We'll take a journey through a fen. Fens provide critical habitat for many rare plants.
Some birds prefer fens to other habitats for feeding and breeding.
Some moose, beaver, fish and small mammals depend on fens, too. So the future of many plants and animals is tied up with the future of fens. Because of the regular saturation, the soil in a fen doesn't have enough oxygen to break down plant litter completely. What accumulates from the dead plants is known as peat, which builds up extremely slowly. It can take hundreds or even thousands of years for a few centimeters of peat to accumulate.