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An Otherworldly Place

 

The Oak Log: Autumn 2007 

Download a copy of the Autumn 2007 issue of The Oak Log (PDF, ~1MB).

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The Oak Log / Autumn 2007
by Sarah Wakefield

“Entering a bog for the first time is likely to be a long-remembered experience,” wrote ecologists Elizabeth Thompson and Eric Sorenson in their book about Vermont’s natural communities. “There is an otherworldly character to bogs that is unlike any other part of our Vermont landscape.”
It takes only one visit to Morristown Bog, a spongy peatland of carnivorous pitcher plants, delicate orchids, and stunted conifers, to understand what they mean about the unusual character these places possess. Small in size, but abundant in botanic wonder, 30 acres of Morristown Bog and nearby buffer land were protected this summer in the first direct partnership between The Nature Conservancy and Stowe Land Trust.

“This bog is an amazing secret world and a joy to discover,” says Don Avery, a long-time Morristown resident who first brought this Morristown Bog project to the Conservancy’s attention. The Nature Conservancy and Stowe Land Trust approached the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) for funding and received a grant of $164,000 toward the purchase of a conservation easement from landowners Andre and Marthe Valcour. The easement, which will help protect Morristown Bog and buffer it from the effects of nearby development, will be co-held by Stowe Land Trust and VHCB. The protected parcel will connect the State of Vermont’s Morristown Bog Natural Area and Joe’s Pond, a nearby parcel conserved by Stowe Land Trust.

Morristown Bog

A glimpse of Morristown Bog, where pitcher plants (left) and other species like the rare white-fringed orchis (third from left) abound.

Return to Autumn 2007 Contents Page

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Oak Log Cover Design: The Laughing Bear Associates; Cover Photos © Sarah Wakefield/The Nature Conservancy (Pitcher plants and visitors to Morristown Bog); Morristown Bog Photos © Sarah Wakefield/The Nature Conservancy.