Field Notes

Theory: My chosen site does not appear on any map as a park except Burlington Geographic. On Google Maps it is labeled as a ‘Urban Reserve,’ but I am unable to find anything else about it. The land seems to be just a scrap of land that has been forgotten by the city. I believe that we need to revalue this area and care for it. It has been left to its own devices and invasive species have sprung up everywhere. The ethics paradigm is closest to this situation. Is it right to let this land be taken over by invasive plants when saying we are allowing it to ‘regenerate’? However, the land has not been allowed to regenerate. The occasional lawn mower has kept the grass barely in check. From sitting and watching, I was seen regular walkers or runners travel the perimeter of the park before returning to the bike path. It seems to me that the best use of this land in a park with a walking path around it. If this is something that would interest the public then we should petition the city to take better care of the area.

Action: The number of invasive species — primarily buckthorn — shocked me. In order to keep this land healthy and natural, these plants should be removed before they are all that is left of the undergrowth. I believe that an organized group could go through the entire park and rid it of buckthorn in half a day. This would be a volunteer effort that would promote a healthy ecosystem and improve the aesthetics of the park. Another project for volunteers could be to plant perennial flowers and perhaps donated shrubs. The park would quickly become a nicer place to spend time, walk, or have a picnic. I asked some of the regular visitors to the park and they agrees that the upkeep of the park was not good. This could be a beautiful piece of land between Lake Champlain and the bike path if it was only shown some love and care.

This place. This neglected park. Cannot be described as beautiful or aesthetically pleasing. The grass is scratchy and sparse. The Trees are not spread out, and there are dirt paths that have been created by the trodding of many feet. There are invasives taking over and wild flowers peeping through the brown grass. The open space of the park exists only because of the occasional mowing. However, the land is regenerating. New saplings have sprung up and the other plants are becoming wild again. They are no longer dominated by constant pruning. Were they ever? It is not considered a city park on Google Maps. Who owns it? What is its purpose? Does it belong to the nearby Burlington College? This scrap of land could be seen as worthless.

However, if you sit by the base of the huge cotton tree that swings out over Lake Champlain, you can see a rugged beauty that only shows itself after you have sat there for awhile. How many people have sat there? Why would they? This land is not the manicured lawns that we are accustomed to in a city park. Should this land be left to regenerate? It is at a prime time to let it grow further. There is a variety of species and a somewhat small range of tree age, but the new saplings that would spring up would quickly change that.

This place is a park. Towns people pay taxes for the upkeep of their parks. This plot is in a city park, but has not been kept up. The grass has gone wild and invasive species run rampant. Of course the tax money is going into places like Battery Park and other forested urban landscapes. This small park that the bike train runs by is not a priority. For this reason many species of plants grow here that would otherwise be considered unnecessary. There would not be small white pines growing between the aspens, or a small red oak growing so close to cottonwoods. The people who are generally seen in the park are dogs owners, walkers, and perhaps a lawn mower twice in a season. This place is as invisible to the casual biker as the little ant are to the common dog owners. I have only noticed these things because I stopped to look. I saw small flowers and ants. I saw the array of plant species, and I saw the view of the lake from the small hill that is a border between the park and the lake.

The park that I visit is situated next to the bike path and is therefore tightly bound with society. However, what about culture? This is a park in Burlington, VT. People here, in general, love the outdoors and climb mountains. This scrubby little park along the bike train does not draw many visitors. The people who do visit this park are the people who use the bike trail regularly on foot or who go there with their dogs.

This park has seen a culture of athletes and dog owners and nature lovers. The culture of Burlington, VT. People who want to live in a city but also in the mountains. However, there are people who live near the park. Not in houses but in tents, sheltered by the sumac trees. From afar you see the parks along the bike trail, but if you walk around their edges and look into the sparse woods that buffer the lake from the parks, you will see tents and tarps and trash. People who live in Burlington who are not able to travel, or own a house. This park has seen that culture. The culture of poverty.

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Click on image to enlarge.

This SES model shows the social-ecological system of the park. Myself, and others who visit the park are park of the system. We walk on the worn path and the grass. We pick flowers and let our dogs run around. We are as much a part of this environment as anything else. The plants and animals that live in this area by the lake are affected by human presence. Everything affects everything else and at this small scale in a park is no exception.

This is a place I know. I know it well. I have run past it for the past four years. The Thetford Academy cross country trail runs past a stand of dark hemlocks and spruce. I took a walk last week on the trail that I knew so well and decided to explore this area more. I was delighted with what I found and how much I had never noticed when running the trail. I love this trail. I live next to the school and so in my free time I often go for walks or runs on the trails. I did not however venture off trail until my senior year during forestry class. I learned then began to bring my friend along with me and show him everything I had learned and where I had learned it. We discovered new things together. Going back to this place was so comforting and familiar that I was sad when I had to return to the trail and walk home again. I was pleased to realize that I had learned something while at UVM and that I could again share what I knew with my friend who came along again. I noticed the distinct change in forest structure when we crossed over a stone wall. The ground became uneven where it was been fairly level before. There was a beech snag by the stone wall that was much larger than any other beeches in the area. This lead me to believe that the area had not been clear cut as recently as the other side of the stone wall. The stone wall was a property marker along a forest perhaps. I was so pleased with this hypothesis that I shared it with my friend and now I share it with you.

This area is unlike my site near the waters edge in Burlington. This area in the woods behind my house felt more real. There was a level of structure and diversity that cannot be found in the small park that I have been visiting. The leaves there are nearly all gone and the shrubs are dying back. The grass is crunchy from frost. The wind sweeps against that little park from off the lake and makes it an unpleasant place to sit now. The woods behind my house however, are still and full of rustling leaves and soft needles in the case of this stand of hemlocks I found. The two places are so different, but I still know which one is my favorite. The hemlock stand feels like home; a place I can escape to be free. Where the park feels like a quiet misused spat of land.

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Most of the leaves have fallen off of the trees and the grass is all brown and crunchy. The sun is setting of the lake and the sun shines off the few yellow leaves that are still clinging to the trees. Bees have not been seen the past few visits and I think that they have all gone into the ground.

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

Shelton, Sadie (2015).

The ash, boxelder and cotton woods have released their leaves while the aspens are still clinging to their bright yellow ones as if to remind me that fall is not yet over. The oak’s leaves are hardly turning color while the Norway maple refuses to give up its greenery. The grass is turning brown and there are no more bees buzzing around the flowers that now stand dry and brown beneath the young evergreen pines. There are few squirrels here. They do not have much use for the trees that do not provide them with food. Some abandoned bird nests are in the bare branches of the trees.

Today I noticed buckthorn growing along side natural buffer plants and came to the conclusion that it would overrun the entire bank where I now sit with my back against a tree looking across the lake at the Aderondacs. This place is not grand or particularly beautiful. It is not well cared for and that is what makes me see the character, because there is one. It may be rough around the edges and does not invite people to sit on the ground beneath its trees. There is something about this place that I can call mine. As I sit here amongst the scratchy grass and prickly plants and the ant hills I appreciate them. This place is beautiful in an untraditional way. There are no pretty flowers or soft grass. However, it is somewhere that is peaceful and quiet. I can almost see myself in this scrappy park. A sanctuary that can only be found if you are willing to stop and sit without looking at your phone for more than a minute.