Characterization of Wet Pine Flats on Mineral Soil in the Southeastern United States - Reference Domain

Reference Domain is defined as the geographic region within which all reference wetlands of a specific HGM subclass occur (Smith et al. 1995). In general, the Reference Domain for Wet Pine Flats coincides with the following Major Land Resource Areas (MLRA) mapped by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (1981): 152A, 152B, most of 153A (excluding only the northern section north of the Tar River in North Carolina), and the very southern portion of unit 153B (including only the southern section south of the Neuse River in North Carolina). Thus, the geographic region for Wet Pine Flats covered by this guidebook encompasses most of the Atlantic and Gulf coastal plains from southeastern North Carolina (approximately 35 deg north latitude) southward to coastal northeast Florida and westward from the eastern Florida panhandle to the Big Thicket area in southeastern Texas (Figure 1). The western limit (in eastern Texas) of Wet Pine Flats is somewhat distinct due to the sharp drop in annual rainfall west of the Big Thicket area in East Texas. Unfortunately, the historic northernmost limit of Wet Pine Flats (in MLRA 153A and 153B) is somewhat indistinct because no intact pine flats remain north and east of Pender County, North Carolina, even though seemingly suitable soil types occur there. However, it appears that Wet Pine Flats historically occurred in the outer coastal plain at least as far north as the Neuse River (in Carteret and Craven Counties) and in the inner coastal plain perhaps as far north as the Tar River. The Reference Domain for mineral soil Wet Pine Flats excludes peninsular Florida (except coastal northeastern Florida) and south-central Georgia.

Back to HGM Approach

Web Date: October 1997
Updated: April 2008