BOGS OF BOUNTY

High in the Victorian Alps, the earthy depths of a pristine wetland ecosystem survive unaffected by bushfires and shielded from invasive species.

- CANDICE MARSHALL

THE BAW BAW PLATEAU is home to one of Australia’s most remarkable ecosystems. Here, in Baw Baw National Park in Victoria’s High Country, dense, lush vegetation intertwines with bright green moss so thick that only outcrops of granite rock can break through.

Dragonflies hover above crystal-clear pools of water, daisies reach for the sun, and if you listen closely, you might hear the call of a certain endemic frog species that’s one of the world’s rarest. Known simply as Baw Baw bog, the remarkable natural system is protected within Australia’s highest national park.

For most of us, the word bog doesn’t usually evoke pleasant mental imagery. And yet bogs are idyllic places. A bog is a specific type of ecosystem that’s often referred to as peatland or alpine peatland. And although these terms are technically correct, they’re just too generic”, says Dr Arn Tolsma, a senior scientist at Victoria’s Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning’s Arthur Rylah Institute.

“A bog is a freshwater peatland that contains sphagnum moss,” Arn explains simply. The EPBC Act Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999] calls them Alpine sphagnum bogs’, and that’s probably the best term to describe them.”

Such places need a combination of a few things to form and thrive. Most important is a plentiful supply of groundwater that keeps the soil saturated for most of the year.