Red Rocks is among one of many wooded areas in Burlington Vermont. I had never heard of it until it was suggested by a friend to be explored. Once there, I started on the path on the far east side of the park, and made my way down to Red Rocks Beach. I looked around the area and found this beautiful, massive northern red oak just north of the Red Rocks Park Pump House. I originally had the expectation of observing a larger area of many plants, but after finding this tree, I knew this is what I wanted to spend my time exploring phonologically.
Vegetation and Activity – October 2024
Within a three meter radius of the base of this northern red oak, I found no other trees that could hold a torch to the size of my tree. Although there were no stand outs in the over-story, the understory hosted many barberry shrubs, red oak saplings, decently sized paper birches (closer to 15-20ft in height), the occasional ash in it’s juvenile stage, round-leaved dogwood, american beech saplings, and unfortunately some human trash. If I had to make my best guess, the litter is likely an effect of the nearby tourist location of the beach and the many picnic areas seldomly cleaned by anyone who might care about the state of the park. On that note, I observed another piece of human activity integrated with the park in the form of a drainage pipe. Although I am unsure of what comes out of the pipe, and where this pipe starts, I can see the effects it has on the surrounding ecosystem. It’s carved out a section of the area, resulting in a a trench, I estimate around one foot deep and twenty feet long as it spans all the way to where the soil of the woods meets the sand of the beach. I would like to see how this pipe effects the plants in the area as the seasons move along, and under different conditions. Below is an attached link to my iNaturalist page where I will be keeping a photo-diary of my observed area and its vegetation.
iNaturalist links
Below are some pictures of the area I am observing…
