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This bog is on County A between Sugar Camp and Three Lakes, WI. Park in the area next to the entrance to the marsh, DO NOT ENTER the bogs as there is a high amount of equipment, trucks and other potential dangers. To get this cache you will NOT need to enter the marsh or go past the signs posted.
The key reason for this cache is to let people see a cranberry bog, what they look like, and somewhat of an idea of how they work. If you go in the fall you may even get a chance to see them harvesting them or you may get to see a sea of blooms in June.
The name cranberry derives from "craneberry", first named by early European settlers in America who felt the expanding flower, stem, calyx, and petals resembled the neck, head, and bill of a crane. Another name used in northeastern Canada is mossberry.
Cranberries are a unique fruit. They can grow and survive only under a very special combination of factors. These factors include acid peat soil, an adequate fresh water supply, and a growing season that extends from April to November. Cranberries grow on low-lying vines in beds layered with sand, peat, gravel and clay. These beds are commonly known as bogs or marshes and were originally created by glacial deposits.
The cranberry is a Native American wetland fruit which grows on trailing vines like a strawberry. The vines thrive on the special combination of soils and water properties found in wetlands. Wetlands are nature's sponges; they store and purify water and help to maintain the water table. Cranberries grow in beds layered with sand, peat and gravel. These beds are commonly known as bogs or marshes and were originally formed as a result of glacial deposits. Natural bogs evolved from deposits left by the glaciers more than 10,000 years ago. These deposits were left in impermeable kettle holes lined with clay. The clay prevents materials from leaching into the groundwater. Rocks and other organic materials were collected by the glaciers. When the ice finally melted deposits of heavy materials were layered on top of the clay. These kettle holes were filled with water and organic matter which created the ideal environment for cranberries.
In the early 1800s Henry Hall, a veteran of the Revolutionary War who lived in Dennis Massachusetts noticed that sand blown in from nearby dunes helped vines grow faster. Today, growers spread a inch or two of sand on their bogs every three years. The sand not only helps the vines grow but also slows the growth of weeds and insects. Normally, growers do not replant each year since an undamaged cranberry vine will survive indefinitely. Some vines on Cape Cod are more than 150 years old and are still bearing fruit.
At the bog, and you will see what’s at its surface: cranberry vines, but if you were to dig down and pull up a plug of soil you would be able to see some of the site’s past. Each layer of soil contributes to the health of the cranberry vine. Each layer also points to a specific event in geological time that in its own way helped create the right conditions for this useful fruit. Close to the surface, you would see evidence of the recent past. You would see the current cranberry root zone and then a thick sand layer which was formed by the sprinkling of sand over the plant to protect it at winter built up by farmers. You might be able to distinguish between the layers of sand laid down every few winters and the organic matter that represents seasons of growth. Beneath the sand, you would find peat, thousands of years old. Within this peat, there may even be chunks of old cedar, thousands of years dead, still slowly decomposing. Peat depth varies from bog to bog, and even from spot to spot, but can possibly be several feet deep or more. Under the peat would be the glacial deposits: first the larger gravel particles, and finally the watertight clay layer lining the underside of the bog. While the gravel ensures good water drainage from the roots, the clay barrier seals in nutrients that leach from peat. This maintains a rich environment for growth.
During the last ice age, “The Laurentide Ice Sheet” and the large volume of melt water flowing from it greatly altered the landscape of Wisconsin. (Please see picture listed as glacier for a map of Wisconsin's glacier). As a result, the landscape of the area glaciated during the last part of the Wisconsin Glaciation is notably different than that of areas glaciated earlier in the Ice Age (where erosion has destroyed earlier glacial landforms) and areas that were never glaciated. The outermost limit of the last glacier is marked by a conspicuous ridge of glacially deposited debris. The many lakes and wetlands and the irregular landscape that characterize so many areas of eastern and northern Wisconsin are also a direct result of the last glacier. It is these wetlands that developed this area with its delicate Marsh habitat that cranberries grow. Without this habitat cranberries would not grow and thus Wisconsin’s #1 industry would have never thrived. Allowing Wisconsin’s cranberries to be grown over the marsh’s developed through the Ice Age, with minor changes being made to allow ease of irrigating or flooding. With the increase need to keep wetlands wild and preserved, farmers are no longer allowed to purchase wetlands, to modify wetlands,and build on and/or alter wetlands. This makes current cranberry bogs even more important and the need to protect the bog and the plants.
There are four types of bogs/marshes. These are Valley Bogs, Raised Bogs, Quaking Bogs and Blanketing Bogs.
Valley bogs develop in gently sloping valleys or hollows. A layer of peat fills the deepest part of the valley, and a stream may run through the surface of the bog. Valley bogs may develop in relatively dry and warm climates, but because they rely on ground or surface water, they only occur on acidic substrates.
Raised Bogs develop from a lake or flat marshy area, over either non-acidic or acidic substrates. Over centuries there is a progression from open lake, to marsh, then fen (or on acidic substrates, valley bog) and carr, as silt or peat fill the lake. Eventually peat builds up to a level where the land surface is too flat for ground or surface water to reach the center of the wetland. This part therefore becomes wholly rain-fed (ombrotrophic), and the resulting acidic conditions allow the development of bog (even if the substrate is non-acidic). The bog continues to form peat, and over time a shallow dome of bog peat develops: a raised bog. The dome is typically a few meters high in the center, and is often surrounded by strips of fen or other wetland vegetation at the edges or along stream sides, where ground water can percolate into the wetland.
Blanket Bogs grow in cool climates with consistently high rainfall, the ground surface may remain waterlogged for much of the time, providing conditions for the development of bog vegetation. In these circumstances bog develops as a layer "blanketing" much of the land, including hilltops and slopes. Although blanket bog is more common on acidic substrates, under some conditions it may also develop on neutral or even alkaline ones, if abundant acidic rainwater predominates over the ground water. Blanket bog cannot occur in drier or warmer climates, because under those conditions hilltops and sloping ground dry out too often for peat to form – in intermediate climates blanket bog may be limited to areas which are shaded from direct sunshine. In peri-glacial climates a patterned form of blanket bog may occur: string bog.
Quaking bogs are a form of bog occurring in wetter parts of valley bogs and raised bogs, and sometimes around the edges of acidic lakes where bog is beginning to form. The bog vegetation forms a mat half a meter or so thick, floating over water or very wet peat. Walking on this surface causes it to move – larger movements may cause visible ripples of the surface, or they may even make trees sway.
Cranberries are native to Wisconsin's marshlands, and records mark the year 1853 as the earliest known cranberry cultivation in the state, even though it probably didn't consist of much more than crude ditches to modify natural bogs. Today, there are 150 cranberry marshes in eighteen counties in Wisconsin covering 110,000 acres. In 1991, Wisconsin's cranberry crop totaled around 78 million dollars. Since then the industry has grown nationwide, and in 2005 Wisconsin produced roughly 59 percent of the nation's crop at roughly 124.4 million dollars. The massive cranberry-growers co-operative, Oceanspray, attracts plenty of Wisconsin's farmers; 70 percent of the state's cranberry acreage belongs to Oceanspray members
To claim this earthcache answer questions 1-5:
1: What typed of bog is this?
2: Why do you think it is #1's bog type?
3: In the ditch, step on the soil and describe how it feels.
4: Why is Wisconsin the #1 producer of cranberries bring in ~59% nationwhide?
5. Thunder Lake is the water source for this bog, this is a geological remenant what type of ice age remenant is it?
Optional question: What 3 fruits are the only fruits native to North America- (see Hints)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
1. 4 glcrf qrsvarq va ernqvat vasb
2. gungf hc gb lbh
3. pna'g uryc gurer ohg gel whzcvat va gur zbffl nern
4. Guvf qngrf onpx bire 10,000 lrnef ntb
5.Guvf vf n tvira whfg guvax vpr ntr, tynpvref, ynxrf, jngre rgp.
6. Bprnafcenl znxrf whvpr sebz nyy 3. (penaoreel, tencr naq oyhroreel)