MINNESOTA — Marcell Experimental Forest was recently designated a “Wetland of Distinction.” The Society of Wetland Scientists bestows this classification as part of a public initiative to raise awareness of wetlands and the ways in which these places impact the environment and society. Established in 1960 by the USDA Forest Service, the Marcell Experimental Forest is a natural fit for these criteria, as the site can boast an impressive legacy as one of the longest-running peatland experiments in the world—with almost 65 years of data sets and observations that have shaped scientific research into climate change, carbon sequestration and its impact on humankind.

This forest has been a focal point of research into understanding peatland ecohydrology (the interactions between ecological and hydrological processes) and biogeochemistry (the cycling of chemical elements and compounds between living organisms and the atmosphere). Specifically, the Bog Lake peatland at Marcell is one of the longest running sites on the planet to use instrumentation to measure the exchange of carbon dioxide and methane between the atmosphere and the peatland ecosystem—referred to by researchers as a peatland eddy covariance.  It was at Bog Lake that researchers first observed large methane emissions in the 1980s. From these early observations, entire worldwide campaigns have since been established to assess methane output from wetlands. 

Marcell Experimental Forest is also home to the Spruce and Peatland Responses to Changing Environments experiment, which employs the warming of soil and atmosphere along with controlled carbon dioxide treatments to measure the effects on the peatland. SPRUCE is undoubtedly the most extensive climate change experiment on the planet.

“Peatlands store about one-third of the global terrestrial carbon, but these peatlands only occupy three percent of the planet’s surface. This makes them an important driver of climate that is far disproportionate to their area size,” explains Northern Research Station Research Soil Scientist Randy Kolka. “It was at the Marcell Experimental Forest peatlands that we really first began to characterize and understand carbon cycling in peatlands, ranging from the microbial to the ecosystem level.” 

The research coming out of Marcell regarding climate change and its interaction with peatland is of special interest and concern to researchers. As temperatures increase and precipitation patterns change, peatland ecosystems are responding in ways that further exacerbate the problem. “We are seeing peatland ecosystems flipping from being sinks for carbon, which they have been for 11,000 years, to being net sources of carbon release into the atmosphere, even with only moderate increases in temperature,” says Kolka.

This research at Marcell has contributed to hundreds of scientific publications and papers, while recent webinars have drawn over 600 virtual attendees. Marcell Experimental Forest’s peatland research extends well beyond academia, influencing environmental decision-making and public policy. For instance, research from the site has contributed to foundational decisions ranging from public discussions about the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act to the Marcell’s inclusion as the first site in the National Atmospheric Deposition Program, which has grown since the 1970s to include over 300 sites. Similarly, as research at Marcell has brought insight into landscape and environmental factors affecting mercury cycles, the experimental forest was again the first in the Mercury Deposition Network that has now grown to over 100 sites nationally.

As the amount of research coming out of Marcell Experimental Forest continues to grow, so too has public interest. “Even though we do not have a formal visitor education program plan at Marcell, there is great interest for us to host visits to the site,” says Kolka. “We have had over 1700 visitors on tours since 2017 including a couple of years of the COVID-19 pandemic when we prohibited visitors.  Visitors include everyone from hardcore researchers to students ranging from elementary school to college.” 

Curiosity over the research at Marcell has not been confined solely to in-person visits. In 2023, PBS showcased the innovative science unfolding in northern Minnesota during a half-hour documentary.