My last visit to the Redstone forest

Today, I visited the Redstone forest for the last time this semester. It snowed this morning and it was a beautiful time for me to go today. I did research on the history of the Redstone forest on campus and I could not find anything about it. It made me wonder how all these trees got there. I know that Eastern White Pines can live from 200-400 years and they look very big. Could it they have been planted my UVM? I think that they are too tall and old for that. I also know that pine trees do well in disturbed conditions. I wonder if there was a farm here in the past. Or if it was deforested for some other reason at a point in history? It could have been reforested by UVM or just regrown from birds and other animals spreading their seeds.  I guess I will never know the true human history of the Redstone forest. I know that even after this assignment is over I will continue to visit Redstone forest. It is a great place to spend time and relax at any time in the year. It is interesting to see how the maple and oak leaves get into the Redstone forest when there is only  about two red oak trees and one maple tree in all of the forest. I have attached photos of both of these leaves below. It is so pretty and I will miss visiting it over break. 

Duxbury Town Forest

I chose to use Wright as my writing style.

The place I visited was the town forest in Duxbury Massachusetts. The cool wind blowing off the water made the trees dance. While I standing on the trail I looked to the right, and then to the left. On either side of the trail there were trees as far as the eye could see. It looked like forest never ended. The sky looked green with all of the needles filling up the canopy. I continued to walk through the trail. The crunch of the leaves on the ground followed me with every step I took. I looked on the ground to find many brown leaves from oak trees and maples. There were many short pine trees about up to my knee. I wondered how old they were. I heard the birds singing all around me, but I could not see any birds, until I got to the pond. At the end of the trail, there is a beautiful pond. It is a blue grey color, like the color of the sky on a foggy day. The sun is glistening off of the water. The pond is surrounded by the forest, fiery colored trees on every side. I even noticed two ducks swimming the pond. They swam close together and they left a trail in the water as the continued to move. While I was observing the ducks, it started to rain. The rain drops imprinted into the pond, leaving circles. I started to head back to the car, retracing my steps through the trail. The rain hitting the trees sounded like drums. It was louder than my footsteps on the leaves. I stopped one last time to admire the place that I call home. It was beautiful. I looked around at the green pine needles and the orange, and yellow leaves falling from the trees. I looked up at the canopy covering the sky. I looked down at my white sneakers covered in dirt and standing in nothing but fallen leaves. I was proud that this was my home.

My town in forest in Duxbury is very different to my phenology spot in Burlington. My phenology spot has a sparse number of trees. I could walk all around Redstone forest without running into a tree. Whereas in Duxbury, if I had gone off trail I would’ve gotten lost in the thousands of trees in the forest. The forest is like cornfield, many trees tight together, seemingly never ending. The two spots were similar in that they were both over taken by pine trees. In both places I would look up at the pine trees like skyscrapers above my head. The beautiful smell of pine tree brought me into the cheerful Christmas spirit. When I enter the Redstone forest and the Duxbury forest I am taken back by the smell of pines. The ground of the two forest was very similar too. Both grounds, that were once grass, are now covered in pine needles, leaves, and pine cones, Although there were more leaves at the Duxbury forest and more pine needles at the Redstone forest. It is like I am stepping onto a orange carpet on pine needles. The canopy and both the Redstone forest and the Duxbury forest is very similar. The green pine needles surround the sky and cover the clouds. When I look up all I can see is pine trees encircling me. It feels like they are about to come crashing down on me, but I am not scared, it is a beautiful sight. Another difference I noticed between the two forests is that there is more red oak trees in the Duxbury forest. The red oak leaves are a pretty color auburn red which stand against the sky like fire. Each time an oak leaf falls it is like an ashes of a fire hitting the ground.  I also noticed that there a lot younger trees in the Duxbury forest, whereas in the Redstone forest there is only mature tall pine trees. Both of these forests are a magical places to be.

https://goo.gl/maps/yvk83J42CJU2

Assignment #3 November 5th

When I visited my phenology site today, not much has changed. The biggest change I had noticed were the fallen pine needles and pine cones on the ground. During my last visit I was walking on the green grass but during this visit I could barely see the green grass because it was covered in pines. I have attached an event map showing my experiences at Redstone forest.

Here is a photo of the Redstone forest next to the water tower as described in my map.

Here is a photo of the Northern Red Oak as described in my map.

Here is a photo of the fallen pine needles and cones as described on my map and as a landscape change.

Here is a photo of a Silver Maple as shown in my map. It was so beautiful to see the leaves falling as I took this photo. The bright yellow leaves are so pretty but I was not able to show color on my map.

Birds eye view map

There were not many changes that I observed in the Red Stone Forest since my last visit. I learned in NR1 that coniferous trees do very well in poor conditions, that is why at the top of Stowe there was only coniferous trees. Red Stone forest is basically dominated by these trees. Although, in right corner there are a few hardwoods, which were yellow and orange due to the change in seasons. I could not see any visible evidence of wildlife but it was a very cold and windy day yesterday and I went when the sun was about to set. I think I would expect to see more life on a sunnier warmer day.

My phenology place

I chose the Redstone Forest as my phenology place. The Redstone forest is located on Redstone campus, near the church, to the right of the Redstone apartments. I chose this place because I went there for the first time with my ecology of place class and I thought it was so pretty. There were people sitting on blankets listening to music and there were hammocks set up in the trees. It looked so peaceful and a great place to spend time. The trees I saw  were a lot of typical northern hardwood trees. There are many large Eastern White Pine and Norway Spruce trees. The forest is dominated by coniferous trees.

https://goo.gl/maps/Ci4pxvj1jN42

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