Brokenhead Wetlands Interpretive Trail Tour Debwendon Inc. – July, 2019

The Brokenhead Wetlands Interpretive Trail is a 1.5 km self-guiding nature trail that officially opened on June 22, 2016. It is located on a 100m strip of Crown Land just adjacent to the 1240ha Brokenhead Wetlands Ecological Reserve near Scanterbury, Manitoba. These wetlands are home to 28 of Manitoba’s 37 native orchid species, eight species of carnivorous plants and 23 other rare plants. In 1998 Native Orchid Conservation Inc., an organization dedicated to the conservation of our wild orchids and other rare species, nominated the wetlands for protection through the provincial Protected Areas Initiative. Brokenhead Ojibway Nation also lobbied the provincial government for their protection. The Ecological Reserve was declared in 2005. Debwendon Inc., an incorporated registered charity made up of representatives from Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and Native Orchid Conservation Inc., got together in 2007 to develop an interpretive trail. When the late Eugene Reimer, NOCI and Debwendon Board member, established an endowment fund through the Winnipeg Foundation for maintenance of the trail, the Province of Manitoba agreed to undertake the construction. The Brokenhead Wetlands are a topographically confined raised bog, with some central ponds and marginal wet troughs (flarks) and a marginal fen. A fen is a kind of peatland characterized by a high water table with slow internal drainage by seepage down very gradual slopes. Brokenhead is a calcareous fen, considered rare in North America, with an estimated 500 calcareous fens on earth. This slow-moving groundwater is enriched by nutrients from upslope materials and thus fens are more mineral rich and less acidic than bogs. The Brokenhead Ojibway Nation has been using the wetlands for approximately 300 years and they continue to regard it as a place of cultural importance for collecting sacred and medicinal plants, such as tea berries and cedar. It was the great significance of these wetlands that inspired the interpretive theme of the boardwalk: Theme: The Ojibway teach us that everything is interconnected and has a purpose to fulfill; we need to respect that purpose to maintain a balance in the world.

Plant Species List Orchids (partial list): Small Yellow lady's-slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum var. makasin) Large Yellow lady's-slipper (Cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens) Ram’s-head lady’s-slipper (C. arietinum) *Showy lady’s-slipper (C. reginae) Spotted coral-root (Corallorhiza maculata) Striped coral-root (C. striata) Early coral-root (C. trifida) Dragon's-mouth (Arethusa bulbosa) Small round-leaved orchid (Galearis rotundifolia) *Bog-orchids (Platanthera aquilonis or huronensis)

1 *Blunt-leaf rein orchid (P. obtusata) *Round-leaf rein-orchid (P. orbiculata) *Grass-pink (Calopogon tuberosus) (blooms in early July) Heart-leaved twayblade (Neottia cordata)

Wildflowers, shrubs, etc. (partial list) Wild strawberry (Fragaria spp.) Wild rose (Rosa spp.) Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) Dewberry (Rubus pubescens) Common horsetail (Equisetum arvense) *Poison ivy (Rhus radicans) *Northern bedstraw (Galium boreale) *Pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpura) Northern starflower (Trientalis borealis) *Sundew (Drosera spp.) Climbing bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) *One-sided wintergreen (Pyrola secunda) *Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum) *Green wintergreen (Pyrola virens) Bicknell's geranium (Geranium bicknellii) *Pink wintergreen (Pyrola asarifolia) Wild columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) *One-flowered wintergreen (P. uniflora) Downy arrowwood (Viburnum rafanesquianum) *Twinflower (Linnaea borealis) *Philadelphia fleabane (Erigeron philadelphicus) *Bladder campion (Silene cucubalus) *Creamy peavine (Lathyrus ochroleucus) Mountain maple (Acer spicatum) *Common butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) Oak fern (Gymnocarpium ryopteris) *Seaside arrowgrass (Triglochin maritima) Sun-loving sedge (Carex pensylvanica) Wild lily of the Valley (Maianthemum canadense) Bog birch (Betula grandulosa *Common bladderwort (Utricularia vulgaris) *Cotton-grass (Eriophorum spp.) *Spreading dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) *Snakeroot (Sanicula marilandica) *Wild comfrey (Cynoglossum virginianum) Early blue violet (Viola adunca) *Swamp-fly honeysuckle (Lonicera oblongifolia) Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum) *Shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa) Fringed milkwort (Polygala paucifolia) Wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) Yellow marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) Dwarf bog-rosemary (Andromeda polifolia) Coltsfoot (Petasites spp.) Goldthread (Coptis trifolia) Bishop’s cap (Mitella nuda)

*indicates blooming now

Volunteer interpreters are members of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation and Native Orchid Conservation Inc. (Debwendon Board members), and two students hired under the Green Spaces Program of United Nations Association in Canada (UNAC).

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