Ah, muskeg

A little before the vicinity of Principe Channel we started to notice some peculiarities in the landscape that were unfamiliar to us. At first we just thought they were old clear cuts – scrappy areas where either there were no trees, or very stunted ones. But on closer look we didn’t see the usual tell tales signs of clear cuts – stumps, uniform newer vegetation growth. So we just dismissed them as less fertile patches where nothing grew well.

The other day however I was looking through my copy of ‘Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast’ (Pojar & MacKinnon) and the mystery of these odd vegetation zones was solved. I’ll just quote from the book: “The colloquial term ‘muskeg’ is used to refer to the complex mosaic of fens, bogs, pools, streams, exposed rock and scrubby forest that becomes increasingly common as one proceeds north. Muskeg is widespread over the north coastal lowlands and foothills, which feature an unusual landscape of low rocky hills covered with scrub forest and peatlands. You can see these areas from ferries and boats travelling north to Prince Rupert and southeast Alaska as you thread your way through the archipelagos and fjords of the Inside Passage.”

Now that I know what it is I am kind of fascinated by muskeg, and the amateur naturalist in me would love to take a walk through it rather than just view it from the boat. Muskeg may look dull but actually is home to a diverse variety of plants.