Andrew Milton's Phenology Blog

In almost every culture around the world there is a value of nature because of our dependency on nature as humans. This is true in Vermont especially and my spot in centennial woods is a place where people from the community can go to celebrate the natural world may it be through education, recreation or exploration. Its public forests like these that represent our need to connect with nature and its deep rootedness in our culture.

I very much feel like a part of my centennial woods spot. The forests are not only there so that animals will have a place to live within our human world, the forests are also here for us to learn from them. The forest is providing me an educational service so that I may one day be able to return the favor. In this way I am just as much a part of the forest as the forest is a part of our society.

The snow is finally gone and life has returned to the forest. Squirrels and chipmunks can be seen once again be seen chasing each other along the dead logs. Birds can not only be heard but they can be seen flying from tree to tree filling the air with sound.  Patches of green have formed on the wet soil in the form of grass, young ferns and moss. The buds on the red maple branches are noticeably red all the way up the tree. There are no new leaves yet but they are well on their way.

Early bloomers like the red maple and the birch showing strong signs of blooming. The ground is still covered with snow and ice but under logs and where the snow is thin, grasses and ferns can be seen sprouting from beneath the leaf litter.

Grass sprouting out of the snow

Freshly sprouted ferns

Red maple bud

Birch bud

The ridge line next to the trail is thick with low tree grown and tree litter. The low growth is so abundant due to the extra sunlight the open trail offers. farther into the forest there is noticeably less clutter in the understory because the large surrounding trees absorb all of the sunlight. The tree litter likely has something to do with the clearing of the trail as well. The tree liter on the ridge line may be a result of the maintenance of the trail. When something falls on the trail, it is pushed of to the side by humans. This provides shelter for small mammals such as rabbits and squirrels.

This is a picture taken from the trail looking out over the ridge line. Notice the dance low level trees in front closer to the trail and the clearer forest in the background.

The ridge line can be seen next to the trail on the left. The woods farther away from the ridge on the right looks much neater.

The forest is quiet on this particular below freezing morning. The accessional crow can be heard in the distance hinting at spring but the remains of the snowstorm a few day earlier still somewhat shackles the forest floor. All the low level pine trees are arched over with their heads buried in the snow making the forest look open and horizon can be seen in all directions. Buds can be seen sprouting out of low level hardwoods.

This oak is sprouting buds.

These woods used to be an agricultural field and there rock wall still divid up the forest. Closer to the road there are thick old white pines but farther in it turns into a hardwood forest. there is a clear and noticeable line where these white pines stop. There are a few explanations for this pattern. In the hardwood forest most of the maples and oaks have black scars at their base and are no thicker than a 5 inches radius. This suggests that a fire could have gotten rid of all the Pines except for those closer to the road. The Pines could also be there because they are more ascetically pleasing therefor they are maintained and kept healthy on this part of the trail. The true explanation for this pattern is likely a combination of these two hypotheses.

On the left of this panoramic picture you can notice the Pine dominant part of the forest and on the right the hard wood forest.

Using BioFinder, I was able to discover that most of centennial woods can be classified as a rare natural upland community. The areas not under the same classification are for the most part wetlands. There is a highest priority animal crossing on rout 89 for the wildlife of centennial woods to be able to access other forests. Centennial woods is also home to rare top priority species.