Bogs and Fens -Field Trip

August 21 Friday Morning Tom Eid and Dave Govatski

Join author Tom Eid and naturalist David Govatski on an informative field trip to unique Mud Pond in Jefferson, NH. Tom, author of “A Bog’s Life”, will present “Bogs And Fens” on the previous evening at Weeks State Park. The next day, Friday, Tom Eid and David Govatski will show us this wonderful ecosystem of bogs, fens, and kettle holes.

The Mud Pond Trail is in the Pondicherry Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, and is universally accessible. The trail was constructed by the Youth Conservation Corps, US Fish, and Wildlife Service staff, and volunteers from the Friends of Pondicherry over a five-summer period. The trail has a 900 foot-long raised boardwalk with rest stops that offer extraordinary views of a boreal forest and wetland communities.

Visitors walk through a forest community uncommon to the Connecticut River Valley, to a beautiful pond and fen deep within the refuge. Benches allow visitors to sit and observe the wildlife, plant communities, and scenery. Mud Pond is home to three carnivorous plants and unusual wildlife for this part of New England, including the Arctic Jutta butterfly, black-backed woodpecker, gray jay, boreal chickadee, yellow-bellied flycatcher, and palm warbler. Moose, black bears, and snowshoe hares are sometimes seen along the trail.

Registration is required for this field trip and is limited to 20 participants. To register for this field trip, email:

www.info.weeksstateparkassociation@gmail.com

and put “Mud Pond” in the subject line. The details of where and when to meet that morning will be sent to you via an automatic email response.