Febuary 27, 2020

Posted in Uncategorized on February 27, 2020 by creagan1

Winters in Vermont are often long and frigid; however, this winter has been fairly mild with warm spells. Today, February 27, 2020 is my first time visiting my Phenology location in Centennial Woods since January. The biggest change I observed today is the increase of snowpack that is now above 12’ inches deep. In addition, the weather seems to be warming with a temperature of around 30 degrees Fahrenheit today. However, earlier today it was raining in Burlington before turning into snow, suggesting winter is starting to loosen its grip with longer sunny days.  

Snow Flees (Black Spots in Snow)

There is not much change since my last visit, although the snow appears to be wet and compacted, which is different from the fluffy dry snow earlier in the year. This can be contributed to the sun beating down on the snow as it is higher in the sky, and the days are longer. 

Snow Depth Well Above Boot

On my adventure today I saw only a few wildlife species, and very little sign. This is in part because today we received about 3’ inches of new snow that covered wildlife tracks that where older than a few hours. I was able to find old tracks that appear to be a White-Tailed Deer in the same location I found them in my previous outing. The animal appears to be running, and my guess it the potential Deer was running from either humans, or a dog that was hiking with its owner. My location is near Centennial Brook, and I believe the Deer like this location as it is a water source, but also in the lowlands of the brook are abundant tree browse from early successional trees.     

It is truly remarkable to have this wood in Burlington as it allows species like Deer to survive so close to the city. Deer have few predators in Vermont, and much less in the Burlington area as Black Bear and Coyotes hate human contact. Centennial Woods offers deer cover from snow with its mixed soft wood forests of Eastern Hemlock, and White Pine, and great food sources from the Red Oaks and young forest growth. As before evidence of browse is present throughout the forest. 

Old White-Tailed Deer Tracks
Centennial Brook
Field Notes

January Blog 1/30/2020

Posted in Uncategorized on January 30, 2020 by creagan1

Today January 30th, 2020 is my first visit back to my site in Centennial Woods. There are many things to note since my last visit to the woods and the first being simply the weather. Today the sky is very overcast, and the temperature is slightly above 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Winter is in full swing in Vermont with snow cover and below freezing highs. Aside from the weather one massive change I have noticed at my sight is Centennial Brook. The brook is very low with an abundant of ice over on the edge of the water. At first most everything appeared to be normal with the book until I tried to cross and noticed that the man-made bridges have been moved down stream! It appears while over winter break a high-water event sent the large wooden planks a few yards down the brook. 

Image showing the bridge (wooden planks) transported down stream.

While on my adventure I made the point to venture off the trail and to try an observe some wildlife activity. I was very surprised to find various sets of White-Tailed Deer tracks throughout my site. I never would have thought there would be so much activity of this species in a rural area. This is one of the many advantages snow provides during the winter because before today I never thought deer would be so common in this setting. In addition, I found LOTS and LOTS of human footprints on and off the trail, which put into perspective how much activity this forest gets from humans. 

White-Tailed Deer Track
Evidence of abundant human activity.
White-Tail Deer browse prevalent on many small shrubs.

Towards the end of my walk I found a very interesting set of footprints that came up from near the brook and walked across a fallen log. Unfortunately, there had been a dusting of snow since the animal had passed through and therefore, I was unable to identify what the species the tracks where made from. However, the tracks appear to be in the bounding category which means it could have been potentially a Weasel, Mink, or maybe even a Fisher.

Unidentified Tracks

 As always, I love looking at the trees in Centennial as many of the species can give me a run for their money as some of the tree species are not common in Central Vermont where I am from. I was able to identify many species based on their bark, branching, and stems. These trees included, Sugar Maple, Red Maple, Green Ash, Red Oak, and American Elm. However, one tree I struggled to distinguish between a yellow birch, or a gray birch… In addition, a common red shrub confused me, but I believe it could potentially be Dogwood.

Unidentified Tree

Downsville Watershed My Home Town Sense of Place.

Posted in Uncategorized on December 5, 2019 by creagan1

Over break I decided not to work, but rather to enjoy nature and spend many days hunting. Fortunately, our Thanksgiving break lines up with the last week of Vermont’s 16-day rifle season. This year I decided to venture away from hunting near my home on Moretown Mountain, and instead I headed across the valley to the Downsville Watershed to explore and hunt larger woods.

The Downsville “Valley” has a long history with Vermont and even my family. Downsville has always been used for one purpose and that is logging. Since settlers came to the Mad River Valley, they have always harvest timber from this massive mountain that abuts Camels’ Hump. The 5,000-acre property was once owned by the Ward family who owned hundreds of thousands of acres throughout the state and operated a handful of mills. The ward family sold the property in the 1950’s to a New York timber company who managed the property up until a few years ago when the State of Vermont purchased the property. The land is now part of the 30,000-acre Camels Hump State Forest. 

Downsville is a working land scape with mixed habitat from young hardwood forest with maple, paper birch, yellow birch, and beach, to old growth spruce and balms at higher elevations. This type of habitat is wonderful for black bear, moose, white-tailed deer, grouse, and snowshoe hare. Well hunting I saw hare tracks, moose sigh, and even bear tracks! 

I have been told and read that Downsville has always been used for logging, however I saw evident of old homesteads and fields. This evident came in the form of old stone foundations, and random stone walls. Therefore, I believe sheep farming may have come before logging during the 18th century.

Downsville holds a special place in my sense of place for many reasons. The main reason is because the land is so remote and wild, and those characteristics are something I value. In addition, my father’s relatives used to log Downsville for over 100 years. It is a very interesting feeling when you walk on the land that your family used to worked with. 

November 12, 2019 Centennial Woods

Posted in Uncategorized on November 12, 2019 by creagan1

Today was the first large snow storm to hit Vermont, with snow accumulations around ten inches. Therefore when I ventured down to my spot in Centennial Woods I saw a landscape that appeared unfamiliar to myself. An odd feeling seeing I have ventured to that very spot over a dozen times this year. This last snow storm really put into perspective how much a landscape can change throughout the course of a year, or even a few weeks.

Centennial Woods is a very special place at UVM for myself as it offers me a way to escape the city life. Centennial woods today was cold, windy, and snowy. Normally people often hate these conditions to be outside, but this helped me relate to my home.

The first thing I noticed while walking into the woods today was the apple tree that was covered in snow, yet still had apples. It is quite interesting to think about how that tree got to Centennial Woods. I imagined that there was once an old farm adjacent to the forest that planted the tree as a crop.


November 1st 2019

Posted in Uncategorized on November 1, 2019 by creagan1

I traveled to my sight today (11/1/2019) and was not surprised by what I observed. Last night on Halloween (10/31/2019) Burlington was swamped by a massive rain storm that causes flooding throughout the area. On the walk to my sight near the brook I could feel how saturated the ground was from the storm. Once to the brook I observed that the brook flooded over its banks last night. All the grass and shrubs in the riparian buffer of the brook where matted down from the water. In, addition the waters color was still a dark brown, and slightly high. Lots of woody material was clumped in the river from the high water.

The Flora around my location has changed quite a lot since my last visit. Most of the trees leafs have completely fallen off with the exception of a few Paper Birches. The grass has also lost all of its color and now is a light brown. The only green can be found on high side of the river bank, where a few ferns are located, and moss located on downed logs.

Below is a map of the area in Centennial Woods in which I am observing. Centennial Woods is very thick and hilly, therefore one doesn’t realize how close one section of the woods is to another.

Introducton

Posted in Uncategorized on October 24, 2019 by creagan1

My name is Chase Reagan, and I am currently a freshman at the University of Vermont. I am enrolled in UVM’s Rubinstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, majoring in Forestry and minoring in Wildlife Biology. I grew up in Moretown Vermont which is about an hour west of Burlington. Moretown is in the heart of the Green Mountains, and because of these I have devolved a strong passion for nature. I have many hobby’s that pertain to nature such as hunting, fly fishing, maple sugaring, and hiking.  

Living in Burlington is not the easiest thing for myself as I am not used to being in the city. Fortunately, UVM has Centennial Woods which offers a sliver of solitude for me to escape the city life. Centennial Woods is only a 15-minute walk from my dorm room and is also on the way to baseball practice. This is why Centennial Woods makes an ideal location for my phenology assignment. Over the course of the next few months I will be uploading journal entries of my time spent in the woods.

Centennial Woods is a 65 Acre Natural Area. My location is accessed across from the UVM Police station off East Ave. As you walk along the trail you will see a mixed forest with Red Maple, Green Ash, Black Cherry, White Pine, and many more species. The trial meanders down a hill, until it reaches an opening that holds Centennial Brook. This is the location I will be observing over the next few months.






Hello world!

Posted in Uncategorized on October 9, 2019 by creagan1

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