Barbara Barnes and Emily Rivers
A Fentastic Experience

Our initial experience of the fen began as a fascinating journey through the various ecosystems that surround Cranberry Lake. As our design team began contemplating site development, we wanted to recreate this experience. Trails, signage, and a brochure were developed based on our excursion, while highlighting aspects we found particularly unique and compelling on the site.

The entire trail system is tightly woven into our project area, working with the existing natural features. The upland trail meanders through the forested region, allowing visitors to experience areas diverging from dense forest to open managed forest. As the guests move into the lowlands a native soil trail transforms into a low boardwalk, weaving back and forth through the stands of red alder. This boardwalk avoids lengthy direct lines of movement in favor of a more circuitous feel, for it was such an indirect and peculiar route in which we discover the fen.
Upon the conclusion of this meandering journey, visitors reach the fen. Standing on a floating boardwalk, they may experience the buoyant nature of peat moss mats. The boardwalk itself is punctuated with metal grating that allows light to pass through, reducing the impact of the structure on this delicate area. This grating also draws the guests' eyes down to the ground plane, encouraging them to notice the diversity of color, texture, and plant life that exists here.

Throughout this journey visitors may read interpretive signs that provide further information on the nature of fens, flora on site, and wildlife. The brochure of plant species could easily be expanded, adding species found in the demonstration gardens and wetland areas. Additional signage could also be created based on the four ecosystems, consisting of managed forest, upland forest, wetland, and fen, found in this portion of Cranberry Lake. This signage may focus on fauna, with such information as animal tracks or signs of their presence, or flora, with information pertaining to ethnobotany.

Linked with these tangible products are curriculum elements that can be easily incorporated. Such elements promote a higher level of understanding and create a holistic approach to learning, allowing people to see, explore, and experience the multiple layers of Cranberry Lake. Suggested topics include:
-Testing pH levels with litmus paper in the fen
-Creating collages of found material
-Dissection of owl pellets
-Exploration of ethnobotany- employ plant species to make baskets, food, dyes, and other traditional Native American uses.
-Making images with sun-sensitive paper
-Use of plant material and soil to create paintings
-Look for the presence of beavers and other animals
-Compare the water quality of Cranberry Lake with that of Lake Limerick
-View peat moss under a microscope or magnifying glass

These and other suggestions support the environmental education goals created by the trust, while at the same time providing unique and memorable experiences. The process of learning should be open to all knowledge levels and incorporate various teaching methods, with an emphasis placed upon first hand experiences. This 'process of doing' has proven to be the most effective way of teaching students and provides a learning experience that will remain with students of any age. For our team this has proven especially true. Pushing through the brush and discovering the fen was a sequence of unforgettable encounters with the natural environment, one that we hope will be recreated for others.