March Has Flowed In

Upon the deluged of precipitation we have experienced the water ways in Redstone Quarry are saturated and lethargic, brimming with water spilling out. Similarly to the landscape in November when Burlington with hit was lots of precipitation, water is pouring out all over in the Quarry and filling in low areas. When comparing this to my first visit, there is a cold wetness that did not exist at the start. My first visit vegetation was in full bloom and water was confined to smaller specific areas. The change of the year has brought bare branches and more water. The exposed rocks that proliferated my eye on my first visit are now covered in snow or water. The rock cliff is one thing that hasn’t changed only now it is covered with some white snow and a small water feature in two different spots. The cattails on this visit are more noticeable with the lack of vegetation from the surrounding trees. Also the animal communities have shifted. the majority of birds are gone so only squirrels and small rodents are let to occupy my thoughts about animal interactions. Redstone Quarry has come a long way in a few months of change but the essence and the layout is the same.
When I come to the task of figuring out what community to classify Redstone Quarry the first thought that comes to mind is some type of wetland community. The majority of the area is covered with water with little pools and a small pond cutting through the exposed rocks. In the far corner the water is filled with cattails leading me to the marshes and sedge classification and within that the cattail marsh. I believe that while the entire quarry is not classified in this community a good portion is. The cattails are extremely dominant in two spots of the area probably due to the suspected mineral soils and the shallowness of the water in those spots. When I move on to try and classify the rest of the natural area I hit a wall. The majority of the area without water is exposed rock. There is some forested area right near by the Quarry but there is not that same denseness in the Quarry. The location is very open and exposed with bunches of trees here and there. When I look to the large looming cliff I realize that part of the community is this cliff and comes with it a classification. This cliff or redstone outcrop is a temperate Cliff because of its low elevation and the vegetation that grows on it. Because of the lack of vegetation on it at the moment it is hard to discern if it is a acidic or calcareous cliff. But since redstone is a form of sandstone which produces acidic soil my bet is on the community being temperate acidic cliff. It’s eye opening to see these different communities overlap and interact to produce this natural area. I also come to think about what they area may have looked like if this quarry wasn’t a quarry. If the stone had be left and not extracted, I wonder if the dominant wetland community would even exist.