Video

Video by Courtesy

Estuarine Wetland Footage

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

April 23, 2014 | 14:32

An estuary consists of aquatic (i.e., sub-tidal) and semi-aquatic (i.e., intertidal) environments that are strongly influenced by mixtures of ocean water and upland runoff due to tidal processes operating through an ocean inlet. Estuaries are mostly enclosed by land. Their inlets may be natural or unnatural. Typical sources of freshwater include rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs, point
discharges (e.g., effluent from sewage treatment facilities), and storm drains. An estuarine wetland consists of the vegetated marsh plain, its pannes, potholes, hummocks, and other habitat elements of the plain, as well as the natural levees, shell beds, submerged plant beds, and other habitat elements created or supported by tidal processes and associated with tidal channels
that tend to dewater at low tide or that are less than 30m wide. Tidal channels that do not tend to dewater at low tide or that are wider than 30m are not considered to be part of the wetland and can serve to separate one estuarine wetland from another.

This video was filmed at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (1 Marshlands Rd, Fremont, CA 94555).