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  • Writer's pictureValerie Durant

Peatbog Walk - Tranquility in an Urban Forest

Updated: Mar 21, 2023

Bog Walk is an ancient and sacred place. This is one of my favourite locations in the City. It provides quiet solitude in the midst of the Vancouver's busy urban environment. When my son comes to visit from his forested home on Saltspring Island, this is the first place we head, as we both share an inherent appreciation for the forest. This large expanse of urban forest is also the home to a tiny and protected ancient peat bog.


In the Pacific Northwest after the recession of the Cordilleran glacial ice, some 12,500 years ago, lakes formed in the pockmarked depressions left by the ice. Within these recessions, an accumulation of plant matter, mostly sphagnum moss gathered. Within this accumulation, carbon was stored referred to as #carbonsinks.


Bogs perform a filtration function and one example is filtering water and nutrients, protecting downstream catchments. They hold a high concentration of carbon and they continue to store carbon yearly. Forest Fires, which are expected to increase over the next century could release carbon that has been #sequestered over thousands of years (EOS,98).


For more information about #Peatbogs and their role in the #carboncycle check out this article: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2011EO120001

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