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<br />PEATLANDS: <br />Bi~ /vle(/(foL/'S & Hi.~1i C}'cel~ F~'I/ <br /> <br />16 <br /> <br /> <br />Peatlands are high-country wet- <br />lands that form around gigantic <br />springs. Many Colorado peat- <br />lands have existed since the last glaci- <br />ers retreated, about 12,000 years ago. <br />The glaciers left behind huge <br />moraines and outwash plains-lobes <br />of gravelly material-on valley floors. <br />Water from snow <br />melting in the high <br />country seeps <br />tbrough this gravel, <br />then creates large <br />springs when it sur- <br />faces at tbe loe of <br />the outwash, or <br />where a glacial <br />moraine blocks a <br />valley. It is at tbese springs that <br />Colorado's peallands-techn ically <br />known as "fens "-have formed. <br />Because peatland soils are low <br />in oxygen, tbe bacteria that decom- <br />pose the leaves of peatland plants <br />don't work very efficiently. This <br />means that instead of rolling and <br />turning to soil, dead leaves and roots <br />slowly accumulate to form peat. <br />Colorado peat does not come from <br />moss, making it very different from <br />~'~' ,', the sphagnum <br />'." ~. r",;,t") <br />~: .'" - y// peat moss , <br />. : . .;Ji ~~ I.!. '.' ,I/. commonly sold <br />'''.'''. '.' . :'14:";. 'jat garden cenlers <br />",Mo. ,... x' ' <br />\~<rl d . iJtJ <br />~~ '~ <br /> <br /> <br />which comes from the northern U. S. <br />and Canada. In Colorado's fens, dead <br />plant material accumulates very slow- <br />ly, forming peal at an average rate of <br />about R inches every 1,000 years. <br />The state has two major types <br />of peatlands. one of wbicb is very rare. <br />The type-and the rarity-arc deter- <br /> <br />In Colorado's peatlands, which are <br />technically known as "fens, " dead <br />plant material accumulates very slowly, <br />forming peat at an average rate of <br />about 8 inches every /,000 years. <br /> <br />mined by tbe kind of rock the water <br />flows over on its way downhill. If tbe <br />surrounding mountains are primarily <br />made of granite or otber igncolls <br />rocks, nutrient-poor peatlands like Big <br />Meadows in Rocky Mountain National <br />Park are created. This type of peat- <br />land is found in many parts of <br />Colorado in mountain valleys with ele- <br />vations above 8,000 feet. <br />The water that feeds Big <br />Meadows flows over hard bedrock, <br />making it acidic and low in salts. Big <br />Meadows and wetlands like it are dom- <br />inated by sedges and other species tbat <br />can tolerate soils that are cold and low <br />in both oxygen and nutrients. These <br />plants survive by being efficient recy- <br />