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Counties collects old peat bog lands
peat extraction on properties surrounding the Alfred Bog because of the potential for long-term damage to the bog eco-system. At more than 4200 hectares in size, the Alfred Bog is the largest peat bog of its size in Southern Ontario. What makes the area unique is that it is a domed peat bog while most other bogs found in the province south of Hudson Bay are known as “kettle” bogs because they form in depressions where a large chunk of glacier ice may have ended up buried and then later melted away in slow stages, allowing the soil above to sink down to form a pond that is covered over with vegetation and kept filled with groundwater draining into the depression and seeping away underground at a slow rate. A “dome” bog has water draining away in all directions from the dome so it depends on rain and snow to keep the moss growth damp enough to support other plant life. The type of moss that grows in bogs is also able to “wick” water up from below
the ground surface so that also helps keep things damp. Under the terms of the 2004 agreement, the existing landowners doing commer- cial peat moss extraction on the proper- ties surrounding the present Alfred Bog nature preserve would be able to continue with their business for a specific number of years. At the end of those terms, the lands would be turned over to the counties and in future could become part of the nature preserve. The first of those holdings becomes avail- able next year. Compensation for the prop- erties was already worked out as part of the 2004 agreement. What the counties plan- ning and forestry department is doing now
is preparing for the eventual handover of title to the 25 acres of land just outside of the Alfred Bog preserve in early 2013. Whether the planning department will then develop some form of rehabilitation plan for the land or let nature itself reclaim the soil as bog land again is not decided yet. Prévost said there may be consultation with the South Nation Conservation Authority (SNC) which monitors and protects the Al- fred Bog nature preserve. He also noted that next year’s acquisition is just the start for eventual transfer of all lands bordering the bog that are still the sites for commercial peat harvesting. The entire process may take another 10 or more years.
GREGGCHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
ALFRED | Next year the counties start re- claiming the last of the commercial peat lands located next to the Alfred Bog. What happens next is still undecided but it will mean greater safety and security for the unique eco-system of the bog. “The plan is there will be no more peat extraction,” said Louis Prévost, planning di- rector for the United Counties of Prescott- Russell (UCPR). In 2004 the UCPR, provincial government and other agencies negotiated an agree- ment with private outfits and individuals who operated commercial peat extraction on lands surrounding the Alfred Bog. Peat is valuable in the horticulture industry for improving garden and lawn soil. Local environmental and conservation groups and others have lobbied for a halt to
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