Final report Pequaming Bog Public Access Boardwalk

[From the U.S. Government Printing Office, www.gpo.gov]

FINAL REPORT

PEQUAMING BOG PUBLIC ACCESS BOARDWALK

L'ANSE TOWNSHIP

COASTAL MANAGEMENT PROJECT

CONTRACT NUMBER 11E 13.1

SB
482
.M52
L36
1989

PEQUAMING BOG

PUBLIC ACCESS

BOARDWALK

REPORT

The permit through the DNR was applied for during September
of 1988. This was one of the initial first steps in the
constructing of the Boardwalk Project. Permit No. 88-1-80G/W was
issued on September 24, 1989 to L'Anse Township. Surveying and
site investigation occurred during the summer' of 1988 prior to
the permit issuance.

The co-sponsors of this project were the Baraga Soil
Conservation District and L'Anse Township. Mr. Bob Larson,
Conservation District Chairman originally proposed this project.
L'Anse Township had no money to undertake a project like this.
Thus the Conservation District offered to purchase the needed
materials while the construction was on-going and before the
final grant monies became available through the Township. The
Township owns the land were the boardwalk was constructed and
operate a public park that is adjacent to the boardwalk on the
shore of Lake Superior.

The USDA Soil Conservation Service and its Resource
Conservation and Development (RC&D) Program were used to gain the
needed design and to supply a small amount of construction
inspection. The MCCC crew foreman constituted the majority of
the on-site construction inspection.

The DNR's Michigan Civilian Conservation Corp (MCCC)
stationed at the Ford Forestry Center located at Alberta,
Michigan, supplied the much needed labor. These "in-kind labor
services", utilized for the boardwalk construction, are itemized
and are enclosed within this report.

Along with the permit application, site inspection and
surveying, another initial step was obviously the drafting up of
the design. The construction plans that were finally used were
redesigned and subsequently redrawn twice. The MCCC crew chiefs
and the administrator of the program from Camp Alberta drove down
to the Crystal Lake Public Access Boardwalk in Iron Mountain on
February 22, 1989, and that provided the impetus for the final
design utilizing the best features from that boardwalk.

The SCS did the redesign during March of 1989 and the plans
were delivered and discussed with the MCCC staff on March 23,
1989. Three price quotes for the materials were gotten for the
material quantities outlined *ye
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One building supplier was generally lower for the wolmanized
wood that was universally used on the project. Oxcel wood
preservative at a retention rate of .40 lbs. per cubic foot of
wood treated was used on all the wood materials used in the
boardwalk construction.

On March 30, 1989, the wood was delivered to a landowner's
property adjacent to the construction site. The wood was
initially stacked at a secure site underneath a mercury vapor
lamp on a adjacent land-owners property. As of March 28, 1989,
the bog was still frozen over.

On April 24, 1989, the SCS and MCCC began the on-site layout
of the boardwalk. The bog site is generally made up of three
feet of a saturated decomposing sphagnum moss mat floating on one
foot of water. The entire bog area is all underlain with old Lake
Superior beach sand sediments. This kind of delicate environment
posed a real challenge for the construction of the boardwalk.
The main concern was to retain some of the naturally occurring
bog material immediately surrounding the structure once it was
completed. All forms of heavy equipment were obviously ruled out
and the whole structure had to be hand built. The 6" x 6",
twelve and fourteen foot long posts were "jetted in".

Construction began on June 28, 1989, after the MCCC Woods
crew No. 2 finished assisting the DNR with its spring campground
clean up. The "Jetting" of the posts was the only feasible way
-to place the support posts approximately three to four feet into
the sandy bottom using only hand labor. The "jetting" of the
posts became the biggest problem to solve during the initial
construction of this boardwalk.

"Jetting", utilizing water pressure, suspends all the sand
particles amongst the rapidly flowing water. Once this agitation
ceases, the sandy materials quickly fall out of the suspension
thus filling the hole back up encasing the boardwalk's support
p 0 s t s .

A jetting apparatus had to be fabricated to apply the proper
amount of water pressure at the proper depth in the sandy bottom
below the floating sphagnum bog so the support posts could be
set.

The first"jetting" apparatus looked like this: See drawing
No. 1 attached.

It did not function because there were 'coo many restrictions
restricting water flow through the nozzle. Valves, couplings,
pipe diameter, nozzle design, etc. were all too restrictive thus
this first jetting apparatus was a failure. All the restrictive
points in the initial design that was tried on June 28, 1989
were altered for the second attempt at jetting on June 29, 1989.

DRAWING NO. I

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-34'4-,P,. GPLVPNI7-ED PIPE

COUPL-SO T%ETRER

FIRST JETTING APPARATUS

DRAWING NO. 2

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SUCCESSFUL JETTING APPARATUS

The second jetting attempt apparatus looked like this: See
drawing No. 2 attached.

This time the pipe diameter was big enough and there were
very few restrictions within this design to impede the much
needed water flow.

The second problem encountered in the jetting process was
getting through the floating sphagnum mat that was three feet
thick. Flat pointed shovels were sharpened to sever the tangle
of roots and the 6" x 6" posts were each out to a chisel point
using a chain saw. The combination of the post's weight,
sharpened point and the severing of the mat allowed the post to
penetrate through the floating mat, coming to rest on the sandy
bottom. Jetting was then started and the posts were pushed down
3 to 4 feet into the sand as the sand below the posts became
suspended due to the jetting process. It was impossible to jet
in the posts if a large amount of the floating mat adhered to the
lower end of the post. Apparently the mat held the sand in place
and lessened dramatically the water flow around the penetrating
point of the post.

A DNR fire fighting, back pack homelite pump feeding a 2
inch canvas hose connected to another 1 1/2 inch canvas line, fed
our improvised 9 foot long jetting tool.

Stringers were then affixed to the posts and the cross-
beams then nailed in place. The decking was then placed on top
of the stringers and nailed down. Initially the first 50 feet of
the boardwalk were completed so the additional materi@Ts needed
for the remaining boardwalk and deck could be conveyed out
without further undue disturbance to the wetland.

During the actual fabrication of the boardwalk, the only
real pressing problem revolved around how you can maintain a
"trueness" to the whole structure when you're standing on a
"floating mat" that is by no means stationary. The structural
support posts were lined up using taught ropes affixed to posts
that were positioned farther out in the bog that lined up with
the previously jetted support posts. These taught lines were
used to measure distances to -the next post and to attempt to
maintain a straight line as the MCCC crew continued to jet in
more posts leading out in to the bog.

The boardwalk less the handrails was completed around
September 5, 1989. During the fourth weekend in August,
approximately $350.00 worth of treated wood was stolen from the
job site. That material consisted of 4" x 4" and 2" x 4" boards
that were to be utilized in the handrail construction. More
materials were purchased and the railings were begun using a
slightly different design. The new design entailed
bolting/spiking and nailing one 52 inch long 2" x 4" piece with
an angled point between the 4" x 4" diameter posts which are
positioned every 10 feet.

Finally the entire deck and all the severed ends on the
various wood pieces were treated with cuprinol. After the
cuprinol treatment the boardwalk itself would have to be
considered complete. It was completed on September 21, 1989.

A hand routed wooden sign will be positioned at the
beginning of the boardwalk acknowledging the spansorsy the
builders, and the funding source which is the Coastal Zone
Management grants. The MCCC woodshop crew will fabricate the
sign and it should be erected during the last week in September.

View of job site, initial boardwalk construction.

A; @AhL

Access from L'Anse Township Park and Pequaming Road.
A hand routed wooden sign will placed near the road.

Jetting apperatus, pipe, nozzle, hose and pump.

A
Final Jetting to level
out the boardwalk prior
A
to handrail installation.

AID'-
'-T -

Final "Jetting" to
subtly level out the
boardwalk prior to
hand rail installation.

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of.

Initial 60 feet of boardwalk construction.

Access ramp construction
to boardwalk bog access.

Overall view of boardwalk and job site.

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View of the "Floating Bog" containing
leatherleaf, pitcher plants, reeds and sedges.

View from the observation deck to t he east.

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