Wetlands are low areas where water either covers the soil or is present at or near the soil surface for much of the year, including the growing season. So it’s not surprising that a walk across a wet land usually results in wet feet – unless of course it’s winter and the wetland is frozen.

The Beaver Boardwalk provides a dry path to explore the fascinating ecosystem of a wetland. Because wetlands occur in the space between dry land and open water, plants adapted to saturated-soil conditions are usually a good way to tell where wetland boundaries are. The change from plants that prefer dry soil to those that prefer wet soil is often quite distinct. The transition from a shallow water wetland and a deeper open water body is also indicated by plants, but in this case the wetland plants are usually rooted in the soil and either float on or grow above the water surface. In this area wetland plants can grow in water up to about two meters deep.