Introduction:

My place for this project is located in Centennial Woods. To find this area, first, you have to go to Centennial Woods entrance found across from the UVM parking lots and follow the dirt path made by NR-1 students. If you keep following the path you will hit a small body of water, cross that bridge a keep walking up the hill! You will then reach my location. It is a big open area filled with many different types of trees and woody plants!

I chose this area because one, the foliage is amazing and so beautiful to look at. At two, I love to explore and walk around nature and I felt like Centennial Woods would be the perfect spot to keep coming back to!

Location:

Vegetation Description & Plant Species:

Tree Species:

• Eastern Hemlock
• Paper Birch
• Eastern White Pine
• Red Maple

Plant Species:

• Posin Ivy

11/7

After spending 15 minutes of quiet time in my spot at Centennial Woods I have found some changes. Due to the seasons changing, most of the leaves that have fallen from the trees, such as red maples, are pilled on the ground with some dead sticks as well. The weather hasn’t changed that much throughout the past month but the soil does feel more wet and cold. The area does get more sunlight now due to fewer leaves on trees.

12-10

As we come to an end, we have seen so much change happen to our Phenology spot in Centennial Woods! From November to December it had been a long journey of foliage and growth. As we know the leaves of trees in the woods had stayed a pretty orange-red color for a while. In Vermont leaves tend to fall off trees in late October, where in Centennial Woods the leaves of many red maples were still on the branches. Even though some were making its way down on the ground it’s interesting to see if different tress in different areas behave. As we can see in the second picture there are so many leaves on the ground from multiple different trees. I have not seen any signs of fruits or vegetation. In addition I had seen small marks on trees back In November which were most likely from squirrels. This time when I went I didn’t look that much into the markings, I didn’t find has much as last time. This could be because the squirrels are staying in their shelter to keep warm for the winter and they aren’t out and about this time around.

What aspects of your phenology place do you enjoy the most?

Some aspects that I have enjoyed the most about my phenology is that It is kind of secluded from everything else in Centennial Woods. The woods is a very popular place and my spot there is pretty deep in the woods so not a lot of people go there which is good because there are fewer human impacts in the area. Also anytime I came here to take pictures to update my blog I rarely ran into people, which was nice because I love my alone time. Another aspect that I liked about my area is that in the fall, the sugar maples were so beautiful and the trees/leaves fully covered the sky so there were only some tiny glimpses of sunlight that would peak through. But the whole look of the woods in general in amazing in the fall. Centennial Woods is an amazing resources to have right by campus and if you would ever have the time to just explore the area, its definitely worth it!

Also just wanted to throw in a picture that I took of my spot when it snowed !!