Hello! My name is Grace Weckesser, and for my NR001 Phenology Project, I choose the lovely Crescent Woods! From where I call home in UVM’s Athletic Campus, Crescent Woods is only a 7-minute bike ride away! Traveling west through Athletic and Redstone Campuses, you can reach Prospect Street and go south, until veering right onto Ledge Road, then making an immediate left onto Hillcrest Road. The next right will be turned into Crescent Road, and the beautiful Crescent Woods will be on your right three blocks down!

When first coming upon Crescent Woods, you’re greeted with a charming staircase leading down a steep embankment. It is lined with plenty of maples, including small Striped maples, young Norway and Sugar maples in the understory, and larger Norway and Sugar maples in the overstory.

Down at the bottom of the staircase and embankment trail, you’re met with Englesby Brook, an urban stream that begins more northeast towards where the UVM campus meets the Burlington Country Club, and ends at Lake Champlain. Walking down the embankment, there are very few herbaceous plants, most plants under 6 ft. are constituted by spotted touch-me-nots, young maples and young wych elms.

Coming closer to my designated spot in Crescent Woods that I will be tracking until further notice, the herbaceous layer of the landscape becomes more abundant.

And here is a view of my spot from today! Is is a great place to view the overstory from a spot next to the brook. More and more maples, with some sparcer Eastern Hemlocks seen in the distance!