West Woods
Samuel Miller, VA 22901
38.073469, -78.588194
Click this Link to see the sight on google maps
When I went back home I chose to use a stream nearby my house as my location because I have so many good memories there.
(Leopold)
I walked down to the stream to see what has changed in the months that I have been away. I left right after a large storm which flooded the area. The bridges had been washed out and silt stained the banks brown. It was amazing to walk down along the streamside path after so long. The vegetation had recovered after being drowned and now the river banks were once again carpeted with grasses, shrubs, and brambles. The path was shaded by the hemlocks and the oaks towering overhead. The brook still bubbled happily along a new trajectory carved by the erosion of the powerful flood waters. The old hawk nest was still there and I sat on the bank and watched it for a while hoping that the old couple would come back. Eventually, I was pulled farther down the path by the calls of other songbirds. I recognized the blue jay, but the others had slipped my mind. I turned and walked onto one of the newly constructed bridges and looked down at the water moving over the mucky rocky bottom. I remembered years ago when I caught my first crawdad at this little bend in the river. I watched leaf boats make their way underneath me. Minnows darted around beneath my feet and the breeze rustled the branches around me. It was good to be back.
(Wright)
The ecology of the Burlington stream and the Charlottesville stream is very similar, but the phenology of the two is very different. The C stream has changed drastically over time due to the disturbance of the flood, while the B stream has not changed that much over an approximately equal amount of time. The streams’ compositions are very similar. They both are very clear with a half rocky half mucky bottom with lots of minows and other creatures darting around. The banks of both are covered with different undergrowth, but both have similar trees growing on their banks. They have different bird species and the C stream had a lot more songbirds than the B stream. There is evidence of dear and other animals all around both of the streams, but I have not yet seen a dear in person in centennial woods. Even when I go during quiet morning hours. The C stream has changed drastically as it has recovered from the damage of the storm. New undergrowth is taking hold to replace their drowned predecessors, and there are major signs of erosion along the banks. The trees at the C stream have retained some of their leaves because it hasn’t gotten cold enough yet in the south while the trees at the B stream have lost all of theirs. Maybe I am more able to see the changes at the Charlottesville stream because I have been removed from it for so long. I have missed the changes in the Burlington stream because they have happened gradually. Both streams have changed over time, but it appears that the stream at home has changed much more
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