I am now home in southern New Jersey, and although I live in a suburb of Philadelphia with very little natural area, I do luckily live right down the street from a natural spring area. There is a little lake and some walking trails. Fun fact also, Walt Whitman used to vacation here and wrote a couple of his poems inspired by the nature in these photos!
The ecology and phenology here is quite different than in Vermont, so I am not 100% sure about the trees I saw. There are definitely some Red Oaks, Sweet Birches, and American Holly trees. These trees do not experience the same weather conditions as those at Redstone Pines on UVM campus. The climate in New Jersey has drastically changed in the past twenty years due to climate change. The temperatures in the winter do not get as cold, causing some trees to bloom earlier in the year and then die due to random cold days sprinkled throughout the spring season. There are also way less pines due to this!
Here are some photos of the lake and ecology near me!
I have also included a close up of where this is located and a further out screenshot to show the closeness to other major towns and cities!
