Wetland Defined

The Corps and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) jointly define wetlands as "those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions."
Three characteristics identify wetlands: vegetation, soil and hydrology. Indicators of all three must be present during some part of the growing season for an area to be a wetland. The area may be a wetland if any of the following exist:
  • The area is in a floodplain or has low spots in which water stands at or above the soil surface during the growing season.
    Caution
    : Many wetlands lack both standing water and waterlogged soils during at least part of the growing season
  • The area has plant communities that commonly grow in areas with standing water for part of the growing season. Examples include cypress swamps, cordgrass marshes, and cattail marshes.
  • The area is periodically flooded by tides, even if only by strong, wind-driven or spring tides.