LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/687789
27 Summer 2016 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk What is a boreal bog? The term boreal refers to the forest in northern Canada. The habitat and species of the Adiron- dack bogs are the same as those found in northern Canada. A true bog is a kettle hole: a pond surrounded by land with no inlet or outlet that, over time, has been nearly covered or is covered with vegetation. The water's pH is usually below 5. Many so-called bogs in the Adirondacks are fens: they have the same bog plants, birds, and trees as true bogs but have a stream running through them. One of these is Ferd's Bog, just north of Inlet in Hamilton County. Beaver Brook Bog north of Browns Tract Ponds is another. In these two bogs, streams run through and sometimes beneath a network of vegetation, which is strong enough to walk across. Other true bogs may have a few small ponds in the middle that haven't yet been covered with vegetation. One of these is Spring Pond Bog northeast of Tupper Lake, owned by The Nature Conservancy but surrounded by leased paper company property. Permis- sion from Nature Conservancy is needed to visit this bog. As a bird watcher, I've visited most of these areas in the Ad- irondacks to see the boreal birds, gray jays, boreal chickadees, black-backed and northern three-toed woodpeckers, Lincoln's sparrow, palm, Nashville and Tennessee warblers, rusty black- bird, olive-sided and yellow-bellied flycatchers and spruce grouse. Most people visit these areas to see the rare birds, but they may be missing some of the most interesting things that live there: the plant community. The bog mat is normally sphagnum moss and provides the habitat for several different varieties of sedges. The sphag- num is like a big sponge that absorbs lots of water and then releases it slowly. It can prevent flooding problems naturally. Black spruce and tamarack commonly grow on the bog mat. Many of the trees are only a couple of inches at the base, but may be 40-60 years old! Because of the bog's acidity, the soil is nutrient-poor. The trees many only grow an inch each year. The roots of the black spruce were used by the Native Ameri- A Life By Gary Lee Carl Heilman