The Patterned Peatland: Rare and Valuable

The Patterned Peatland: Rare and Valuable. . , The Big Bog is part of the Patterned Peatland of Minnesota, whose rare landforms and plant and animal communities provide a vital resource for for scientific research, education, and recreation. A place of wonder and renewal for many, the Big Bog is one of the largest undeveloped wilderness areas in the United States., The Road to Recognition , In 1892, government land surveyors declared the Big Bog "practically unfit for any purpose." In the early 1900s, settlers launched an unsuccessful attempt to drain the bog for farming. As people failed to draw a living from the land, they began to recognize its complexity, but the view of the bog as wasteland persisted through World War II, when it was used as an aircraft training site and subjected to bombing., During the 1970s, conflicting proposals to confer National Natural Landmark status and to mine peat from 300,000 acres of the bog resulted in scientific studies detailing the landscape and its rare plant life. Recognition of the bog's value as a wilderness area emerged., Today, many parts of the Patterned Peatland of Minnesota have been preserved as State Recreation Areas, Scientific and Natural Areas, State Forests, and Wildlife Management Areas. This interpretive boardwalk exists through the dedicated efforts of area residents, who helped establish the Big Bog State Recreation Area. When this boardwalk was constructed in 2005, it was one of the longest wetland walkways in the nation., Captions: , Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia purpurea), Tiny and Rare: Bog Adder's Mouth Orchid (Malaxis paludosa), This satellite image shows peatland patterns formed by underlying landforms, flowing water, and vegetation., Minnesota Peatlands, The world's patterned peatlands lie mostly in the northern boreal and arctic regions of the northern hemisphere. Smaller peatlands exist elsewhere, too, at high altitudes, in tropical regions, and along river deltas and ocean shorelines.