
NPS photo
- Peatlands have organic soils comprised of slowly decaying leaves, stems and other dead plant material. They are ponded or the water table is very close to the surface throughout growing season, which slows the decay process and allows the accumulation of organic soil (peat). "Bogs" and "fens," the major types of peatlands, occur in old lake basins or other topographic depressions in the Great Lakes region, western mountain ranges, much of Alaska, the Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plains, and many other locations. Sphagnum moss, orchids and insect-eating plants like sundews, pitcher plants, and Venus' flytraps are specially adapted to the nutrient-poor, acidic conditions found in bogs. Fens are richer in nutrients and less acidic than bogs, and are typically covered by sedges, grasses, rushes and wetland wildflowers.