It's not rare for riparian vegetation to become detached and float free in lakes. But last fall an immense bog near Brainerd Minnesota broke loose after high water lifted the mass of cattails and tamarack trees and high winds began pushing it; the bog crossed a lake, destroying docks and boat lifts on its journey and eventually effectively obliterated a beach when it finally came to rest at a school safety patrol training center used by 700 children in the summer. This spring efforts began at solving the problem using local resources and volunteers.
At 4 acres in size and 4,000 tons in weight, the bog has presented a major challenge to removal efforts. The whitish lines in the top photo are temporary boardwalks set up to facilitate efforts with chainsaws to segment the bog into manageable pieces.
The bottom image is a screencap from drone footage in the video at the Brainerd Dispatch. That effort was unsuccessful, but recent work has resulted in some segmentation and an expectation for eventual success.
Top photo credit.
Update July 1: Drone footage showing progress to date.
They should leave it and hold the world bog snorkelling championships there...
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIGN44BwD90
Cheers anotherphil
This reminds me of something I read in a book about carnivorous plants. The author once spotted a pitcher plant (Sarracenia) in a clump of sphagnum drifting downstream. Many carnivorous plants have little or no root system so like other bog denizens they have no problem floating freely.
ReplyDeleteWow, watching the video; it was amazing how much land they destroyed on the beach with heavy equipment to try and move it!
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