28 November 2022: For my new phenology spot I chose an outlook along the Assabet River. Its a very peaceful place that I always walk my dog to because he loves laying down in the leaves next to the river and watching the water flow downstream. We walked down our street to a small path that takes you directly to the river which runs through my town, Concord, MA. In the area there is mostly a mix of white and red oak in the overstory with small samples around the bank. As you can see from the photos below, there’s a bunch of logs and woody debris that hangs over the edge and into the water; in the summer you can spot small turtles sun bathing on the logs. A pattern I noticed was the logs creating ripples in the water. A process I noticed was the river slowly eroding the bank and wearing away the land as well as depositing rocks and sand further up stream.
Comparing both phenology spots I found many similiarites and differences between the two of them. For starters, the tree diveristy is much different. I found more white and red oaks in the new spot where as the UVM spot has much more eastern white pines and maples. I recently found out both bodies of water, Assabet river and Centennial brook, have been subject to pollution. The assabet river used to be a spot where factories would dump mercury so many of the fish in the river have traces of mercury from the past. Centennial Brook used to be the dumping area for the UVM medical building, so both bodies of water are similiar in that human impact has caused a significant effect on the water quality. The area around Assabet River is less dense in tree coverage and you can clearly see the highway adjacent to the river. Similarly, centennial brook is also near major roads, so noise pollution would definetly have an impact on the wildlife around the spots. I found both spots to be very peaceful regardless; the soft sounds of the waters always provide a tranquil feeling to me and I think my dog, Percy loves the water too.
