This book draws together the latest findings on the hydrological processes, community organization, and stress physiology of freshwater, tidally influenced land-margin forests of the southeastern United States. It describes the land use history that led to the restricted distribution of these wetlands, and provides descriptions of the hydrology, soils, biogeochemistry, and physiological ecology of these systems, highlighting the similarities shared among tidal freshwater forested wetlands.

The early 1990's marked an environmental watershed for our countly. Under two federal administrations significant environmental legislative, regulatOly and institutional changes took place which affected our Nation's wetland resources. Injust a few years, we have seen rapid evolution in the way in which we view wetlands with more emphasis on specific wetland types and the geographic provinces in which they occur. This Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere (SAMAB) conference on "Wetland Ecology, Management and Conservation" represents just one example of our desire to understand wetlands in non-coastal regions of the southern United States. The backdrop to this conference was one where the government, universities, and private sector have come together to create a broader and more sophisticated understanding of environmental stewardship for our water resources, especially wetlands. Although enforcement of environmental legislation by federal and state government agencies - limited by manpower shortages, budgetary constraints and undermined by weak enforcement - remains strong as measured by world standards; the realization that environmental degradation of wetlands is likely to get much worse necessitates a greater commitment and increased resource allocation for wetland protection and management. These contiIUled pressures on the wetland resource will create substantial opportunities for the application of environmentally-sound technologies and interdisciplinmy modeling teams to keep abreast of the factors influencing wetland integrity and function in the last half of the 1990's.

Distribution, abundance, and use of wetland habitats by migratory birds were studied at 2 interior and 3 outer Arctic Coastal Plain sites in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska in 1977 and 1978.

The southern forest resource assessment provides a comprehensive analysis of the history, status, and likely future of forests in the Southern United States. Twenty-three chapters address questions regarding social/economic systems, terrestrial ecosystems, water and aquatic ecosystems, forest health, and timber management; 2 additional chapters provide a background on history and fire. Each chapter surveys pertinent literature and data, accesses conditions, identifies research needs, and examines the implications for southern forests and the benefits they provide.