Today I visited Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary in my hometown of Attleboro, Massachusetts. The 76 acre protected area overseen by the Mass Audubon Society is home to upland forests, a freshwater marsh, a red maple swamp, and Lake Talaquega. Despite being over 250 miles apart, I noticed many similarities between Oak Knoll and Centennial Woods. The presence of stone walls is a good indicator of previous land use. In Centennial Woods, walls remain from Vermont’s era of widespread pastoralization. I assume that the walls in Oak Knoll once served a similar purpose.

As implied by the name, red and white oak trees are prevalent within the area. Additionally, one may encounter American beeches, spruces, Eastern white pine, and the occasional yellow birch. Oak Knoll lacks the plethora of early successional species found in Centennial Woods, leading me to believe that deforestation has occurred to a lesser extent. As you venture away from the stone wall remains, tree height and width becomes substantially larger.

Due to the similarities in supported tree species, I would assume that the soil order is similar to the alfisols I observed in Centennial Woods. Luckily for me, I did not have to dig to test this theory because a recently fallen tree exposed a large chunk of soil with visible horizons.

Moderate leeching in the B-horizon coupled with an abundance of deciduous trees in the area leads me to believe that alfisols lie beneath Oak Knoll as well.

Eventually, we reached the grand finale of the trail: Lake Talaquega. Here, I found cattails, which served as a focal point at my phenology spot in Centennial Woods.

In my time at Oak Knoll, I encountered a wide variety of natural wonders that I likely would not be able to observe at different times on the phenological clock. Comparing my usual phenology spot to Oak Knoll allowed me to apply what I’ve learned over the course of my first semester to an unexplored location, which I found to be refreshing and rewarding.

Citations:

“Attleboro, Massachusetts.” Map, Google Maps. Accessed November 2020.

Haigh, Lindsay . November 2020. Stone Wall [Photograph]

Haigh, Lindsay . November 2020. Eastern White Pine [Photograph]

Haigh, Lindsay . November 2020. Fallen Tree [Photograph]

Haigh, Lindsay . November 2020. Ducks [Photograph]

Haigh, Lindsay . November 2020. Turkeytail Fungus [Photograph]

Oak Knoll Wildlife Sanctuary. (2020, September 01). Retrieved December 05, 2020, from https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/oak-knoll