Not in the western boreal forest but is here because

(not in the western boreal forest, but is here because there is lots of clay)
 Bog bean leaves look like bean leaves
 Fens often have cottongrass growing on them
 Cottongrass is not a grass but a sedge
 Some sedges form their own habitat in shallow rich waters
 Called Sedge meadows
 Mounds of sedges are called sedge tussocks or hummocks
 In many clay belts wetlands cattails are dominant and form their own habitat
 Called a Cattail marsh
 Not found elsewhere in the boreal forest, only eastern
 Ducks can be found in the Cattail Marshes
 Puddle ducks (filter feeders)
 Wood ducks
 Ring necked duck s
 Hooded mergansers
 American Bittern
 Cat tail march indicators birds :
 Rails
 Virginia rail
 (flat thin looking birds to be able to walk through cattails to live in their mats – long-toes for
walking on the water),
 Pied billed grebe
 (thin bodies, long toes- (diving bird, note the lobed tails that aid in swimming and diving)
 American coot
 Pied billed grebe and American coot have lobed toes that can open and close which makes them larger
to go backwards
 They are normally rare in the boreal forest except for here in the cat tail and clay belt
environments

Other Animals found in Cattail Marshes (Clay Belt Wetlands)
 Dragon flies often found in Cattail Marshes
 Skimmers are common because of the shallow clay-rich and nutrient rich waters
 Toads mate in Cattail Marshes
 Mink frogs
 Aquatic snails (need calcium for their shells)
 Moose
 Beaver
Plants Found in Clay belt Wetlands:
 The clay belt supports many plants that like basic PH soils (such as those atop limestone)
 Examples: bird’s eye primrose , are northern in distribution
 Others like wood lilly are more southern in distribution
 Eastern white cedar
 Cedar swamp
 Have black ash and cedars
 Recall that many orchids like calcium (basic ph)
 Showy lady’s slippers grow in cedar swamps in the clay belts
 Showy lady’s slippers grow in calcareous wetlands including cedar swamps
 They reach the northern limit in the clay belt boreal
 There are many rivers in the clay belt
 Part of the arctic watershed ( flows north)
 Abitibi river
 Cliff swallows nest on cliffs and buildings including dams on the rivers
Lecture 12:
Clay Belt Boreal Continued-
 Lots of clay = lots of calcium
 Lake barlow ojibway left the clay behind
 What type of solid is eastern boreal forest that supported to what type of plants?
 In the Boreal Clay Belt Conifers… 