Technical Bulletin No. 0623: Proceedings of a Forum on Ecological Characteristics of Flatwoods Spodosal Forest

Implementation of the 1989 Federal Manual for Identifying and Delineating Jurisdictional Wetlands greatly expanded the extent of federal jurisdiction under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act. Flatwoods spodosol forests of the southeastern United States are among the areas where the expansion of jurisdiction was most extensive, involving millions of acres that had not traditionally been considered wetlands by foresters, ecologists, and the public at large. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized that spodosol forests of the Southeast presented special problems for wetland delineation and in October 1990 requested information from forestry researchers to aid them in determining the nature and extent of wetland functions and values of these areas.