Floating Bog Menaces Crow Wing County
April 20, 2018 10:19 AM Subscribe
“They said there was this huge chunk of land floating towards them... And they were sitting there having coffee and it just kept coming. It destroyed their dock and boat lifts and they wanted to know what to do about it.” Randy Tesdahl of the American Legion (“I come right out and admit, I am not an engineer”) considers a plan involving tractors, logs, and some really long chains. Atlas Obscura now solicits your solutions for dealing with the sphagnum monstrosity.
oh my god it's the lake blob from Creepshow 2 come to life
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:40 AM on April 20, 2018
posted by everybody had matching towels at 10:40 AM on April 20, 2018
Can’t they just use it to make scotch?
posted by valkane at 10:41 AM on April 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by valkane at 10:41 AM on April 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
Geez, the American Legion folks in this article come out looking horrible. The bog, which was part of your property, floated off, damaged someone else's docks, and then you threaten to sue when they stake it in place back on your property?
If a tree on your property falls onto someone's house, "aw shucks, that's nature for you" isn't really a defense. Why should it be different when it's a bog and a dock?
posted by explosion at 10:42 AM on April 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
If a tree on your property falls onto someone's house, "aw shucks, that's nature for you" isn't really a defense. Why should it be different when it's a bog and a dock?
posted by explosion at 10:42 AM on April 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm relieved that it's cheaper to move it than destroy it. It sounds like a cool little ecosystem. I hope they can find a way to anchor it and get it to re-root.
posted by emjaybee at 10:45 AM on April 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by emjaybee at 10:45 AM on April 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
What a story. I think the bog started as an area northeast of Legionville here.
posted by exogenous at 10:56 AM on April 20, 2018
posted by exogenous at 10:56 AM on April 20, 2018
If a tree on your property falls onto someone's house, "aw shucks, that's nature for you" isn't really a defense.
Huh? That's almost always a defense, at least in every state I've lived in. There's typically a negligence-type standard, about "knowing or should have known" if a tree was a hazard, but if an otherwise-healthy tree falls over during a storm, in most places that just gets chalked up to an Act of God and both parties (and their insurance companies) have to deal with the damage themselves.
I have no idea how one knows or should know when a bog is about to go wandering off, though, and the question of whether you can drag a wandering bog back to the place where it originated without the property owner's permission is sort of intriguing. I don't think it's necessarily a straightforward question.
Good that they had the winter to work it out cooperatively rather than litigiously, at any rate.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:18 AM on April 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
Huh? That's almost always a defense, at least in every state I've lived in. There's typically a negligence-type standard, about "knowing or should have known" if a tree was a hazard, but if an otherwise-healthy tree falls over during a storm, in most places that just gets chalked up to an Act of God and both parties (and their insurance companies) have to deal with the damage themselves.
I have no idea how one knows or should know when a bog is about to go wandering off, though, and the question of whether you can drag a wandering bog back to the place where it originated without the property owner's permission is sort of intriguing. I don't think it's necessarily a straightforward question.
Good that they had the winter to work it out cooperatively rather than litigiously, at any rate.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:18 AM on April 20, 2018 [4 favorites]
I have no idea how one knows or should know when a bog is about to go wandering off, though, and the question of whether you can drag a wandering bog back to the place where it originated without the property owner's permission is sort of intriguing.
Some days, I just adore MetaFilter. <3!
posted by Celsius1414 at 12:12 PM on April 20, 2018 [5 favorites]
Some days, I just adore MetaFilter. <3!
posted by Celsius1414 at 12:12 PM on April 20, 2018 [5 favorites]
Huh? That's almost always a defense, at least in every state I've lived in.
They call it “An Act of Bog.”
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:15 PM on April 20, 2018 [20 favorites]
They call it “An Act of Bog.”
posted by GenjiandProust at 12:15 PM on April 20, 2018 [20 favorites]
Huh? That's almost always a defense, at least in every state I've lived in.This goes surprisingly well with the thread about Russian novels.
They call it “An Act of Bog.”
posted by inconstant at 12:29 PM on April 20, 2018 [5 favorites]
Is the camp director a bald guy in a wheelchair? Because I really want to believe Legionville is a front for a school for mutants or demigods and not really a summer camp to learn how be a school safety patrol.
posted by Esteemed Offendi at 12:42 PM on April 20, 2018
posted by Esteemed Offendi at 12:42 PM on April 20, 2018
I am imagining the most likely members of the unique, specialized floristic community that this huge-ass floating bog holds, and kind of crying softly about it, bc I'm guessing they're gonna end up dropping a depth charge on it or whatever and just destroy it. People love nature, right up until it causes damage to their lakefront property, and then it must be annihilated. :(
Fear not! From tf article:
"Tesdahl and others are building a “necklace” out of logs and chains. According to Tesdahl, the log necklace will wrap around the bog, allowing tractors equipped with poles to push from the shore and boats in the lake to pull. The boats will rotate the bog 180 degrees, away from the swimming beach. Then the team will fix the bog in place. Chains will encircle the rootballs of fallen trees, snake across the bog on top of plywood planks, and hang off the end into the water, anchored by massive steel beams. Eventually, the team hopes, the bog will root itself once more and reattach to the shoreline."
posted by stinkfoot at 1:39 PM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Fear not! From tf article:
"Tesdahl and others are building a “necklace” out of logs and chains. According to Tesdahl, the log necklace will wrap around the bog, allowing tractors equipped with poles to push from the shore and boats in the lake to pull. The boats will rotate the bog 180 degrees, away from the swimming beach. Then the team will fix the bog in place. Chains will encircle the rootballs of fallen trees, snake across the bog on top of plywood planks, and hang off the end into the water, anchored by massive steel beams. Eventually, the team hopes, the bog will root itself once more and reattach to the shoreline."
posted by stinkfoot at 1:39 PM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've met a few small lakes that were entirely covered by bogs. Started walking across one once, and movement started to take on a woozy quality with the "ground" lurching with every step. Apparently I was lucky not to fall through.
posted by scruss at 3:08 PM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by scruss at 3:08 PM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
There are wonderful small lakes scattered throughout that part of Minnesota which exhibit a great combination of bog, beaver dam, and beaver lodge. Walking around there can be dangerous. Canoeing is amazing though.
posted by yesster at 6:02 AM on April 21, 2018
posted by yesster at 6:02 AM on April 21, 2018
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posted by Ornate Rocksnail at 10:37 AM on April 20, 2018 [5 favorites]