Swamp

Blue Hills Reservation includes a number of swamps bordering its ponds and rivers. They provide a critical sponge-like service, absorbing heavy rainfalls and preventing flooding in the bigger bodies of water.

All swamps actually represent a snapshot in the natural transition between water and land. Plants, animals, and insects grow and die each year. This decaying organic material accumulates and, in the shallower areas of water, begins to fuel an abundance of life that crowds out the water further. In time, the lake becomes the wetland, the wetland becomes the meadow, and the meadow becomes the forest.

I have seen some prehistoric-sized snapping turtles at this swamp near Houghton’s Pond…