Reagan’s Centennial Woods Phenology Blog

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.

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.