On the Chippewa Flowage in northern Wisconsin, there is a 40-acre patch of forest that has no fixed address. It drifts across the lake's western side on its own schedule and when the wind is wrong, it drifts straight toward the only bridge connecting the flowage's east and west sides. When that happens, there is really only one practical option locals have found: boat owners gather, sometimes twenty of them, sometimes fifty, and use their bows to push the floating forest out of the way. Since the lake's formation, the people here have had to cope with these floating bogs, and nothing suggests the problem is resolving itself. It cannot be divided into pieces and then cleaned up since it is considered an ecological zone that shelters its own plant and animal species. The people only have one choice: to move it around for a bit.
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