The Mer Bleue Bog – The Peat Moss Infested Stepchild of the Champlain Sea
Just east of the city of Ottawa, you will find the Mer Bleue Conservation Area. This ancient channel of the Ottawa river was once part of the Champlain Sea, massive body of water created by the malting of Laurentides ice sheet, a large mass of ice that once covered large parts of Canada. The swath of sea has has long retreated into itself leaving stagnating remnants such as the Mer Bleue Bog.
Exploring the Bog
The parts of the conservation area can be explored via a 1.2km boardwalk loop. The popularity of this area, especially in fall, can be chalked up at the fact that the walk gives you a close up look at the bog canals, fauna and flora. You may have to park on the dirt road leading to the parking lot and walk in a few hundred meters if that lot is full. Look out for beaver, muskrat, waterfowl (essentially birds), and the elusive spotted turtle!
The reason it is so impressive are simple, the area represents a rare example of a boreal forest south of northern Canada. This is partially due to the fact that the acidity of the swamp allows for the growth of tundra vegetation. Please do not leave the confines of the boardwalk as the goal is to preserve the moss like vegetation.
On the edges of the bog you will also find a few forested areas mixed in with the bogs own vegetation. Look out for Stunted black spruce, tamarack, bog rosemary, blueberry plants, and cottongrass.
One of the stranger facts about the bog is that buried in its acid filled debts are perfectly preserved remnants of times past, including human remains. Canada’s first nations often used to bogs are burying places due to their perceived sacred nature. Bodies recovered from the depths have been said to even have their facial features preserved, such is the efficacy of the bog acid preservation process.
The irony of the ecological and archeological importance of the site, is that it was viewed quite the opposite in times past, as were all wetlands. Industrial exploitation of peat took place over the 19th and 20th centuries and and during the Second World War, it served as a target for RCAF bombing practice.
A final tidbit of information for you is that the name “Mer Bleue” (the blue sea”) is derived from the colour of the bog when it is covered by the morning fog
