 |
| View from ground of leaves on our site |
This blog was made for NR 25- a mapping and measurements course taught at The University of Vermont. All the information on this blog is based on our discoveries, research, and explorations of our 1 hectare plot of land. Our site is located within Niquette Bay State Park which is a 553 acre plot of land on the shores of Lake Champlain near Colchester, VT. After entering the park, you follow along the Muhley trail and after just under a mile (20 meters past the top of the stone steps) you can find our hectare. The first corner (c1) is the furthest east point in our hectare. It is at the coordinates: 44*35'0.6.8" N and 73*11'50.9" W . If you travel at 334 degrees from magnetic north for 100 meters you will then find our second corner (c2). From here if you then travel another 100 meters (we measured using the pacing technique) at 244 degrees from magnetic north you will reach our third corner (c3). And lastly if you travel at 154 degrees from magnetic north from c3 you will reach the final corner (c4). Our hectare has a wide range of elevation with the lowest point being 332ft rising to 377 ft at its highest point. In our hectare there is a plethora of different trees, shrubs, soils, wildlife and landscapes. As you move towards the center of our plot you will primarily see dry oak, hickory, hop hornbeam forest with scattered white pines. After reading through the different tabs and the information they provide we hope you have a complete understanding of our hectare and the Niquette Bay State Park natural community.
- Amanda, Kyle, Peter, and Steve
 |
| Shagbark Hickory on Corner One of our site |
Favorite Characteristics:
We had many characteristics which we really liked about our site as a whole. There were a few characteristics which we thought were especially interesting and unique of our site out of the entire park, however. Some of the characteristics we found more interesting were a few man - made rock walls, which could have been old stone pasture boundaries. Since the site was on top of a hill, however we decided that they were more likely to be what remained of an old building site. The walls intersected the trail, close to where Corner 2 was (refer to map under "Locations" for placement).
We also thought that the rock ledge, close to our northern border between Corners 1 & 2 was really cool. It could provide habitat for animals that may not otherwise be able to survive in the area. Growing on the ledges were a variety of mosses and ferns, as well as a thin layer of soil on top. For the most part, no trees were located directly on top because there weren't enough nutrients available for them.
In our site there were also an abundance of downed logs and standing dead trees - which provide a lot of habitat for a more diverse grouping of species. Underneath logs we were able to find species of salamanders because of the wetness provided by the decomposition of the logs. The standing dead trees all showed signs of woodpeckers, bearing holes on all sides.
