Deadman's Bog... Deadman's What!??

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With quite a sinister name and plenty of stories existing about people getting mummified in bogs, it seems as if this would not be the prime location for a field trip. Deadman’s bog? Who died there?? The question begged as we started on our journey. Driving for a while made everything seem fine, but then we turned and started down a long, winding, and very bumpy dirt road. Uh oh. Middle of the forest… ragged dirt road… Deadman’s bog… The suspense was building. Sure, it was a hot day with bright sunny skies, but… were we really just there for insects? Maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit. It sure felt like somewhere you could get killed, but I have to admit, the name was a little misleading for what we experienced. First of all, driving on the windy, bumpy dirt road was pretty fun. The bumps were bad, but it was just like being on a roller coaster. If not everyone caught air at least once during the drive, those of us in the back seats certainly did. On top of that, we got to drive past pretty forest and green grassy fields. Who wouldn’t want to do that? When we finally did stop driving, it was along one of the grassy sections. We all got out to collect. Immediately, insects galore. 

A grasshopper perched on a piece of grass
Photo credit: popsci.com

Every step you took sent grasshoppers scattering and you barely had to look around before you found something flying in the air. Gone were my fears about not finding orthoptera! You barely had to move your net to collect any. As the air was littered with dragonflies, butterflies, and moths, my fears of getting more of these were gone too. But just these insects do not encapsulate the species diversity of this field. Hosts of leafhoppers, treehoppers, and ants littered the ground, while the air stirred with bees, wasps, and flies of many varieties. When we finished collecting at the field, David took a short trip over to the bog by himself (remember the bog?) before we all moved over to the forest to continue our adventures. Entering the forest was a little underwhelming after the number of insects in the field, but it was still very interesting to explore. 


The aspen forest at Deadman's Bog
Photo credit: Paige Terpstra

The forest consisted primarily of quaking aspen trees, while a variety of small plants filled the understory. Insects could be found flying among the trees, hiding under leaves, or scuttling on the ground. Interestingly, many of the smaller aspen trees were dead leading us to the discovery that they were a lot of fun to break and push over. The sound of the crack made it very satisfying to do. Also interesting is that all of these dead aspen trees were nothing to be concerned about. Aspens reproduce asexually in most cases by sending up new sprouts from a very extensive root system belowground. While this makes them nearly impossible to kill off completely, it does cause some of the clones to die (as we found in the forest) due to overcrowding. There are a variety of insects which feed on aspen trees including aphids, aspen leaf miners, sawflies, and other organisms. Most of these produce relatively minor damage, but they can result in the death of individual trees with intense feeding over time. Since there were fewer obvious insects in the forest and it was getting close to when we had to leave, we spent less time in the forest than the field. We headed back to the van, got packed up to leave, and left... without really visiting the bog. And so, the Deadman's Bog remains a mystery. Will we ever know the reason for its namesake? Only time will tell… 


Sources:

“Common Insects & Diseases of Aspen.” Colorado State Forest Service, 16 Jan. 2023, csfs.colostate.edu/forest-management/common-forest-insects-diseases/common-insects-diseases-of-aspen/.

“Quaking Aspen.” National Parks Service, 1 Feb. 2023, www.nps.gov/brca/learn/nature/quakingaspen.htm.

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