Today I visited my site again to learn about whether it is a wetland, woodland, or woodland. I was debating between wetland and woodland, but I ultimately determined that my site is mainly woodland. The majority of the land is woods, with several different species of trees and a vast number of trees. The very edge of my site is the water, but this is flowing water, not a marsh. The water actually curves away from my site because it is on too high ground due to the roots from the trees holding the land in place when the water began flowing. Many of the tree species are very old, including my central tree, an eastern white pine, which towers over the other trees. There are a vast number of Eastern Hemlocks that take up the majority of the underbrush. There are three distinct trees that lean over the brook toward the wetland, which are starting to cave to the erosion caused by the Brooke. They are still holding strong, but it is evident that they will most likely uproot soon. For the moment, they are the main barrier holding my site back from the pull of the water, helping it maintain its trees and not be overrun by water. That and the natural steep incline from the water to the path that I use to get to my site. This is how I determined that my land was woodland.
There is land on the other side of the Brooke that is wetland because it is clearly marsh. The soil is constantly saturated with water and no trees grow in the area. It is filled with cattails, reeds, and various grasses. This area, on the other side of the brook, is wetland, while the side where my site is is most definitely woodland.
Even with the increased precipitation, there are still a few inches of snow on the ground, allowing for perfect tracking with no new snow covering existing tracks and holding the animals back from coming outside. The Brooke is showing no signs of water level increase due to the precipitation. Whereas at the beginning of the year its flow would change with the rain, from running rapid and high after rainfall to a shallow trickle during a dry spell, the Brooke is now completely frozen over and showing no signs of even flowing during these cold months. There seemed to be an abundance of sunlight today. With no clouds and no deciduous leaves blocking the flow of light, it poured right through in strips through the trunks. The ferns that once populated my site and made reaching the water quite difficult now show no signs of returning in the near future. All in all, my site currently looks like a totally different, white washed version of what it used to be. It will be interesting to see it return to its original state as we move into the second half of the semester.
