W. Connor Stack Phenology A UVM blog

Over spring break I went home, and traveled to Harriman State Park in New York, specifically the Island Pond area.  The area in New York is similar to my location in Burlington because they are both near water, one being a river, and one being a pond.  Also, my spot in New York had approximately 2 feet of snow, similar to my phenology spot in Burlington 2 months ago.  While the heavy snow made it difficult to see any leaves on the trees, On my hike, I noticed a few different trees, some being Red Oak, Sugar Maple, and Beech.  I also saw signs of recent woodpecker activity in the form of holes in trees.  The area also appeared to be a healthy forest as there was a good amount of species diversity.  I also noticed rabbit tracks in the snow, as well as fox tracks.  Unlike much of the New Jersey New York area, Harriman State Park has been mostly preserved by the Harrimans, a family who’s estate protected the area, and turned it into a state park in 1910.

Map Link

Using biofinder to analyze my location, I learned that my spot is not technically a wetland.  I also found that there is an endangered species that lives in my area.  Unfortunately it doesn’t say what the species is on biofinder, and outside research has not found anything.  There is also a rare species known as the mud minnow in the river adjacent to my site. I also learned that my area is a calcareous rock outcrop.  The biofinder map is included below.

Since my last visit to my phenology spot, a lot of the snow and ice has melted.  Chunks of ice that had been on the banks have melted to much smaller than their original size.  It was a rainy day when I went, so it was impossible to find any tracks.  I did however find trees and branches that had been chewed on by beavers.  The ice chunks which I included a picture of last time have melted, however there are still large slabs of ice in the river collecting around the edges and on the upstream side of islands.  The water level has also risen significantly.

In Wetland, Woodland, Wildland, The authors in the introduction state that they are not going to focus on aquatic ecosystems, and as my site is on the shore of the Winooski river at Salmon Hole, I do not believe this type of ecosystem is covered in the readings.  My site is however classified as a Riparian zone, which is an ecosystem on the banks of a river that acts as a buffer.