Keener Bog: One of Georgia's Rarest Natural Communities

Students partnered to maintain and enhance habitat in one of Georgia's rarest natural communities - a high elevation mountain bog.

On a beautiful day in late October, students from Southeastern Technical College in Swainsboro, Georgia, teamed up with the USDA Forest Service and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to maintain and enhance habitat in one of Georgia's rarest natural communities - a high elevation mountain bog.

During the workday, students learned about the ecology and importance of the mountain bog habitat, and gained hands-on experience in land management activities currently being used to maintain and enhance these habitats. Students spent time cutting and removing small trees and shrubs that had grown into the mountain bog habitat. They monitored the health and vigor of some of the rare plants that have been outplanted in years past. The highlight of the day was finding new Swamp Pink (Helonias bullata) seedlings (a federally listed threatened species) that have started growing in some of the areas that were mechanically cleared in 2010 using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding. This is the first-ever evidence of Helonias bullata reproduction in the state of Georgia!

Mountain Bogs are one of the rarest habitats found in the all of the Southern Appalachians. This is especially true of Georgia's Blue Ridge, where only 15-20 true mountain bogs are known to either be reasonably intact or to contain significant and recognizable mountain bog features. These communities are typically quite small (0.5 -5 acres), and are usually found near seep/spring/creek complexes associated with small alluvial basins or historical beaver swamps. The vegetation is a mosaic of trees, shrub thickets, and openings dominated by grasses and/or sphagnum moss. These open habitats naturally succeed to forested communities; however, in the past there was a greater equilibrium between bog succession and bog creation. Today, the rate of bog loss far exceeds the rate of bog creation, mostly as a result of dams, stream channelization, conversion to agriculture and pasture, and human intolerance for allowing natural beaver (Castor canadensis) disturbance. Many rare plant and animal species are dependent on Mountain Bog habitats.

Contact: Mike Brod, District Wildlife Biologist, Chattooga River Ranger District, Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest