shrubs have extended their distribution to the outermost levees.

In the immediate postearthquake period, the term “willow invasion” was commonly

used. In more recent times, this has changed to “myrica (or sweetgale) invasion” and

“alder invasion.” Whether the shrub invasion was caused by an actual establishment 

of new plants or by increased height growth of plants already in place is not known.

Most likely it was a combination of both.

It is unfortunate that the descriptions of the interlevee basin vegetation of 1966 are 

not accompanied by quantitative data because the community types described for this

habitat in the Eyak River Marsh seem to agree quite well with what was present there

immediately after the earthquake. This vegetation seems to have changed very little.

Similarly, narrative descriptions of the Carex lyngbyaei vegetation in the tidal zone at

the base of the levees in 1966 indicate that this vegetation was similar to that of the

tidal meadow of the Eyak River Marsh. However, the Eyak River Marsh is the only

location within the western Copper River Delta where an extensive tidal meadow has

developed seaward of the foreshore levee. A narrow band of C. lyngbyaei meadow is

present for many kilometer along the base of the foreshore levee east of the Eyak

River, but this meadow rarely exceeds 100 meters in width compared to the more 

than 1.2-kilometer width of the meadow at the Eyak River Marsh. A narrow zone of

scattered patches, rings, and tussocks of sedge is very poorly developed seaward of

the narrow sedge meadow strip. The reason for the minimal development is obscure.

One factor may be a much steeper slope gradient on the tidal flats as compared to 

the Eyak River Marsh. This cannot be verified in the absence of a precise leveling 

survey; however, waterfalls over 2 meters high are present in the channels of small

creeks that cross the tide flat, indicating a relatively steep slope gradient. Well-defined

bordering levees do not seem to be present along the creeks extending into the more

eastern tideflats. As these are where the initial colonization by the sedge takes place,

levee development is prerequisite to marsh formation.

39
Perhaps the feature of the present wetland vegetation that is most changed since the

1964 earthquake is the deterioration of the sharp ecotones between the vegetation

zones. The picture that emerges from the available preearthquake information is that

of a diverse wet shrubland on the interior wetlands with an abrupt change to a wet

prairie 5 to 6 kilometers inland from the tidal flats. Once beyond the shrubline, an

observer was immediately confronted with vast open vistas that seemed to go forever.

That this area was only a few kilometers wide in a north-south direction could not be

distinguished because the terrain was almost flat and the horizon was either the 

ocean or hidden in clouds and mist. To the east, the closest mountain range was over

60 kilometers away, which further emphasized the vastness.

The wet shrubland-wet prairie ecotone still exists today, but it is not as well defined

and the extremely long uninterrupted vistas are gone. The views now are across only

a few hundred meters of interlevee basin to dense groves of shrubs surrounding the

basin in all directions. The mountain ranges to the east or west are still visible by 

looking upward, but only from the new marshes at the mouth of the Eyak River is a

long view possible.

The extension of shrubs into the open marshland zone appears to have been taken

negatively, not only by the local population, but by some resource managers and scientists as well (USDA Forest Service 1981). A change from an herbaceous vegetation

to one dominated by shrubs is the normal and natural pattern of successional on tidal

marshes. It already was taking place on the Copper River Delta wetlands before the

earthquake uplift, but at a very low rate. In vegetation, there is, of course only succession. A stable vegetation is one where the rate of succession is low but nevertheless 

is taking place. Succession occurs in response to the nature and combination of 

intrinsic and extrinsic environmental influences as controlled by the genetic potential 

of the component taxa. When these proceed or fluctuate at low levels, the vegetation

responds accordingly. When a high rate of environmental change occurs (for example, a 2-meter tectonic uplift), the rate of succession increases and major changes

in taxa composition, structure, and distribution can be seen in a relatively short time.

For some reason, this natural phenomenon is disturbing to many humans.

Because of the geographic location between land and sea, tidal marshes have a 

highly dynamic vegetation. The process of reciprocal positive ecological feedback

between plant and environment may be more evident in tidal marshes than in most

other types of vegetation. On a small scale, the basically geological process of levee

development is enhanced by the establishment of herbaceous vegetation, which, in

turn, increases the rate of sediment accretion such that depositional rates decrease—

this because the substrate surface becomes higher than the level of the tide. This has

taken place on the Eyak River Marsh at a relatively rapid rate and continues to do so.

Well-developed tidal meadows were present within 10 years after the 1964 uplift on

the more landward portion of old, barren tidal flats where fishermen set their gillnets

for salmon.

After five more years, this marsh extended seaward for more that a kilometer, and the

upper part of the tidal marsh was changing from herbaceous meadow to shrubland.

Similar changes in the physiognomy and composition of the vegetation were taking

place on the marshlands present before the earthquake. These successional developments continue—some, such as the seaward extension of sedge meadow or the

spread of shrubs onto levees, at slower rates; others, such as the increase of shrub

cover on the least tidal portion of the new marsh, at faster rates—at least for a while.

Conclusions

40
It is difficult to determine what the rates of succession would have been had the uplift

not occurred, because the entire delta area was uplifted, which left no control in the

scientific sense. From the minimal information available on the preearthquake vegetation (Trainer 1959) and on the immediate postearthquake vegetation (Crow 1968), it is

evident that woody species were not absent from the outer marshes. Both Myrica gale

and a prostrate species of willow (Salix arctica; S. reticulata) were present in 1959, 

and a Myrica/Festuca C-T on slightly more inland levees was present in 1966. Small

inclusions of M. gale were present in 1966 in the Deschampsia-Potentilla C-T, and 

this herbaceous community type possibly is a precursor of the Myrica/Festuca C-T.

Given the ability of M. gale to fix atmospheric nitrogen, it is possible species of willow

could establish and grow in the Myrica/Festuca C-T. Salix spp., M. gale, and Alnus

crispa all grow sympatrically on the foreshore levee of the Eyak River Marsh. Picea

sitchensis and Populus trichocarpa are present at low abundance in some stands, 

and further successional development to a mixed forest vegetation is possible. The

presence of two buried Picea sitchensis forests beneath the marsh has been 

mentioned.

But what of the future? The Copper River Delta is in one of the most active tectonic

zones on the surface of Earth. When—not if—the next earthquake occurs in that area,

the Copper River Delta cannot avoid being affected. What happens to the vegetation

when another uplift occurs? Probably more of the same.

American Ornithologists’ Union. 1983. A.O.U. check-list of North American birds. 6th ed. 

Lawrence, KS: Allen Press. 877 p.

Banfield, A.W.F. 1974. The mammals of Canada. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press. 

438 p.

Batten, Alan R.; Murphy, Stephen; Murray, David F. 1978. Definition of Alaskan coastal

wetlands by floristic criteria. Fairbanks, AK: University of Alaska, lnstitute of Arctic Biology.

490 p.

Brown, Gary R.; Thilenius, John F. 1977. A tool and method for extracting plant-root-soil 

cores on remote sites. Journal of Range Management. 30: 72-74.

Clifford, H.T.; Stephenson, W. 1975. An introduction to numerical classification. New York: 

Academic Press. 229 p.

Crow, John H. 1968. Plant ecology of the Copper River Delta, Alaska. Pullman, WA: 

Washington State University. 120 p. Ph.D. thesis.

Crow, John H. 1971. Earthquake-initiated changes in the nesting habitat of the dusky Canada 

goose. In: National Research Council, Committee on the Alaska Earthquake. The great 

Alaska earthquake of 1964: biology. Washington DC: National Academy of Sciences: 

130-136.

Crow, John H. 1976. Salt marshes of the Alaska Pacific Coast. In: Proceedings of the 

symposium on terrestrial and aquatic ecological studies of the Northwest; [dates of meeting

unknown]; [location of meeting unknown]. Cheney, WA: Eastern Washington College Press:

103-110.

Daubemire, R. 1959. A canopy-coverage method of vegetational analysis. Northwest Science. 

33(1): ;43-64.

Hansen, Wallace R.; Eckel, Edwin B. 1971. Setting and effects of the earthquake. In: 

National Research Council, Committee on the Alaska Earthquake. The great Alaska 

earthquake of 1964: geology. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences: 5-43. 

Hubbard, J.C.E. 1965. Spartina marshes in southern England. VI: Pattern of invasion in Poole 

Harbour. Journal of Ecology. 53(3): 799-813.

Literature Cited

41
Hultén, Eric, 1968. Flora of Alaska and neighboring territories. Stanford, CA: Stanford 

University Press. 1008 p.

Jefferson, Carol Annette, 1975. Plant communities and succession in Oregon coastal salt 

marshes. Corvallis, OR: Oregon State University. 192 p. Ph.D. thesis. 

Klecka, William R. 1975. Discriminate analysis. In: Nie, Norman H.; Hull, C. Hadlai; Jenkins, 

Jean G. [and others], eds. SPSS statistical package for the social sciences. 2d ed. New 

York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.: 434-467.

List, Robert J. 1966. Smithsonian meteorological tables. 6th ed., rev. Publication 4014. 

Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution. 527 p.

McPhail, J.D.; Lindsey, C.C. 1970. Freshwater fishes of northwestern Canada and Alaska. 

Bull. 173. Ottawa, ON: Fisheries Research Board of Canada. 381 p.

Moody, Anne Irene, 1978. Growth and distribution of the vegetation of a southern Fraser delta 

marsh. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia. 153 p. Ph.D. thesis. 

Oliver, F.W, 1925. Spartina townsendii, its mode of establishment, economic uses and its 

taxonomic status. Journal of Ecology. 13: 74-91.

Olson, S.T, 1964. Reconnaissance of Copper River Delta following the 

March 27, 1964 earthquake. Juneau, AK: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 

Forest Service, Region 10 [Alaska Region]. 7 p. Mimeographed.

Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experminent Station. 1975. Land at river’s end: the 

Copper River Delta. Portland OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific

Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. 10 p.

Pflaker, George. 1990. Regional vertical tectonic displacement of shorelines in south-central 

Alaska during and between great earthquakes. Northwest Science. 64(5): 250-258. 

Potyondy, J.; Meyer, M.; Mace, A, 1975. An anaslysis of 1964 earthquake effects upon the 

vegetation and hydrology of the Copper River Delta, Alaska. lAFHE RSL Res. Pap. 75-6. 

[St. Paul, MN]: Remote Sensing Laboratory, College of Forestry, University of Minnesota. 

84 p.

Pratt, Henry Sherring. 1935. A manual of land and fresh water vertebrate animals of the 

United States (exclusive of birds). Philadelphia, PA: P. Blakiston’s Son & Co. 416 p. 

Ranwell, D.S, 1972. Ecology of saltmarshes and sand dunes. London, England: Chapman and 

Hall. 258 p.

Reid, George K. 1961. Ecology of inland waters and estuaries. New York: Reinhold Publishing 

Corp. 375 p.

Reimitz, Erk. 1966. Late Quaternary history and sedimentation of the Copper River Delta and 

vicinity, Alaska. San Diego, CA: University of California. 160 p. Ph.D thesis. 

Scheierl, R.; Meyer, M. 1976. Evaluation and inventory of waterfowl habitats of the Copper 

River Delta, Alaska, by remote sensing. Res. Rep. 76-3. St. Paul, MN: University of 

Minnesota, lnstitute of Agriculture, Forestry and Home Economics, Remote Sensing

Laboratory. 46 p.

Schou, Axel, 1967. Estuarine research in the Danish archipelago. In: Lauff, G.H., ed. 

Estuaries. Publ. 83. Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of 

Sciences: 129-145.

Shepherd, Peter E.K, 1964. A preliminary evaluation of earthquake damage to waterfowl 

habitat in south-central Alaska. Contribution of Federal Aid to Wildlife Restoration, W-15-R.

Juneau, AK: Alaska Department of Fish and Game: 76-80.

Siegel, Sidney. 1956. Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. New York: 

McGraw-Hill. 312 p.

42
Sokal, R.R.; Sneath, P.H.A, 1963. Principles of numerical taxonomy. San Francisco: 

W.H. Freeman. 359 p.

Stock, M.W. 1980. A simplified method for evaluating tides and temperatures affecting an 

intertidal insect on the Oregon coast. Northwest Science. 54(3): 168-177.

Trainer, Charles E. 1959. The 1959 western Canada goose (Branta canadensis occidentalis) 

study on the Copper River Delta, Alaska. In: Hansen, Henry A. Annual waterfowl report 

Alaska, 1959. Juneau, AK: U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

Service, 9 p. Mimeographed.

U.S. Department of Commerce. 1979a. Tide tables 1980, high and low water predictions: 

west coast of North and South America including the Hawaiian Islands. Washington, DC:

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Survey. 234 p. 

U.S. Department of Commerce. 1979b. United States coast pilot. 9: Pacific and Arctic Coasts 

Alaska: Cape Spencer to Beaufort Sea. 9th ed. Washington, DC: National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Survey. 354 p. [plus appendices]. 

Volland, Leonard A.; Connelly, Margaret. 1978. Computer analysis of ecological data: 

methods and programs. R6-ECOL-79-003. Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture,

Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region. [Not paged].

Welch, Stanley L, 1974. Anderson’s flora of Alaska and adjacent parts of Canada. Provo, UT: 

Brigham Young University Press. 724 p.

Westlake, D.F, 1966. The light climate for plants in rivers. In: Bainbridge, Richard; Evan, G. 

Clifford; Rockham, Oliver, eds. Light as an ecological factor: a symposium of the British

Ecological Society Cambridge; 30 March-1 April 1965. [Location of meeting unknown]. New

York, NY: John Wiley & Sons: 99-119. Vol. 6.

Whittaker, Robert H. 1978. Approaches to classifying vegetation. In: Whittaker, H., ed. 

Classification of plant communities. The Hague; Boston, MA: Dr W. Junk bv Publishers:

1-31.

Williams, Jerome. 1962. Oceanography: an introduction to the marine sciences. Boston, MA: 

Little, Brown and Co. 242 p.

43
In the following list, a double asterisk (**) preceding the scientific name indicates that

the species was used directly as an attribute in the SIMID-CLUST analysis to 

determine the vegetation types; a single asterisk (*) indicates that the species was 

combined into the appropriate “other” class. Species without asterisks are those 

found on the 4- by 20-meter sample stands but not on any of the 20 0.1-centare

quadrats. Nomenclature for vegetation follows Hulten (1968).

Woody plants:

** Alnus crispa (Ait.) Pursh ssp. sinuata

* Menziesia ferruginea Sm.

** Myrica gale L. var. tomentosa C. DC. 

* Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.

* Populus balsamifera L. spp. trichocarpa (Torr. & Gray) Hult. 

Salix alaxensis (Anderss.) Cov.

** Salix arctica Pall. ssp. crassijulius (Traultv.) Skvortz. 

** Salix barclayi Anderss. 

* Salix commutata Bebb 

Salix ovalifolia Traitv.

* Salix reticulata L. ssp. orbicularis (Anderss.) Flod. 

* Salix sitchensis Sanson 

Salix stolonifera Cov.

Sambucus racemosa L. ssp. pubens (Michx.) House var. anborescens Gray 

* Spiraea beauverdiana Rydd.

* Vaccinium uliginosum L. ssp. alpinum (Bigel.) Hult. 

Sedges:

* Carex aquatilis Wahlenb. ssp. aquatilis. 

* Carex laeviculmis Meinsh. 

* Carex lyngbyaei Hornem. 

* Carex pluriflora Hult. 

* Carex ramenskii Kom. 

Grasses:

* Agrostis alaskana Hult. 

** Agrostis exarata Trin.

* Arctagrostis latifolia (R.Br.) Griseb var. arundinacea (Trin.) Griseb. 

* Arctophila fulva (Trin.) Anderss.

* Calamagrostis canadensis (Michx.) Beauv. ssp. langsdorffii (Link) Hult.

Appendix 1

44
Calamagrostis deschampsioides Trin. 

** Deschampsia beringensis Hult.

** Festuca rubra L. ssp. aucta (Krecz. & Bohr.) Hult. 

* Hierochloe odorata L. (Wahlenb.) 

* Hordeum brachyantherum Nevski 

* Poa eminens Presl.

* Puccinellia nutkaensis (Presl) Fem. & Weath. 

* Puccinellia phryganodes (Trin.) Scribn. & Merr. 

Forbs:

* Achillea borealis Bong.

* Actaea rubra (Ait.) Willd. ssp. arguta (Nutt.) Hult. 

* Angelica lucida L.

* Angelica genuflexa Nutt.

Artemisia tilesii Ledeb. ssp. elatior (Torry & Gray) Hult. 

* Athyrium filix-femina (L.) Roth ssp. cyclosorum (Rupr.) Christens. 

* Caltha palustris L. ssp. assarifolia (DC.) Hult. 

* Caltha leptoselpala DC.

* Chrysanthemum arcticum L. ssp. arcticum

** Cicuta douglassii (DC.) Coult. & Rose. 

* Cicuta mackenzieana Raup. 

* Conioselinum chinense (t.) BSP.

* Dodecatheon pulchellum (Raf.) Merr. ssp. superbum (Pennell & Stair) Hult. 

Eleocharis acicularis (L.) Roem. & Schult. 

* Eleocharis kamtschatica (C.A- Mey.) Kom. 

* Eleocharis palustris (L.) Roem. & Schult.

* Epilobium angustifolium L. ssp. macrophyllum (Haussk.) Hult. 

* Epilobium glandulosum Lehm.

** Epilobium hornemannii Rchb. 

** Equisetum arvense L.

* Equisetum fluviatile L. ampl. Ehrh. 

* Equisetum pratense L.

* Eriophorum angustifolium Honck. ssp. scabriusculum Hult. 

* Eriophorum russeolum E. Fries var. majus Sommier. 

* Euphrasia mollis (Ledeb.) Wettst. 

Fritillaria camschatcensis (L.) Ker-Gawl.

45
** Galium trifidum L. ssp. columbianum (Rydb.) Hult. 

* Galium triflorum Michx.

Hedysarum alpinum L. ssp. americanum (Michx.) Fedtsch. 

* Heracleum lanatum Michx. 

* Heuchera glabra Willd. 

* Hippuris tetraphylla L. f. 

* Hippuris vulgaris L.

** lris setosa Pall. ssp. setosa

* Juncus alpinus Vill. (in broad sense) 

** Juncus arcticus ssp. sitchensis Engelm. 

** Lathyrus palustris L. ssp pilosus (Cham.) Hult. 

Ligusticum scoticum L. ssp. hultenii (Fem.) Calder & Taylor 

* Lomatogonium rotatum (L.) E. Fries. 

Lupinus nootkatensis Donn. 

* Lysimachia thyrsiflora L. 

Malaxais monophylla (L.) Sw. 

* Menyanthes trifoliata L. 

* Mimulus guttatus DC. 

* Myriopbyllum spicatum L. 

* Nuphar polysepalum Engelm.

* Parnassis palustris L. ssp. neogaea (Fem.) Hult. 

* Pedicularis paryiflora J. F. Sm. ssp. paryiflora. 

* Plantago macrocarpa Chain. & Schlecht. 

* Plantago martima L. ssp. juncoides (Lam.) Hult.

* Platanthera dilatata (Pursh) Lindl. 

* Polygonum viviparum L.

** Potentilla egedii Wormsk. ssp. grandis (Torr. & Gray) Hult. 

Potentilla palustris (L.) Scop. 

* Potamogeton sp. L.

Prenanthes alata (Hock.) Dietr. 

* Primula egaliksensis Wormsk.

* Pyrola assarifolia Michx. var. purpurea (Bunge) Fern. 

* Ranunculus cymbalaria Pursh.

Ranunculus hyperboreus Rottb. ssp. hyperboreus. 

* Rhinanthus minor L. ssp. borealis (Sterneck) Love.

46
* Rorippa islandica (Oeder) Borb. 

* Rumex fenestratus Greene

* Rumex transitorius Rech. f.

* Sanguisorba stipulata Raf. 

* Sparganium angustifolium Michx. 

* Spiranthes romanzoffiana Cham. 

* Stellaria humifusa Rottb.

* Stellaria sitchana Steud. ssp. sitchana

* Trientalis europaea L. ssp. arctica (Fisch.) Hult. 

* Triglochin maritimum L. 

* Triglochin palustris L.

* Viola epipsila Ledeb. ssp. repens (Turcz.) Becker.

47
This list of animals includes those mentioned in the text. All are either resident in the

Copper River Delta wetlands or commonly seen from May to October. Many other

species are present either as breeders or migrants.

Birds (American Ornithologists’ Union 1983):

Asio flammeus (Pontoppidan) 

Branta canadensis (Linnaeus) 

Circus syaneus (Linnaeus) 

Gallinago gallinago (Linnaeus) 

Haliaeetus lencocephalus (Linnaeus) 

Larus canus Linnaeus 

Larus glaucescens Naumann 

Cygnus buccinator Richardson 

Phalaropus lobatus (Linnaeus) 

Selasphorus rufus (Gmelin) 

Sterna aleutica Baird

Sterna pontoppidan

Mammals (Banfield 1974):

Alces alces gigas Miller 1899 

Canis latrans incolatus Hall 1934 

Canis lupus columbianus Goldman 1941 

Castor canadensis belugae Bang 1913 

Ursus arctos Linnaeus 

Vulpes vulpes alascensis Merriam 1900 

Fish (McPhail and Lindsey 1970):

Gasterosteus aculetus Linnaeus

Oncorhychus kisutch (Walbaum)

Amphibian (Pratt 1935):

Bufo boreas boreas Baird and Girard

Appendix 2

48

Short-eared owl 

Canada goose

Marsh hawk

Common snipe 

Bald eagle 

Mew gull 

Glaucous-winged gull 

Trumpeter swan 

Red-necked phalarope 

Rufous hummingbird 

Aleutian tern 

Arctic tern

Alaska moose

Coyote 

Wolf 

Beaver

Brown bear

Red fox 

Threespine stickleback 

Silver salmon

Northwestern toad
Appendix 3

49

Table 5—Characteristic taxa composition, mean percentage canopy coverage, 

and percentage constancy in the tidal low marsh, Carex C-T, 1983 and 1979
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
The Forest Service of the U.S. Department of

Agriculture is dedicated to the principle of multiple 

use management of the Nation’s forest resources 

for sustained yields of wood, water, forage, wildlife, 

and recreation. Through forestry research, 

cooperation with the States and private forest 

owners, and management of the National Forests 

and National Grasslands, it strives—as directed by

Congress—to provide increasingly greater service 

to a growing Nation.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)

Forest Service is a diverse organization committed 

to equal opportunity in employment and program 

delivery. USDA prohibits discrimination on the 

basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, 

age, disability, political affiliation, and familial 

status. Persons believing that they have been 

discriminated against should contact the Secretary,

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC 20250,

or call 202-720-7327 (voice), or 202-720-1127 (TDD).

Pacific Northwest Research Station 

333 S.W. First Avenue 

P.O. Box 3890 

Portland, Oregon 97208-3890

Thilenius, John F. 1995. Phytosociology and succession on earthquake-uplifted 

coastal wetlands, Copper River Delta, Alaska. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW-GTR-346. 

Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest 

Research Station. 58 p.

The Copper River Delta stretches more than 75 kilometers along the south-central 

coast of Alaska. It is the terminus of the outwash deposits from a large part of the 

most heavily glaciated region of North America, and all major rivers that Row into the 

delta carry extremely high levels of suspended sediments. Wetlands extended inland 

for as much as 20 kilometers. In 1964, an earthquake of Richter scale 8.4 to 8.6

raised the entire delta from 1.6 to 3.4 meters above the previous mean sea level. This 

paper documents the changes in tidal areas and plant succession in those areas. The 

uplift appears to have altered locations and rates, but not the nature, of wetland plant 

succession on the delta.

Keywords: Copper River Delta, plant ecology, plant succession, tidal marshlands, 

tectonic uplift, Alaska.