DescriptionGlobal mean temperatures have risen above pre-industrial temperatures resulting in a sea level rose 0.3 – 0.4m between 1901-2010 in the Mid-Atlantic (Kopp et al., 2016) and causing increasingly frequent and intense storms (Trenberth, 2011). These changes in environmental factors are linked to changes in vegetation communities in coastal marsh and adjacent maritime forest. This vegetation change is evident in the appearance of standing dead trees among tidal salt marsh vegetation known as “Ghost Forests”. This study investigates this transition of maritime forest to tidal saltwater marsh observed in New Jersey, USA. The spatial location of the salt marsh-upland forest edge was mapped using historical aerial photography and the rates of edge migration were measured at eight sites in New Jersey, USA. This study also reviews the present state of knowledge of the geographic scope and potential mechanisms behind forest edge migration along the eastern seaboard of the United States and investigates. The results were compared to data gathered on several of the identified mechanisms to determine the potential role each mechanism may be playing in the forest edge migration. Using aerial photography between 1940 and 2015 at intervals ranging from ten to two years, this study demonstrates that forest dieback is occurring at the forest- coastal marsh interface and that salt marsh is expanding into this transition zone. The rates of forest edge migration observed at the 8 sites varied geographically and across the 75 year time period. This variation in forest edge migration rate is likely due to a combination of mechanisms that vary between sites, some as direct mechanisms and others as modulators. The driving mechanisms of migration of the forest edge are likely sea level rise induced changes in groundwater and increased severity of storm surges, as these mechanisms directly affect the soil properties of the ecosystem. These mechanisms are ultimately controlled by climate change induced changes in SLR and storm intensity, but are moderated by other physical phenomena such as changes in tidal flooding and human land use alterations.