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Wetlands that are not connected by streams to other surface-water bodies are considered to be isolated. Although the definition is based on surface-water connections to other water bodies, isolated wetlands commonly are integral parts of extensive ground-water flow systems, and isolated wetlands can spill over their surface divides into adjacent surface-water bodies during periods of abundant precipitation...
In preparing a major report on geographically isolated wetlands, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) initiated a study of the extent of these wetlands across the country. The FWS used geographic information system (GIS) technology to analyze existing digital data (e.g., National Wetlands Inventory data and U.S. Geological Survey hydrologic data) to predict the extent of isolated wetlands in 72...
Isolated wetlands occur in many hydrogeomorphic settings, and while the appear to be physically isolated from other water bodies, they are almost never completely decoupled from surface-water or ground-water systems. In this paper, we examine water-quality data for isolated wetlands in three hydrogeomorphic classes (depressions, slopes, flats). Some isolated wetlands are dominated by atmospheric exchanges...
The 2001 U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) held that isolated intrastate non-navigable waters could not be protected under the Clean Water Act (CWA) based on the presence of migratory birds. SWANCC represented a major reinterpretation of the CWA by re-emphasizing the importance of navigability in the definition of “waters of the United States” protected...
Surveys have shown that pocosins (swamp-on-a-hill) occur on the southeastern Coastal Plain of the U.S. from Virginia to north Florida and once covered more than one million hectares in North Carolina. A broad definition of pocosins (sensu lato) would include all shrub and forested bogs, as well as Atlantic white cedar stands and some loblolly pine stands on flooded soils on the Coastal Plain. A stricter...
Collectively, the millions of wetlands in the prairie pothole region create one of the most important waterfowl breeding areas in North America. Their use by migratory waterfowl provided a legal rationale, the Migratory Bird Rule, for extending Clean Water Act Section 404 protection to them even though prairie potholes are generally not associated with navigable waters. The U. S. Supreme Court’s decision...
The term fen has been variously used by peatland ecologists, ground-water hydrologists, and vegetation scientists. The common denominator among all types of fens is recognition of the importance of ground-water discharge, especially mineral-rich ground water, in determining fen hydrology, chemistry, and vegetation, in contrast to wetlands whose characteristics are determined primarily by precipitation...
In Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC), the U.S. Supreme Court held that isolated, intrastate, non-navigable waters could not be protected under the Clean Water Act based solely on their use by migratory birds. The SWANCC decision has created a need to compile and make available scientific information for post-SWANCC policy development. In response,...
The recent U.S. Supreme Court case of Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC) has had profound implications on the legal status of isolated wetlands. As a result, policymakers need ecological information on the definition and functions of isolated wetlands to respond to this decision. The term “isolated wetlands” is of fairly recent usage and has been poorly...
While many wetlands form along floodplains of rivers, streams, lakes, and estuaries, others have developed in depressions far removed from such waters. Depressional wetlands completely surrounded by upland have traditionally been called “isolated wetlands.” Isolated wetlands are not confined to basins, as some occur on broad flats and others form on slopes. The term “geographically isolated wetlands”...
Playa wetlands provide functions critical to the existence of life on the High Plains portion of the Great Plains, including surface drainage, aquifer recharge, and wildlife habitat. These small, circular, isolated depressional wetlands with closed watersheds have a dynamic, unpredictable hydroperiod, which is essential to the maintenance of biodiversity. Most numerous in the Southern High Plains...
Carolina bays, depression wetlands of the southeastern United States Coastal Plain, are “islands” of high species richness within the upland landscape and are the major breeding habitat for numerous amphibians. The 2001 Supreme Court decision that removes isolated wetlands from protection under the Clean Water Act has potential for great losses of these wetland ecosystems. Most Carolina bays are not...
Vernal pools, broadly defined as ephemeral wetlands that predictably form in permanent basins during the cooler part of the year but which dry during the summer months, are distributed throughout the world. In the U. S., they are particularly abundant on the Pacific Coast and in various forms in the glaciated landscapes of the north and northeast. Vernal pools are ecosystems that have evolved in a...
A wetland ecosystem, no matter how small or isolated, includes biotic and abiotic features that interact to promote biodiversity at larger landscape scales. Isolated wetlands, in particular, harbor a significant portion of regional fauna and are often critical habitats for maintaining herpetofaunal biodiversity in southern wetlands. Long-term research on isolated wetlands reveals that two terrestrial...
On January 9, 2001, the U. S. Supreme Court decision in Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County v. U. S. Army Corps of Engineers (SWANCC) limited the scope of the Clean Water Act’s jurisdiction by limiting the definition of Waters of the U.S. The Court invalidated the “Migratory Bird Rule” as the sole basis for federal regulation of non-navigable, isolated, and intrastate waters (“isolated wetlands”)...
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