'Monster Bog' Creeps Into Brainerd-Area Bay
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- People in the Brainerd Lakes Area calling it "the monster bog."
Drone 4 captured the floating bog on North Long Lake in Merrifield. It has been the talk of the town this past week.
It already damaged some docks when it broke off during high winds one week ago.
Neighbors have been trying to figure out what to do about it ever since.
The pesky visitor is a problem for the people living on the lake, like Nicole Zoschke.
"It's nice and peaceful, calm, and then the big monster bog came through," Zoschke said. "You feel bad for where it parked and what a problem it is."
She's afraid for the docks. Where it sits now, the big bog is blocking the swimming area at a local children's camp.
It is 4 or 5 acres of a headache for lake association president Bill Schmidt.
"We've had no success in moving it," Schmidt said. "We haven't had any success in containing it, and as it travels around in the bay or it goes out into the big lake, no matter where it goes it's going to cause a lot of damage."
Schmidt says he is calling the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and local companies with massive equipment to brainstorm about how to move the bog.
Neighbors on the lake are using stakes to try to hold it in place, while they work to pin down a solution.
"You can imagine if it landed in front of your property here, what would you do with it?" Schmidt said. "You all of a sudden have lost your lakeshore. You all of a sudden have lost the value of your properties."
With Friday's high water levels and wind, the association is watching the bog closely.
They are hopeful it can be moved and naturally grow back into where it came from.
But they do not know how much that would cost, or how they would pay for it.
