Croatan National Forest, North Carolina, USA Photograph by John Morrison   Eastern North America: Eastern United States Temperate Coniferous Forests   51,600 square miles (133,600 square kilometers) -- slightly larger than Alabama Critical/Endangered

· Rare, Plants, Wild Wetlands, and Barrier Islands
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Rare, Plants, Wild Wetlands, and Barrier Islands

The Middle Atlantic Coastal Forests ecoregion is home to some of the most majestic plant communities of the United States, ranging from the rare Atlantic white cedar swamps to bottomland forests of towering bald cypress and gum trees. This ecoregion also contains the greatest diversity of freshwater wetland communities in all of North America, including freshwater marshes, shrub bogs, white cedar swamps, and wet hammocks. And the many barrier islands along the coast create interesting communities of plants and animals in estuaries, lagoons, marshes, and swamps. Overall, this ecoregion ranks among the top ten ecoregions of the U.S. and Canada in numbers of reptile, bird, and tree species.

Special Features

While fire is a major source of disturbance in the drier parts of this ecoregion, hurricanes and floods play a more important role in the bottomlands, coastal plains, and maritime habitats. It is the interaction of moisture and fire frequency that influences species richness in the Middle Atlantic Coastal Forests, with frequent summer fires (every one to three years) favoring a savanna-like habitat dominated by herbaceous plants, and less frequent fires (every five to ten years) favoring a dense, shrubby understory. Another interesting feature of this ecoregion is that the bays and some other wetland areas are important reservoirs of carbon. As in other regions, this helps protect the planet from global warming.

	This ecoregion contains the longest undammed river sections in the United States. Also, some unusual circular lakes and wetlands called "bays," found along the coast, are believed to have been formed by the impact of a comet or meteor that broke apart in the atmosphere millions of years ago.

Wild Side

In the beautiful river swamps and bottomland forests of this ecoregion, you'll find towering bald cypress and swamp tupelo. Birds feast on the abundance of insects. Abundant cavities in tree trunks and branches provide homes for woodpeckers, flying squirrels, and owls. Along blackwater rivers, Atlantic white cedar once formed extensive swamps. In the region's bogs, carnivorous plants such as Venus's fly traps and pitcher plants are now found only in small areas.

Cause for Concern

Much of the cypress forests of the Middle Atlantic Coastal Forests have been lost to logging. Wetland communities and bottomland forests have also been hard hit by urbanization and coastal development such as resorts, conversion to agriculture and pine plantations, fire suppression, ditching and draining of wetlands, and damming of rivers. In some areas, poaching of carnivorous plants and black bears is also a problem.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.