Introduction: This is my first phenology blog post and I’m pretty excited! While I didn’t know what it was called then, as a kid the phenological cycle of trees and plants always fascinated me- especially ferns! This blog will be about woody plants in particular, but there will be a few observations about the understory.
How to get to Salmon Hole: Salmon Hole is located on Riverside Ave. For me that means walking from Tupper, through L/L, crossing Main Street, walking past the Aiken center, through Central Campus, past the hospital, taking a right onto Colchester Ave, all the way down until it meets up with Barrett Street, at which point I’ll cross the street, walk a few hundred feet and take a left down Riverside, walking down until I see the parking lot and signs for Salmon Hole park. If you’re traveling by car, its easier just to say drive past the UVM Hospital towards East End until you get to Barrett Street, at which point you’ll turn left, drive a few hundred feet, then turn left again onto Riverside Ave. From here, you’ll want to drive down a few hundred feet until you see a tiny little parking lot with a sign that says Salmon Hole Park. The last step is to hope and pray there’s a parking spot available (good luck)! I think what made me choose was the sign about endangered sturgeon posted on a tree in the parking lot. I’ve always loved fish, and with climate change, increasing pollution, and poaching issues, many fish species have faced endangerment, especially sturgeon. While it in no way relates to the topic of the project, what motivated me to pick this was the hope and curiosity that there are still sturgeon in the Winooski. Although I will say, my initial interest in Salmon Hole did lead to me finding many cools trees as well as plants in the understory.
Woody Plants make up the vast majority of the Vegetation at Salmon Hole. Trees such as American Elm, Green Ash, Black Ash, and Northern Red Oak, and sugar maple as live in Salmon Hole. In terms of the understory, there’s an abundance of Hawthorn, Mugwort, Honey Suckle, Dogwoods, Buckthorn, and Ferns.
Most Common Woody Plants and Trees I found:
1.) Buckthorn https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247389295
2.) Hawthorn https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247389882
3.) Green Ash https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247389067
4.) Duckweed https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/247389681
Today, 10/3, I sat at Salmon Hole for around 25 minutes. I sat in a spot just above the rock formation that flanks off from the cascading rocks and juts into the top-most part of Sturgeon bay and forms the water falls that flow into the Winnoski river. My spot is just above this rock formation, about 5 feet back into the forest. I chose this spot because it gives me both a fantastic view of the Sturgeon Bay, while also allowing for there to be trees and Shrubbery in my peripherals. The breeze created a nice rustle of the leaves that have now all fallen to the forest floor. Pair that with the sound of the water flowing, it was so pacifying. The only thing that ruined this a little bit was the sound of cars passing on the nearby road, which really made me reflect on the ways we pollute the outdoors not just with trash and greenhouse gasses, but with noise as well. It was chilly out, about 39 degrees farenheight while I was sitting there, with a light breeze that made it feel way chillier; exactly what you’d expect for this time of year. While the sounds were beautiful and the sights even more so, I can’t really comment too much on the smells, as the breeze made my nose run. Overall, my time here was cold, but it made me realize that no matter what time of year it is, being outside can be so soothing.
When I visited in September, the trees were full of leaves and showed barely any sign of color change other than a slight yellow tinge. The woody shrubbery of the understory still had its fruits and the leaves were still green. The vegetation on the ground was alive and well and showed no signs of decay. During my second visit in October, however, the tree leaves were in full bloom of color change, the leaves of the woody shrubbery in the understory had started to fall off, and the vegetation on the forest floor was starting to wither. During this visit on November 3rd, the entirety of the vegetation there was an entire 180 from what it was in September. Nearly all the trees had lost their leaves, the woody shrubbery had no fruits nor leaves, and the vegetation on the ground was non-existent. The only growth, it seemed, was the very few, yet still present, very tiny coniferous saplings which I identified to be Eastern White Pine.
This phenology blog won’t be about Salmon hole- this time I’m at home at my childhood park, Goddard Park. Goddard is nestled into West Grove Pennsylvania. Phenologically speaking, Goddard looked both very different and very similar than Salmon Hole. Unlike Salmon Hole, a lot of the trees had leaves left, very few, but leaves none the less. In regards to Salmon Hole however, they were somewhat similar. All the brush in the understory was dead and only the invasive species had lots of leaves left. Ecologically, there were more similarities than I thought there would be. The understory was a lot of woody Shrubbery at both spots, and all the other vegetation was gone. There was a mixture of both coniferous and deciduous trees at both spots, and the coniferous trees grew in clusters at both. However, there were some phenological differences. For instance, there were a lot more coniferous trees at Goddard- probably due to the acidic soil of the area. There was also a lot more brush/dying vegetation on the ground at Goddard Park. I also wanted to add in the difference in terms of animal ecology. At Salmon Hole in November there were many squirrels and chipmunks out and about foraging for winter that are likely now in Hibernation. At Goddard this week, there were still plenty of squirrels out- I think this may be due to the difference in temperature and phenological stage of the two places, but it was very noticeable. For honorable harvest, instead of giving a physical object, I decided to remove physical objects by bringing a trash bag with me and picking up litter! Below I have a Apple Maps image of my location, as well as some pictures from the Park 🙂
