The explosion of the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon has resulted in the single largest oil spill recorded in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result, there are immediate and long-term concerns regarding the environmental health of the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) region (the Florida Panhandle to Texas). In this region, tidal wetlands are largely salt marshes (non-forested wetlands), although there are also small and highly scattered populations of black mangroves (Avicennia germinans) along the coasts of Louisiana and Texas and tidal freshwater wetlands (marshes and forests) within coastal rivers and creeks. Oil spills have the potential to impact all of these wetlands, but in terms of oil exposure and wetland area, the greatest impacts are expected to salt marshes.