Gilbrook Nature Area

Recently with the warming temps and frequent rain, many tree buds have been waking up all across Bolton valley, especially the Paper birch I have selected.

While previously all of the flower stalks had been a dark brown and barely opened, most of the brown scales have begin to shed revealing small, delicate white/green flowers. They stalks are very reminiscent of Willows flowering.

Aside from the development of the stalks, there were not that many major impacts on the phenology of the tree. Despite the storms we may have gotten, this birch is very developed and did not loose any major branches throughout the winter. I found that the flower stalks themselves developed very quickly, but took a much longer time to flower. Once they started showing signs of the scales opening however, they opened very quickly and are currently shedding seeds.

I’ve spent a lot of my time at Bolton this semester due to skiing. I enjoy both night skiing and the backcountry that they have available and it is a great location near campus to get outside into nature.

This makes Bolton Valley a very interesting area since there is so much biodiversity compared to the land not even 20 miles away, however there is a lot of human interactions. Especially going into the backcountry, I try to be aware about where we skin so as to not disrupt local fauna or flora. After reading Burning the Shelter by louis Owens, I started to rethink about what nature is and how we can interact with it. I think it is very important to have these healthy interactions so as to understand our role with the natural world and what we gain from it.

On my last visit to Bolton there was still some snow on the ground, while there is still a lot of melting that is occurring.

Already you can see a lot more of the flower stalks towards the ends of the branches. While I didn’t see any that are really starting to split there are some signs of that.

You can see that along the brown scales there is some light green growth spots coming in. I am assuming that within 3-4 weeks there will be a lot more development of the flowers as the trees begin to really germinate.

On my most Recent visit to Bolton, I noticed some distinct differences with the Yellow Birch I had selected. Towards the end of the branches flower stalks have been beginning to appear. These stalks will begin to grow around mid-late march and will continue as the flowers and seedlings begin to mature.

These stalks will become more green with time and each small scale will open up giving way to several tiny white flower bulbs.

For this phenology assignment, the tree I choose was one I found near the entrance to the backcountry trails at Bolton Valley. It is a very large Yellow Birch which I estimated to be around 150-200 years old.

While it seems a little beefier and the offshoot trunks seem out of place typically for birch trees, I identified it based off of the telltale silverish peeling bark.

For this months phenology post, I started walking downtown on Pearl Street to see what I could find in one of the most developed parts of Burlington. The only true wildlife I saw was a bunch of American robins. For a good portion of the road every tree was inhabited by some robins, or they would poke around someone’s yard.

For the way back, I took less of a developed route and looped to a brook at the back of the woods behind Trinity campus. This area has a lot of low-lying brush and connects to a couple larger streams. While looking alongside the water, I noticed tracks that were distinctly from a bounding animal. Due to the series of melting and re-freezing, the tracks were very hard to determine.

The tracks were roughly 6 cm long and had some trailing to it which made it seem that the animal had dragged its toes across loose snow which made it seem like an old tracks, since we’ve not had fresh snow in Burlington in about a week.

Due to the lack of detail in the track, I am pretty torn between Fisher and Mink for the explanation of the tracks. I considered Marten too, but due to how rare they are in our area I assumed that it was probably one of the latter. If the tracks are truly the size I found them, I would definitely assume Fisher as they are typically 5-7.5 centimeter in length and width. However, due to the melting of snow, a smaller print could be expanded through melting. Plus, their smaller size seemed more able to handle the thick brush that the tracks were found in.

For this semester I switched my Phenology location from Gilbrook Nature Area to Bolton Valley. Bolton Valley is about a 30 minute car ride from campus and holds a ski resort, and also many trails for hiking, snowshoeing, and backcountry skiing. For this project I will be focusing on the trails and areas that are off the on-piste resort trails. My goal for the semester is for each visit to be a part of a different ski spot.

For our first trip, we followed the backcountry trails to Bryant cabin which is just over a kilometer from the resort parking lot. From there we skinned up to the fork that would take one to Stowe view marked by the red star on the map. From there we skied the glades down to the parking lot.

To the left is an image of the start of our descent. This area has been consistently covered in snow since we’ve been back from Christmas break. The environment consists of a high number of both coniferous and deciduous trees. On top of this there is a lot of tall grass and shrubs. Most of these trails are designed for skiing so they are not maintained for hikers.

Unfortunately, for this first visit, we were not able to see any tracks. I feel there are a couple of reasons why this is. Firstly, I considered that with our proximity to the lifts and lodges that wildlife might be less inclined to be near and that more would be found on the far left of the valley or the backside. Besides that, when we went the trails and new snow had already been packed down a lot. This very well could’ve concealed some signs of animals.

Generally, this spot is very different from my past phenology location. This is area is much higher in elevation and you can really start to see this as you get closer to the ridgeline as the trees diminish in size. For future trips and as the area warms, I am anticipating seeing lots of birds and smaller mammals as opposed to large animals like deer. Hopefully I am able to find tracks for next trip.

For my last trip to Gilbrook Nature Area for this project, I choose a very rainy day. I couldn’t find any deciduous trees with leaves left and there was virtually no animal activity.

One thing that interested me was how there were still patches of grass that were very green, I assumed that most patches of grass would be pretty dull at this time of year but I was wrong. Also, there was a massive fallen branch right on the shoreline. However due to the temperature I assume, there was no sign of of rot or fungal activity. Another interesting piece about Gilbrook is the human interactions. A section of the path that was once littered with cattails had been mowed. I tried looking into this as of why but I wasn’t able to find a definitive answer as most sources say trimming cattails down to the water surface means it will take a very long time for them to grow back.

I think Gilbrook is so interesting because it is a nature area that is nestled in between many built-up sections of Winooski. Seeing how an area like this can thrive between neighborhoods, industrial areas, and highways, and also serve as a nice recreational area is awesome. I think studying and improving areas like this is essential to be able to continue conservation in urban areas.

While I was on break this past week, I went on a trail ride at a state park near my home in MA called Pearl Hill. The specific trail I took was one I hadn’t gone on before and crested at an unnamed hill near Rattlesnake hill.

While the area overall is pretty similar to Vermont’s ecology and overall landscape, there are a few clear differences. For one, due to the temperature difference, there were a few deciduous trees that still had leaves and a few of the said leaves were still bright green. As I got into the higher elevation parts of the park, the leaf litter decreased and lead way to a lot more pine needles scattered along the ground. At the pond near the parking lot, just a little bit of ice had started to form, marking the beginning of the true winter to come across all of New England.

Since last visit, most of the colorful foliage has dropped. While there were still some animal activity (mostly frogs), there is much less overall including virtually no insects. Now that the air temperature is dropping, I can feel how the pond has retained its heat from the previous months. Soon, the colder water will sink and be replaced by the lower, warmer water. In more ways than one, Gilbrook Nature Area is settling down for winter.

Gilbrook Nature Area is a small conservation area in the city of Winooski, right outside of Burlington. The Area is the highest elevation point in Winooski and it is a predominately forested area. The major forested areas tend to be hardwoods, specifically Eastern White Pine in the overstory. In the center of Gilbrook, is the pond. Around this pond the vegetation clears and consists more of bush and grass species.

I chose this area because I am very interested in how relatively young and small ponds are formed, and how they affect the vegetation around them. Another key thing I’m interested in that I would like to keep track of across the seasons is the abundance of fish and how ice formation will affect this