What is a wetland?
Wetland Profile - Transition
Wetland Profile - Depression
Reference Definiton
Definition Diagram
Wetland types
USFWS Classification System
Wetland soils
Whiteboard

1956:   US Fish and Wildlife Service - waterfowl habitat · lowlands covered with shallow and sometimes temporary water · marsh, swamps, bogs, wet meadows, potholes, sloughs, river-overflow

1975:   US Army Corps of Engineers - proposed definition · regular inundation by tidal, riverine or lacustrine flowage · inland and coastal shallows, marshes, mudflats, estuaries, swamps

1976:   US Fish and Wildlife Service - interim classification · excess water is the dominant factor determining soil/plants/animals · water table at or near surface long enough to promote formation of hydric  soils/ support hydrophytes

1977:   US Army Corps of Engineers - definition · inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at frequency/duration  sufficient to support vegetation adapted to saturated soil conditions · marsh, swamps, bogs   

1979:   US Fish and Wildlife Service - classification · transitional areas between terrestrial and aquatic systems, water table at or  near surface, have one or more of following attributes: · support predominantly hydrophytes · predominantly undrained hydric soil · saturated or covered by shallow water some time during growing season

1985:   Food Security Act  · predominantly hydric soil · support predominantly hydrophytic vegetation

COASTAL WETLAND ECOSYSTEMS

· Tidal Salt Marshes

· Tidal Freshwater Marshes

· Mangrove Wetlands

INLAND WETLAND ECOSYSTEMS

· Inland Freshwater Marshes

· Northern Peatlands

· Southern Deepwater Swamps

· Riparian Wetlands

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Wetland Soils

Hydric Soil - defined by US Soil Conservation Service

A soil that is saturated, flooded or ponded long enough in the growing
 season to develop anaerobic conditions in its upper part.


Organic Soils (Histosols) - > 20-35% organic material
· Saprists (muck)       >2/3 decomposed material, < 1/3 plant fibers
· Fibrists (peat)       <1/3 decomposed material, > 2/3 plant fibers
· Hemists (muck/peat) conditions between saprists & fibrists

Mineral Soils - < 20-35% organic material
· Gleyed - semipermanently or permanently flooded 
· Mottled - seasonally flooded

Gley/Mottle Formation Depend On:
· Presence of sustained anaerobic conditions
· Sufficient soil temperature
· Presence of organic material 


U.S. Army Corps Delineation Manual - field indictors
· Chroma - 1 with or without mottles
· Chroma - 2 with mottles

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