The Coastal Plain ecoregion includes mid-Atlantic areas east of the fall line and the tidal coast (ocean, sounds, barrier islands, and mainland brackish and salt marshes). It may be divided roughly into two sections: the tidewater area (lower Coastal Plain), which is largely flat and swampy, and the interior portion (upper Coastal Plain), which is made up of gently sloping elevations and is better drained than other regions. The upper Coastal Plain encompasses the Sandhills ecoregion. The average elevation is from about 200 feet at the fall line (or western boundary separation from the Piedmont), sloping to an elevation of generally 50 feet or less over most of the mainland landscape, with barrier islands being close to sea level.
Eastern North Carolina is home to longleaf pine ecosystems, wetlands, maritime forests and other critical habitats for terrestrial and aquatic species.