From the Duluth News Tribune
Peat in the Pine Island bog is centuries-old decaying plant material trapped under a wet, boggy spruce forest.
Under the plan in Koochiching County, about 840 acres will be logged, ditched, drained and the topsoil removed -- the site will look much like a farm field with no crops.
The so-called mine is more like a farming operation, with sun-dried peat sucked off the surface with giant vacuums mounted on tractors. The peat then is packaged and trucked away to nurseries and retail stores.
Because only a few inches of peat are vacuumed each year, harvesting can continue for 30 years or more. After that, peat researchers will work with developers to reflood the site and begin restoration back to a bog -- a process that took about 6,000 years for nature to complete.
SOURCE: UMD Natural Resources Research Institute
