FWS Wetlands Definition

Service Wetlands Definition

The Service's wetlands definition is adopted from the Service publication "Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States." "In general terms, wetlands are lands where saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface. The single feature that most wetlands share is soil or substrate that is at least periodically saturated with or covered by water. The water creates severe physiological problems for all plants and animals except those that are adapted for life in water or in saturated soil. "

DEFINITION:

"WETLANDS are lands transitional between terrestrial and aquatic systems where the water table is usually at or near the surface or the land is covered by shallow water. For purposes of this classification wetlands must have one or more of the following three attributes: (1) at least periodically, the land supports predominantly hydrophytes; (2) the substrate is predominantly undrained hydric soil; and (3) the substrate is nonsoil and is saturated with water or covered by shallow water at some time during the growing season of the year."

Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habitats of the United States
by
Lewis M. Cowardin, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown,ND
Virginia Carter, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia
Francis C. Golet, Department of Natural Resources Science, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, RI, and
Edward T. LaRoe, U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Coastal Zone Management, Washington, DC
Performed for
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Biological Services, Washington, DC
FWS/OBS-79/31 December 1979

National Wetlands Inventory