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Energy, Mines and Resources
Canada - Beaverton - Map 31 D/6
Geology & Drainage
Situated within a calcareous loam till plain on top of
a large drumlinized hill in Durham Region's Brock Township, this bog
has also been known as Huckleberry Bog or Hill Bog by the local
persons residing here. It has become renowned to naturalists and
outdoors-men as the most mature dry bog of its kind in Southern Ontario.
The Wilfrid Bog is found within a poorly drained
kettle hole depression, formed when a large section of ice separated
and lodged itself into a previously existing but glacial reshaped
hill (a drumlin). This event took place as the last advance of
glacial ice (the Wisconsin Ice-Age) receded, almost 9000 years ago.
Covered with glacial till, this severed section of ice melted slowly
with time, eventually leaving a depression much deeper than what we
see today. With a clay till base (creating poor drainage) and
surrounded by the gentle slopes, a catch-basin was created and a lake
formed. Due to the lack of nutrient supply (being perched on top of a
drumlin, the only nutrient supply would be from the catch-basin
around it and the bog would not be caught up in the general water
table system associated with the land around it) the conditions
became ideal for the formation of sedge mats along the lakes
perimeters. With these conditions, dead matter tends to become
preserved and as it accumulates, the mats inclosed the lake,
eventually producing an acidic environment, ideal for a raised bog to
form at the centre. The sedge mats at this time would probably have
disappeared and a ring of water would have formed around this raised
bog island. This perimeter lag area would eventually fill as the bog
advanced in time, bringing us to the mature condition of the bog we
see today, completely filled with peat deposits, leaving no
associated open waters within the wetland's boundaries.
With two discharge areas at separate ends, the Wilfrid
Bog acts as a catch-basin for two different watersheds and is
considered important for the water quality of both. The first and
most significant discharge area is a stream escaping south-west from
the bog into the Pefferlaw Creek (part of the Pefferlaw River
watershed) about 2 km away. The second discharge area on the
north-east side of the bog, services the Beaverton River watershed
with a small stream flowing into Vrootman's Creek about 3 km away.
Today we find both discharge beds have been channeled and rerouted so
as greater quantities of water can be pumped, making the peat beds
workable for the local peat extractor working the north section of
the bog.
Flora & Fauna
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Pink Lady's Slipper
Cypripedium acaule |
Round-Leaf Sundew
Drosera rotundifolia |
Indian Pipe
Monotropa uniflora |
The first time one walks into a treed bog, a strange
sensation can be felt, much like, I imagine, stepping onto a strange
planet and sensing it's world for the first time. With all familiar
vegetation absent and an openness to the woods unseen in most
forests, the hair can raise at the nap of your neck as your spongy
walk is met with silence as the sphagnum bed you walk on steals
energy from your stride and absorbs many surrounding sounds before
they reach your ears.
Wilfrid Bog is such a place. With many regionally rare
plant and animal species within the bogs perimeter, being more
commonly associated with the areas around Thunder Bay or Canada's
Maritime Provinces, it is not hard to understand the unique
characteristics of this habitat within Southern Ontario. Indeed,
boreal bogs of this form are extremely rare within Ontario, with the
Wilfrid Bog being one of the most significantly unique bogs known.
Vegetation Zones At The
Wilfrid Bog
(approximations only)
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Vegetation Map - 1989 |
Vegetation Map - 1999 |
The two maps above picture the different zones of
vegetation within the EP section of the bog. They also portray the
regeneration of the EP portion of the bog within the damaged areas.
The original complete bog (before any man influences) would have seen
vegetation zone 1 at the centre of the bog, circled by vegetation
zone 2, which would in turn be perimetered by vegetation zone 3.
Vegetation zones 4, 5 and 6 are all regenerated areas due to
Pefferlaw Peat Products inflicting damage to the bog between years
1980 and 1992. For more details on the history of the damage incurred
on the property, see Human Influences
& Political History.
Vegetation Zone 1:
Treed Bog
Tamarack, Black Spruce bog on mineral-poor, strongly
acid peat soils. Highly unique in Southern Ontario, this form of
habitat becomes more common in the northern shield areas.
Significant
Species Zone 1 |
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Cypripedium
acaule |
Pink Lady's Slipper; Moccasin Flower |
This regionally rare native orchid requires an acidic habitat with a
specific ground fungus present for symbiotic reasons. |
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Sarracenia
purpurata |
Northern Pitcher Plant |
Carnivorous plant with specialized leafs that entrap insects that
dare drink from the liquid inside. |
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Drosera
rotundifolia |
Round Leafed Sundew |
Carnivorous plant whose leafs stick and entrap unwary insects & spiders. |
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Monotropa
uniflora |
Indian Pipe |
Leafless saprophytic plant whose presence is known only by the
persistent seed pods, left from the colourless flowers which bloom
late June. |
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Symplocarpus
foetidus |
Skunk Cabbage |
Unusual within a bog habitat, the presence of this species reveals
the uniqueness of this wetland. |
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Kalmia
polifolia |
Bog Laurel |
Regionally rare form of the Heath Family. The more common form is
Sheep Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia) which is poisonous to livestock. |
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Ledum
groenlandicum |
Labrador Tea |
Native peoples revealed this plant as a cure for scurvy. Today it is
still used for medicinal reasons. |
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Chamaedaphne
calyculata |
Leather Leaf |
This shrub prefers a more open environment than what the treed bog
can normally supply, however, you can find it within wind-fall areas. |
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Vaccinium
angustifolium |
Late Lowbush Blueberry |
Many wild birds and small animals feed from these shrubs throughout
the winter months. |
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Vaccinium
macrocarpon |
Cranberry |
Excellent food source for the wild turkey that are released at the
bog each year. |
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Lycopodium
annotinum |
Stiff Clubmoss |
This stiff and prickly form of Clubmoss is only found within acid environments. |
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Gaylussacia
baccata |
Black Huckleberry |
Another wild game and bird food source for the winter months. Berries
stay on the trees well into the next spring. |
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Vegetation Zone 2:
Deciduous Swamp Forest (Lowland Forest)
Low, moist to wet, mature Red Maple and Black Ash
woodland with some Yellow Birch. The soils consist of a layer of
strongly acid duff over a peaty substrate. White Cedar, Canada Balsam
and White Birch are found under the taller deciduous canopy. Huge
White Pine perimeter this zone with zone 1, towering above all other
growth. Habitats such as these are often found within perimeter areas
surrounding sphagnum bogs within calcareous areas. They are also
found within seepage areas at the base of hills with gravelly
substrates. Becoming increasingly rare as the land this habitat is
found is often drained for agricultural purposes.
Vegetation Zone 3:
Upland Forest
Mixed deciduous forest of Hard Maple, Black Cherry,
American Beech and Hemlock. One specimen of Butternut Hickory was
observed here before the cut-over. Forests of this form is Southern
Ontario are patchy and unusual due to clearing for prime agricultural lands.
Vegetation Zone 4:
Regenerating Treed Bog
Area was cut over in 1980. These maps graphically
reveal how, when left undisturbed, a bog, when damaged, can
regenerate back to it's original condition in a comparatively short
time, providing it's soils remain originally undisturbed and in tact.
Within 10 years from the cut, the Vegetation Map - 1989 shows the
extent of the regeneration process. Thickets of Tamarack and Black
Spruce entangled with one another at heights exceeding 15 feet, make
an almost impenetrable barrier through the centre of the undamaged
portion of treed bog habitat. 10 years later (Vegetation Map - 1999)
you can see how the bog has healed itself and even extended it's
regeneration process around the perimeter damaged areas. Survival of
the stronger trees and the dying of the weaker trees through this
central regenerated zone, has selectively reduced the number of
saplings and although still with younger trees exceeding the numbers
found within the undamaged portions, it is now possible to traverse
through this area.
Vegetation Zone 5:
Non-regenerating Treed Bog
This zone was originally cut over in 1980 and the peat
soils scarified. In 1991, during the last incident of damage by
Pefferlaw Peat Products, this area was scarified again. The lack of
regeneration is due to this fact, and the fact that the seed source
for regeneration is from one side only and not all round as it was in
the previous zone.
Vegetation Zone 6:
Regenerating Lowland Forest
This is the main area cut over in 1991. It is making
some regeneration but the trees that were here previously are being
replaced by first generation trees such as trembling aspen, popular,
mountain maple and cedar. |
