Wetlands Study Unit

Wetlands Definition Worksheet

First, write down your first thoughts about the definition of a wetland.  If you were walking through the woods, how would you know that you just entered a wetland?  Is it only about water?  Could land that is never covered by water still be a wet land?  How dry could it be and still be called “wet”?  Is it always wet, or just sometimes?  Other than the amount of water, what changes when you walk into a wetland? What might cause a wet area to NOT be a wetland?

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Now, using your definition, figure out if each of these areas IS or IS NOT a wetland:

place	IS / IS NOT		place	IS / IS NOT
a section of the soccer field that floods after a thunderstorm			an area in the forest where there are no trees and the soil is muddy but never covered with water
a swimming pool			a fresh water marsh filled with cattails
a natural bowl-shaped hollow in a large rock where rain water collects and frogs and mosquitoes grow and breed			a shallow bay where the land is always covered with water

Is your definition accurate?  In the tables above, all the places in the left table should be labeled “IS NOT”, and all the places in the right table should be labeled “IS”.   Do you need to make any changes to your definition? Explain:

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