A place close to my heart is the Niagara Gorge, it is my home.
While home I visited the Niagara Gorge almost every single day, enjoying the surrounding environment. In my opinion it is a very unique phenology location based on geography, river morphology, and recreation. The site I chose sits about 8 miles down river from the famous Niagara Falls, in a place called Artpark State Park, Lewiston NY. The 300 foot cliffs surrounding the river were formed by the Niagara Falls eroding away at the limestone bluffs year after year. The limestone that gets eroded away provides the river with a unique greenish blue sparkle. This is not much different from my phenology site at Oakledge where Lake Champlain meets the rocky shoreline and has been eroding it for years, at a much slower pace however due to it being a Lake instead of a fast moving river. Two main communities are present in the Niagara Gorge, Calcareous Cliff Community and Calcareous Talus Slope Woodland, as well as rare old growth forests. In both areas I have chosen to study there has been a concentration of calcium in the soil, allowing only certain growths to thrive. It is very cool to see the comparisons between two different spots that are now very dear to me, and I cannot wait to keep exploring!