Ep. 61 - Bill and Steve’s Floating Fen Foray (featuring the WNY Land Conservancy)

The Field Guides

This month, Bill and Steve visit Floating Fen, although some might call it a bog, or is it a swamp? Thankfully, they’re joined by Erik Danielson, Stewardship Coordinator of the Western NY Land Conservancy (WNYLC), who schools them on the difference between these wetlands. Erik and the WNYLC are trying to preserve Floating Fen, a property home to a unique wetland, extraordinary life, and a diverse forest. Erik guides Bill and Steve through the fen, discussing just what makes a bog a bog and a fen a fen, as well as what makes these peatlands such amazing habitats.

The episode was recorded on June 17, 2023 at the Floating Fen near Fredonia, NY.

Episode Notes

Please comment below if you notice any mistakes or unanswered questions in the episode.

Links to the Western NY Land Conservancy

Visit the website of the Western New York Land Conservancy to find out more about their vital conservation efforts.

Find out more about the Floating Fen, including the efforts to preserve it.

Explore the WNY Land Conservancy’s Western New York Wildway, their ambitious new initiative to create an extensive series of protected lands that connect the vast forests of northern Pennsylvania to the Great Lakes, central NY, the Adirondacks, and beyond.

Other Episode-related Links

A one-page primer on Conservation Easements

The book that Erik mentioned was A Focus on Peatlands and Peat Mosses by Howard (not Viktor) Crum.

The Wildlands Network - the group responsible for initially identifying the four “Continental Wildways” traversing the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines, the Canadian Boreal Forest region, and the “Spine of the Continent” between Alaska and Mexico.

Bill’s article about Mike Radomski, Outside Chronicles, and the WNY Hiking Challenge

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References / Works Cited

Benyus, Janine 1989, A Field Guide to Wildlife Habitats of the Eastern United States, Touchstone Books, Chicago.

The Conversation – Peatlands keep a lout of carbon out of Earth’s Atmosphere, but that could end with warming and development

Wetland types: https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2021-01/documents/types_of_wetlands.pdf