ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the historical development of forested wetland classification and inventory systems, describes classification systems, and summarizes information from inventories in the South such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The first comprehensive wetland inventory was taken in 1906, when Congress directed the Department of Agriculture to gather information about the amount and location of wetlands that could be reclaimed for agriculture. The second wetland inventory with a national scope was conducted in 1922 by the United States (US) Department of Agriculture. The National Resources Inventory is an inventory of natural resource conditions on non-federal lands in the US The Forest Inventory and Analysis is a US Forest Service program which was initiated in 1928. A wetlands inventory is in progress in Alabama and is scheduled for completion in 1998.
