In 1918 Katmai National Monument was created to preserve the famed Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a spectacular forty square mile, 100 to 700 foot deep, pyroclastic ash flow deposited by Novarupta Volcano. The monument has grown into Katmai National Park and Preserve and is famous for volcanoes, brown bears, fish, and rugged wilderness and is also the site of the Brooks River National Historic Landmark with North America's highest concentration of prehistoric human dwellings (about 900).

Katmai National Park and Preserve is in the process of developing a Water Resources Management Plan. The plan is considered the blueprint for park water resource management and is the first of its kind in Alaska. The plan will assist in the development of a park-wide strategy for managing waters as well as provide the information that park managers and policy makers require to protect, utilize and enhance water resources. The plan will allow the park to build a comprehensive, integrated and durable management program that will position the park to address water resource issues into the next century.

Using ArcMap a series of thirteen maps was developed to support this plan. The types of data depicted includes geology, land ownership status, political boundaries, classified land cover, coastal resources, landscapes, physiography and water sample stations. For the sake of continuity and ease of interpretation standard views, scales and legends were used whenever possible. Annotation was developed for the two main map scales in a Personal Geodata Base to streamline production and provide additional consistency.

For some maps USGS 1:63,360 DRG’s were used as a base. While the DRG’s provide a good base they can lack visual appeal. Overlaying DLG lake and glacier polygons, DLG rivers and NED hillshade really brought these maps to life.

Brooks Camp is of particular interest so 1:1,200 AutoCad mapping exists for this area. This data was merged and legendized to look like USGS quads for a detailed yet harmonious inset.

All map plates are intended to be printed full bleed. The layout in the .MXD’s was set to the next standard sheet size up with the intent that the hard copy be trim in bulk after printing. The digital files submitted have been cropped digitally to show the final look.