Wetland is land where water saturation is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the surrounding environment. Wetlands include any number of tidal and non-tidal areas characterized by saturated or nearly saturated soils most of the year that form an interface between terrestrial (land-based) and aquatic environments, and include freshwater marshes around ponds and channels (rivers and streams), brackish and salt marshes. Other common names for wetlands are bogs, ponds, estuaries, and marshes.