ABSTRACT
Total acreage of forested wetlands in the northern United States (US) in the 1980s was 24.7 million acres. 11.4 million acres are in the northern conterminous states, and 13.3 million acres are in Alaska. The US Fish and Wildlife Service, through its National Wetlands Inventory Project, has been conducting inventories of the nation’s wetlands and associated deepwater habitats since 1974. Forested wetlands represent a smaller proportion of surface area in northern states. The manner by which land was formed determines to a large extent whether forests and wetlands exist. In the far north, tundra and other forms of scrub/shrub wetlands are predominant. The results reported are based on a designed study of the wetlands and deepwater habitats of the lower 48 states and Alaska. Losses of northern forested wetlands have occurred, but are minor compared to changes in the south.
