Donald A. Windsor
Black Ash Bog is in Otsego County, Town of Butternuts, north of Ideuma Road (which is in the Town of Unadilla) and west of County Road 3. It is on private land.
The name Black Ash Bog appears on the US Geological Service topographical map Gilbertsville, NY, 1943, 7.5 minutes. A road sign on Ideuma Road proclaims a dead-end road as Black Ash Swamp.
On a visit, with landowner permission, on Thursday morning 30 August 2012, 5 of us hiked through the northern portion of the wetland. It is indeed a swamp, a forested wetland, with no evidence of being a bog, that is, no bog plants. Among the vegetation were these notables: Hemlock, Black Ash, Spice Bush, Creeping Snowberry, Cinnamon Fern, and Royal Fern. Sphagnum covers everything except dark areas of mud, but no floating mat was seen.
On adjacent higher ground are Red Oak, White Oak, Chestnut Oak, and American Chestnut, in with White Ash, Sugar Maple, Red Maple, American Beech, and White Pine.
We encountered at least two dozen Black Ash. The smallest had a diameter of about 2 inches and the largest about 8 inches. We found one large dead Black Ash that had a diameter of about 17 inches (from circumference = 54 inches). We did not find any samaras on the ground, nor did we see any in the trees. Most surprising to me was the absence of Black Ash seedlings. However, we hiked for 3.5 hours. Perhaps a longer search would have revealed some seedlings. The ferns were waist to chest high, so visibility was obstructed.
This was the first visit for all of us, so we did not know exactly what to expect. Prior to the visit, I suspected that we would not find a bog because this area is a valley perched between two ridges. It sits at 1720 feet elevation with its western ridge reaching 1860 feet and its eastern counterpart topping at 2020. The "bog" area has two streams draining it, one flowing south and the other flowing north. A typical bog has no inlet, no outlet, and is a nutrient-poor (1). Sandwiched between two steep watersheds, this peaty wetland gets plenty of nutrients.
Therefore, unless we find evidence to the contrary, I conclude that Black Ash Bog is really Black Ash Swamp.
Reference cited:
Johnson, Charles W. Basic terms and definitions. In: Bogs of the Northeast. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. 1985. Pages 7-18.
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