The Mountain Times - Volume 48, Number 37: Sept. 11-17, 2019

Columns
38 • The Mountain Times • Sept. 11-17, 2019
Wet and wonderful: bogs and fens
“Squish, squash.” I was walking gingerly on a soft,
spongy carpet of sphagnum moss in a northern Vermont
bog. Magenta blossoms decorated the sheep laurel shrubs
that lined the edge of the open wetland – beyond them
the pointed spires of balsam fir and black spruce reached
towards the sky. Ahead of me, the
white tufts at the ends of cotton
grass waved in the breeze. I took
another step. There was a sucking
sound, and a cold, wet feeling
as my right foot suddenly sank a
couple of feet into the bog. It was
The Outside
Story
By Susan Shea
Looking Back
By Mary Ellen Shaw
challenging to get it out without
falling in entirely, but I finally extricated
my muddy boot .
This bog had formed in a
depression surrounded by ridges,
a kettle hole where a chunk of ice
had remained after the glacier retreated. When the ice
block melted, it left a pond sealed by a clay bottom. Over
millennia, the remains of plants and animals had filled in
the pond, but because of the acidic, anaerobic (low in oxygen)
environment, they had only partially decomposed,
forming peat. The peat provided a surface for other plants
to grow on, and their interlacing roots had created a mat
over the bog, which in the center was floating on water. A
bog mat is similar to a “saturated sponge sitting in a sink
of dishwater,” writes naturalist Charles Johnson in his
book Bogs of the Northeast. Since the mat is permanently
saturated with acidic water, decomposition slows, causing
more peat to accumulate.
Like most bogs, the bog I explored has no inlet or outlet
and receives almost all of its water and nutrients from
precipitation. Only plants adapted to a nutrient-poor
environment can grow here,
making the bog a different
world from the surrounding
forest. Shrubs in the heath
family such as leatherleaf,
bog rosemary, and Labrador
tea (which has fuzzy leaves
were brewed for tea by
native Americans) specialize
in the acidic conditions
that are common in bogs.
Carnivorous pitcher plants,
sundews, and bladderworts
It’s interesting how our priorities change as we age.
Something that was of little or no importance to us in our
youth suddenly becomes front and
center!
Many of my friends have had to
search for a primary care doctor in
the last few years. The doctors I had
in my younger days, from the 1950s
up until the 1970s, had local roots.
They came back to their hometown
after getting their medical degrees.
Today, most of the primary
care doctors are not from this area.
Those who come here tend not to
remain for very long which means
the “hunt is on” way too often to find a doctor.
It’s nice to establish a relationship with your doctor so
that he or she gets to know the “whole person” and not just
the factual information that is on a chart.
Back in the ’50s when I was a child, the doctors made a
“house call” if you didn’t feel well enough to get out and sit
in their office for an appointment. What a treat that would
obtain additional nutrients by trapping and digesting
insects.
Fens are another type of wetland often mistaken for
bogs. Like bogs, they have a saturated peat mat. But
because they receive inputs of mineral and nutrient-rich
water from springs or seasonal streams, fens are more
alkaline than bogs, and support different, more diverse
vegetation. The first fen I visited looked like a wet lawn that
hadn’t been mown for a while. It was covered with sedges,
grasses, and non-sphagnum mosses and dotted with hundreds
of pink and white showy lady’s slippers in bloom.
According to Johnson, there is a continuum of peatland
types between bogs and fens, depending on the water
sources, the amount of minerals and nutrients carried in,
and temperature and precipitation patterns, particularly
the timing of wetting and drying. Those fens that overlie
calcareous bedrock such as limestone and receive a
regular inflow of calcium-laden groundwater are hotspots
of botanical diversity and are called rich fens. Rare orchids
and other uncommon plants may grow here.
Many animals, including spruce grouse, black-backed
woodpeckers, palm warblers, bog lemmings, and redbacked
voles, spend part of their lives in bogs and fens.
Because they are unusual natural communities, a number
of bogs and fens in our region have been conserved. Some
are open to the public and have had boardwalks installed to
make them more accessible and to discourage people from
walking on (and possibly falling through) the bog mat.
In Vermont, Moose Bog in the Wenlock Wildlife Management
Area near Island Pond and The Nature Conservancy’s
Chickering Bog (actually a fen) in Calais both
have boardwalks. New Hampshire Audubon’s Ponemah
Bog (a poor fen) near Nashua and two bogs in the
Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge near Jefferson are also
good places to experience
the wonder of
peatlands.
Susan Shea is a
naturalist, conservationist,
and freelance
of Brookfield, Vermont.
The illustration for this
column was drawn by
Adelaide Tyrol. The Outside
Story is assigned
and edited by Northern
Woodlands magazine.
Doctor-patient relationships
be today! I remember Dr. Clarence Fagan coming up the
sidewalk with his black bag. It seemed like he solved all my
medical problems back then with a shot of penicillin in my
derriere!
Dr. William Powers became our family doctor at some
point. I remember having a pain in my right side one Sunday
when I was probably around 13 years old. This prompted
my mother to call him as she thought I had appendicitis.
He stopped by and said it appeared that I just had a kink in
my appendix and it would most likely go away as quickly as
it came. My mother was told to keep an eye on me all day.
Apparently, she wasn’t taking any chances about a possible
trip to the hospital because she pressed my pajamas and
a robe … just in case! The doctor was correct and I went
nowhere.
That memory of my mother ironing reminds me that
she used to iron everything from underwear to sheets and
towels. As I got older I could never see the logic in doing
that. Thank goodness most things are permanent press
these days.
Even in the ’70s there was no hesitation to call a doctor
on a weekend. My husband, Peter, who was my fiancé at
Looking back > 39
Adaption’s power
Humans are very good at adapting to our changing
world. Adaptation is a change in behavior that allows us to
be better suited for our current environment.
Anticipation of change is often more powerful than the
long-term effect of the change itself. When we imagine
a terrible event, such as being
paralyzed, we imagine an awful
life – no way we can be happy. But
studies show many paraplegics
are happy, for they adapt to their
“new normal” and find purpose in
their life.
On the flip side, imagining we
Money
Matters
By Kevin Theissen
win the lottery can produce strong
feelings of euphoria. Yet, after a
period of time, lottery winners
are found to be just as happy (or
unhappy) as they were before.
They adapt to their “new normal”,
and life goes on.
This same adaptation happens with companies. Since
companies are run by humans, it is natural to expect they
will adapt to their changing environments.
Recently, we have been bombarded with news about
trade wars, tariffs, speculation on taxes etc. These all represent
changes in the economy, and a manic-depressive
stock market often responds to these news reports.
Changes in policy may pose a challenge for companies
in the short term, but no policy or change will force companies
to lose money in perpetuity. They will adapt.
Adaptation is not instantaneous. It can be dependent
on the individual, institution and/or situation. There will
often be a learning curve and some difficulty when adapting
to new lifestyles, rules and circumstances.
For speculators, those who focus on price movements
over short periods of time, change and surprise are the
enemies. There isn’t much help I can provide this group
other than to advise them to stop speculation and start
investing.
For in vestors, those who invest in companies for the
long term, it is not so much a concern. There may be some
short-term pain as companies adjust and adapt, but those
adjustments may be for the ultimate profit of the company
(and shareholder).
The need to adapt and change is one reason why I
believe patience is one of the greatest virtues an investor
can develop.
Kevin Theissen is the owner and financial advisor of
HWC in Ludlow.
Breaking the branch
Question: Kelly and Jim are playing in a tournament.
On the 16th hole Jim’s ball rests in the rough just barely in
the tree line. He takes a practice swing along the intended
line to the green and brakes a
branch. He then decides to play in
a new direction. Because the new
direction is not improved by the
breaking of the branch, Jim says
there is no penalty. Kelly says there
is a penalty. Is Kelly correct?
Rules of the
Game
By Alan Jeffery
Answer: As soon as Jim bent
the branch, the area and line of the
intended swing was improved even
if he plays in a different direction.
The penalty for the breaking of the
branch is not avoided even if he plays in another direction
and the breaking of the branch has no effect on the swing in
another direction. Kelly is correct. She knows the rules. See
USGA Official Guide to the Rules of Golf, 13-2/24, effective
2019.
Golf clinics continue on Saturday mornings 10:30 a.m. to
noon at Green Mountain National Golf Course.