A look into the past....Bog trip

[SirKristoff]

Peace - sorry man, i dont want to give out the location of this bog....its really really hard to get to anyway, it means alot to my friend who took me there, and well it would hurt him alot to see anything damaged...
I didnt see any utrics yet, there are some there but we had a stunted season where stuff was late to wake up, maybe if i go back out in the end of the season there will be some floating around in there.

Lamb- after looking a bit more into it
Yeah that seems like kalmia microphylla afterall. Thanks alot

 

[SirKristoff]

Can a mod move this thread to the conservation station section?
as it is protected heavily by laws, and is one of the few remaining sphagnum bogs here in Washington State...Would like to protect this bog as much as possible....Wish i would have been able to get some photos of the utrics there, but nothing had started to really show up yet.

 

[gaduke]

Very nice pics!

 

[herenorthere]

Excellent photos! Believing there have to be more than 3 or 4 sphagnum bogs remaining in WA, I searched and found this:

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/waterandland/stormwater/documents/sphagnum-bogs.aspx

That looks like good reading if you want to know more about the origin and evolution of bogs. Bogs must be at least as threatened there as anywhere, if not more so, because of WA's nasty combination of big time agriculture, big time developers and politicians sold out to each. Bogs are as easily destroyed by taking the water as by taking the land.

 

[Est]

Moved. Redirect in general discussion will be present for 1 day.

 

[SirKristoff]

herenor- sadly, i must say that most of those boglands have been drained and filled...i dont see anything on there directly listing the number of true bogs. What i showed in this group of photos is what is one of the last TRUE sphagnum dominated areas that havent been drained, filled, or modified in any way. the only thing added to this bogland is a trail going straight by it...The friend who took me has researched bogs in this area and has never found more than the 3 or 4 that he knows of, which are now all very closely protected.
The area i live in, here in Pierce County had many sphagnum bogs....infact one of the smaller peatlands behind our house leading into the forest was just recently drained and filled last year as to make room for more housing developments......

 

[vraev]

spectacular man! I love that red sphagnum. Damn!!!

 

[Dexenthes]

That plant with the pink flowers is called Western Bog Laurel. It's a look alike to labrador tea and it's important, if you are harvesting labrador tea not to confuse it with Bog laurel as it is toxic. No worries though, anyone with an ounce of botanical wit can distinguish them quite easily.

 

[SirKristoff]

just a heads up, i will be going back out to the bog tomorrow, and will be posting more photos upon returning...this time the photos should be even better! yay new camera.

 

[David F]

This is stunning, I'm profoundly affected by this.

 

[limeslide]

Red Sphagnum! I love the pictures!