Bottomland General Information

Understanding North Carolina’s Bottomland Swamp Forests (N.C. Forest Service)
Not all bottomland swamps are the same. Differences in hydrology, terrain, soils and position on the
landscape create a mosaic of different swamp forests across the Atlantic coastal plain region of the U.S.
North Carolina’s wide range of topography and geology also contribute to a diversity of swamps.

Bottomland Hardwoods (U.S. EPA)
Bottomland hardwood forests are river swamps. They are found along rivers and streams of the southeast and south central United States, generally in broad floodplains. These ecosystems are commonly found wherever streams or rivers at least occasionally cause flooding beyond their channel confines.

Bottomland and Swamp Forests (N.C. Forest Service)
Regenerating and managing a bottomland swamp forest involves pre-planning, careful implementation of low-impact harvesting methods, and follow-up monitoring.

How Bottomland Forests Help Birds and People (Audubon)
A bottomland hardwood forest doesn’t always look like a forest. Sometimes it looks like a swamp, with murky water lapping against the trunks of oaks and giant cypress trees. At other times of year, the water is gone.

What Kinds of Wetlands are in NC? (ncwetlands.org)
North Carolina has many kinds of natural systems ranging from ancient mountains to barrier island beaches.  We have wetland forests in the mountains that slope down to brackish marshes and cypress stands thriving behind the barrier islands.  This diversity of hydrological and landscape features creates a diversity of wetlands, some unique to our state while some are shared with other parts of the country, continent and world.

The Facts About Southern Deepwater Swamp Forests (UGA Savannah River Ecology Laboratory)
Southern deepwater swamp forests are a type of freshwater wetland often found along the floodplains of large rivers. They are filled with water most or all of the year, and often form a 1- to 2-mile wide band extending from the river marshes to the bottomland forests along creeks that flow into the river. Swamp forests are home to a host of plants and animals.