Cooperrider-Kent Bog State Nature Preserve | |
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Kent Bog | |
Location in Ohio | |
Location | Kent, Ohio |
Coordinates | 41°07′46″N81°21′13″W / 41.129444°N 81.353611°W |
Area | 45 acres (18 ha) |
ohiodnr |
The Cooperrider-Kent Bog State Nature Preserve is state nature preserve located mainly in Kent, Ohio. The preserve surrounds the Kent Bog, a remnant of the Wisconsin Glaciation. It is a true bog with acidic waters, and unique environmental conditions have enabled it to survive. The bog contains the largest stand of tamarack trees in the state of Ohio.
The Kent Bog is located at 1028 Meloy Road and covers an area of 45.1 acres (18.3 ha). The original 41.7 acres (16.9 ha) of the preserve, acquired by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) in 1985, is located in Kent. In October 2008, ODNR acquired an additional 3.4 acres (1.4 ha) in neighboring Brimfield Township. [1] Adjacent to the south of the preserve is a 215-acre (87 ha) park being developed by the Portage Park District on land it acquired in 2017. [2] There is parking at the beginning of the half-mile boardwalk. The boardwalk trail loops around the bog, ending back at the parking lot. Along the trail there are educational signs explaining the local flora, and fauna as well as the geological founding of the bog.
The preserve was dedicated in 1987 and is named after Tom S. Cooperrider, a botanist, author, and emeritus professor of biological sciences at Kent State University who has made numerous contributions to the study of the bog and the state's flora. [3] His 2010 book, Botanical Essays from Kent, discusses natural history of the area and focuses mainly on the Kent Bog. [4]
The bog was formed during the retreat of the Wisconsin Glacier. A chunk of glacial ice broke off and was buried in sediment and glacial till from the glacial outwash. A ridge of sediment formed around the chunk of ice. This caused the formation of a deep kettle hole lake. The total original size of the kettle-hole lake was about 50 acres (20 ha).
As the climate continued to warm, plant life spread over the lake. Although it is not exclusive, it is heavily dominated in sphagnum moss. This began the process by which the lake began to fill with peat becoming a bog. There are only a few areas that standing water is visible from the boardwalk.
It is a coniferous, boreal forest with many spruce, fir, and tamarack trees. The tamarack is a tree common to the upper parts of Canada and Alaska. It is able to withstand very cold temperatures. Unlike other conifers, it is deciduous losing its needles in the winter. This transforms the look of the Kent Bog during the seasons. The stand of tamaracks in the Kent Bog is the largest group in the state of Ohio. [5]
Saukville is a town in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The Village of Saukville is located in the town's southeast quadrant. The population was 1,755 at the 2000 census.
Indiana Dunes National Park is a United States national park located in northwestern Indiana managed by the National Park Service. It was authorized by Congress in 1966 as the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and was redesignated as the nation's 61st national park on February 15, 2019. The park runs for about 20 miles (32 km) along the southern shore of Lake Michigan and covers 15,349 acres (6,212 ha). Along the lakefront, the eastern area is roughly the lake shore south to U.S. 12 or U.S. 20 between Michigan City, Indiana, on the east and the Cleveland-Cliffs steel plant on the west. To the west of the steel plant lies West Beach and a small extension south of the steel mill continues west along Salt Creek to Indiana 249. The western area is roughly the shoreline south to U.S. 12 between the Burns Ditch west to Broadway in downtown Gary, Indiana. The area conservation scheme is enhanced by the older Indiana Dunes State Park. In addition, there are several outlying areas, including Pinhook Bog, in LaPorte County to the east; the Heron Rookery in Porter County, the center of the park; and the Calumet Prairie State Nature Preserve and the Hobart Prairie Grove, both in Lake County, the western end of the park.
A kettle is a depression or hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating glaciers, which become surrounded by sediment deposited by meltwater streams as there is increased friction. The ice becomes buried in the sediment and when the ice melts, a depression is left called a kettle hole, creating a dimpled appearance on the outwash plain. Lakes often fill these kettles; these are called kettle hole lakes. Another source is the sudden drainage of an ice-dammed lake and when the block melts, the hole it leaves behind is a kettle. As the ice melts, ramparts can form around the edge of the kettle hole. The lakes that fill these holes are seldom more than 10 m (33 ft) deep and eventually fill with sediment. In acid conditions, a kettle bog may form but in alkaline conditions, it will be kettle peatland.
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