Metamorphosis of roadkill on a threatened peatland
My last slideshow on Taashuyee-Chookan.aani (M-word Wetlands) was inspired by the first northbound migrants—trumpeter swans—and the sprawling tidal wetlands that welcomed them. In our mapping for the Land Trust, 2023-&-24, almost all of Bosworth Botanical team’s efforts were likewise directed toward those sea-swept mud- and grassflats, and a narrow band of former tidelands we call uplift parkland.
But a decade ago, on contract with the City, we also mapped and assessed freshwater wetlands. This experience—especially on northern Sayéik’s marine terrace where connector and bench roads are proposed (& backroomed, respectively)—has raised concerns about peatland hydrology. This slideshow looks at the languidly draining surroundings of our tidal centerpiece: 12,000-year-old sphagnum bogs, disappearing deer, a raven-terrorizing golden eagle, and an amateur’s hypothesized early-Holocene mudslide. What maps call Hendrickson Point (neither Henry’s nor a point) is more appropriately named The Heart. As a survivor of heart disease I’m as grateful to my stents as the salmon, bears and otters are to the new bottomless arch that a more attentive breed of builders just installed on East Heart (Hendrickson) Creek.
