Above Left: Plant community in a typical upland bog with sphagnum, gale, skunk cabbage, vaccinium, bunchberry and more.
Above Middle: High elevation bog around some plateau lakes, this is an area of several small lakes which are all surrounded by wet bogs consisting of sphagnum, vaccinium, crowberry, and more.
Above Right: A floating "mini-bog" of sphagnum, gale, round-leaved sundew, and salal, along with sticky false asphodel, swamp hedge-nettle and fool's onion, all on a small cedar log that was left floating in Klein Lake. Floating cedars provide a moist acidic environment where these mini bogs commonly form when there is a nearby source of plants.
What is a bog? It is a wet spongy poorly drained area of ground which is usually acidic, rich in accumulated plant matter, and which contain characteristic flora such as sphagnum, sedges, Sweet Gale, Sundews, and more. They are often found surrounding a body of water such as a lake or a slow moving stream. They are also common in mountain plateaus with poor drainage, high precipitation and a short growing season so that moisture and plant material can accumulate. Bogs usually form as lakes are gradually filled in over time, other bogs can form as mosses grow in an area of poor drainage, thus preventing drainage even more, yet other bogs can form floating on vegetation in lakes, mini-bogs can even form on old cedar logs left floating in the lake (see picture above). Lowland bogs are becoming more and more rare due to extensive development in flat, low-lying areas near bodies of water. Bogs receive most of their water from precipitation rather than run-off making them nutrient-poor. This is then enhanced by the acidity of the bog which makes more nutrients unavailable, as a result carnivorous plants are common in bogs where plants must learn to adapt to living with a restricted nutrient regime in a water-logged environment.
Why are bogs important? First of all they usually contain unique plant assemblages making them an important area to be preserved in order to enhance biological diversity. Many plants are found almost exclusively in bogs or similar areas. Another reason bogs are important is that they sequester Carbon Dioxide in the form of growing plants and stored plant matter, thus slowing the current increase of Carbon in the atmosphere. Carbon Dioxide is an important greenhouse gas which is contributing to global warming. Bogs are also important for the overall hydrological (water) cycle of the area. They hold and filter water, and even help prevent downstream flooding by absorbing large amounts of precipitation.
Why should we be concerned about bogs? Apart from the reasons above, we should be concerned about the preservation of bogs now because they are fragile ecosystems that are easily destroyed but take hundreds and even thousands of years to form. They are also relatively rare ecosystems and they tend to be quite small in size making them highly susceptible to disturbance. If we don't preserve them now we may have nothing to preserve later. This is why the preservation of lowland bogs is now so important, because they tend to be located near human settlement and because so many have already been cleared, developed, or mined for peat. (do a search for Burns Bog online and you will find the Burns Bog Conservation Society and Friends of Burns Bog sites where you can learn more about Burns Bog, the largest undeveloped urban landmass in North America, located right here in Delta, BC.)
Bog Plant Assemblages
There are many, many different types of species that you may find in a bog, often you will find more northern or alpine type species growing in a bog, but you will also find uniquely boggy species as well as other species. Here,is a list of plants covered in this site that you will commonly find in bogs.
Shrubs: Subalpine Spiraea, Sweet Gale, Western Bog Laurel, Labrador Tea, Trapper’s Tea, Dwarf Blueberry, Crowberry, Bog Rosemary
Flowering Plants: King Gentian, Bog Gentian, Sticky False Asphodel, Poison Hemlock, Swamp Hedgenettle, Bog Orchids, Northern Starflower, and the Carnivorous plants Common Butterwort and the Round Leaved and Great Sundews.
Many, many other plants will also be found in or near the bog and numerous stunted trees will also likely be present, mostly cedar trees which can tolerate wet roots for a period of time.
BELOW LEFT: A Small swamp in the middle of some dense second growth forest near Gray Creek, this little swamp is a common ephemeral feature of our forests, it starts as a small lake that is gradually filled in by plants then rotting logs until it is finally filled in and the trees take over.
BELOW MIDDLE: A small frozen roadside bog filled with sundew.
BELOW RIGHT: A wet swampy bog at middle elevation the wetter areas are filled with skunk cabbage and bog bean while the edges are surrounded by sphagnum mosses and low shrubs.
