HCP Pocket Wetland

The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers use this definition for regulatory purposes:
“Wetlands are 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. Wetlands generally
include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.”

Henry D. Thoreau, in Journal IV, wrote that wetlands are “the wildest
and richest gardens that we have. Such a dept of verdure into which
you sink” (p. 281). Journalist David Hunter Strother, wrote about his
swamp adventure in 1856 and recounted how

“Lofty trees threw their arching limbs over the canal, clothed to their
tops with gauze-like drapery of tangled vines; walls of matted reeds
closed up the view on either side, while thickets of myrtle, green briar,
bay and juniper, hung over the black, narrow canal, until the boat could
scarcely find passage between.” (Veleisis, 1997, p.98).

Wetlands are further classified by the following characteristics:
Vegetation
Hydrology
Water chemistry
Origin of water
Soil types
Landscape position and landform
Wetland origin
Wetland size

Because there are many characteristics wetlands can be defined and
classified by, there are a variety of wetlands. Wetlands can be split into
the four broad categories of marshes, swamps, bogs and fens. Marshes
are wetlands frequently inundated with water. Usually soft-stemmed
vegetation adapted to saturated soils grow in marshes. There are a few
different types of marshes including prairie potholes (see picture) and
vernal pools. Swamps are any wetland dominated by woody
vegetation. There are also many types of swamps, including bottomland
hardwood swamps (see picture) and mangrove swamps. Bogs are
usually moss covered and can have low shrub cover. They are
characterized by having acidic waters caused by the peat deposits and
covering of sphagnum moss. Fens, like bogs, are also frequently
covered in peat, but their water is not as acidic. However, if peat builds
up in a fen and cuts that wetland off from ground water supply, the
water may become more acidic and the fen may turn into a bog.