Roy Van Loo

Grass pink orchid.

The ability of students in the western Upper Peninsula to study botany and wetland ecology at an exceptional northern fen in Houghton County has been assured for all time by the establishment of the 19-acre Robert T. Brown Nature Sanctuary by the Michigan Nature Association. The Brown sanctuary is about 5 miles west of Painesdale, along M-26, and adjacent to Lake Perrault, a Michigan Department of Natural Resources recreation site which includes a small lake, picnic area, and boat launch.

The late Dr. Robert Thorson Brown, for whom the Brown sanctuary is named, was Professor Emeritus of Michigan Technological University in the Department of Biological Sciences until his retirement in 1983. Dr. Brown was first and foremost a professor of plant ecology. He loved plants and the natural world that supports them. He was an expert in the identification of plants, mushrooms and lichens, which his research involved. He loved teaching the complex interactions between organisms and was especially remembered by his students for the field trips he led. Shortly before he died, Dr. Brown assisted in the selection of this site, to which he frequently brought his family and students to learn and marvel at the unique habitat and native orchid population. His family has contributed significant funds towards its purchase in his memory.

For the past three decades, professors in Michigan Tech’s Department of Biological Sciences and School of Forest Resources & Environmental Sciences have been bringing their classes to this fen for field trips. In 2006, nearby Jeffers High School teachers and students ‘adopted’ the Brown sanctuary. With funding and assistance from community groups, they are constructing a boardwalk and viewing platforms to protect the fragile vegetation so that students can study the habitat without damaging it.

Description of the Brown Sanctuary
The Brown Sanctuary is a northern fen surrounded by a small pond and bordered by a black spruce (Picea mariana), tamarack (Larix laricina), and white cedar (Thuja occidentalis) swamp. The fen is comprised of sphagnum moss that supports a variety of shrubs and herbaceous plants. Most of the shrubs are members of the heath family (Ericaceae) and include leatherleaf (Chamaedaphne calyculata), bog rosemary (Andromeda glaucophylla), bog laurel (Kalmia polifolia), Labrador tea (Ledum groenlandicum), and both small and large cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos and V. macrocarpon). Sedges are common in the Brown Sanctuary and include candle lantern sedge (Carex limosa) that grows on the floating sphagnum mat along the pond margin. Several species of orchids are also found here.

Several carnivorous plants abound in this fen: pitcher plant (Sarracenia purpurea), round leaved sundew (Drosera rotundifolia), and hidden fruited bladderwort (Utricularia geminiscapa), the latter floating in shallow water near the mat edge. Since the fen is a nitrogen-poor environment, these unique plants capture and digest insects and other food to obtain the necessary nutrients.