By Polly Keith Scotland
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A world-class treasure awaits you at the Big Bog State Recreation Area—the largest peat bog in the lower 48 states. After the stay-at-home order started, of course to address the COVID-19 pandemic, my husband, Lee, and I ventured outdoors to see the land that government surveyors had once proclaimed: “Practically unfit for any purpose.”
Polly Scotland at the entrance to the Boardwalk. Photo by Lee Scotland.
In the boonies of northern Minnesota, a five-hour drive north of Minneapolis-St. Paul, less than a mile north of Waskish, on Hwy 72, Big Bog sprawls along the northeast corner of Upper Red Lake, the largest lake within the state’s natural boundaries. The “Red,” as it’s called, is home to trophy northern pike and walleye, the state fish.
The 9,459-acre recreational area has two units: The South Unit, established in 2000, offers cabins, tent spaces, RV parking, boat launch, fire tower, and visitor center. The North Unit, created in 2006, offers a boardwalk, hiking trails, and picnic shelter.
From the park’s North Unit, a short walk around the handicapped-accessible Ludlow Pond (a former quarry stocked with pan fish) leads to an iron archway, the entrance to the one-mile boardwalk. Interpretive placards posted along the path tell the story of this unique and incredible ecosystem. In this age of coronavirus awareness, posted signs request that a 6-foot social distance be maintained between visitors. During the summer bug season, repellant spray or head nets may be advised.
The early Woodland Indian communities used peat and its resources for shelter, food, treating wounds, and fuel. The general term “peatland” includes: Bogs (wetlands of acidic peaty soil composed of partially decomposed organic material and peat moss—the most important plant for making a living environment); fens (marshy, treeless areas more nutrient-rich than a bog, usually flooded); and swamps (uncultivated land where water collects).
Unfit-For-Any-Purpose History
In 1908, the county government tried to tame the wetlands and sell the drained land to homesteaders for the amount of the ditch tax—the cost of a ditch as determined by a local governmental unit. From 1905 to 1922, over fifteen hundred miles of ditches were dredged in an attempt to change wetland into farmland. Despite tremendous efforts by Beltrami County, the area’s topography would not stay drained. Settlers tried to clear the wetlands for planting by burning it. Peatland may seem waterlogged, but moss and layers of peat can be two to twenty feet deep.
The Boardwalk in fall. Photo courtesy of Kristi Coughlon, Public Information Officer, Office of Communications and Outreach.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
By 1927, settlers realized that they couldn’t utilize the land or pay the taxes. The State of Minnesota had to bail out three counties on the brink of bankruptcy and take over the ditch tax debt in trade for ownership of the tax-delinquent properties. By 1932, the State had secured 1.3 million acres from seven counties and created the Red Lake Game Preserve.
In 1931, deadly peat fires killed three people, much of the area cattle, and damaged 43 homes, 22 miles of road, and 18 bridges. September 11, 1931, bog fires torched over 137 acres, causing 1.7 million dollars in damage (equal to over $27M in 2020). In addition to the economic harm, the non-porous, high-carbon content of peat when burned is a large contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions.
In the 1940s to mid-1950s, the unproductive Big Bog wasteland was used by the military as training grounds for artillery practice and testing. Clandestine flights of high-altitude B-36 bombers came from South Dakota and as far away as New Mexico for mock war attacks using Mark III and Mark IV atomic bombs, thankfully without the nuclear warhead, but with 11,000-pound payloads.
From Worthless to Priceless
It wasn’t until 1970 that science began to recognize the value of peatland. Peat is prized for its carbon-storing capacity. According to Growler magazine, one healthy acre of peat bog can hold 724,728 pounds of carbon. The living peat, when sequestered in the five hundred square mile area of the Big Bog, is a vast and vital environmental warehouse. Compare the benefits of the healthy peat, which stores carbon, to the detriment of a mega peat fire, which releases carbon dioxide, that can fester for months, years, or even centuries.
During a leisurely stroll along the boardwalk, I walked over flarks (water-filled depressions in peatland) and mossy hillocks (mounds.) From interpretive plaques, I learned that birds such as the Great Gray owl, sharp-tailed grouse, and sedge wren live here.
Several species of the complex orchid flower, such as dragon’s mouth, rose pogonia, and the showy lady’s slipper, Minnesota’s state flower, live in the bog’s acidic soil. Since orchids don’t have nectar, they attract bees with their colorful and bizarre shapes. When bees land, the flowers’ specialized lips let them in, but make the insects, now dusted with pollen, leave from the rear of the flower, ready to cross-pollinate the next plants they visit.
Along the Marsh Vista Trail of the Big Bog. Photo by Polly Scotland.
The meat-eating pitcher plant has unique, vase-shaped leaves which collect water. When an insect lands, tiny one-way hairs allow the insect to descend into the plant. When it reaches the liquid, it slips in, drowns, and becomes nourishment for the plant.
Mammals populating the bog include moose, pine marten, and gray wolf. The bog lemming, a five-inch-long furry rodent that makes its nest from moss, grass, and sedges, creates tunnels that help aerate the soil.
One third of Minnesota’s 304 bird species thrive in the unpopulated Big Bog. They live in various ecosystems within the recreational area, such as the upland forest, lowland brush, open bog, Ludlow pond, and spruce and tamarack forests.
At the end of the boardwalk is an open muskeg (Algonquin for “bog”) with low-lying shrubs of cranberries, carnivorous pitcher plants, sphagnum moss, and saturated areas of iron-red water, a view the early Woodland Indians once gazed upon.
Minnesota's State Flower, the Showy Lady's Slipper. Photo by Lee Scotland.
You can spend hours enjoying the boardwalk and the Old Caribou Camp Trail. Hiking the one-mile-long Marsh Vista Trail takes you to one of two observation decks. Big Bog is open year-round. In autumn, tamarack trees show their prime golden splendor before shedding their needles. During winter months, the parking lot to the bog walk is
plowed, allowing access to the boardwalk by snowshoe. There are six winterized cabins and some plowed tent sites for the hearty overnight adventurer.
Reopened since June 1st, during this time of pandemic uncertainty, a visit to the largest peat bog in the lower 48 states can refresh your soul, and give hope that life on earth can be renewed. To see the Big Bog wilderness, once thought of as a wasteland with no intrinsic value, is to appreciate this seventy by thirty-mile masterpiece of nature.
Minnesota's State Flower, the Showy Lady's Slipper. Photo by Lee Scotland.
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